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127-634: Northern Iraq may refer to: Assyrian homeland Iraqi Kurdistan Kurdistan Region Upper Mesopotamia Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Northern Iraq . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Northern_Iraq&oldid=1058342266 " Categories : Geography of Iraq Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

254-640: A 'crusade against the barbarians' but there was not enough strength left in any of the Greek city-states to answer his call. Although there were no rebellions in the Persian Empire itself, the growing power and territory of Philip II of Macedon in Macedon (against which Demosthenes was in vain warning the Athenians) attracted the attention of Artaxerxes. In response, he ordered that Persian influence

381-808: A conference was held in Brussels dubbed, The Future for Christians in Iraq . The conference was organised by the European People's Party and had participants extending from Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriac organizations, including representatives from the Iraqi government and the KRG . The conference was boycotted by the Assyrian Democratic Movement , Sons of Mesopotamia , Assyrian Patriotic Party , Chaldean Catholic Church and Assyrian Church of

508-676: A different line, but no earlier texts mention Achaemenes. In Herodotus ' Histories , he writes that Cyrus the Great was the son of Cambyses I and Mandane of Media , the daughter of Astyages , the king of the Median Empire. Cyrus revolted against the Median Empire in 553 BC, and in 550 BC succeeded in defeating the Medes, capturing Astyages and taking the Median capital city of Ecbatana . Once in control of Ecbatana, Cyrus styled himself as

635-571: A failed revolt, Psamtik III promptly committed suicide. Herodotus depicts Cambyses as openly antagonistic to the Egyptian people and their gods, cults, temples, and priests, in particular stressing the murder of the sacred bull Apis . He says that these actions led to a madness that caused him to kill his brother Bardiya (who Herodotus says was killed in secret), his own sister-wife and Croesus of Lydia. He then concludes that Cambyses completely lost his mind, and all later classical authors repeat

762-406: A force of 14,000 Greeks furnished by the Greek cities of Asia Minor: 4,000 under Mentor , consisting of the troops that he had brought to the aid of Tennes from Egypt; 3,000 sent by Argos; and 1,000 from Thebes. He divided these troops into three bodies, and placed at the head of each a Persian and a Greek. The Greek commanders were Lacrates of Thebes, Mentor of Rhodes and Nicostratus of Argos while

889-522: A large army, including a contingent of Ten Thousand Greek mercenaries , and made his way deeper into Persia. The army of Cyrus was stopped by the royal Persian army of Artaxerxes II at Cunaxa in 401 BC, where Cyrus was killed. The Ten Thousand Greek Mercenaries including Xenophon were now deep in Persian territory and were at risk of attack. So they searched for others to offer their services to but eventually had to return to Greece. Artaxerxes II

1016-694: A number are migrating back to the traditional Assyrian homeland in the Kurdish Autonomous region. Most Assyrians nowadays live in northern Iraq, with the community in Northern (Turkish) Hakkari being completely decimated, and the ones in Tur Abdin and Urmia Plain are largely depopulated. The Assyrian-inhabited towns and villages on the Nineveh Plain form a concentration of those belonging to Syriac Christian traditions, and since this area

1143-804: A number of tribes as listed here. ... : the Pasargadae , Maraphii , and Maspii , upon which all the other tribes are dependent. Of these, the Pasargadae are the most distinguished; they contain the clan of the Achaemenids from which spring the Perseid kings. Other tribes are the Panthialaei, Derusiaei, Germanii , all of which are attached to the soil, the remainder—the Dai , Mardi , Dropici , Sagarti , being nomadic . The Achaemenid Empire

1270-602: A one-tenth tithe which all inhabitants paid to the temple nearest to their land or another source of income. Artaxerxes II became involved in a war with Persia's erstwhile allies, the Spartans , who, under Agesilaus II , invaded Asia Minor . To redirect the Spartans' attention to Greek affairs, Artaxerxes II subsidized their enemies: in particular the Athenians , Thebans and Corinthians . These subsidies helped to engage

1397-469: A peace which required the city's forces to leave Asia Minor and to acknowledge the independence of its rebellious allies. Artaxerxes started a campaign against the rebellious Cadusians , but he managed to appease both of the Cadusian kings. One individual who successfully emerged from this campaign was Darius Codomannus, who later occupied the Persian throne as Darius III . Artaxerxes III then ordered

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1524-593: A profession of faith that contradicted that of Rome, while he maintained his independence from the "Eliya line". Leadership of those who wished to be in communion with Rome passed to the Archbishop of Amid Joseph I , recognized first by the Turkish civil authorities (1677) and then by Rome itself (1681). A century and a half later, in 1830, headship of the Catholics was conferred on Yohannan Hormizd . Yohannan

1651-509: A prolonged, if not even a successful resistance. However, he lacked good generals, and, over-confident in his own powers of command, he was out-maneuvered by the Greek mercenary generals, and his forces were eventually defeated by the combined Persian armies. After his defeat, Nectanebo hastily fled to Memphis , leaving the fortified towns to be defended by their garrisons. These garrisons consisted of partly Greek and partly Egyptian troops; between whom jealousies and suspicions were easily sown by

1778-602: A result, the Persian forces were driven out of Phoenicia . 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 heavy-armed hoplites under Lacrates, three thousand Argives under Nicostratus, and six thousand Æolians, Ionians , and Dorians from

1905-408: A successful model of centralized bureaucratic administration, its multicultural policy, building complex infrastructure such as road systems and an organized postal system , the use of official languages across its territories, and the development of civil services, including its possession of a large, professional army . Its advancements inspired the implementation of similar styles of governance by

2032-596: A variety of later empires. By 330 BC, the Achaemenid Empire was conquered by Alexander the Great , an ardent admirer of Cyrus; the conquest marked a key achievement in the then-ongoing campaign of his Macedonian Empire . Alexander's death marks the beginning of the Hellenistic period , when most of the fallen Achaemenid Empire's territory came under the rule of the Ptolemaic Kingdom and

