Pharnabazus III

Pharnabazos (Greek: Φαρνάβαζος; * 370-365 BC; † after 321 BC ) was a Persian nobleman high, fleet commander and commander of the Achaemenid Empire in the 4th century BC.

Pharnabazos came from the family of Pharnakiden and was probably the eldest of several sons of Artabazus and a Greek from Rhodes. His uncles were the generals Rhodian Mentor and Memnon, with whom he was related by marriage through his sister Barsine succession and who could provide him with some military experience. Together with his father he spent the years 353-342 BC the Macedonian court in exile. When his father with the Persian king Artaxerxes III. reconciled, even Pharnabazos returned to the Persian court.

When Alexander the Great invaded in 334 BC in Asia Minor, first tried Memnon in the pay of the Persian king Darius III. stop him. After the defeat of the Persians at the Battle of the Granicus in Asia Minor had to be given to Alexander. Memnon then took over the command of the Persian fleet, with which he operated in the Aegean area. 333 BC died Memnon and Pharnabazos, which should have been in its wake, took along with Autophradates the command. While on land the rise of Alexander was little to oppose, Pharnabazos acted somewhat more successful with the fleet in the Aegean area. The islands of Lesbos, Chios and Tenedos were first held, and he also sent some ships to Kos and Halicarnassus, while 100 of the fastest ships anliefen the Cycladic island of Sifnos. There he met the Spartan king Agis III. , Who asked for financial support in order to initiate an insurrection against the Macedonian rule in Greece can. In this situation, the news of the Persian defeat at Issus arrived. There was now to be expected with a rebellion on Chios against the Persian rule, Pharnabazos rushed with 12 ships and 1,500 mercenaries there. There, however, he could not prevent the uprising, which was also supported by the Macedonian fleet under Hegelochos. In the battle for Chios Pharnabazos itself came in captivity and should be sent to Alexander to Phoenicia, but a little later managed to escape to Kos.

Pharnabazos vanishes for the time being from the traditions. However, it is likely that he - following his father - after the death of Darius III. 330 BC Alexander subjugated and classifying in the wake of the high Persian conqueror. He was a brother of the Macedonian officers Ptolemy and Eumenes by the mass wedding at Susa in 324 BC. The latter was after the death of Alexander in 323 BC, one of the leading Diadochi in the struggle for power in the empire of Alexander.

In the year 321 BC, Eumenes was offset by the commander Craterus in the Battle of the Hellespont. In the left wing of Eumenes ' army in several departments of Asian cavalry, led by Pharnabazos were. After that trace of him in the sources.