Mazaeus

Mazaeus, a senior Achaemenid administrator who had served as satrap of Cilicia and then of Transeuphratene (Coele-Syria and Babylonia) under Artaxerxes III and Darius III, commanded the Persian right wing at Gaugamela with the Cappadocians and Armenian cavalry (Arr. *Anab.* 3.8.6 + 3.11.4). His wing broke through Parmenion's left and reached the Macedonian baggage-camp, but the Persian centre had already collapsed and he withdrew rather than exploit the penetration. After Gaugamela he rode ahead to Babylon and, with the Babylonian Chaldean priesthood, organised the city's surrender — meeting Alexander at the Euphrates gate with his children and the symbolic tribute of horses and cattle (Arr. *Anab.* 3.16.3–4; Curt. 5.1.17–23; Diod. 17.64.3). Alexander confirmed him as satrap of Babylonia — the first appointment of an ethnic Persian as a satrap under Macedonian rule and the first explicit signal of the administrative fusion policy that would culminate at Susa in 324 (Arr. *Anab.* 3.16.4). He struck distinctive silver coinage at Babylon as satrap and died in office c. 328 BC; his sons received Macedonian appointments in the Successors period.

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