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''Artabazus'' was the name of two
satraps of Hellespontine
Phrygia (now northwest
Turkey), under the
Achaemenid dynasty of
Persia.
The elder Artabazus, son of
Pharnaces, was one of the generals in
Xerxes' invasion of
Greece, in charge of the reserve forces guarding the route back to Asia, and responsible for suppressing a revolt in
Potidaea. The invasion ended with
Mardonius, ignoring advice from Artabazus and others, met the Greeks in pitched battle at
Plataea, and was defeated (479 BC). The Greeks followed up their victory by sailing to
Ionia, where they destroyed the garrisoning forces under
Tigranes at
Mycale in the same year. Artabazus, however, managed to lead a large portion of the Persian army out of Greece and back to Ionia.
As a reward, Artabazus was made satrap of Phrygia. This office was passed down to his descendants. He was either succeeded by his son Pharnbazus, who is mostly unknown, or by his grandson
Pharnaces, who is known to have been satrap at the outset of the
Peloponnesian War. Pharnaces was in turn succeeded by his son, another
Pharnabazus, who is well known from his rivalry with
Tissaphernes and wars against the
Spartans.
The younger Artabazus was the son of this Pharnabazus, and became satrap after
Ariobarzanes, who took part in a revolt against the emperor, was crucified in 362 BC. He himself revolted on the death of
Artaxerxes II, four years later, but by 363 BC had run out of support and forced to flee. A decade later he was pardoned. When
Alexander the Great invaded, Artabazus surrendered and became one of his officials, later being installed as satrap of
Bactria.
