Tennes

{{Short description|4th-century BC Phoenician king of Sidon}}

{{for-multi|the Greek hero|Tenes|the 5th century king of Sidon|Tabnit}}

{{Infobox military person

| name = Tennes

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| image = PHOENICIA, Sidon. Tennes. Circa 351-347 BC.jpg

| caption = Coinage of Sidon, dated 351/0 BC. Phoenician pentekonter sailing left. Date above (here faint), waves below. King of Persia standing right, holding up lion by lock of mane; Aramaic letters taw and ayin between.

|image_size = 300

| allegiance = Achaemenid Empire

|serviceyears = Circa 351-346 BC

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| rank = King of Sidon

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| battles_label =

| battles = Revolt against the Achaemenid Empire

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}}

{{Location map

| West Asia

| width = 300px

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| caption = The capital of Tennet was Sidon.

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| relief = yes

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| label = Sidon

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| position = bottom

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| lat_deg = 33.560556

| lon_deg = 35.398056

}}

File:Protome from Eshmun Sanctuary.jpg found in Sidon gives testimony of the Aecheminid rule and influence. Marble, 5th century BC]]

File:Tennes coin from Sidon.jpg

Tennes ({{Langx|grc|Τέννης}};Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica, 16.42–16.45 Tabnit II in the Phoenician language{{cite book |last1=Stronk |first1=Jan |title=Semiramis' Legacy: The History of Persia According to Diodorus of Sicily |date=2016 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=9781474414265 |page=259 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sC1WDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA259 |language=en}}) was a King of Sidon under the Achaemenid Empire, who ruled the Phoenician city-state of Sidon from ({{reign|c. 351|c. 346 BC}}),{{Sfn|Elayi|2006}} having been associated in power by his father since the 380s.Sagona, C. (ed.), Beyond the Homeland: Markers in Phoenician Chronology (Leuven, 2008), p. 105 It remains uncertain whether his known heir and successor, Tennes, was his son or some other close relative.Sagona, C. (ed.), Beyond the Homeland: Markers in Phoenician Chronology (Leuven, 2008), p. 106

His predecessor was Abdashtart I (in Greek, Straton I),{{cite book|last=Markoe|first=Glenn|title=Phoenicians |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=smPZ-ou74EwC&pg=PA58|year=2000|publisher=U of California P|isbn=9780520226142|pages=58–}} the son of Baalshillem II

Rebellion of Sidon against the Achaemenid Empire

Soon after the failure of the Egyptian campaign of the Achaemenid ruler Artaxerxes III, the Phoenicians declared their independence from Persian rule. This was also followed by rulers of Anatolia and Cyprus. Artaxerxes initiated a counter-offensive against Sidon by commanding the satrap of Syria Belesys and Mazaeus, the satrap of Cilicia, to invade the city and to keep the Phoenicians in check.{{cite book |last1=Heckel |first1=Waldemar |title=Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire |date=2008 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=9781405154697 |page=172 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NR4Wn9VU8vkC&pg=PT172 |language=en}} Both satraps suffered crushing defeats at the hands of Tennes, who was aided by 4,000 Greek mercenaries sent to him by Nectanebo II and commanded by Mentor of Rhodes.{{cite book |last1=Gershevitch |first1=I. |last2=Fisher |first2=William Bayne |title=The Cambridge History of Iran |date=1985 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521200912 |page=385 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BBbyr932QdYC&pg=PA385 |language=en}} As a result, the Persian forces were driven out of Phoenicia.{{cite web |url=http://persianempire.info/ArtaxerxesIII.htm |title=Artaxerxes III Ochus (358 BC to 338 BC)|accessdate=March 2, 2008}}

After this, Artaxerxes personally led an army of 330,000 men against Sidon. Artaxerxes' army comprised 300,000 foot soldiers, 30,000 cavalry, 300 triremes, and 500 transports or provision ships. After gathering this army, he sought assistance from the Greeks. Though refused aid by Athens and Sparta, he succeeded in obtaining a thousand Theban heavily-armed hoplites under Lacrates, three thousand Argives under Nicostratus, and six thousand Æolians, Ionians, and Dorians from the Greek cities of Anatolia. This Greek support was numerically small, amounting to no more than 10,000 men, but it formed, together with the Greek mercenaries from Egypt who went over to him afterwards, the force on which he placed his chief reliance, and to which the ultimate success of his expedition was mainly due.

The approach of Artaxerxes sufficiently weakened the resolution of Tennes that he endeavoured to purchase his own pardon by delivering up 100 principal citizens of Sidon into the hands of the Persian king, and then admitting Artaxerxes within the defences of the town. Artaxerxes had the 100 citizens transfixed with javelins, and when 500 more came out as supplicants to seek his mercy, Artaxerxes consigned them to the same fate. Sidon was then burnt to the ground, either by Artaxerxes or by the Sidonian citizens. Forty thousand people died in the conflagration. Artaxerxes sold the ruins at a high price to speculators, who calculated on reimbursing themselves by the treasures which they hoped to dig out from among the ashes.{{cite web|url=http://www.tomrawlinson.com/Personal/Links/RawlinsonGeorge.htm |title=Phœnicia under the Persians |accessdate=March 10, 2008 |last=Rawlinson |first=George |author-link=George Rawlinson |year=1889 |work=History of Phoenicia |publisher=Longmans, Green |url-status=dead |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20060720031359/http://www.tomrawlinson.com/Personal/Links/RawlinsonGeorge.htm |archivedate=July 20, 2006 |df=mdy-all }}

Tennes was put to death by Artaxerxes III in 346-345 BC.{{cite EB1911 |wstitle=Artaxerxes |volume=2 |pages=661–663 |first=Eduard |last=Meyer}} Artaxerxes later sent Jews who supported the revolt to Hyrcania, on the south coast of the Caspian Sea.{{cite web|url=http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~volk/sylvia/GogAndMagog.htm |title=The Legend Of Gog And Magog |accessdate=March 10, 2008 |archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20080315084037/http://www.iras.ucalgary.ca/~volk/sylvia/GogAndMagog.htm |archivedate=March 15, 2008 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}{{cite book |title=The Acts of the Apostles: The Greek Text with Introduction and Commentary |last=Bruce |first=Frederick Fyvie |year=1990 |publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=0-8028-0966-9 |pages=117 }}

References

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

Bibliography

  • {{Cite journal|last=Elayi|first=Josette|author-link=Josette Elayi|date=|year=2006|title=An updated chronology of the reigns of Phoenician kings during the Persian period (539–333 BCE)|url=http://www.digitorient.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/2Updated%20Chronology1.pdf|journal=Digitorient|publisher=Collège de France – UMR7912|volume=|pages=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200730070726/http://www.digitorient.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/2Updated%20Chronology1.pdf|archive-date=2020-07-30|via=}}

{{Achaemenid rulers}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennes}}

Category:4th-century BC monarchs in Asia

Category:Kings of Sidon

Category:Rebellions against the Achaemenid Empire

Category:Vassals of the Achaemenid Empire

Category:People executed by the Achaemenid Empire

Category:4th-century BC Phoenician people