2159-514: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Assyrian homeland The Assyrians are indigenous Mesopotamians, descended from the Akkadians , Sumerians and Hurrians who developed independent civilisation in the city of Assur on the eastern border of northern Mesopotamia. The territory that would encompass the Assyrian homeland

2286-467: Is further said to have killed not only all Arses' children, but many of the other princes of the land. Bagoas then placed Darius III , a nephew of Artaxerxes IV, on the throne. Darius III, previously the Satrap of Armenia , personally forced Bagoas to swallow poison. In 334 BC, when Darius was just succeeding in subduing Egypt again, Alexander and his battle-hardened troops invaded Asia Minor . Alexander

2413-461: Is reported to have had a number of wives. His main wife was Stateira , until she was poisoned by Artaxerxes II's mother Parysatis in about 400 BC. Another chief wife was a Greek woman of Phocaea named Aspasia (not the same as the concubine of Pericles ). Artaxerxes II is said to have had more than 115 sons from 350 wives. In 358 BC Artaxerxes II died and was succeeded by his son Artaxerxes III . In 355 BC, Artaxerxes III forced Athens to conclude

2540-662: Is the ancient home of the Assyrian empire through which the Assyrian people trace their cultural heritage, the Nineveh Plain is the area on which an effort to form an autonomous Assyrian entity has become concentrated. There have been calls by some politicians inside and outside Iraq to create an autonomous region for Assyrian Christians in this area. In the Transitional Administrative Law adopted in March 2004 in Baghdad, not only were provisions made for

2667-408: Is the earliest, and although the later historians all agree on the key details of the story, that a magus impersonated Bardiya and took the throne, this may have been a story created by Darius to justify his own usurpation. Iranologist Pierre Briant hypothesises that Bardiya was not killed by Cambyses, but waited until his death in the summer of 522 BC to claim his legitimate right to the throne as he

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2794-755: The Catholic Church and in communion with the bishop of Rome , the Pope . Both Syriac Christianity and the Eastern Aramaic language came under pressure following the Arab Islamic conquest of Mesopotamia in the 7th century, and Assyrian Christians throughout the Middle Ages were subjected to Arabizing superstrate influence. The Assyrians suffered a significant persecution with the religiously motivated large scale massacres conducted by

2921-565: The Catholic Church , on the basis of a decree of the Council of Florence , which accepted the profession of faith that Timothy, metropolitan of the Aramaic speakers in Cyprus , made in Aramaic, and which decreed that "nobody shall in future dare to call [...] Chaldeans, Nestorians". Previously, when there were as yet no Catholic Aramaic speakers of Mesopotamian origin, the term "Chaldean"

3048-581: The Cyropolis . Nothing is known of Persia–Babylon relations between 547 and 539 BC, but it is likely that there were hostilities between the two empires for several years leading up to the war of 540–539 BC and the Fall of Babylon . In October 539 BC, Cyrus won a battle against the Babylonians at Opis , then took Sippar without a fight before finally capturing the city of Babylon on 12 October, where

3175-729: The Hakkari Mountains, which straddles the border of northern Iraq and Southern Turkey, as well as the Urmia Plain , an area located on the western bank of Lake Urmia , and Chaldean and Syriac Catholics lived in the Nineveh Plains , an area located in Northern Iraq. More than half of Iraqi Christians have fled to neighboring countries since the start of the Iraq War , and many have not returned, although

3302-582: The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant during the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive . Upon entering the town, ISIS looted the homes, and removed the crosses and other religious objects from the churches. The Christian cemetery in the town was also later destroyed. Assyrian Bronze Age and Iron Age monuments and archaeological sites, as well as numerous Assyrian churches and monasteries have been systematically vandalized and destroyed by ISIL. These include

3429-525: The Kingdom of Meroë and taking strategic positions in the western oases. To this end, he established a garrison at Elephantine consisting mainly of Jewish soldiers, who remained stationed at Elephantine throughout Cambyses' reign. The invasions of Ammon and Ethiopia themselves were failures. Herodotus claims that the invasion of Ethiopia was a failure due to the madness of Cambyses and the lack of supplies for his men, but archaeological evidence suggests that

3556-576: The Medes , another group of Iranian people, possibly established a short-lived empire when they played a major role in overthrowing the Assyrians. The Achaemenids were initially rulers of the Elamite city of Anshan near the modern city of Marvdasht ; the title "King of Anshan" was an adaptation of the earlier Elamite title "King of Susa and Anshan". There are conflicting accounts of the identities of

3683-587: The Ottomans . In 1552, a schism occurred within the Church of the East : the established "Eliya line" of patriarchs was opposed by a rival patriarch, Sulaqa , who initiated what is called the "Shimun line". He and his early successors entered into communion with the Catholic Church , but in the course of over a century their link with Rome grew weak and was openly renounced in 1672, when Shimun XIII Dinkha adopted

3810-778: The Persian and Roman periods, and survived through to the present day. The Syriac language evolved in Achaemenid Assyria during the 5th century BC. During the Assyrian period Duhok was named Nohadra (and also Bit Nuhadra' or Naarda ), where, during the Parthian - Sassanid rule in Assyria (c.160 BC to 250 AD) as Beth Nuhadra , gained semi-independence as one of a patchwork of Neo-Assyrian kingdoms in Assyria, which also included Adiabene , Osroene , Assur and Beth Garmai . Syriac Christianity took hold amongst

3937-753: The Seleucid Empire , both of which had emerged as successors to the Macedonian Empire following the Partition of Triparadisus in 321 BC. Hellenistic rule remained in place for almost a century before the Iranian elites of the central plateau reclaimed power under the Parthian Empire . The Achaemenid Empire borrows its name from the ancestor of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the empire, Achaemenes . The term Achaemenid means "of

