1. A son of Hystaspes and brother of Dareius Hystaspis, who was appointed satrap of Sardis.
In the year B. C. 505, when the Athenians sought the protection of
Persia against Sparta, they sent an embassy to Artaphernes. The satrap answered, that the
desired alliance with Persia could be granted only on condition of their recognizing the
supremacy of king Dareius. When Hippias, the son of Peisistratus, had taken refuge in Asia, he
endeavoured to induce Artaphernes to support his cause, and the Athenians, on being informed
of his machinations, again sent an embassy to Artaphernes, requesting him not to interfere
between them and Hippias. The reply of Artaphernes, that they should suffer no harm if they
would recall their tyrant, shewed the Athenians that they had to hope nothing from Persia. In
B. C. 501, Artaphernes was induced by the brilliant hopes which
Aristagoras of Miletus held out to him, to place, with the king's consent, 200 ships and a
Persian force at the command of Aristagoras, for the purpose of restoring the Naxian exiles to
their country. But the undertaking failed, and Aristagoras, unable to realise his promises,
was driven by fear to cause the insurrection of the Ionians against Persia. When in B. C. 499 Aristagoras and his Athenian allies marched against Sardis,
Artaphernes, not expecting such an attack, withdrew to the citadel, and the town of Sardis
fell into the hands of the Greeks and was burnt. But the Greeks returned, fearing lest they
should be overwhelmed by a Persian army, which might come to the relief of Artaphernes. In the
second year of the Ionian war, B. C. 497, Artaphernes and Otanes
began to attack vigorously the towns of Ionia and Aeolis. Cumae and Clazomenae fell into the
hands of the Persians. Artaphernes was sharp enough to see through the treacherous designs of
Histiaeus, and expressed his suspicions to him at Sardis. The fear of being discovered led
Histiaeus to take to flight. Some letters, which he afterwards addressed to some Persians at
Sardis, who were concerned in his designs, were intercepted, and Artaphernes had all the
guilty Persians put to death. From this time Artaphernes disappears from history, and he seems
to have died soon afterwards. (Hdt. 5.25, 30-32, 100, 123, 6.1, &c.; comp. HIPPIAS, ARISTAGORAS, HISTIAEUS.)