Tissaphernes Murders the Greek Generals at Parley
401 BCE · Classical Antiquity
After the Cunaxa stalemate in late 401 BCE, the satrap Tissaphernes negotiated a truce promising to escort the leaderless Greek army home. Three weeks into the joint march, near the Greater Zab river in northern Mesopotamia, he invited the five Greek generals — Clearchus, Proxenus, Menon, Agias, and Socrates of Achaea — to a parley to resolve growing tensions. The generals entered his tent with twenty captains and a small bodyguard. At a prearranged signal Persian troops slaughtered the escort outside; the generals were arrested, sent to Artaxerxes, and executed. The Ten Thousand were stranded leaderless deep within Achaemenid territory.
Key Figures
Clearchus of SpartaTissaphernesProxenus of BoeotiaMenon the Thessalian
Locations
Greater Zab River
Topics
diplomacyAncient GreeceexecutionAchaemenid Empiremercenariestreachery
Connected Events — 2 Connections
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 Executed at Colossae
Cyrus's death in this battle stranded approximately 10,000 Greek mercenaries 1,000 miles from home with no patron; Tissaphernes exploited the resulting leadership vacuum within weeks by inviting their senior commanders to a parley at the Greater Zab and murdering them. Battle of Cunaxa
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