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Artaphernes

Brother of Darius and satrap of Sardis from about 513 BCE; father of the general of 490

In the game: Level 7: Sardis Burns, Level 8: The Bay of Marathon

Artaphernes, a son of Hystaspes and brother of Darius, was made satrap of Sardis and governed Persian western Asia Minor through the Ionian Revolt, holding the citadel when rebels burned the lower city in 498. His son of the same name led the expedition of 490 with Datis. Almost all that is known of both men comes from Herodotus, with only a probable trace in the Persepolis tablets.

In the game: The game names Artaphernes in a chronicle note that follows Herodotus: he holds the citadel of Sardis when the Ionians burn the lower city in 498, and his son leads the 490 expedition with Datis.

The King's brother at Sardis

Ancient account

Herodotus says Darius appointed Artaphernes, his brother by the same father, governor at Sardis after returning from the Scythian campaign. Athenian envoys came to him in about 507 seeking an alliance and gave earth and water, though Athens later disowned the act. Later, when the exiled Hippias was at Sardis, Artaphernes told the Athenians to take Hippias back if they wished to be safe.

Herodotus 5.25, 5.73, 5.96

Naxos and the burning of Sardis

Ancient account

Herodotus says Aristagoras of Miletus persuaded Artaphernes to back an attack on Naxos, and Artaphernes won Darius's approval. The siege failed, and Aristagoras then raised Ionia in revolt. In 498 Ionians, Athenians and Eretrians took Sardis but could not take the citadel, which Artaphernes held. A fire spread through the reed-roofed houses and burned the temple of the goddess Cybebe.

Herodotus 5.30-36, 5.99-102

Histiaeus and the settlement of Ionia

Ancient account

Herodotus has Artaphernes tell Histiaeus that he had stitched the shoe which Aristagoras put on. After Histiaeus was captured, Artaphernes and a Persian commander named Harpagus impaled him at Sardis and sent his head to Susa, which Herodotus says displeased Darius. In 493 Artaphernes made the Ionian cities settle disputes by arbitration, measured their land in parasangs and fixed a tribute that Herodotus says still stood in his day.

Herodotus 6.1, 6.28-30, 6.42

The son of the same name

Ancient account

In 490 Darius sent Datis the Mede and Artaphernes son of Artaphernes, his nephew, against Eretria and Athens. Herodotus says they took Eretria but were defeated at Marathon. He later lists this younger Artaphernes as commander of the Lydians and Mysians in Xerxes' army in 480.

Herodotus 6.94, 6.101, 6.113, 7.74

What the Persian record shows

In the record

The Behistun inscription lists Sparda, the Persian name for Lydia and Sardis, among Darius's lands. No royal inscription names Artaphernes, and he is not among the six helpers of 522. A Persepolis Fortification tablet records travellers from Sardis carrying a sealed document in a name D. M. Lewis identified as his. Otherwise he is known from Greek writers.

DB §6, §68; D. M. Lewis, Sparta and Persia, 1977