Artasyrus

Artasyrus (also spelled Artasouras; Old Iranian: Arta-sūra) was a Bactrian nobleman in the Achaemenid Empire, who was the father of Orontes I (died 344 BC), the satrap of the Armenia and ancestor of the Orontid dynasty.^[1] The career of Artasyrus is obscure.^[2] According to the Greek historian Plutarch, he held the high-ranking office of the "King's Eye".^[3] He has been suggested be the same person as the namesake Iranian noble who participated in the Battle of Cunaxa in 401 BC.^[3] He and Orontes I are the only Bactrians who are known to have occupied high offices under the Achaemenid Empire.^[3] Bactrians that settled in other parts of the empire either did so by their own will or as garrison-colonists.^[4]

References

1. Facella 2021.
2. Osborne 1973, p. 520.
3. Boyce & Grenet 1991, p. 310.
4. Briant 2002, p. 751.

Sources

• Boyce, Mary; Grenet, Frantz (1991). Beck, Roger (ed.). A History of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrianism under Macedonian and Roman Rule. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-9004293915.
• Briant, Pierre (2002). From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1575060316.
• Facella, Margherita (2021). "Orontids". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica (Online ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.
• Osborne, Michael J. (1973). "Orontes". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte. 22 (4): 515–551. ISSN 0018-2311. JSTOR 4435366.
• Schmitt, Rüdiger (2002). "Orontes". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica (Online ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.