Tithraustes (
Old Persian
Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...
: ;
Ancient Greek: ) was the
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 ...
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
Sardis
Sardis () or Sardes (; Lydian: 𐤳𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣 ''Sfard''; el, Σάρδεις ''Sardeis''; peo, Sparda; hbo, ספרד ''Sfarad'') was an ancient city at the location of modern ''Sart'' (Sartmahmut before 19 October 2005), near Salihli, ...
for several years in the early 4th century BC. Due to scanty historical records, little is known of the man or his activities. He was sent out from
Susa
Susa ( ; Middle elx, 𒀸𒋗𒊺𒂗, translit=Šušen; Middle and Neo- elx, 𒋢𒋢𒌦, translit=Šušun; Neo-Elamite and Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼𒀭, translit=Šušán; Achaemenid elx, 𒀸𒋗𒐼, translit=Šušá; fa, شوش ...
to replace
Tissaphernes
Tissaphernes ( peo, *Ciçafarnāʰ; grc-gre, Τισσαφέρνης; xlc, 𐊋𐊆𐊈𐊈𐊀𐊓𐊕𐊑𐊏𐊀 , ; 445395 BC) was a Persian soldier and statesman, Satrap of Lydia and Ionia. His life is mostly known from the works of Thuc ...
in 395 BC, and, after arresting his predecessor, executed him.
To remove the threat to his satrapy posed by the
Sparta
Sparta (Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referred t ...
n army of
Agesilaus
Agesilaus II (; grc-gre, Ἀγησίλαος ; c. 442 – 358 BC) was king of Sparta from c. 399 to 358 BC. Generally considered the most important king in the history of Sparta, Agesilaus was the main actor during the period of Spartan hegemony ...
, Tithraustes persuaded Agesilaus to march north into the satrapy of
Pharnabazus, and provided him with money for the march. After this event, no further actions of his can be traced.
Xenophon
Xenophon of Athens (; grc, Ξενοφῶν ; – probably 355 or 354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian, born in Athens. At the age of 30, Xenophon was elected commander of one of the biggest Greek mercenary armies o ...
states that it was Tithraustes who dispatched
Timocrates of Rhodes to Greece to stir up opposition to Sparta, but this seems unlikely for chronological reasons.
[Fine, ''The Ancient Greeks'', 548. See also the contradictory account in the '']Hellenica Oxyrhynchia
''Hellenica Oxyrhynchia'' is an Ancient Greek history of classical Greece in the late 5th and early 4th centuries BCE, of which papyrus fragments were unearthed at Oxyrhynchus, in Egypt. The author, whose name is not recorded in the surviving frag ...
''.
References
*Fine, John V. A. ''The Ancient Greeks: A Critical History'' (Harvard University Press, 1983)
*
Footnotes
Achaemenid satraps of Lydia
4th-century BC rulers
4th-century BC Iranian people
{{Achaemenid rulers