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1

At the close of this year, in Athens Laches was archon and in Rome the consulship was administered by military tribunes, Manius Claudius, Marcus Quinctius, Lucius Julius, Marcus Furius, and Lucius Valerius2; and the Ninety-fifth Olympiad was held, that in which Minos of Athens won the "stadion." [2] This year Artaxerxes, the King of Asia, after his defeat of Cyrus, had dispatched Tissaphernes to take over all the satrapies which bordered on the sea. Consequently the satraps and cities which had allied themselves with Cyrus were in great suspense, lest they should be punished for their offences against the King. [3] Now all the other satraps, sending ambassadors to Tissaphernes, paid court to him and in every way possible arranged their affairs to suit him; but Tamos, the most powerful satrap, who commanded Ionia, put on triremes his possessions and all his sons except one whose name was Glos and who became later commander of the King's armaments. [4] Tamos then, in fear of Tissaphernes, sailed off with his fleet to Egypt and sought safety with Psammetichus, the king of the Egyptians, who was a descendant of the famous Psammetichus.3 Because of a good turn he had done the king in the past, Tamos believed that he would find in him a haven, as it were, from the perils he faced from the King of Persia. [5] But Psammetichus, completely ignoring both the good turn and the hallowed obligation due to suppliants, put to the sword the man who was his suppliant and friend, together with his children, in order to take for his own both Tamos' possessions and his fleet. [6]

When the Greek cities of Asia learned that Tissaphernes was on his way, they were deeply concerned for their future and dispatched ambassadors to the Lacedaemonians, begging them not to allow the cities to be laid waste by the barbarians. The Lacedaemonians promised to come to their aid and sent ambassadors to Tissaphernes to warn him not to commit any acts of aggression against the Greek cities. [7] Tissaphernes, however, advancing with his army against the city of the Cymaeans first, both plundered its entire territory and got possession of many captives; after this he laid siege to the Cymaeans, but on the approach of winter, since he was unable to capture the city, he released the captives for a heavy ransom and raised the siege.

1 400 B.C.

2 Livy (Livy 5.1) gives the names as M. Aemilius Mamercus, L. Valerius Potitus, Ap. Claudius Crassus, M. Quinctilius Varus, L. Iulius Iulus, M. Postumius, M. Furius Camillus, and M. Postumius Albinus.

3 Psammetichus I (664-610 B.C.), the founder of the Twenty-sixth Dynasty, who fostered trade relations with the Greeks (cp.Hdt. 2.151-154).

Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.

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    • Herodotus, Histories, 2.151
    • Livy, The History of Rome, Book 5, 1
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