Megabazus ( Old Persian: ''Bagavazdā'' or ''Bagabāzu'', grc, Μεγαβάζος), son of Megabates, was a highly regarded

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

general under Darius, to whom he was a first-degree cousin. Most of the information about Megabazus comes from '' The Histories'' by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

Scythian campaign (513 BC)

Megabazus led the army of the Persian King Darius I in 513 BC during his European Scythian campaign. After this had to be discontinued without result, Megabazos was left as commander-in-chief of an 80,000-man army in Europe, with the mission of subjugating the Greek cities on the Hellespont. The Persian troops first subjugated gold-rich

Thrace Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to ...

after capturing Perinthos and the coastal Greek cities, and then defeated the powerful

Paeonians Paeonians were an ancient Indo-European people that dwelt in Paeonia. Paeonia was an old country whose location was to the north of Ancient Macedonia, to the south of Dardania, to the west of Thrace and to the east of Illyria, most of their lan ...

, many of whom he deported to Phrygia.

Subjugation of Macedon

Finally, Megabazus sent envoys to Amyntas I, king of

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an Classical antiquity, ancient monarchy, kingdom on the periphery of Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. Th ...

, demanding acceptance of Persian domination, which the king accepted. Megabazus received the present of "

Earth and Water In the writings of the Ancient Greek chronicler Herodotus, the phrase ''earth and water'' ( ''ge kai hydor'') is used to represent the demand by the Persian Empire of formal tribute from the cities or people who surrendered to them. Usage in Her ...

" from Amyntas, which symbolised submission to the Achaemenid Emperor. Amyntas then acted as ''hyparch'' to Darius I. Disagreements arose when the members of the Persian delegation insulting the Macedonians by fraternising with their wives. The Macedonian prince Alexander I reacted to this by murdering several Persian diplomats and their followers. The conflict was later settled with the marriage of one of Megabazus' sons, Bubares, to the Macedonian princess Gygaia, a daughter of Amyntas. After his return to Asia Minor, Megabazus received the governorship of the province (satrapy) of

Hellespontine Phrygia Hellespontine Phrygia ( grc, Ἑλλησποντιακὴ Φρυγία, Hellēspontiakē Phrygia) or Lesser Phrygia ( grc, μικρᾶ Φρυγία, mikra Phrygia) was a Persian satrapy (province) in northwestern Anatolia, directly southeast of ...

and was based in its capital Daskyleion.

Rivalry with Histiaeus

Megabazus was suspicious of

Histiaeus Histiaeus (, died 493 BC), the son of Lysagoras, was a Greek ruler of Miletus in the late 6th century BC. Histiaeus was tyrant of Miletus under Darius I, king of Persia, who had subjugated Miletus and the other Ionian states in Asia Mi ...

, tyrant of Miletus, and advised Darius to bring him to the Persian capital of Susa to keep a closer eye on him. His suspicions turned out to be well founded as Histiaeus provoked a revolt in the town of which he was formally in charge and later sided with the Greeks against Persia. The successor to Megabazus' command was

Otanes (son of Sisamnes) Otanes ( Old Persian: ''Utāna'', grc-gre, Ὀτάνης), son of Sisamnes, was an Achaemenid judge and later Satrap of Ionia during the reign of Darius the Great, circa 500 BC. Career Otanes first replaced his father as judge, when the lat ...

Family

According to Herodotus (Herodotus 6.33) Oebares was a son of Megabazus, and became satrap of Daskyleion (

) in 493 BC. Megabates was another son of Megabazus. He was a commander of the Achaemenid fleet that sailed against

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

in 500/499 BC. He also was Satrap of Daskyleion in the early 470s.Thucydides, 1.129; Herodotus, 5.32-35, 6.32

Sons

* Oebares: became satrap of Daskyleion c. 493 BC * Bubares: managing engineer of the Athos Canal of

Xerxes I Xerxes I ( peo, 𐎧𐏁𐎹𐎠𐎼𐏁𐎠 ; grc-gre, Ξέρξης ; – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, ruling from 486 to 465 BC. He was the son and successor of D ...

* Megabates: Achaemenid fleet commander and satrap of Daskyleion * Pherendates: died c. 485 BC while satrap of Egypt.

Scythian campaign (513 BC)

Subjugation of Macedon

Rivalry with Histiaeus

Family

Sons

References

See also