(Ὀροντοβάτης.)
1. A Persian, who married the daughter of Pixodarus, the usurping satrap of Caria, and was sent by the king to succeed him. On the approach of Alexander (B. C. 334) Orontobates and Memnon [MEMNON] entrenched themselves in Halicarnassus. But at last, despairing of defending it, they set fire to the town, and under cover of the conflagration crossed over to Cos, whither they had previously removed their treasures. Orontes, however, still held the citadel Salmacis, and the towns Myndus, Caunus, Thera, and Callipolis, together with Triopium and the island of Cos. Next year, when at Soli, Alexander learnt that Orontobates had been defeated in a great battle by Ptolemaeus and Asander. It is natural to infer that the places which Orontobates held did not long hold out after his defeat. (Arrian, 1.23, ii. $sect; 7; Curt. 3.7.4.)
An officer of the name of Orontobates was present in the army of Dareius at the battle of Gaugamela, being one of the commanders of the troops drawn from the shores of the Persian Gulf. (Arrian, 3.8.8.) Whether he was the same or a different person froin the prcc ding, we have no means of knowing. We are not told that the latter was killed as well as defeated.