Ахеменид әулетінің патшасы Арсес (Артаксеркс II)

King of the Achaemenid Empire from 405/4 to 359/8 BC

Arses (; 445 – 359/8 BC), known by his regnal name Artaxerxes II ( ; ), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 405/4 BC to 358 BC. He was the son and successor of Darius II and his mother was Parysatis. Soon after his accession, Artaxerxes II faced opposition from his younger brother Cyrus the Younger, who assembled an army composed of troops from his Lydian and Ionian satrapies as well as Greek mercenaries in his bid for the throne. The forces of the brothers clashed at Cunaxa in 401 BC, which resulted in the defeat and death of Cyrus. Following this, Artaxerxes II had to contend with several other revolts; a revolt by Evagoras I in Cyprus between 391–380 BC, by the Phoenicians in c. 380 BC, and most importantly, the revolts by the western satraps (known as the Great Satraps' Revolt) in the 360s and 350s BC, led by distinguished figures such as Datames, Ariobarzanes, and Autophradates. The rulers of the Parthian Empire notably considered Artaxerxes II their progenitor.

The given name of Artaxerxes II was, as rendered in Greek, Arses (Ἄρσης; Babylonian: Aršu), derived from the Old Persian *Ṛšā ("man", "hero"). He was also widely known by the hypocorism , which is attested in several Greek forms including Arsikas (Plutarch), Arsakas and Arsaces (Persica). From Arsaces also derives the name of the Arsacid dynasty, which ruled the Parthian Empire and claimed descent from Artaxerxes II himself. (Αρταξέρξης) is the Greek rendition of the Old Persian Artaxšaçā ("whose reign is through truth"). It is known in other languages as; Elamite Ir tak ik ša iš ša, Ir da ik ša iš ša; Akkadian Ar ta ʾ ḫa šá is su; Middle Persian and New Persian Ardašīr. Greek authors gave Artaxerxes II the epithet "Mnemon" (Μνήμων; ), meaning "remembering" or "having a good memory."

The life and reign of Artaxerxes II is mostly attested in classical Greek sources, which generally focuses on the history of the western front. However, due to Artaxerxes II's younger brother Cyrus the Younger recruiting many Greeks during his rebellion against his brother, the reign of Artaxerxes II is well documented until Cyrus' death at the Battle of Cunaxa in 401 BC. Following that, detailed information on the rest of Artaxerxes II's reign become much more sparse. Plutarch, when writing his Life of Artaxerxes II, used Ctesias, Dinon, Xenophon, and a few others as references. The work is the only biography of an Achaemenid king. According to the modern historian Carsten Binder, Plutarch's work is an "eloquent but hardly reliable source of information" and that it "should be treated with the greatest caution".

Arses was the eldest son of Darius II, who ruled the Persian Achaemenid Empire from 424 to 405/4 BC. His mother was Parysatis, a half sister of Darius II. His age at death is variously given as 86 (Lucian) and 94 (Dinon) years, which would place his birth around 453 or 445 BC. Briant simply notes that Arses was born before his father's accession in 424, while another author states that he was "at least in his late seventies in the early 360s". Darius II and Parysatis had thirteen children, most of whom died prematurely. Thus the only known full siblings of Arsaces were his younger brothers Cyrus, Ostanes, Oxathres, and an older sister, Amestris. With the exception of Arsaces and Cyrus, not much is known about the children of Darius II and Parysatis. Cyrus was most likely born in 424/423 BC, just after the accession of Darius II. In 408 BC, at the age of 15 or 16, Cyrus was appointed the satrap of Lydia, Greater Phrygia, and Cappadocia. He also succeeded Tissaphernes as the commander in chief of the Persian force stationed at Castolus, east of the city of Sardis. Cyrus was given the title of karanos (Old Iranian: *Karana), which greatly expanded his authority both politically and militarily, and allowed him to become largely autonomous. Before his accession, Arsaces married Stateira, the daughter of the Persian nobleman Hydarnes, who was descended from Hydarnes, one of the seven Persian conspirators who overthrew the Pseudo Smerdis. The marriage was part of a political alliance that Darius had sought during his early reign, due to facing opposition against his rule. Amestris was also married to Hydarnes' son Teritoukhmes, while Hydarnes was appointed the satrap of Hyrcania. When Darius II was on his deathbed, Arsaces was by his side. According to Xenophon, Darius II summoned Cyrus, who arrived with Tissaphernes and 300 Greek hoplites. Plutarch, however, reports that it was Parysatis who summoned Cyrus, as she favoured him over Arsaces. He further adds that she attempted to convince Darius II to choose Cyrus as his heir, as the position was still vacant. Modern historians question Plutarch's account, and state that Arsaces must have already been chosen as heir previously, probably several years earlier. During the coronation of Arsaces at the southern capital of Pasargadae, Cyrus allegedly attempted to have his brother assassinated. The plan was exposed by Tissaphernes, but Cyrus was spared following the intervention of Parysatis and sent back to Asia Minor. The authenticity of this event is deemed uncertain by modern historians. According to Binder, the transition of power between Darius II and Arsaces was seemingly peaceful. During his investiture, Arsaces adopted the throne name of Artaxerxes.

