Artabanus (son of Hystaspes)

{{Short description|Brother of and advisor to Achaemenid king Darius I}}

{{other uses|Artabanus (disambiguation)}}

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File:Achaemenid lineage (extended).jpg (Achaemenid lineage according to Darius the Great in the Behistun inscription).]]

File:Artabanus and the Ghost.jpg, Artabanus saw a ghost enjoining him to allow the invasion of Greece.{{cite book |last1=Abbott |first1=Jacob |title=The Jacob Abbott History Collection Xerxes |date=2018 |publisher=Charles River Editors |isbn=9781537825588 |page=Frontispice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vV5aDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1135 |language=en}}|left]]

Artabanus was a son of Hystaspes, and therefore brother of Darius I as well as uncle of Xerxes I.{{cite book |last1=Kuhrt |first1=Amélie |title=The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136016943 |page=309 Note 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bb7eH1LHRcAC&pg=PA309 |language=en}}

Artabanus had a reputation for great wisdom.{{cite book |last1=Dymock |first1=John |last2=Dymock |first2=Thomas |title=Bibliotheca Classica: Or, A Classical Dictionary ... Containing an ... Account of the Proper Names ... in Greek and Latin Authors, Relating to History, Biography, Mythology, Geography, and Antiquities |date=1833 |publisher=Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSMQAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA109 |language=en}} Artabanus is known to have advised his brother Darius I against the Achaemenid campaign against the Scythians, saying that the Scythians were "impossible to deal with", but he wasn't heard, and the invasion proceeded, but was ultimately unsuccessful as Artabanus had predicted.{{cite book |last1=Kuhrt |first1=Amélie |title=The Persian Empire: A Corpus of Sources from the Achaemenid Period |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136016943 |page=195 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bb7eH1LHRcAC&pg=PA195 |language=en}}

According to Herodotus, Artabanus saw a ghost enjoining him to allow the invasion of Greece, which decided both him and Xerxes to launch the invasion without delay.{{cite book |last1=Abbott |first1=Jacob |title=The Jacob Abbott History Collection Xerxes |date=2018 |publisher=Charles River Editors |isbn=9781537825588 |page=Frontispice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vV5aDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1135 |language=en }}{{Dead link|date=September 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

According to Herodotus, Artabanus had a son named Artyphius, who became a general of Xerxes I in the Second Persian invasion of Greece (480-479 BC). Artyphius was in charge of the Gandharian and Dadicae contingents of the Achaemenid army."The Parthians and Chorasmians had for their commander Artabazus son of Pharnaces, the Sogdians Azanes son of Artaeus, the Gandarians and Dadicae Artyphius son of Artabanus." in Herodotus [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Herodotus/7B*.html VII 64-66] Artyphius therefore seems to have been a cousin of Xerxes I.{{cite book |title=Cambridge Ancient History |date=1924 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521228046 |page=209 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nNDpPqeDjo0C&pg=PA209 |language=en}}