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4064-660: The Spartans in what would become known as the Corinthian War . In 387 BC, Artaxerxes II betrayed his allies and came to an arrangement with Sparta, and in the Treaty of Antalcidas he forced his erstwhile allies to come to terms. This treaty restored control of the Greek cities of Ionia and Aeolis on the Anatolian coast to the Persians while giving Sparta dominance on the Greek mainland. In 385 BC he campaigned against

4191-830: The Syrian Arab Republic in 1944. Assyrians faced reprisals under the Hashemite monarchy for co-operating with the British during the years after World War I, and many fled to the West. The Patriarch Shimun XXI Eshai , though born into the line of Patriarchs at Qochanis, was educated in Britain. For a time he sought a homeland for the Assyrians in Iraq but was forced to take refuge in Cyprus in 1933, later moving to Chicago, Illinois, and finally settling near San Francisco, California. The Chaldean Christian community

4318-559: The UAE . The Ionian Revolt in 499 BC, and associated revolts in Aeolis, Doris, Cyprus, and Caria, were military rebellions by several regions of Asia Minor against Persian rule, lasting from 499 to 493 BC. At the heart of the rebellion was the dissatisfaction of the Greek cities of Asia Minor with the tyrants appointed by Persia to rule them, along with the individual actions of two Milesian tyrants, Histiaeus and Aristagoras . In 499 BC,

4445-525: The 10 years that Persia controlled Egypt, believers in the native religion were persecuted and sacred books were stolen. Before Artaxerxes returned to Persia, he appointed Pherendares as satrap of Egypt . With the wealth gained from his reconquering Egypt, Artaxerxes was able to amply reward his mercenaries. He then returned to his capital having successfully completed his invasion of Egypt. After his success in Egypt, Artaxerxes returned to Persia and spent

4572-705: The 7th century BC, the region of Persis in the southwestern portion of the Iranian plateau was settled by the Persians . From Persis, Cyrus rose and defeated the Median Empire as well as Lydia and the Neo-Babylonian Empire , marking the establishment of a new imperial polity under the Achaemenid dynasty . In the modern era, the Achaemenid Empire has been recognized for its imposition of

4699-847: The Assyrian homeland are in Syria (400,000), Iraq (300,000), Iran (20,000), and Turkey (15,000–25,100). Most of the Assyrians living in Syria today, in the Al Hasakah Governorate in villages along the Khabur river , descend from refugees that arrived there after the Assyrian genocide and Simele massacre of the 1910s and 30s. Christian communities of Oriental Orthodox Syriacs lived in Tur Abdin , an area in Southeastern Turkey, Nestorian Assyrians lived in

4826-439: The Assyrian homeland is cooler and much wetter than most of Iraq. Most areas in the region fall within the Mediterranean climate zone ( Csa ), with areas to the southwest being semi-arid ( BSh ). Assyrian populations are distributed between the Assyrian homeland and the Assyrian diaspora . There are no official statistics, and estimates vary greatly, between less than one million in the Assyrian homeland, and 3.3 million with

4953-407: The Assyrians between the 1st and 3rd centuries AD with the founding in Assyria of the Church of the East together with Syriac literature . The first division between Syriac Christians occurred in the 5th century, when Upper Mesopotamian based Assyrian Christians of the Sassanid Persian Empire were separated from those in The Levant over the Nestorian Schism . This split owed just as much to

5080-447: The Athenians to move the treasury of the Delian League from the island of Delos to the Athenian acropolis. This funding practice inevitably prompted renewed fighting in 450 BC, where the Greeks attacked at the Battle of Cyprus . After Cimon 's failure to attain much in this expedition, the Peace of Callias was agreed between Athens , Argos and Persia in 449 BC. Artaxerxes offered asylum to Themistocles , who

5207-471: The Babylonian king Nabonidus was taken prisoner. Upon taking control of the city, Cyrus depicted himself in propaganda as restoring the divine order which had been disrupted by Nabonidus , who had promoted the cult of Sin rather than Marduk , and he also portrayed himself as restoring the heritage of the Neo-Assyrian Empire by comparing himself to the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal . The Hebrew Bible also unreservedly praises Cyrus for his actions in

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5334-473: The Barwari Jews either left or were exiled to Israel shortly after its independence in 1947. The region was heavily affected by the Kurdish uprisings during the 1950s and 60s and was largely depopulated during the Al-Anfal campaign in the 1980s, although some of its population later returned and their homes were subsequently rebuilt. Assur , which is in the Saladin Governorate , was put on UNESCO 's List of World Heritage in danger in 2003, at which time

5461-421: The Cadusians . Although successful against the Greeks, Artaxerxes II had more trouble with the Egyptians , who had successfully revolted against him at the beginning of his reign. An attempt to reconquer Egypt in 373 BC was completely unsuccessful, but in his waning years the Persians did manage to defeat a joint Egyptian–Spartan effort to conquer Phoenicia . He quashed the Revolt of the Satraps in 372–362 BC. He

5588-400: The East . A position paper was signed by the remaining political organizations involved. Persian Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire , also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire ( / ə ˈ k iː m ə n ɪ d / ; Old Persian : 𐎧𐏁𐏂 , Xšāça , lit.  'The Empire' or 'The Kingdom' ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus

5715-490: The European part of the Black Sea , such as parts of modern Bulgaria , Romania , Ukraine , and Russia , before it returned to Asia Minor . Darius left in Europe one of his commanders named Megabazus whose task was to accomplish conquests in the Balkans. The Persian troops subjugated gold-rich Thrace , the coastal Greek cities, and defeated and conquered the powerful Paeonians . Finally, Megabazus sent envoys to Amyntas, demanding acceptance of Persian domination, which