Tissaphernes noted that Cyrus the Younger's claims to be on a military expedition to attack the Pisidians had many flaws that led him to believe that Cyrus was planning to revolt. These claims became realized when Cyrus began to seek political support for his campaign. Cyrus found support from Sparta, who sent soldiers to aid the campaign against Artaxerxes II. Notably, Cyrus found support from a Persian kingdom of Cilicia, who contributed to the effort through funds. During this time, due to Tissaphernes' reports, Artaxerxes II began to build up a force to contend with his younger brother's revolt. By the time of Darius II's death, Cyrus had already been successful in defeating the Syrians and Cilicians and was commanding a large army made up of his initial supporters plus those who had joined him in Phrygia and beyond. Upon hearing of his father's death, Cyrus the Younger declared his claim to the throne, based on the argument that he was born to Darius and Parysatis after Darius had ascended to the throne, while Artaxerxes was born prior to Darius II's gaining the throne. Artaxerxes II initially wanted to resolve the conflict peacefully, but the negotiations fell through. Cyrus also ran into issues with the locals, who were loyal to Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes defended his position against his brother Cyrus the Younger, who with the aid of a large army of Greek mercenaries called the "Ten Thousand", attempted to usurp the throne. Though Cyrus' mixed army fought to a tactical victory at the Battle of Cunaxa in Babylon (401 BC), Cyrus himself was killed in the exchange by Mithridates, rendering his victory irrelevant. The Greek historian Xenophon, himself one of the leaders of the Greek troops, would later recount this battle in the Anabasis, focusing on the struggle of the now stranded Greek mercenaries to return home.

Artaxerxes became involved in a war with Persia's erstwhile allies, the Spartans, during the Corinthian War (395 387 BC). The Spartans under their king Agesilaus II had started by invading Asia Minor in 396–395 BC. To redirect the Spartans' attention to Greek affairs, Artaxerxes subsidized their enemies through his envoy Timocrates of Rhodes; in particular, the Athenians, Thebans, and Corinthians received massives subsidies. Tens of thousands of darics, the main currency in Achaemenid coinage, were used to bribe the Greek states to start a war against Sparta. These subsidies helped to engage the Spartans in what would become known as the Corinthian War. According to Plutarch, Agesilaus said upon leaving Asia Minor, "I have been driven out by 10,000 Persian archers", a reference to "Archers" (Toxotai) the Greek nickname for the darics from their obverse design, because that much money had been paid to politicians in Athens and Thebes to start a war against Sparta. The Achaemenids, allied with Athens, managed to utterly destroy the Spartan fleet at the Battle of Cnidus (394 BC). After that, the Achaemenid satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, Pharnabazus II, together with former Athenian admiral Conon, raided the coasts of Peloponnesia, putting increased pressure on the Spartans. This encouraged the resurgence of Athens, which started to bring back under her control the Greek cities of Asia Minor, thus worrying Artaxerxes II that his Athenian allies were becoming too powerful.

In 386 BC, Artaxerxes II betrayed his allies and came to an arrangement with Sparta, and in the Treaty of Antalcidas, he forced his erstwhile allies to come to terms. This treaty restored control of the Greek cities of Ionia and Aeolis on the Anatolian coast to the Persians, while giving Sparta dominance on the Greek mainland. In 385 BC, he campaigned against the Cadusians.

