(Μεγαβάτης.)
1. A Persian of the royal family of the Achaemenidae, cousin of Dareius and of Artaphernes, was appointed by the latter to the command of the expedition sent to assist Aristagoras in the reduction of Naxos; but, in consequence of a quarrel with Aristagoras, Megabates betrayed the object of the expedition to the Naxians, who, thus forewarned, defended themselves successfully. (Hdt. 5.32_34.) According to Herodotus, Pausanias designed to marry the daughter of Megabates; but the letter of Pausanias to Xerxes, as given by Thucydides (1.128), contains an offer to marry the daughter of the king himself.