5842-469: The Great (Alexander III of Macedon) defeated the Persian armies at Granicus (334 BC), followed by Issus (333 BC), and lastly at Gaugamela (331 BC). Afterwards, he marched on Susa and Persepolis which surrendered in early 330 BC. From Persepolis, Alexander headed north to Pasargadae , where he visited the tomb of Cyrus , the man whom he had heard of from the Cyropaedia . In the ensuing chaos created by Alexander's invasion of Persia, Cyrus's tomb

5969-410: The Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC . Based in modern-day Iran , it was the largest empire by that point in history , spanning a total of 5.5 million square kilometres (2.1 million square miles). The empire spanned from the Balkans and Egypt in the west, West Asia as the base, the majority of Central Asia to the northeast, and the Indus Valley to the southeast. Around

6096-454: The Great ordered Aristobulus to improve the tomb's condition and restore its interior, showing respect for Cyrus. From there he headed to Ecbatana , where Darius III had sought refuge. Darius III was taken prisoner by Bessus , his Bactrian satrap and kinsman. As Alexander approached, Bessus had his men murder Darius III and then declared himself Darius' successor, as Artaxerxes V, before retreating into Central Asia leaving Darius' body in

6223-433: The Great. The Persians continued to reduce the cities along the west coast that still held out against them, before finally imposing a peace settlement in 493 BC on Ionia that was generally considered to be both just and fair. The Ionian Revolt constituted the first major conflict between Greece and the Achaemenid Empire, and as such represents the first phase of the Greco-Persian Wars. Asia Minor had been brought back into

6350-623: The Great. The Persian invasion led indirectly to Macedonia's rise in power and Persia had some common interests in the Balkans; with Persian aid, the Macedonians stood to gain much at the expense of some Balkan tribes such as the Paeonians and Greeks. All in all, the Macedonians were "willing and useful Persian allies. Macedonian soldiers fought against Athens and Sparta in Xerxes I's army. The Persians referred to both Greeks and Macedonians as Yauna (" Ionians ", their term for "Greeks"), and to Macedonians specifically as Yaunã Takabara or "Greeks with hats that look like shields", possibly referring to

6477-497: The Greek cities of Asia Minor. 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 afterward, 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

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6604-473: The Greeks won a decisive victory over the Persian fleet at the Battle of Salamis and forced Xerxes to retire to Sardis . The land army which he left in Greece under Mardonius retook Athens but was eventually destroyed in 479 BC at the Battle of Plataea . The final defeat of the Persians at Mycale encouraged the Greek cities of Asia to revolt, and the Persians lost all of their territories in Europe with Macedonia once again becoming independent. Artabanus ,

6731-530: The Ionian Revolt. In 492 BC, the Persian general Mardonius re-subjugated Thrace and made Macedonia a fully subordinate part of the empire; it had been a vassal as early as the late 6th century BC but retained a great deal of autonomy. However, in 490 BC the Persian forces were defeated by the Athenians at the Battle of Marathon and Darius I would die before having the chance to launch an invasion of Greece. Xerxes I (485–465 BC, Old Persian Xšayārša "Hero Among Kings"), son of Darius I , vowed to complete

6858-404: The Iraqi government had declared that Nineveh Plains would become a new province, which would serve as a safe haven for Assyrians. After the liberation of the Nineveh Plain from ISIL between 2016/17, all Assyrian political parties called on the European Union and UN Security Council for the creation of an Assyrian self-administered province in the Nineveh Plain. Between the 28th-30 June 2017,

6985-513: The Macedonian kausia hat. By the 5th century BC, the Kings of Persia were either ruling over or had subordinated territories encompassing not just all of the Persian Plateau and all of the territories formerly held by the Assyrian Empire ( Mesopotamia , the Levant , Cyprus and Egypt ), but beyond this, all of Anatolia and Armenia , as well as the Southern Caucasus and parts of the North Caucasus , Azerbaijan , Uzbekistan , Tajikistan , Bulgaria , Paeonia , Thrace and Macedonia to

7112-411: The Macedonians did. The Balkans provided many soldiers for the multi-ethnic Achaemenid army. Many of the Macedonian and Persian elite intermarried, such as the Persian official Bubares who married Amyntas' daughter, Gygaea. Family ties that the Macedonian rulers Amyntas and Alexander enjoyed with Bubares ensured them good relations with the Persian kings Darius and Xerxes I , who was also known as Xerxes

7239-419: The Magnificent . During World War I the Assyrians suffered the Assyrian genocide which reduced their numbers by up to two thirds. Subsequent to this, they entered the war on the side of the British and Russians. After World War I, the Assyrian homeland was divided between the British Mandate of Mesopotamia , which would become the Kingdom of Iraq in 1932, and the French Mandate of Syria which would become

7366-576: The Muslim Turco-Mongol ruler Tamurlane in the 14th century AD. It was from this time that the ancient city of Assur was abandoned by Assyrians, and Assyrians were reduced to a minority within their ancient homeland. Upper Mesopotamia had an established structure of dioceses by AD 500 following the introduction of Christianity from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD. After the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire by 605 BC Assyria remained an entity for over 1200 years under Babylonian, Achamaenid Persian, Seleucid Greek, Parthian, Roman and Sassanid Persian rule. It

7493-424: The Nineveh Plain as the location where security for Christians may be possible. Schools especially received much attention in this area and in Kurdish areas where Assyrian concentrated population lives. In addition, agriculture and medical clinics received financial help from the Assyrian diaspora . As attacks on Christians increased in Basra , Baghdad , Ramadi and smaller towns more families turned northward to

