Artaxerxes - The Fall of the Spartan Hegemony

A scenario for Civilization II: Fantastic Worlds by Stefan Härtel.

Description

Artaxerxes...what a name. Three kings (if you want to look at it that way even four) with this name have taken the throne of the Achaemenid empire. The first one (reigned 465-424) succeeded Xerxes I. (reigned 486-465) and was king when the Pelopponesian war broke out (431 BC). After the Assassination of Xerxes II. in winter 423 BC, Darius II (reigned 423-404) came on the throne. His son, Artaxerxes II (reigned 404-359) had to face many challenges when he took the throne: Egypt has become independent, Phoenecia and northern Asia Minor are no longer under Persian control. But most importantly, his brother, Cyrus, revolted against Artaxerxes, and undertook an expedition with 13000 Greek mercenaries, until being killed himself during the battle of Cunaxa 401 BC (Yes, the Cunaxa that is featured in the 'extra' city list). The Greeks, first under Klearchos, after his death under the leadership of Xenophon travelled back in an adventurous journey through Kurdistan and northern Asia Minor, as Xenophon described in his famous 'Anabasis'.

Artaxerxes had planned to retake Egypt, but these plans did not succeed due to Cyrus' revolt.

Besides fighting against the Spartans in the Corinthian War and defeating them with the help of Athens and Thebes and suppressing some Satrap revolts in the West, nothing more important happened during his reign. Was this a sign of competent leadership? I sincerely don't know, but it seemed to be.

His successor was Artaxerxes III (reigned 359-338), who recaptured Egypt. Not much more is known about his reign. After his death, a man called Arses took the throne as Artaxerxes IV. He was pushed away by his own uncle (I believe, not quite sure), who put Darius III on the throne. Darius killed that man to prevent him taking over too much political power. What happened with Darius III? See my scenario 'Quest for Asia-The conquests of Alexander the Great' about that :).

The Sassanids (the second Persian empire, after about 600 years of foreign rule, the Greeks and Parthians) had 3 kings named Ardaxshir, which is obviously a later form of the name Artaxerxes. Ardaxshir I founded the Sassanid empire. I must admit that I was a little lazy and did not yet care about the Sassanid history, although I am close to understanding it...

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