Artaxerxes II

Artaxerxes II, born Arses, was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 405 BC until his death in 358. At roughly forty-six years it was the longest reign of any Persian king, and it was spent almost entirely in suppressing revolt. He was the son of Darius II and Parysatis. His accession was challenged at once by his younger brother Cyrus the Younger, who assembled the troops of his Lydian and Ionian satrapies together with a large body of Greek mercenaries and marched on Babylon. The armies met at Cunaxa in 401 BC, where Cyrus was killed and the revolt collapsed. The ten thousand Greeks in his pay were left stranded deep in Mesopotamia and fought their way north to the Black Sea. Xenophon, who marched with them, recorded it in the Anabasis, and the account advertised to the Greek world how far a disciplined infantry force could go inside Persian territory. Revolts continued for the rest of the reign: Evagoras I in Cyprus between 391 and 380, the Phoenician cities around 380, and most seriously the Great Satraps' Revolt of the 360s and 350s, in which Datames, Ariobarzanes and Autophradates turned the western provinces against the crown. His most durable achievement was diplomatic rather than military. By funding whichever Greek city was currently losing, he kept Greece divided against itself. The King's Peace of 387 BC left Persia arbitrating Greek affairs and recovering the Ionian cities without fighting for them. He built extensively at Susa and Ecbatana, and is credited with promoting the cult of Anahita alongside Ahura Mazda. His rock-cut tomb stands above Persepolis, and the later Parthian kings claimed him as their ancestor.

• Lived: 445 BCE – 358 BCE
• Nationality: Persian
• Roles: ruler