7620-441: The Ottoman conquests, however starting from the 19th century Kurdish Emirs sought to expand their territories at their expense. In the 1830s Muhammad Rawanduzi, the Emir of Soran , tried to forcibly add the region to his dominion pillaging many Assyrian villages. Bedr Khan Beg of Bohtan renewed attacks on the region in the 1840s, killing tens of thousands of Assyrians in Barwari and Hakkari before being ultimately defeated by

7747-535: The Persian capital with Artaxerxes, where he took a leading role in the internal administration of the Empire and maintained tranquillity throughout the rest of the Empire. During the last six years of the reign of Artaxerxes III, the Persian Empire was governed by a vigorous and successful government. The Persian forces in Ionia and Lycia regained control of the Aegean and the Mediterranean Sea and took over much of Athens ' former island empire. In response, Isocrates of Athens started giving speeches calling for

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7874-447: The Persian fold, but Darius had vowed to punish Athens and Eretria for their support of the revolt. Moreover, seeing that the political situation in Greece posed a continued threat to the stability of his Empire, he decided to embark on the conquest of all of Greece. The first campaign of the invasion was to bring the territories in the Balkan peninsula back within the empire. The Persian grip over these territories had loosened following

8001-443: The Persian leaders. As a result, the Persians were able to rapidly reduce numerous towns across Lower Egypt and were advancing upon Memphis when Nectanebo decided to quit the country and flee southwards to Ethiopia . The Persian army completely routed the Egyptians and occupied the Lower Delta of the Nile. Following Nectanebo fleeing to Ethiopia, all of Egypt submitted to Artaxerxes. The Jews in Egypt were sent either to Babylon or to

8128-465: The Persians in about 512–511, Macedonians and Persians were strangers no more as well. The subjugation of Macedonia was part of Persian military operations initiated by Darius the Great (521–486) in 513—after immense preparations—a huge Achaemenid army invaded the Balkans and tried to defeat the European Scythians roaming to the north of the Danube river. Darius' army subjugated several Thracian people , and virtually all other regions that touch

8255-425: The Persians were led by Rhossaces, Aristazanes, and Bagoas , the chief of the eunuchs. Nectanebo II resisted with an army of 100,000 of whom 20,000 were Greek mercenaries. Nectanebo II occupied the Nile and its various branches with his large navy. The character of the country, intersected by numerous canals and full of strongly fortified towns, was in his favour and Nectanebo II might have been expected to offer

8382-418: The Zoroastrian shrines can also be dated to his reign, and it was probably during this period that Zoroastrianism spread from Armenia throughout Asia Minor and the Levant . The construction of temples, though serving a religious purpose, was not a purely selfless act, as they also served as an important source of income. From the Babylonian kings, the Achaemenids adopted the concept of a mandatory temple tax,

8509-406: The attempt. By the last year of Artaxerxes' rule, Philip II already had plans in place for an invasion of the Persian Empire, which would crown his career, but the Greeks would not unite with him. In 338 BC Artaxerxes was poisoned by Bagoas with the assistance of a physician. Artaxerxes III was succeeded by Artaxerxes IV Arses , who before he could act was also poisoned by Bagoas. Bagoas

8636-420: The authority of Ctesias ) that the displaced Tissaphernes came to the new king on his coronation day to warn him that his younger brother Cyrus (the Younger) was preparing to assassinate him during the ceremony. Artaxerxes had Cyrus arrested and would have had him executed if their mother Parysatis had not intervened. Cyrus was then sent back as Satrap of Lydia, where he prepared an armed rebellion. Cyrus assembled

8763-412: The capture of Sardis and the fall of the Lydian Kingdom in 546 BC. Cyrus placed Pactyes in charge of collecting tribute in Lydia and left, but once Cyrus had left Pactyes instigated a rebellion against Cyrus. Cyrus sent the Median general Mazares to deal with the rebellion, and Pactyes was captured. Mazares, and after his death Harpagus , set about reducing all the cities which had taken part in

8890-423: The combined forces managed to defeat the forces sent by Artaxerxes III in 354 BC. However, in 353 BC, they were defeated by Artaxerxes III's army and were disbanded. Orontes was pardoned by the king, while Artabazos fled to the safety of the court of Philip II of Macedon . In c.  351 BC , Artaxerxes embarked on a campaign to recover Egypt, which had revolted under his father, Artaxerxes II. At

9017-446: The commander of the royal bodyguard and the most powerful official in the Persian court, assassinated Xerxes with the help of a eunuch , Aspamitres. The exact year and date of Xerxes' assassination is disputed among historians. After Xerxes I was assassinated, he was succeeded by his eldest surviving son Artaxerxes I . It was during his reign that Elamite ceased to be the language of government, and Aramaic gained in importance. It

9144-587: The conquest of Babylon, referring to him as Yahweh 's anointed . He is credited with freeing the people of Judah from their exile and with authorizing the reconstruction of much of Jerusalem , including the Second Temple . In 530 BC, Cyrus died and was succeeded by his eldest son Cambyses II , while his younger son Bardiya received a large territory in Central Asia. By 525 BC, Cambyses had successfully subjugated Phoenicia and Cyprus and

9271-655: The diaspora included, mostly due to the uncertainty of the number of Assyrians in Iraq and Syria . Since the 2003 Iraq War , Iraqi Assyrians have been displaced into Syria in significant but unknown numbers. Since the Syrian Civil War began in 2011, Syrian Assyrians have been displaced into Turkey in significant but unknown numbers. The indigenous Assyrian homeland areas are "part of today's northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran and northeastern Syria". The Assyrian communities that are still left in

9398-423: The disbanding of all the satrapal armies of Asia Minor, as he felt that they could no longer guarantee peace in the west and was concerned that these armies equipped the western satraps with the means to revolt. The order was however ignored by Artabazos II of Phrygia , who asked for the help of Athens in a rebellion against the king. Athens sent assistance to Sardis . Orontes of Mysia also supported Artabazos and

