Tiridates (, ; , ) was a

eunuch A eunuch ( , ) is a male who has been castration, castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2 ...

in the court of the

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the large ...

king

Artaxerxes II Arses (; 445 – 359/8 BC), known by his regnal name Artaxerxes II ( ; ), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 405/4 BC to 358 BC. He was the son and successor of Darius II () and his mother was Parysatis. Soon after his accession, Ar ...

, described as "the most handsome and attractive man in Asia", and the king's lover. He features in

Claudius Aelianus Claudius Aelianus (; ), commonly Aelian (), born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severus and probably outlived Elagabalus, who died in 222. He spoke Greek so fluently that he was called "h ...

's account of Artaxerxes, in his ''Varia Historia'', but is absent in the accounts of a similar time frame of

Xenophon Xenophon of Athens (; ; 355/354 BC) was a Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian. At the age of 30, he was elected as one of the leaders of the retreating Ancient Greek mercenaries, Greek mercenaries, the Ten Thousand, who had been ...

and

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'', ...

. Scholars generally believe some of the later writers were referencing different, earlier accounts of events that are now lost. The historian

wrote in his ''Varia Historia'' that Tiridates died young, "barely more than a child", and Artaxerxes was inconsolable at the loss. A favored concubine,

Aspasia of Phocaea Aspasia () of Phocaea, daughter of Hermotimus, was carried away from her country to be in the harem of the Achaemenid prince Cyrus the Younger, who so admired her beauty and her superior qualities of mind and character that he made her his favorite ...

, soothed the king by consoling him while

cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes traditionally or stereotypically associated with a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and express onesel ...

in Tiridates's clothing. Artaxerxes asked her to visit him in Tiridates's clothing until his grief had been healed. There was a different, unrelated Tiridates, also a eunuch, who was a royal treasurer at Perseopolis, who was asked to betray that city to Alexander the Great, but refused.

References

{{DGRBM, author=WS, title= Tiridates (1) , volume=3, page=1152, url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/acl3129.0003.001/1160 Eunuchs 5th-century BC Iranian people 5th-century BC deaths