Prokles (circa 400 BC) was a descendant of the exiled Spartan king Demaratus, and ruler of

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; ), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greece, ancient Greek city in Aeolis. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on the north s ...

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

under the

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian peoples, Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, i ...

. He was a brother of

Eurysthenes Eurysthenes (, "widely ruling") was king of Sparta and one of the Heracleidae in Greek mythology. He was a son of Aristodemus and Argia, daughter of Autesion. He had a twin brother, Procles. Together they received the land of Lacedaemon after C ...

, with whom he was a joint ruler. After his deposition in 491 BC Demaratus had fled to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, where king

Darius I Darius I ( ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of West A ...

made him ruler of the cities of

, Teuthrania and Halisarna. About a hundred years later Eurysthenes and his brother Prokles reigned over the same cities; their joint rule is at least attested for the year 399 BC.

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

and the

Ten Thousand The Ten Thousand (, ''hoi Myrioi'') were a force of mercenary units, mainly Greeks, employed by Cyrus the Younger to attempt to wrest the throne of the Persian Empire from his brother, Artaxerxes II. Their march to the Battle of Cunaxa and bac ...

received some support from Prokles in facing Achaemenid troops, at the beginning of their campaign into Asia Minor. According to

(''Anabasis'', 7.8.8-17), when he arrived in

Mysia Mysia (UK , US or ; ; ; ) was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor (Anatolia, Asian part of modern Turkey). It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lyd ...

in 399, he met Hellas, the widow of Gongylos and probably daughter of

Themistocles Themistocles (; ; ) was an Athenian politician and general. He was one of a new breed of non-aristocratic politicians who rose to prominence in the early years of the Athenian democracy. As a politician, Themistocles was a populist, having th ...

, who was living at Pergamon. His two sons, Gorgion and Gongylos the younger, ruled respectively over the cities of

Gambrium Gambrium or Gambrion (), also Gambreium or Gambreion (Γάμβρειον), was a town of ancient Aeolis and of ancient Mysia, Mysia, quite close to Pergamum. Its location is near Kınık and Bergama in İzmir province, in the Aegean Region of Turke ...

Palaegambrium Palaegambrium or Palaigambrion (, 'Old Gambrium') was a town of ancient Aeolis, close to Pergamum. Palaegambrium is first mentioned in the ''Hellenica (Xenophon), Hellenica'' of Xenophon which gives knowledge about the region in 399 BCE. At th ...

for Gorgion, and Myrina and Grynium for Gongylos. Xenophon received some support from the descendants of Gongylos for his campaign into Asia Minor, as well as from the descendants of Demaratos, a Spartan exile who also had become a satrap for the Achaemenids, in the person of his descendant Prokles. The coinage of Prokles displays one of the earliest portraits of a Greek ruler on a coin. The city of Pergamon was later taken over by the Spartan general Thibron, who was fighting against the Achaemenid Satrap of Lydia and Ionia

Tissaphernes Tissaphernes (; ; , ; 445395 BC) was a Persian commander and statesman, Satrap of Lydia and Ionia. His life is mostly known from the works of Thucydides and Xenophon. According to Ctesias, he was the son of Hidarnes III and therefore, the gre ...

Notes

References

* Benedikt Niese: ''Eurysthenes 4)''. In: ''

Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft The Pauly encyclopedias or the Pauly-Wissowa family of encyclopedias, are a set of related encyclopedias on Greco-Roman world, Greco-Roman classical studies, topics and scholarship. The first of these, or (1839–1852), was begun by compiler A ...

''. Vol. VI, 1 (1907), col. 1353-1354. {{Achaemenid rulers 5th-century BC births 4th-century BC deaths 4th-century BC Spartans 4th-century BC monarchs in Asia Vassals of the Achaemenid Empire Ancient Greeks from the Achaemenid Empire Eurypontid dynasty