Megabazus (

Old Persian Old Persian is one of two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of the Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native speakers as (I ...

: ''Bagavazdā'' or ''Bagabāzu'', ), son of Megabates, was a highly regarded Persian general under Darius, to whom he was a first-degree cousin. Most of the information about Megabazus comes from '' The Histories'' by

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 ...

Scythian campaign (513 BC)

Megabazus led the army 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 ...

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 Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey t ...

. The Persian troops first subjugated gold-rich

Thrace Thrace (, ; ; ; ) is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe roughly corresponding to the province of Thrace in the Roman Empire. Bounded by the Balkan Mountains to the north, the Aegean Sea to the south, and the Black Se ...

after capturing Perinthos and the coastal Greek cities, and then defeated the powerful Paeonians, many of whom he deported to

Phrygia In classical antiquity, Phrygia ( ; , ''Phrygía'') was a kingdom in the west-central part of Anatolia, in what is now Asian Turkey, centered on the Sangarios River. Stories of the heroic age of Greek mythology tell of several legendary Ph ...

Subjugation of Macedon

Finally, Megabazus sent envoys to Amyntas I, king of

Macedon Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

, demanding acceptance of Persian domination, which the king accepted. Megabazus received the present of " Earth and Water" from Amyntas, which symbolised submission to the Achaemenid Emperor. Amyntas then acted as ''hyparch'' to

. 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 and was based in its capital Daskyleion.

Rivalry with Histiaeus

Megabazus was suspicious of Histiaeus, tyrant of

Miletus Miletus (Ancient Greek: Μίλητος, Mílētos) was an influential ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in present day Turkey. Renowned in antiquity for its wealth, maritime power, and ex ...

, and advised Darius to bring him to the Persian capital of

Susa Susa ( ) was an ancient city in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris, between the Karkheh River, Karkheh and Dez River, Dez Rivers in Iran. One of the most important cities of the Ancient Near East, Susa served as the capital o ...

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).

Family

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

satrap A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median kingdom, Median and Achaemenid Empire, Persian (Achaemenid) Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic period, Hellenistic empi ...

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

Naxos Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as ...

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 ( – 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 ...

* 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