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Tissaphernes Executed at Colossae

395 BCE · Classical Antiquity

PoliticsWar

Persian satrap Tissaphernes was executed at Colossae in southwestern Anatolia by order of King Artaxerxes II, carried out by the royal envoy Tithraustes. Tissaphernes had commanded Persian forces in Asia Minor against the Spartan campaign of King Agesilaus II, suffering reverses including a defeat near Sardis in late summer 395 BCE. Tithraustes summoned him to Colossae under pretense of consultation and beheaded him there. Tithraustes assumed his post as senior Lydian satrap and shifted Persian strategy toward subsidizing the anti-Spartan Greek coalition, contributing to the Corinthian War.

Key Figures

Artaxerxes IITissaphernesTithraustes

Locations

Colossae

Topics

LydiaSuccessionexecutionAchaemenid EmpiretreacherySpartan-Persian War

Connected Events — 1 Connection

Tissaphernes's pattern of using diplomatic pretext to eliminate adversaries — demonstrated here in his murder of the Greek generals at parley — contributed to his own execution six years later, when Artaxerxes II's envoy Tithraustes used a similar consultation summons to lure him to Colossae and behead him following Persian reverses against the Spartan campaign in Asia Minor. Tissaphernes Murders the Greek Generals at Parley

401 BCE · War · Classical Antiquity

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