Фарнабаз II: Сатрап Фригии Эллиспонтской

Persian satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia from 413 to 374 BC

Pharnabazus II (Old Iranian: Farnabāzu, wikt:Φαρνάβαζος (Φαρνάβαζος]]) ; ruled 413 374 BC) was a Persian soldier and statesman, and Satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia. He was the son of Pharnaces II of Phrygia and grandson of Pharnabazus I, and great grandson of Artabazus I. He and his male ancestors, forming the Pharnacid dynasty, had governed the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia from its headquarters at Dascylium since 478 BC. He married Apama, daughter of Artaxerxes II of Persia, and their son Artabazus also became a satrap of Phrygia. According to some accounts, his granddaughter Barsine may have become Alexander the Great's concubine. According to research by Theodor Nöldeke, he was descended from Otanes, one of the associates of Darius in the murder of Smerdis.

Athens was the dominant power in the Aegean in the 5th century BC, following the Greeks' victories over the Achaemenids in the Second Persian invasion of Greece (480 479 BC). Athens, powered by the alliance formed under the Delian League, has even been called the Athenian Empire at that time, and formed the largest threat to the Achaemenid possessions in Asia Minor. Pharnabazus II was first recorded as satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia in 413 BC, when he received orders from Darius II of Persia to send in the outstanding tribute of the Greek cities on the Ionian coast, tribute he had a hard time to obtain due to Athenian interference. Thucydides described this situation, faced by both satraps Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes:

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. Pharnabazus initially fought with the Spartans against the Athenians during the Peloponnesian war (431–404 BC), even, in one instance, coming to the rescue of the retreating Spartan forces, and riding his horse into the sea to fend off the Athenians while encouraging his regiment. In 404 BC, Pharnabazus may also have been responsible for the assassination of the Athenian general Alcibiades, who had taken refuge in the Achaemenid Empire. The assassination was probably at the instigation of the Spartans, and specifically Lysander. As Alcibiades was about to set out for the Persian court, his residence was surrounded and set on fire. Seeing no chance of escape he rushed out on his assassins, dagger in hand, and was killed by a shower of arrows.

From 368 BC many western satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire started to rebel against Artaxerxes II, in the Great Satraps' Revolt, so Nectanebo provided financial support to the rebelling satraps and re established ties with both Sparta and Athens.

A large number of coins have been found from that period, presumably in order to pay for the troops, particularly for the Greek troops under Iphicrates. The large coinage was minted in Tarsos, Cilicia. The coins use images of the god of war Ares wearing an Attic helmet, or a seated Baal.

Pharnabazus was one of the best known Satraps among the Greeks, and had many exchanges with them. He is one of the main characters in the Hellenica of Xenophon, also appears in his Anabasis, and is also very present in the History of the Peloponnesian War of Thucydides. The family of Pharnabazus was closely related to the Greek world. His son Artabazos II married a Greek noblewoman from Rhodes, and lived in exile with his family at the Macedonian court of Philip II for more than ten years. His granddaughter Barsine may have been Alexander the Great's concubine and may have had a child by him.