Aryandes (

Old Iranian The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian plateau, Iranian Pl ...

: ''Aryavanda'' or ''Arvanta'',

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

: ''Ἀρυάνδης'') was the first

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...

satrap A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires. The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with consid ...

of ancient Egypt between 525 BCE and 496 BCE, during the early 27th Dynasty of Egypt.

Career

When king

Cambyses II 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, Cambyses ...

defeated pharaoh

Psamtik III Psamtik III ( Ancient Egyptian: , pronounced ), known by the Graeco-Romans as Psammetichus or Psammeticus (Ancient Greek: ), or Psammenitus (Ancient Greek: ), was the last Pharaoh of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty of Egypt from 526 BC to 525 BC. Most of ...

at the

battle of Pelusium (525 BCE) The Battle of Pelusium was the first major battle between the Achaemenid Empire and Egypt. This decisive battle transferred the throne of the Pharaohs to Cambyses II of Persia, marking the beginning of the Achaemenid Twenty-seventh Dynasty of Egyp ...

, Egypt became a satrapy of the Achaemenid empire, and Aryandes was appointed satrap shortly after. In 522 BCE, Aryandes was overthrown in a revolt against the Achaemenid rule led by a native Egyptian pharaoh,

Petubastis III Seheruibre Padibastet (Ancient Egyptian: ''shrw- jb- rꜥ pꜣ-dj-bꜣstt'') better known by his Hellenised name Petubastis III (or IV, depending on the scholars) was a native ancient Egyptian ruler (ruled c. 522 – 520 BC), who revolted ag ...

. The rebellion was personally quelled by the new king

Darius I Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...

during his expedition to Egypt in 518 BCE, and Aryandes was reinstated. The satrap then attempted to subjugate

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

with poor results. Around 496 BCE, Aryandes fell out of favour with Darius I and was deposed and replaced by

Pherendates Pherendates ( peo, *Farnadātaʰ; grc, Φερενδάτης ) was an Achaemenid satrap of ancient Egypt in the early 5th century BCE, at the time of the Achaemenid 27th Dynasty of Egypt. Career A son of Megabazus, and an army commander und ...

. The reason for this decision is unknown, with

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...

and later

Polyaenus Polyaenus or Polyenus ( ; see ae (æ) vs. e; grc-gre, Πoλύαινoς, Polyainos, "much-praised") was a 2nd-century CE Greek author, known best for his ''Stratagems in War'' ( grc-gre, Στρατηγήματα, Strategemata), which has been pr ...

claiming that the satrap started

minting Minting is a village and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. The village is situated south from the A158 road. The population (including Gautby) at the 2011 census was 286. Minting Priory was located here. Mi ...

his own silver coinage, calling it ''aryandic'' in opposition to the golden, already existing,

daric The Persian daric was a gold coin which, along with a similar silver coin, the siglos, represented the bimetallic monetary standard of the Achaemenid Persian Empire.Michael Alram"DARIC" ''Encyclopaedia Iranica'', December 15, 1994, last updated N ...

, thus irritating the Persian king. This story is now considered unlikely because no aryandic has yet been found.ARYANDES
at the ''

Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encycl ...

'' It appears more likely that Darius had real concerns that Aryandes would declare independence for his satrapy.

Career

References

Further reading