Tissaphernes
Tissaphernēs
Achaemenid grandee of the Hydarnid house; satrap of Lydia and Caria from 413 BC, the Persian diplomat who financed the final Peloponnesian War on the Spartan side against Athens (Thuc. 8.5–58). Replaced in his satrapy by the younger Cyrus in 407 — the younger brother's promotion was understood at Sardis as a demotion of Tissaphernes, and the resulting enmity is the single most-emphasised personal motivation in Xenophon's *Anabasis*. Warned Artaxerxes of Cyrus's plot in 401 and marched with the king at Cunaxa. After Cunaxa, conducted the retreat-negotiations with Clearchus and the Greek army, then — having escorted them to the Great Zab — invited the five generals to a peace-conference in his tent, had them seized, and sent them to the king in chains for beheading (Xen. *Anab.* 2.5.25–32 + Plut. *Artax.* 18). Killed by Artaxerxes's order at Colossae in 395 BC after Agesilaus of Sparta's first Asian campaign (Xen. *Hell.* 3.4.25; Polyaenus 7.16.1 for the Parysatis-orchestrated execution).