Mascames, also spelled Maskames ( Old Persian: ''Maškāma'') was a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

official and military commander, who flourished during the reign of

Xerxes I Xerxes I ( peo, 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ξέρξης ; – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, ruling from 486 to 465 BC. He was the son and successor of D ...

(486–465). He was the son of Megadostes, and was appointed governor of Doriscus in 480 BC by Xerxes I, succeeding the governor who had been appointed by Darius the Great (522–486 BC). According to

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 ...

, Mascames resisted all Greek attacks following the Second Persian invasion of Greece, and remained thus known as the only remaining

governor in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

. Though the Greeks managed to clear other Persian garrisons in Europe, such as

Eion Eion ( grc-gre, Ἠϊών, ''Ēiṓn''), ancient Chrysopolis, was an ancient Greek Eretrian colony in Thracian Macedonia specifically in the region of Edonis. It sat at the mouth of the Strymon River which flows into the Aegean from the interio ...

, they were unable to take Doriscus from Mascames, which irked the Athenian military. As no one managed to dislodge him, Mascames was highly honored by Xerxes I and received annual gifts from him for his bravery. Mascames's descendants (who succeeded him) continued to receive gifts from Xerxes I's successor, Artaxerxes I (465–424 BC). According to Raphael Sealey, the Achaemenid ruler probably recalled Mascames with his garrison around 465 BC, and finally abandoned Doriscus. However,

Muhammad Dandamayev Muhammad Abdulkadyrovich Dandamayev ( lbe, Мухаммад Абдулкадырович Дандамаев; September 2, 1928 – August 28, 2017 ), Chief Researcher at the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IOM- ...

notes that when Herodotus wrote his '' Histories'' in the second half of the fifth century BC, Doriscus was still held by the Persians. Miroslav Ivanov Vasilev states that Mascames may have died by 465 BC.

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* * * * {{cite book , last1=Waters , first1=Matt , title=Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire, 550–330 BCE , date=2014 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , isbn=978-1107652729 5th-century BC deaths 5th-century BC Iranian people Persian people of the Greco-Persian Wars Military leaders of the Achaemenid Empire Xerxes I Achaemenid officials Achaemenid Thrace 465 deaths