Agesilaus II was king of Sparta from c. 400 to c. 360 BC. Generally considered the most important king in the history of Sparta, Agesilaus was the main actor during the period of Spartan hegemony that followed the Peloponnesian War. Although brave in combat, Agesilaus lacked the diplomatic skills to preserve Sparta's position, especially against the rising power of Thebes, which reduced Sparta to a secondary power after its victory at Leuctra in 371 BC.
Mausolus was a ruler of Caria and a satrap of the Achaemenid Empire. He enjoyed the status of king or dynast by virtue of the powerful position created by his father Hecatomnus, who was the first satrap of Caria from the hereditary Hecatomnid dynasty. Alongside Caria, Mausolus also ruled Lycia and parts of Ionia and the Dodecanese islands. He is best known for his monumental tomb and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the construction of which has traditionally been ascribed to his wife and sister Artemisia.
Arses, known by his regnal name Artaxerxes II, was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 405/4 BC to 358 BC. He was the son and successor of Darius II and his mother was Parysatis.
Pharnabazus II was a Persian soldier and statesman, and Satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia. He was the son of Pharnaces II of Phrygia and grandson of Pharnabazus I, and great-grandson of Artabazus I. He and his male ancestors, forming the Pharnacid dynasty, had governed the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia from its headquarters at Dascylium since 478 BC. He married Apama, daughter of Artaxerxes II of Persia, and their son Artabazus also became a satrap of Phrygia. According to some accounts, his granddaughter Barsine may have become Alexander the Great's concubine.
The Battle of Mantinea was fought on 4 July 362 BC between the Thebans, led by Epaminondas and supported by the Arcadians, Argives, Messenians, Thessalians, and the Boeotian league against the Spartans, led by King Agesilaus II and supported by the Eleans, Athenians, Euboeans, and Mantineans. The battle was to determine which of the two alliances would dominate Greece. However, the death of Epaminondas and his intended successors would cost Thebes the military leadership and initiative to maintain Theban supremacy in the region. Similarly, the Spartans were weakened by yet another defeat and loss of troops. Epaminondas' death coupled with the impact on the Spartans of yet another defeat weakened both alliances, and paved the way for Macedonian conquest led by Philip II of Macedon.
Evagoras or Euagoras was the king of Salamis in Cyprus, known especially from the work of Isocrates, who presents him as a model ruler.
Charidemus, of Oreus in Euboea, was an ancient Greek mercenary leader of the 4th century BC. He had a complicated relationship with Athens, sometimes aiding the city in its efforts to secure its interests in the northern Aegean, sometimes working against it. He was castigated by Demosthenes in his oration Against Aristocrates for repeated treacherous actions toward Athens, yet later he received Athenian citizenship and was elected one of its generals. In this capacity he ran afoul of Alexander III of Macedon and was ordered into banishment after the destruction of Thebes in 335. He retired to Persia, where he was first honored by the Great King, but was later executed after sneering at the quality of the Persian army.
Mithridates of Cius a Persian noble, succeeded his kinsman or father Ariobarzanes II in 337 BCE as ruler of the Greek town of Cius in Mysia. Diodorus assigns him a rule of thirty-five years, but it appears that his rule of Cius was interrupted during that period. What circumstances led to his expulsion or subjection are unknown; nothing is heard of him until his death in 302 BCE. However, it appears that he had submitted to the Macedonian Antigonus, who, to prevent him from joining the league of Cassander and his confederates, arranged for his assassination in Cius.
Ariobarzanes a Persian noble, succeeded his kinsman or father, Mithridates or alternatively succeeded another Ariobarzanes I of Cius, as ruler of the Greek city of Cius in Mysia, governing for 26 years between 363 BC and 337 BC for the Persian king. It is believed that it was he and his family which in mid-360s BC revolted from the rule of the Persian king Artaxerxes II, but ended up in defeat by 362 BC. He was succeeded as governor of Cius by Mithridates, possibly his son or possibly a kinsman such as a younger brother.
