Ariabignes (, ) was one of the sons of the Persian king

Darius I Darius I ( ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his death in 486 BCE. He ruled the empire at its territorial peak, when it included much of West A ...

and his mother was a daughter of Gobryas (). He participated in the

Second Persian invasion of Greece The second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC) occurred during the Greco-Persian Wars, as King Xerxes I of Persia sought to conquer all of Greece. The invasion was a direct, if delayed, response to the defeat of the first Persian invasi ...

, as one of the four admirals of the fleet of his brother

Xerxes I Xerxes I ( – August 465 BC), commonly known as Xerxes the Great, was a List of monarchs of Persia, Persian ruler who served as the fourth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 486 BC until his assassination in 465 BC. He was ...

, and was killed in the

Battle of Salamis The Battle of Salamis ( ) was a naval battle fought in 480 BC, between an alliance of Greek city-states under Themistocles, and the Achaemenid Empire under King Xerxes. It resulted in a victory for the outnumbered Greeks. The battle was fou ...

in 480 BC. Ariabignes was the commander of the

Caria Caria (; from Greek language, Greek: Καρία, ''Karia''; ) was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia (Mycale) south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Carians were described by Herodotus as being Anatolian main ...

n and Ionian forces.

Life

Plutarch Plutarch (; , ''Ploútarchos'', ; – 120s) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo (Delphi), Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''Parallel Lives'', ...

calls him, Ariamenes (),Plutarch ''Parallel Lives'' "Themistocles", 14 and speaks of him as a brave man and the most just of the brothers of Xerxes. The same writer relates that this Ariamenes laid claim to the throne on the death of Darius, as the eldest of his sons, but was opposed by Xerxes, who maintained that he had a right to the crown as the eldest of the sons born after Darius had become king. The Persians appointed Artabanus to decide the dispute; and upon his declaring in favour of Xerxes, Ariamenes immediately saluted his brother as king, and was treated by him with great respect. According to

Herodotus Herodotus (; BC) was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus (now Bodrum, Turkey), under Persian control in the 5th century BC, and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He wrote the '' Histori ...

Herodotus vii. 2 who calls the eldest son of Darius, Artabazanes (), this dispute, and its resolution, occurred while Darius I was still alive. Plutarch also says that the men who killed him, during the Battle of Salamis, were Ameinias of

Decelea Decelea (, ), ''Dekéleia''), was a deme and ancient village in northern Attica serving as a trade route connecting Euboea with Athens, Greece. It was situated near the entrance of the eastern pass across Mount Parnes, which leads from the north ...

(according to Herodotus he was from Pallene) and Socles () of Pallene, when they hit him with their spears while he was trying to board on their ship and threw his body to the sea. In addition, he says that it was Artemisia who recognized his body floating among the shipwrecks and brought it back to Xerxes.

References

Sources

* *

, '' The Histories'' *

, Parallel Lives, Themistocles {{Authority control Battle of Artemisium Battle of Salamis Admirals of the Achaemenid Empire Persian people of the Greco-Persian Wars Family of Darius the Great 5th-century BC Iranian people 480 BC deaths