Pharnabazus II

Baaltars on a throne (obverse) and head of Ares (reverse), on a double shekel of Pharnabazus (380-375 BC).

Silver stater of Pharnabazus as Satrap of Phrygia (379-374 BC). British Museum.

Pharnabazus II was a Persian soldier and statesman. He was the son of Pharnaces II of Phrygia and grandson of Pharnabazus I of Phrygia, and great-grandson of Artabazus I. He and his male ancestors had governed the satrapy of Phrygia on the Hellespont from its headquarters at Dascylium since 478 BC. He married Apama, daughter of Artaxerxes II of Persia, and their son Artabazus was a satrap of Phrygia.

According to research by Theodor Nöldeke, he was descended from Otanes, one of the associates of Darius in the murder of Smerdis.

Pharnabazus II is first recorded as satrap of this province in 413 BC, when, having received orders from Darius II of Persia to send in the outstanding tribute of the Greek cities on the Ionian coast, he, like Tissaphernes of Caria, entered into negotiations with Sparta and began a war with Athens. The conduct of the war was much hindered by the rivalry between the two satraps, of whom Pharnabazus was by far the more energetic and upright. After the war he came into conflict with the Spartan general, Lysander.

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Pharnabazus". Encyclopædia Britannica. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.