Mithridates, son of Ariobarzanes prince of Cius, is mentioned by Xenophon as having betrayed his father, and the same circumstance is alluded to by Aristotle.
Ariobarzanes, sometimes known as Ariobarzanes I of Cius, was a Persian Satrap of Phrygia and military commander, leader of an independence revolt, and the first known of the line of rulers of the Greek town of Cius who eventually were to stem the kings of Pontus in the 3rd century BCE. Ariobarzanes was apparently a cadet member of the Achaemenid dynasty, possibly son of Pharnabazus II, and part of the Pharnacid dynasty which had settled to hold Dascylium of Hellespont in the 470s BCE. Cius is located near Dascylium, and Cius seemingly was a share of family holdings for the branch of Ariobarzanes.
Datames, also known as Tarkamuwa, was an Iranian military leader, who served as the governor (satrap) of the Achaemenid satrapy of Cappadocia from the 380s BC to 362 BC. A Carian by birth, he was the son of Camissares by a Paphlagonian mother. His father being satrap of Cilicia under Artaxerxes II, and high in the favour of that monarch, Datames became one of the king's bodyguards; and having in this capacity distinguished himself in the war against the Cadusii, was appointed to succeed his father in the government of his province. Here he distinguished himself both by his military abilities and his zeal in the service of the king; and reduced to subjection two officials who had revolted from Artaxerxes, Thyus, governor of Paphlagonia, and Aspis of Cataonia.
Autophradates was a Persian Satrap of Lydia, who also distinguished himself as a general in the reign of Artaxerxes III and Darius III.
Artabazos II was a Persian general and satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia. He was the son of the Persian satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia Pharnabazus II, and younger kinsman of Ariobarzanes of Phrygia who revolted against Artaxerxes III around 356 BC. His first wife was an unnamed Greek woman from Rhodes, sister of the two mercenaries Mentor of Rhodes and Memnon of Rhodes. Towards the end of his life, he became satrap of Bactria for Alexander the Great.
Chares of Athens was a 4th-century BC Athenian military commander (Strategos), who for a number of years was one of Athens's foremost commanders. He was also a well connected politician enabling him to procure the commands he desired, commands he primarily used to enrich himself and his adherents.
The Orontid dynasty, also known as the Eruandids or Eruandunis, ruled the Satrapy of Armenia until 330 BC and the Kingdom of Armenia from 321 BC to 200 BC. The Orontids ruled first as client kings or satraps of the Achaemenid Empire and after the collapse of the Achaemenid Empire established an independent kingdom. Later, a branch of the Orontids ruled as kings of Sophene and Commagene. They are the first of the three royal dynasties that successively ruled the ancient Kingdom of Armenia.
Ariaeus was a Persian general who fought alongside Cyrus the Younger at the Battle of Cunaxa and later was involved in the assassination of Tissaphernes.
Orontes I was a military officer of the Achaemenid Empire and satrap of Armenia at the end of the 5th-century BC and first half of the 4th-century BC. He is notable for having led the unsuccessful Great Satraps' Revolt in Asia Minor against the Achaemenids from 362/1 BC to 360/359 BC.
Rheomithres was a Persian noble. He was father of several children, including Phrasaortes whom Alexander the Great appointed satrap of Persis in 330 BC. He joined in the Great Satraps' Revolt of the western Persian provinces from Artaxerxes II, in 362 BC, and was employed by his confederates to go to Tachos, pharaoh of Egypt, for aid. He came back with 500 talents and 50 warships and he is supposed to have left his wife and his children to Tachos as a guarantee for his assistance. Nevertheless, Rheomithres betrayed the rebels and he invited a number of them in a meeting. On their arrival, he arrested them, and despatched them in chains to Artaxerxes to receive the bounties, thus making his own peace at court. Rheomithres took part in the battle of the Granicus, in 334 BC, where he was in command of a body of 2,000 cavalry on the right wing, between 1,000 Medes and 2,000 Bactrians. He survived the battle and the next year he joined Darius at the battle of Issus, where he lost his life.
