Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Series Editor’s Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- Dedication
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Ctesias (a)
- 3 Ctesias (b)
- 4 Deinon (a)
- 5 Deinon (b)
- 6 Heracleides
- 7 Conclusions
- Appendix I Two Notes on the Cypriot War
- Appendix II Plutarch, the Persica and the Regum et Imperatorum Apophthegmata
- Bibliography
- Index
Appendix I - Two Notes on the Cypriot War
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 November 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Series Editor’s Preface
- List of Abbreviations
- Dedication
- 1 Introduction
- 2 Ctesias (a)
- 3 Ctesias (b)
- 4 Deinon (a)
- 5 Deinon (b)
- 6 Heracleides
- 7 Conclusions
- Appendix I Two Notes on the Cypriot War
- Appendix II Plutarch, the Persica and the Regum et Imperatorum Apophthegmata
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
WAS TIRIBAZUS PRESENT AT THE BATTLE OF CITIUM?
The question whether Tiribazus was present at the scene of the naval Battle of Citium, in which Artaxerxes defeated Evagoras of Salamis, has bearing on the issue of his presence in another place where he may have been employed for his diplomatic skills, namely, the Cadusian Campaign. One notes that there is something interestingly disconcerting about the accounts we have of the battle.
Diodorus (15.2.2) first calls Tiribazus ‘a commander of the fleet’ (στρατηγοὺς δ᾽ ἀπέδϵιζϵ τῆς πϵζῆς δυνάμϵως Ὀρόνταν κηδϵστήν, τῆς δὲ ναυτικῆς Τιρίβαζον; ‘as commanders he [Artaxerxes] chose for the land force his son-in-law Orontes, and for the naval Tiribazus’). Soon, however (15.3.2), it is Glos, Tiribazus’ son-in-law (cf. 15.9.3), who is called the ‘naval commander’ (ὁ τῆς ναυτικῆς δυνάμϵως ἡγούμϵνος, ὀνομαζόμϵνος δὲ Γƛῶς; ‘leader of the naval armament, known as Glos’) and who suppresses a mutiny. Again, Tiribazus is the supreme commander after the Battle of Citium (15.8.1: τῶν ὅƛων ἔχων τὴν ἡγϵμονίαν). Some scholars believe that this discrepancy can be solved by postulating that there was a division of powers between the two persons.
Nevertheless, there may be a different interpretation. The two were probably commanders, but not at the same time; Tiribazus was not at all present during the preparations leading to the sea battle of Citium, and during the actual clash. He only arrived in Cyprus after the defeat of Evagoras to negotiate the terms of capitulation, and then assumed supreme command.This may be gathered from the other source we have of this event, namely Thopompus, or rather the summary made by Photius to book 12 of his Philippica (FGrH 115 F 103 = Bibl. cod. 176 p. 120 a 25–34):
(6) how he began to make war more vigorously against Evagoras, and about the sea-fight at Cyprus … (9) how Tiribazus made war, how he plotted against Evagoras, and how Evagoras denounced him to the king and got him arrested with the complicity of Orontes.
(6) ὅπως τϵ πρὸς Εὐαγόραν ἐπικρατέστϵρον ἐποƛέμϵι, καὶ πϵρὶ τῆς ἐν Κύπρῳ ναυμαχίας… (9) καὶ ὡς Τιρίβαζος ἐποƛέμησϵν, ὅπως τϵ Εὐαγόρᾳ ἐπϵβούƛϵυσϵν, ὅπως τϵ αὐτὸν Εὐαγόρας πρὸς βασιƛέα διαβαƛὼν συνέƛαβϵ μϵτ’ Ὀρόντου.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Plutarch and the Persica , pp. 263 - 268Publisher: Edinburgh University PressPrint publication year: 2018