Although successful against the Greeks, Artaxerxes had more trouble with the Egyptians, who had successfully revolted against him at the beginning of his reign. An attempt to reconquer Egypt in 373 BC under the command of Pharnabazus, satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, was completely unsuccessful, but in his waning years, the Persians did manage to defeat a joint Egyptian–Spartan effort to conquer Phoenicia.

In 377 BC, Pharnabazus was reassigned by Artaxerxes II to help command a military expedition into rebellious Egypt, having proven his ability against the Spartans. After four years of preparations in the Levant, Pharnabazus gathered an expeditionary force of 200,000 Persian troops, 300 triremes, 200 galleys, and 12,000 Greeks under Iphicrates. The Achaemenid Empire had also been applying pressure on Athens to recall the Greek general Chabrias, who was in the service of the Egyptians, but in vain. The Egyptian ruler Nectanebo I was thus supported by Athenian General Chabrias and his mercenaries. The Achaemenid force landed in Egypt with the Athenian general Iphicrates near Mendes in 373 BC. The expedition force was too slow, giving time to the Egyptians to strengthen defenses. Pharnabazus and Iphicrates appeared before Pelusium, but retired without attacking it, Nectanebo I, king of Egypt, having added to its former defences by laying the neighboring lands under water, and blocking up the navigable channels of the Nile by embankments. (Diodorus Siculus xv. 42; Cornelius Nepos, Iphicrates c. 5.) Fortifications on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile ordered by Nectanebo forced the enemy fleet to seek another way to sail up the Nile. Eventually the fleet managed to find its way up the less defended Mendesian branch. After several weeks, the Persians and their Greek mercenaries under Iphicrates had to re embark. The expedition against Egypt had failed. Pharnabazus was replaced by Datames to lead a second expedition to Egypt, but he failed and then started the "Satraps' Revolt" against the Great King. Artaxerxes II finally quashed the revolt of the satraps by 362 BC.

Artaxerxes again attempted to mediate in conflicts between the Greek city states at the time of the Theban hegemony, especially the Theban–Spartan War. He sent Philiscus of Abydos, a hyparch (vice regent) and military commander of the Achaemenid satrap Ariobarzanes, to Delphi in order to help the Greek negotiate peace. The objective of Philicus of Abydos was such to help broker a Common Peace between the Greek belligerents reunited at Delphi. Among the mercenaries whom he had recruited, Philiscus gave 2,000 to the Spartans. Both Philiscus and Ariobarzanes were made citizens of Athens, a remarkable honor suggesting important services rendered to the city state. These are known collectively as "Inscription A2Pa".]] Much of Artaxerxes' wealth was spent on building projects. He restored the Palace of Darius I at Susa, and also the fortifications; including a strong redoubt at the south east corner of the enclosure and gave Ecbatana a new apadana and sculptures.

The tomb of Artaxerxes II is located at Persepolis, and was built on the model of his predecessors at Naqsh e Rustam. On the upper register of the tomb appear reliefs of the Emperor, supported by the soldiers of all ethnicities of the Empire. On the lintel over each figure appears a trilingual inscription describing each ethnicity.

The Jewish high priest Johanan is mentioned in the Elephantine papyri dated to 407 BC, i. e., during Darius II's reign, and is also mentioned in Ezra 10:6 after the reign of Darius (Ezra 6:1) and during the rule of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:1), thereby supporting the chronological sequence. Amongst others, it has been suggested that Artaxerxes II was the Ahasuerus mentioned in the Book of Esther. Plutarch in his Lives (AD 75) records alternative names Oarses and Arsicas for Artaxerxes II Mnemon given by Deinon (c. 360–340 BC) and Ctesias (Artexerxes II's physician) respectively. These derive from the Persian name Khshayarsha as do "Ahasuerus" ("(Arta)Xerxes") and the hypocoristicon "Arshu" for Artaxerxes II found on a contemporary inscription (LBAT 162). These sources thus arguably identify Ahasuerus as Artaxerxes II in light of the names used in the Hebrew and Greek sources and accords with the contextual information from Pseudo Hecataeus and Berossus as well as agreeing with Al Tabari and Masudi's placement of events. The 13th century Syriac historian Bar Hebraeus in his Chronography, also identifies Ahasuerus as Artaxerxes II citing the sixth century AD historian John of Ephesus.