Author(s):
Wiesehöfer, Josef (Kiel)
[German version] (Τισσαφέρνης/
Tissaphérnēs). Son of Hydarnes [4], grandson of Hydarnes [1]. After the removal of the rebellious satrap Pissuthnes T. became a satrap in 413 BC in Sardis and a
káranos (Thuc. 8,5,4:
stratēgòs tôn kátō, 'army leader of the lands on the coast') in the west of Asia Minor. As such he concluded a subsidy treaty with Sparta against Athens in 412 BC; in return Sparta entrusted the Greeks of western Asia Minor to the Great King (Thuc. 1,115,4; 8,5,4 f.; 8,17 f.; 8,43; 8,52 and 8,58; renewal of the treaty in 411 BC after differences of opinion about the level of support: Thuc. 8,29 and 8,36 f.). T. was never unambiguously pro Spartan (unsuccessful negotiations with Athens; third 'treaty' with Sparta: Thuc. 8,56,4 f.; 8,57; 8,58; refusal to put the Phoenician fleet at Sparta’s disposal); he was replaced in 407 BC by Cyrus [3] the Younger and confined to Caria (Thuc. 8,87,4; Xen. Hell. 1,4,3). When Cyrus used a quarrel with T. over Miletus as a pretext for arming himself against his brother Artaxerxes [2] II (Xen. An. 1,1,7), T. warned the Great King (401 BC). His command of the cavalry was a deciding factor at the battle of Cunaxa [4], he had the Greek leaders of the mercenaries killed and pursued the Ten Thousand (Xen. An. 1,7,12; 1,8,9; 1,10,7; 2,3,17-20). In 400 BC, Artaxerxes gave him one of his daughters as a bride and placed him in his old post again (Diod. Sic. 14,26,4). Following the Spartan intervention of 400/399 BC, and possibly before his defeat on the Pactolus in 395 BC against Agesilaus [2] II, T. lost the trust o…