9525-535: The earliest Kings of Anshan. According to the Cyrus Cylinder (the oldest extant genealogy of the Achaemenids) the kings of Anshan were Teispes , Cyrus I , Cambyses I and Cyrus II , also known as Cyrus the Great, who founded the empire. The later Behistun Inscription , written by Darius the Great , claims that Teispes was the son of Achaemenes and that Darius is also descended from Teispes through

9652-565: The early 25th century BC, Lugal-Anne-Mundu the king of the Sumerian state of Adab lists Subartu as paying tribute to him. Assyrians are eastern Aramaic -speaking, descending from pre- Islamic inhabitants of Upper Mesopotamia . The Old Aramaic language was adopted by the population of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from around the 8th century BC, and these eastern dialects remained in wide use throughout Upper Mesopotamia during

9779-640: The elder Evagoras , the Cypriot monarch. Idrieus succeeded in reducing Cyprus. Artaxerxes initiated a counter-offensive against Sidon by commanding Belesys , satrap of Syria, and Mazaeus , satrap of Cilicia , to invade the city and to keep the Phoenicians in check. Both satraps suffered crushing defeats at the hands of Tennes, the Sidonese king, who was aided by 40,000 Greek mercenaries sent to him by Nectanebo II and commanded by Mentor of Rhodes . As

9906-697: The expedition was not a failure, and a fortress at the Second Cataract of the Nile , on the border between Egypt and Kush, remained in use throughout the Achaemenid period. The events surrounding Cambyses's death and Bardiya's succession are greatly debated as there are many conflicting accounts. According to Herodotus, as Bardiya's assassination had been committed in secret, the majority of Persians still believed him to be alive. This allowed two Magi to rise up against Cambyses, with one of them sitting on

10033-534: The extended family holdings in the Nineveh Plain. This place of refuge remains underfunded and gravely lacking in infrastructure to aid the ever-increasing internally displaced people population. From 2012, it also began receiving influxes of Assyrians from Syria owing to the civil war there. In August 2014 nearly all of the non-Sunni inhabitants of the southern regions of the Plains, which include Tel Keppe , Bakhdida , Bartella and Karamlesh were driven out by

10160-623: The family of the Achaemenis/Achaemenes" ( Old Persian : 𐏃𐎧𐎠𐎶𐎴𐎡𐏁 , romanized:  Haxāmaniš ; a bahuvrihi compound translating to "having a friend's mind"). Achaemenes was himself a minor seventh-century ruler of the Anshan in southwestern Iran, and a vassal of Assyria . Around 850 BC the original nomadic people who began the empire called themselves the Parsa and their constantly shifting territory Parsua , for

10287-511: The good", also known as Darayarahush ). The Magi, though persecuted, continued to exist, and a year following the death of the first pseudo-Smerdis ( Gaumata ), saw a second pseudo-Smerdis ( Vahyazdāta ) attempt a coup. The coup, though initially successful, failed. Herodotus writes that the native leadership debated the best form of government for the empire. Ever since the Macedonian king Amyntas I surrendered his country to

10414-463: 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

10541-577: The homeland only expanding beyond the borders due to the major centres of Assyrian civilisation, such as the cities of Nineveh , Assur and Nimrud , being built on the banks of the Tigris itself. Modern Assyrians are predominantly Christian, mostly adhering to the East and West Syriac liturgical rites of Christianity . They speak Neo-Aramaic languages, most common being Suret and Turoyo . The city of Aššur and Nineveh (modern-day Mosul ), which

10668-827: The insistence of Tissaphernes , gave support first to Athens, then to Sparta, but in 407 BC, Darius' son Cyrus the Younger was appointed to replace Tissaphernes and aid was given entirely to Sparta which finally defeated Athens in 404 BC. In the same year, Darius fell ill and died in Babylon. His death gave an Egyptian rebel named Amyrtaeus the opportunity to throw off Persian control over Egypt . At his death bed, Darius' Babylonian wife Parysatis pleaded with him to have her second eldest son Cyrus (the Younger) crowned, but Darius refused. Queen Parysatis favoured Cyrus more than her eldest son Artaxerxes II . Plutarch relates (probably on

10795-400: The job. He organized a massive invasion aiming to conquer Greece . His army entered Greece from the north in the spring of 480 BC, meeting little or no resistance through Macedonia and Thessaly , but was delayed by a small Greek force for three days at Thermopylae . A simultaneous naval battle at Artemisium was tactically indecisive as large storms destroyed ships from both sides. The battle

10922-633: The largest churches in the region named the Mar Marsi Cathedral, and is the center of an Eparchy. Tens of thousands of Yazidi and Assyrian Christian refugees live in the city as well due to the ISIS invasion of Iraq in 2014 and the subsequent Fall of Mosul In addition to the Assyrian population, an Aramaic speaking Jewish population existed in the region for thousands of years, living mainly in Barwari , Zakho and Alqosh . However, all of

11049-470: The most part localized around Persis. The name "Persia" is a Greek and Latin pronunciation of the native word referring to the country of the people originating from Persis ( Old Persian : 𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿 , romanized:  Pārsa ). The Persian term 𐎧𐏁𐏂 Xšāça , literally meaning "The Kingdom", was used to refer to the Empire formed by their multinational state. The Persian nation contains

11176-546: The name " Assyrian Church of the East ", while a member of the "Eliya line" family is one of the patriarchs of the Chaldean Catholic Church . For many centuries, from at least the time of Jerome (c. 347 – 420), the term "Chaldean" indicated the Aramaic language and was still the normal name in the nineteenth century. Only in 1445 did it begin to be used to mean Aramaic speakers in communion with

