Arcesilaus III of Cyrene ( el, Ἀρκεσίλαος, flourished 6th century BC) was the sixth Greek Cyrenaean King and was a member of the

Battiad dynasty The Battiadae, or Battiads ( gr, Βαττιάδαι), were the ruling dynasty of the Greek city-state of Cyrene, in modern Libya. Battus I, who founded Cyrene in 631 BC, was also the founder of the dynasty. The Battiads were overthrown in 440 BC. ...

. He succeeded his father as king of Cyrene in 530 BC and was ruler until he was killed by Cyrenaean exiles around 515 BC.

Ancestry

Arcesilaus was the son of the fifth Cyrenaean King, Battus III and queen Pheretima. His sister was Ladice, who married the Ancient Egyptian

Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝrro; Biblical Hebrew: ''Parʿō'') is the vernacular term often used by modern authors for the kings of ancient Egypt who ruled as monarchs from the First Dynasty (c. 3150 BC) until the ...

Amasis II Amasis II ( grc, Ἄμασις ; phn, 𐤇𐤌𐤎 ''ḤMS'') or Ahmose II was a pharaoh (reigned 570526 BCE) of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt, the successor of Apries at Sais. He was the last great ruler of Egypt before the Persian conquest ...

. Although his maternal grandparents are unknown, his paternal grandparents were the queen Eryxo and king Arcesilaus II.

First reign and exile

When his father died in 530 BC, Arcesilaus became the new king. In 525 BC, Arcesilaus made an alliance with the King

Cambyses II of Persia Cambyses II ( peo, 𐎣𐎲𐎢𐎪𐎡𐎹 ''Kabūjiya'') was the second King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 530 to 522 BC. He was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great () and his mother was Cassandane. Before his accession, Cambys ...

. Cambyses had recently conquered Egypt and added the country to his empire.

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

describes his character as a ‘great rumpus‘. About 518 BC, Arcesilaus could no longer accept the Cyrenaean constitutional changes introduced by his late father and the Greek lawmaker, Demonax, and demanded the restoration of his ancestral rights. He was supported by his mother. In the civil struggles that followed, Arcesilaus was defeated and fled to the Greek island of

Samos Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greece, Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a se ...

, while his mother fled to the court of king Euelthon in

Salamis, Cyprus Salamis ( grc, Σαλαμίς, el, Σαλαμίνα, tr, Salamis) is an ancient Greek city-state on the east coast of Cyprus, at the mouth of the river Pedieos, 6 km north of modern Famagusta. According to tradition, the founder of Salamis ...

. Pheretima sought troops from the king of Salamis, but he refused to agree to her request. In Samos, Arcesilaus recruited men for his army by promising to grant them land in Cyrene. Once he got his army together, he travelled to the oracle at Delphi to consult about his future in Cyrene. The priestess stated to him that his family would have a kingship in Cyrene for eight generations under four rulers named Battus and four rulers named Arcesilaus. She advised him to make no attempt to keep power beyond that period. She also advised him to be careful in how he treated the Cyrenaean citizens and that if he were cruel to them, they would go against him. Arcesilaus subsequently ignored the priestess' advice.

Restoration and death

Arcesilaus returned to Cyrene with his army and was able to regain power, driving his political opponents out of Cyrene and into exile. His supporters received their land, but out of fear of a backlash (and ignoring the oracle's advice), Arcesilaus left Cyrene and went to the Cyrenaean town of Barca, whose governor, Alazir, was his father-in-law. While in the marketplace in Barca with his father-in-law, some Cyrenaean exiles recognised Arcesilaus. The exiles approached the two men and killed them. Arcesilaus was buried near his paternal ancestors in Cyrene. Arcesilaus was succeeded by his mother, who ruled Cyrene until her death later in 515 BC. After her death, she was succeeded by Arcesilaus's only son, Battus IV.

Sources

, The Histories, Book 4.

*https://www.livius.org/ct-cz/cyrenaica/cyrenaica.html *http://www.mediterranees.net/dictionnaires/smith/cyrene.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Arcesilaus 03 Of Cyrene 6th-century BC Greek people 6th-century BC births 515 BC deaths Kings of Cyrene 6th-century BC rulers

Ancestry

First reign and exile

Restoration and death

See also

Sources