Menostanes (; died 423 BC) was a Persian prince, son of Artarius, the

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 ...

Babylonia Babylonia (; , ) was an Ancient history, ancient Akkadian language, Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Kuwait, Syria and Iran). It emerged as a ...

and thus nephew of king

Artaxerxes I Artaxerxes I (, ; ) was the fifth King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, from 465 to December 424 BC. He was the third son of Xerxes I. In Greek sources he is also surnamed "Long-handed" ( ''Makrókheir''; ), allegedly because his ri ...

. Around 445 BC he commanded the Persian army against the rebel satrap Megabyzus, but was defeated as was the previous commander, Usiris. A peace was signed c. 444 BC with Megabyzus after negotiations in which his father Artarius took part. Artaxerxes I died in 423 BC and was succeeded by his son Xerxes II, who, 45 days later, was murdered by his half-brother Sogdianus, Menostanes and the eunuch Pharnacyas. Sogdianus became king and named Menostanes as his prime minister and chief of the army. However, Sogdianus was later defeated and put to death by Ochus, a brother of Xerxes II, who took the throne and changed his name to

Darius II Darius II ( ; ), also known by his given name Ochus ( ), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 423 BC to 405 or 404 BC. Following the death of Artaxerxes I, in 424 BC or 423 BC, there was a struggle for power between his sons. The vic ...

. Pharnacyas was stoned to death and Menostanes committed suicide. Apart from

Ctesias Ctesias ( ; ; ), also known as Ctesias of Cnidus, was a Greek physician and historian from the town of Cnidus in Caria, then part of the Achaemenid Empire. Historical events Ctesias, who lived in the fifth century BC, was physician to the Acha ...

, there are no classical sources on Menostanes, but he appears to be mentioned in some

cuneiform Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...

tablets of the Murashu family from the Babylonian city of

Nippur Nippur (Sumerian language, Sumerian: ''Nibru'', often logogram, logographically recorded as , EN.LÍLKI, "Enlil City;"I. E. S. Edwards, C. J. Gadd, N. G. L. Hammond, ''The Cambridge Ancient History: Prolegomena & Prehistory'': Vol. 1, Part 1, Ca ...

, in which he is called ''Manuštånu''. The Murashu Archive suggests that Menostanes owned large estates near Nippur. In 423 BC, Menostanes' domains passed to ''Artahšar'', who has been identified with Artoxares, a supporter of Darius II.

Classical references

, 41, 48, 49, 5

Bibliography

*Dandamaev, M: ''A Political History of the Achaemenid Empire'' (1989). *Donbaz, V., & Stolper, M.:
Gleanings from Muraßû Texts in the Collections of the Istanbul Archaeological Museums
, in ''NABU'' 1993. *Lendering, J.:

", in https://www.livius.org/ *Lendering, J.:

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921075535/https://www.livius.org/x/xerxes/xerxes_ii.html , date=2013-09-21 ", in http://www.livius.org 5th-century BC people Achaemenid princes 423 BC deaths Year of birth missing