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The Prosopography of Cyrus the Younger's Mercenaries: Officers of Recruiter

Document Type : .

Authors

1 PhD student of Ancient Iran History, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran,

2 Assistant Professor of History, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

Cyrus the Younger in his unsuccessful attempt to to get the royal throne and crown from his brother Artaxerxes II, enlisted a great body of mercenaries with help of his friend Greek officers. The study of these officers using the prosopography approach shows that the geographical origin of the absolute majority of them was the city-states located in the Peloponnesse Peninsula or the Peloponnessian League. The present article, in addition to proposing the hypothesis mentioned above, aims to analyze its reasons using a descriptive-analytical method and based on library sources. A survey of primary sources of that period shows that change in Darius II's diplomacy during the Peloponnesian Wars and in particular practical actions of Cyrus the Younger as ruler of Asia Minor caused quantitative and qualitative superiority of Peloponnesians among friends and mercenaries of Achaemenid prince.


 


 

 
 

Keywords

Extended Abstract:

The Prosopography of Cyrus the Younger's Mercenaries: Officers of Recruiter

  1. Introduction

1.1. Subject statement. At the end of the fifth century BC, Cyrus the Younger gathered an army including local forces and Greek mercenaries to fight against his brother Artaxerxes II; Cyrus recruited the mentioned mercenaries with the help of Greek officers. In the battle of two brothers in a place called Cunaxa in 401 BC, Cyrus the Younger was defeated and killed; therefor, his Greek mercenaries chose the way back and after enduring many difficulties, they reached Europe.

1.2. Problem statement. The present article studies geographical origin of recruiting officers of Cyrus the Younger and uses the prosopographical approach for this purose. Prosopography is the investigation of the common functions of a group of historical actors, through their group study. Prosopography pays attention to the relationships between characters in a group and in this way tries to give certain interpretations.

1.3. Questios. The aim of the present research is to show which of the Greek city-states the origin of the recruiting officers was and what links were there between the geographical origin of the mentioned officers and the polices of kings, princes and other influential Achaemenid figures?

1.4. Literature review. The prosopography of recruiting officers of Cyrus the Younger has not been independently the subject of any research, but researchers have investigated some aspects related to it. In his doctoral dissertation, Georges Cousin has mentioned every person who is connected to Cyrus in some way (Greek and non-Greek). The purpose of J. Roy's article is to show the changes in the command structure of the Greek mercenaries from the time they gathered forces for Cyrus to when they returned to the Black Sea. In his book, Hofstetter has given a prosopography of all the Greeks who connected with Achaemenid kingdom in some way; therefor, Hofstetter's work covers a very wide time frame and this makes it very general to address each person. John Lee has discussed in detail the mercenary army of Cyrus the Younger and has mentioned the exact details in this regard; however, his focus is on "commanders" and not "recruiting officers". Therefor, Lee not only did not discuss the eleven recruiting officers of Cyrus the Younger in a single whole and with a prosopographical approach, but also did not understand the direct link between the support of the Peloponnesians by Darius II/Cyrus the Younger and their majority in the mercenary army.

1.5. Research objectives. The present study tries to examine the prosopography of Cyrus the Younger's mercenaries with a "simultaneous" emphasis on the following items by carefully examining the primary sources: a) A study of Cyrus's Greek recruiting officers based on prosopographical approach; b) Proving the absolute majority of Peloponnesians among these officers based on prosopographical approach; c) Causes and factors in the majority of Peloponnesians. The current research tries to pay attention to above matters (in three separate parts) and answer the related questions by carefully examining the primary sources.

  1. Research method

The present article, on the one hand, using the descriptive-annalytical method and using library resources, and on the other hand, with the help of the prosopography approach, tries to follow the goals stated in the article.

  1. Conclusion.

The present paper started with the study of geographical origin of Cyrus the Younger's recruiting officers. For this purpose and using the prosopography approach, important details related to each of the mentioned officers were extracted from the sources. In the second step and according to the obtained prosopographical data, it was found that the obsolute majority of recruiting officers have Peloponnesian origin. Finally, by carefully examining the primary sources, it was shown that the change of Darius II's policies during the Peloponnesian War, and especially the pursuits of Cyrus the Younger in this connection, was the foundation for the bond and deep friendship between the Achaemenid prince and Peloponnesian officers.

Keywords :Cyrus the Younger, Achaemenids, Peloponnesians, Darius II, Artaxerxes II, Cunaxa.

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Tahqiqāt-e Târix-e Eqtesâdi (Economic History Studies )
Volume 12, Issue 1 - Serial Number 23
May 2023
Pages 265-288
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History
  • Receive Date: 10 January 2023
  • Revise Date: 08 March 2023
  • Accept Date: 18 April 2023
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