Pharnabazus II
Pharnabazus 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. 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 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.
Pharnabazus
Pharnabazus or Pharnabazos (Greek: Φαρνάβαζος) is the Hellenized form of an ancient Persian name. It may refer to:
Pharnabazus III
Pharnabazus III (in Greek Φαρνάβαζος; c. 370 BC - after 320 BC) was a Persian satrap who fought against Alexander the Great.
Youth
Pharnabazus was the son of Artabazus, satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia. However, Artabazus was exiled after a failed rebellion against Artaxerxes III in 358 BC. The family went into exile to Macedonia, where they met the young Alexander. With Artabazus and Pharnabazus was Memnon of Rhodes, a Greek mercenary and relative by marriage.
Artabazus, Pharnabazus and Memnon were later allowed to return to Persia, where Memnon took command of the Persian navy in the Aegean with Pharnabazus in support.
War against Alexander
When Alexander invaded the Persian empire, Memnon defended the strategically important town of Halicarnassus, which Alexander was then diverted to capture, forcing him to seek reinforcements. This allowed the Persians time to regroup.
Memnon and Pharnabazus then directed their strategy to disrupt Alexander's supply lines by taking Aegean islands near the Hellespont and by fomenting rebellion in Greece. At around the same time, the Spartan king Agis III and the Athenian statesman Demosthenes organised forces to liberate Greece from the Macedonians. Memnon and Pharnabazus took Cos and Chios, but during the siege of Mytilene, the capital of Lesbos, Memnon died of a fever.
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