The Middle East: 477–334 BCE

Persian Dominance and the Path to Hellenization

Achaemenid Rule and Administrative Stability

The Achaemenid Persian Empire continues to exercise considerable influence across the Middle East from 477 to 334 BCE, achieving significant territorial and administrative sophistication despite earlier setbacks such as the Greco-Persian Wars. Persian control remains effective over a vast region including Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt, and parts of Central Asia. Cultural inclusivity, economic vitality, and innovative governance methods initiated by Cyrus and Darius are sustained, reinforcing the empire’s enduring stability.

Artaxerxes’ Reign and Internal Challenges

Under the successive reigns of Artaxerxes I (465–424 BCE) and Artaxerxes II (404–358 BCE), internal factionalism and provincial rebellions periodically challenge Persian authority. Revolts in Egypt and Cyprus demand repeated Persian military intervention, reflecting the complexity and vastness of imperial governance. Despite such disruptions, the robust Persian infrastructure, including the extensive road network, effectively mitigates these threats by enabling rapid administrative and military responses.

Phoenician Maritime Dominance

Phoenician cities, vital components of the Persian naval and economic power, significantly bolster Persian dominance in maritime trade. Tyre emerges as a crucial economic hub, renowned for its purple dye and luxury textiles, widely distributed across the Persian Empire and the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians also supply critical naval assets, maintaining Persian military strength at sea.

Evagoras and Cypriot Autonomy

Cyprus maintains a distinctive degree of autonomy during this period, primarily through its culturally Greek-oriented city-kingdoms, especially Salamis under King Evagoras (411–374 BCE). Evagoras unifies the Cypriot kingdoms, promotes Greek culture, introduces the Greek alphabet to replace the Cypriot syllabary, and initially maintains friendly ties with Persia, even securing Persian support for Athens against Sparta in 394 BCE. However, relations deteriorate, leading to conflict. Following his naval defeat at the Battle of Citium in 381 BCE, Evagoras negotiates a peace in 376 BCE, retaining nominal kingship under Persian oversight. His assassination in 374 BCE ends a notable reign marked by cultural advancement and regional influence.

Technological and Cultural Innovations

Persian rule fosters significant technological and scientific advancements, including improvements in mercury amalgamation techniques that enhance metalworking and mining. Persian engineering expertise is evident in the sophisticated architecture at Persepolis and other regional capitals, demonstrating a fusion of diverse cultural influences under Persian governance.

Decline of Persian Power and Macedonian Ascendancy

By the mid-fourth century BCE, Persian influence wanes, paving the way for the ascendancy of Macedon under Philip II (359–336 BCE). His son, Alexander the Great (336–323 BCE), initiates ambitious military campaigns against Persian territories. Alexander decisively defeats Persian forces in battles such as Granicus (334 BCE), significantly shifting the geopolitical balance and accelerating the decline of Achaemenid rule.

Cultural Legacy and Transition to Hellenism

The era concludes with rapid Hellenization, marked by extensive cultural exchanges and integration of Greek and Persian traditions. Persian governance structures, cultural innovations, and economic achievements deeply influence subsequent civilizations. Alexander’s expansive vision ushers in a new Hellenistic age, dramatically reshaping the cultural and political landscape of the Middle East and embedding a lasting legacy of Persian influence.

The imperial court of the Achaemenids is beset by factionalism among the lateral family branches by the time Xerxes' successor, Artaxerxes I, dies in 424 BCE, a condition that will persist until the death in 330 BCE of the last of the Achaemenians, Darius III, at the hands of his own subjects.

The Middle East: 465–454 BCE

Intrigue and Rebellion in the Persian Empire

Following the military setbacks in the Greek campaign, Xerxes I retreats to his palatial comforts, immersing himself in lavish architectural projects, notably at Persepolis. His reign, however, ends abruptly in 465 BCE when he is assassinated by Artabanus, his chief minister. This conspiracy also results in the murder of Xerxes’ elder son, Darius, leaving the throne to his younger son, who ascends as Artaxerxes I.

Known to the Greeks as Macrocheir ("Longhand"), Artaxerxes I establishes himself at Susa, the administrative heart of his vast empire. His early reign is fraught with palace intrigue and immediate challenges to his authority. Rebellions flare up in distant provinces, particularly in Bactria and Egypt, regions vital to the empire’s economic and strategic stability.

Suppressing these revolts demands significant military engagement, highlighting ongoing tensions between the Persian center and its peripheral territories. Despite these challenges, Artaxerxes manages to reassert Persian dominance, though at considerable cost, setting the stage for a period of uneasy stability marked by cautious governance and persistent regional discontent.

Xerxes, who had retired to his harem after the debacle in the west and devoted his energies to building palaces at Persepolis, is assassinated in 465 by Artabanus, his chief minister; his younger son succeeds him as Artaxerxes I (his elder brother, Darius, having been also murdered).

Artaxerxes, called by the Greeks Macrocheir (Longhand) spends most of his time at Susa.

Court intrigues at the beginning of Artaxerxes’ reign are followed by revolts in the provinces of Bactria and Egypt, which the Persians suppress after considerable fighting.

Court intrigues at the beginning of Artaxerxes’ reign are followed by revolts in the provinces of Bactria and Egypt, which the Persians suppress after considerable fighting.

The Athenian politician and general Themistocles has lived at Argos for some years, during which democracy has made headway in some parts of the Peloponnese.

Sparta then accused him of complicity in alleged intrigues with Persia.

Themistocles' alleged association with the discredited Pausanias, combined with his status as a suspected Persian sympathizer, led to a charge of treason, for which he was condemned to death in 464 BCE.

Making a sensational escape to Ephesus and thence to the Persian court, he began to learn Persian.

At the Achaemenid court, Themistocles met with Artaxerxes and received fiefs from the king in exchange for his loyalty, and retires to …

…one of them, Magnesia ad Maeandrum, a flourishing coastal city of Ionia founded by Aeolian immigrants from northern Greece.

Inarus, the son of a Libyan prince named Psamtik, presumably of the old Saite line, holds a kingship over the Libyans from Mareia (above Pharos) and the part of the Nile Delta around Sais.

With help from Amyrtaeus, also from Sais, who takes the northern marshes, Inarus drives out the tax-collectors and collects mercenaries, thus starting a revolt in Egypt during the reign of King Artaxerxes I of Persia after the assassination of King Xerxes I.

The Athenian allies, from whom Inarus is paid one hundred triers, send troops and an army of more than two hundred ships led by Charitimides to aid him in 460 BCE.

The rebel army had confronted the Persian army of around four hundred thousand infantry and eighty ships led by the brother of Artaxerxes, the satrap Achaemenes, who, together with one hundred thousand of his four hundred thousand men, is defeated and killed at Pampremis.

The Persians retreat to Memphis.

The commanders of the Athenian fleet, Charitimides and Cimon, fight a naval battle with the Persians, in which forty Greek ships engage fifty Persians ships, of which twenty are captured with their crews, and the remaining thirty sunk.

To show that their victory is complete, the rebels send the dead body of satrap Achaemenes to the Persian king.

The Greek task force had achieved initial successes, but they have been unable to capture the Persian garrison in Memphis despite a three-year long siege.