17 The War of the Two Brothers

W hen we closed the last lecture, the year was 405 B. C., and the brothers Cyrus and Arses were at the bedside of their dying father, King Darius II. Darius preferred his oldest son, Arses, as his successor. But Parysatis, Dariuss wife, favored her younger son, Cyrus. When Darius died in late 405 or early 404 B. C., Arses became king and took the name Artaxerxes, while Cyrus returned to Sardis. There, Cyrus assembled a mercenary force and plotted the assassination of his brother. In this lecture, we focus closely on the struggle between these two brothers. It was a crucial moment when the fate of the empire hung in the balance.