11303-399: The next few years effectively quelling insurrections in various parts of the Empire so that a few years after his conquest of Egypt, the Persian Empire was firmly under his control. Egypt remained a part of the Persian Empire from then until Alexander the Great 's conquest of Egypt. After the conquest of Egypt, there were no more revolts or rebellions against Artaxerxes. Mentor and Bagoas ,

11430-636: The north and west, most of the Black Sea coastal regions, parts of Central Asia as far as the Aral Sea , the Oxus and Jaxartes to the north and north-east, the Hindu Kush and the western Indus basin (corresponding to modern Afghanistan and Pakistan ) to the far east, parts of northern Arabia to the south, and parts of eastern Libya ( Cyrenaica ) to the south-west, and parts of Oman , China, and

11557-563: The oasis of Ammon and Ethiopia . Herodotus claims that the naval invasion of Carthage was canceled because the Phoenicians, who made up a large part of Cambyses' fleet, refused to take up arms against their own people, but modern historians doubt whether an invasion of Carthage was ever planned at all. However, Cambyses dedicated his efforts to the other two campaigns, aiming to improve the Empire's strategic position in Africa by conquering

11684-698: The politics of the day as it did to theological orthodoxy. Ctesiphon , which was at the time the Sassanid capital, eventually became the capital of the Church of the East . During the Christian era Nuhadra became an eparchy within the Assyrian Church of the East metropolitanate of Ḥadyab ( Erbil ). After the Council of Chalcedon in 451, many Syriac Christians within the Roman Empire rebelled against its decisions. The Patriarchate of Antioch

11811-436: The preservation of Assyrian culture through education and media, but a provision for an administrative unit also was accepted. Article 125 in Iraq's Constitution states that: "This Constitution shall guarantee the administrative, political, cultural, and educational rights of the various nationalities, such as Turkomen, Chaldeans, Assyrians, and all other constituents, and this shall be regulated by law." On January 21, 2014,

11938-519: The province of Diyār Rabīʿa , the "abode of the Rabīʿa " tribe . The plain was the site of the determination of the degree by al-Khwārizmī and other astronomers during the reign of the caliph al-Mamun . Sinjar boasted a famous Assyrian cathedral in the 8th century. Syria and Upper Mesopotamia became part of the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, following the conquests of Suleiman

12065-487: The rebellion. The subjugation of Lydia took about four years in total. When the power in Ecbatana changed hands from the Medes to the Persians, many tributaries to the Median Empire believed their situation had changed and revolted against Cyrus. This forced Cyrus to fight wars against Bactria and the nomadic Saka in Central Asia. During these wars, Cyrus established several garrison towns in Central Asia, including

12192-425: The road to delay Alexander, who brought it to Persepolis for an honourable funeral. Bessus would then create a coalition of his forces, to create an army to defend against Alexander. Before Bessus could fully unite with his confederates at the eastern part of the empire, Alexander, fearing the danger of Bessus gaining control, found him, put him on trial in a Persian court under his control, and ordered his execution in

12319-513: 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. Tennes was later put to death by Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes later sent Jews who supported the revolt to Hyrcania on the south coast of the Caspian Sea . The reduction of Sidon was followed closely by the invasion of Egypt. In 343 BC, Artaxerxes III, in addition to his 330,000 Persians, had now

12446-579: The ruins of Nineveh , Kalhu ( Nimrud , Assur , Dur-Sharrukin and Hatra ). ISIL destroyed a 3,000 year-old Ziggurat. ISIL destroyed Virgin Mary Church, in 2015 St. Markourkas Church was destroyed and the cemetery was bulldozed. Soon after the beginning of the Battle of Mosul Iraqi troops advanced on Tel Keppe, but the fighting continued into 2017. Iraqi forces recaptured the town from ISIS on 19 January 2017. Owing to its latitude and altitude,

12573-537: The same time, a rebellion had broken out in Asia Minor, which, being supported by Thebes , threatened to become serious. Levying a vast army, Artaxerxes invaded Egypt and engaged in fighting with Nectanebo II . After a year of fighting the Egyptian Pharaoh , Nectanebo inflicted a crushing defeat on the Persians with the support of mercenaries led by the Greek generals Diophantus and Lamius. Artaxerxes

12700-493: The site was threatened by a looming large-scale dam project that would have submerged the ancient archaeological site. Following the concerted attacks on Assyrian Christians in Iraq, especially highlighted by the Sunday, August 1, 2004, simultaneous bombing of six Churches (Baghdad and Mosul) and subsequent bombing of nearly thirty other churches throughout the country, Assyrian leadership, internally and externally, began to regard

12827-550: The south coast of the Caspian Sea , the same location that the Jews of Phoenicia had earlier been sent. After this victory over the Egyptians, Artaxerxes had the city walls destroyed, started a reign of terror, and set about looting all the temples. Persia gained a significant amount of wealth from this looting. Artaxerxes also raised high taxes and attempted to weaken Egypt enough that it could never revolt against Persia. For

12954-458: The successor to Astyages and assumed control of the entire empire. By inheriting Astyages' empire, he also inherited the territorial conflicts the Medes had with both Lydia and the Neo-Babylonian Empire . King Croesus of Lydia sought to take advantage of the new international situation by advancing into what had previously been Median territory in Asia Minor. Cyrus led a counterattack which not only fought off Croesus' armies, but also led to

13081-450: The support of his regions. Sogdianus reigned for six months and fifteen days before being captured by his half-brother, Ochus , who had rebelled against him. Sogdianus was executed by being suffocated in ash because Ochus had promised he would not die by the sword, by poison or by hunger. Ochus then took the royal name Darius II. Darius' ability to defend his position on the throne ended the short power vacuum. From 412 BC Darius II , at

