Pharnabazus of Phrygia

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pharnabazus (in Greek Φαρνάβαζος; lived 4th century BC) was a Persian general, son of Artabazus. He joined his father exile at the Macedonian court in the years 353–343 BC. He returned in Persia when his father made peace with the king Artaxerxes III; Pharnabazus became brother-in-law of Memnon, under whose guidance he gained military experience. When Memnon died in 333 BC he assumed the command of the Persian fleet with Autophradates. They succeeded in reducing Mytilene, Tenedos, and Chios, and, having dispatched some ships to Cos and Halicarnassus, they sailed with 100 of their fastest vessels to Siphnus. Here they were visited by Agis III, king of Sparta, who came to ask for money and troops to support the anti-Macedonian party in the Peloponnese. But just at this crisis intelligence arrived of Alexander's victory at Issus (333 BC), and Pharnabazus, fearing that the effect of it might be the revolt of Chios, sailed thither with 12 ships and 1500 mercenaries. He did not, however, prevent the islanders from putting down the Persian government, and he was himself taken prisoner; but he escaped, and took refuge in Cos.¹

In 324 BC, Artonis, the sister of Pharnabazus, was given in marriage to Eumenes by Alexander the Great; and in 321 BC we find Pharnabazus commanding a squadron of cavalry for Eumenes, in the battle in which he defeated Craterus and Neoptolemus.²