ARTAXERXES. - Greek form of the name ('Αρταξέρξης'; Heb. 'Artaḥšatā'; Assyrian Artaḥsatsu; from the Persian Artaḥšatā "the great commander") of three Achaemenid kings.
1) A. I Longimanus (465-424 B.C.), younger son of the murdered Xerxes, who barely escaped the regicide Artabanus, after two battles killed (462) his elder brother Hystaspes, his rival for the throne supported by the Bactrians.
With 300,000 foot soldiers and 300 Phoenician ships under the command of the satrap of Syria Megabyzus, he then invaded Egypt, freed near Memphis the few subjects who had remained loyal to him, and defeated (454) the Libyan king Inarus who, having rebelled against Persia in 460 with the help of Athenian sailors and hoplites, had killed the satrap (from 484) Achaemenes, brother of King Xerxes. But a subsequent Athenian victory (449/8) in the waters of Cyprus induced A. to make the "Peace of Athens" or "Peace of Cimon," in which the Athenians, while renouncing all claim to Cyprus and Egypt, had guaranteed to them the dominion of the Aegean (448). He finally came to terms with Megabyzus and with his own son, who had rebelled in Syria and Lydia. With the death of A. a new series of civil wars began, which Darius II (v.) brought to an end.
The return of the Jews led by Ezra (v.) took place in the 7th year of A. I (458), according to the traditional opinion; it is placed instead in the 7th year of A. II (398) by A. Van Hoonacker (Néhemie et Esdras, Louvain 1890, and in Revue Biblique, 32 [1923], pp. 481-95; 33 [1924], pp. 36-64), followed by some. The mission of Nehemiah (Neh. 2, 1) is from the 20th year of A. I (445). The favor shown to the restoration of Ezra (Ezra 7, 1-23), then of Nehemiah, cupbearer at his court and in constant relations with the king (Neh. 2, 1-8; 5, 14; 13, 6), as well as the prohibition afterward imposed on Ezra (4, 11-22), suit the policy of A., to whom the loyalty of the Jews, placed on the road to Egypt, appeared precious, and every suspicion on that matter immediately gained substance. In the Septuagint version of Esther the name of A. (I?) appears from beginning to end, with whom Ahasuerus (v.) is erroneously identified.
2) A. II Mnemon (405 [404]-358 B.C.), elder son of Darius II, began by quelling the rebellion of his brother Cyrus the Younger, who after having tried in vain to kill him, marched against him with 50,000 men (rather than 100,000), of whom 13,000 were Greeks who, after the defeat at Cunaxa (Sept. 3, 401) where Cyrus was killed, withdrew, 10,000 strong, under the leadership of Xenophon (Anabasis). With the "Peace of Antalcidas" or "Peace of the King" (387) the war begun by the new satrap of Sardis Tissaphernes (400) against Sparta and Athens came to an end: Ionia, lost under A. I (449-448), was restored to the Great King. But Egypt regained its independence with the Libyan Amyrtaeus (404-398), whose successors Achoris and Nectanebo I, with the help of the Greek Chabrias, thwarted the repeated attempts at reconquest by A., while Tachos II (361-359) was prevented from invading Palestine only by the rebellion of Nectanebo II, who made himself pharaoh. Evagoras seized Cyprus, but then declared himself a vassal of Persia and was recognized as king (380). Asia Minor was convulsed by the rebellion, barely suppressed, of the satraps Ariobarzanes, Autophradates, Datames, Orontes. Statira, wife of A., was poisoned by Parysatis. A. died of grief, at the age of 86, because of the killing, at the hands of conspirators and of Artaxerxes Ochus, of the sons aspiring to the throne.
In the inscriptions of A. the deities Mithra and Anâhita appear for the first time; his successor Ochus will name only Mithra in his inscription at Persepolis. To Anâhita A. II had temples erected at Babylon, Susa and Ecbatana (Berosus, in Clement of Alexandria, Protrept., 5, 65). Under his reign, A. Van Hoonacker (with whom J. Vandervorst, J.-B. Pelt, M. Sales, G. Ricciotti, J. Coppens, L. Delaporte agree) places the restoration of Ezra, considered later than Nehemiah.
3) A. III Ochus (Ocho; 358-337 B.C.), son of A. II, the only survivor of the 3 sons of Statira, was bloodthirsty to the point of killing 80 of his relatives so as to have no rivals, and energetically repressed revolts. Having defeated the satrap of Asia Minor Artabazus (356), who took refuge with Philip of Macedon, he attempted to reoccupy Egypt, the instigator of every rebellion (353). The initial failure fomented the uprisings of Sidon, Cyprus and Syria (with which perhaps Palestine was allied). In 348 A. personally took command of the army, defeated Tabnit king of Sidon, then, with Mentor of Rhodes, who had gone over with 4,000 Greek mercenaries to the service of the Persians, occupied the whole of Egypt (345), where he carried out massacres that were also religious, including the killing of the bull Apis, while the pharaoh took refuge in Ethiopia. He died poisoned together with his sons by the eunuch Bagoas.
Bibliography5 works
Faustino Salvoni - Antonino Romeo