13208-510: The themes of Cambyses' impiety and madness. However, this is based on spurious information, as the epitaph of Apis from 524 BC shows that Cambyses participated in the funeral rites of Apis styling himself as pharaoh. Following the conquest of Egypt, the Libyans and the Greeks of Cyrene and Barca in present-day eastern Libya ( Cyrenaica ) surrendered to Cambyses and sent tribute without a fight. Cambyses then planned invasions of Carthage ,

13335-478: The then-tyrant of Miletus , Aristagoras, launched a joint expedition with the Persian satrap Artaphernes to conquer Naxos , in an attempt to bolster his position in Miletus, both financially and in terms of prestige. The mission was a debacle, and sensing his imminent removal as a tyrant, Aristagoras chose to incite the whole of Ionia into rebellion against the Persian king, Darius I, who was commonly known as Darius

13462-456: The throne able to impersonate Bardiya because of their remarkable physical resemblance and shared name (Smerdis in Herodotus's accounts ). Ctesias writes that when Cambyses had Bardiya killed he immediately put the magus Sphendadates in his place as satrap of Bactria due to a remarkable physical resemblance. Two of Cambyses' confidants then conspired to usurp Cambyses and put Sphendadates on

13589-642: The throne under the guise of Bardiya. According to the Behistun Inscription , written by the following king Darius the Great , a magus named Gaumata impersonated Bardiya and incited a revolution in Persia. Whatever the exact circumstances of the revolt, Cambyses heard news of it in the summer of 522 BC and began to return from Egypt, but he was wounded in the thigh in Syria and died of gangrene, so Bardiya's impersonator became king. The account of Darius

13716-519: The tomb already built for him in the Naqsh-e Rustam Necropolis. It was Persian tradition that kings begin constructing their own tombs while they were still alive. Artaxerxes I was immediately succeeded by his eldest and only legitimate son, Xerxes II . However, after a few days on the throne, he was assassinated while drunk by Pharnacyas and Menostanes on the orders of his illegitimate brother Sogdianus , who apparently had gained

13843-484: The two generals who had most distinguished themselves in the Egyptian campaign, were advanced to posts of the highest importance. Mentor, who was governor of the entire Asiatic seaboard, was successful in reducing to subjection many of the chiefs who during the recent troubles had rebelled against Persian rule. In the course of a few years, Mentor and his forces were able to bring the whole Asian Mediterranean coast into complete submission and dependence. Bagoas went back to

13970-421: Was a member of the "Eliya line" family, but he opposed the last of that line to be elected in the normal way as patriarch, Ishoʿyahb (1778–1804), most of whose followers he won over to communion with Rome, after he himself was irregularly elected in 1780, as Sulaqa was in 1552. The "Shimun line" that in 1553 entered communion with Rome and broke it off in 1672 is now that of the church that in 1976 officially adopted

14097-497: Was applied with explicit reference to their " Nestorian " religion. Thus Jacques de Vitry wrote of them in 1220/1 that "they denied that Mary was the Mother of God and claimed that Christ existed in two persons. They consecrated leavened bread and used the 'Chaldean' (Syriac) language". Until the second half of the 19th century the term "Chaldean" continued in general use for East Syriac Christians, whether "Nestorian" or Catholic: it

14224-451: Was broken into and most of its luxuries were looted. When Alexander reached the tomb, he was horrified by the manner in which it had been treated, and questioned the Magi, putting them on trial. By some accounts, Alexander's decision to put the Magi on trial was more an attempt to undermine their influence and display his own power than a show of concern for Cyrus's tomb. Regardless, Alexander

14351-570: Was compelled to retreat and postpone his plans to reconquer Egypt. Soon after this defeat, there were rebellions in Phoenicia , Asia Minor and Cyprus . In 343 BC, Artaxerxes committed responsibility for the suppression of the Cyprian rebels to Idrieus , prince of Caria , who employed 8,000 Greek mercenaries and forty triremes , commanded by Phocion the Athenian, and Evagoras, son of

14478-468: Was created by nomadic Persians . The Persians were Iranian people who arrived in what is today Iran c.  1000 BC and settled a region including north-western Iran, the Zagros Mountains and Persis alongside the native Elamites . The Persians were originally nomadic pastoralists in the western Iranian Plateau. The Achaemenid Empire may not have been the first Iranian empire, as

14605-541: Was divided through the centre by the Tigris River , with their indigenous Mesopotamia on the west and western margins of the Urmia Plains, which they occupied in 2000 BCE prior to the arrival of the modern Iranians, to the east. In modern times, Assyrians largely only recognise Assyrian towns and cities immediately neighbouring the Tigris to the east as their indigenous territory, in addition to Mesopotamia, with

14732-675: Was less numerous and vociferous at the time of the British Mandate of Mesopotamia, and did not play a major role in the British rule of the country. However, with the exodus of Assyrian Church of the East members, the Chaldean Catholic Church became the largest non-Muslim religious denomination in Iraq, and some Assyrian Catholics later rose to power in the Ba'ath Party government, the most prominent being Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz . The Assyrians of Dohuk boast one of

14859-514: Was making preparations to invade Egypt with the newly created Persian navy. Pharaoh Amasis II had died in 526, and had been succeeded by Psamtik III , resulting in the defection of key Egyptian allies to the Persians. Psamtik positioned his army at Pelusium in the Nile Delta . He was soundly defeated by the Persians in the Battle of Pelusium before fleeing to Memphis , where the Persians defeated him and took him prisoner. After attempting

14986-489: Was only after the Arab-Islamic conquest of the second half of the 7th century AD that Assyria as a named region was dissolved. The mountainous region of the Assyrian homeland, Barwari , which was part of the diocese of Beth Nuhadra (current day Dohuk ), saw a mass migration of Nestorians after the fall of Baghdad in 1258 and Timurlane 's invasion from central Iraq. Its Christian inhabitants were little affected by

15113-581: Was probably during this reign that the solar calendar was introduced as the national calendar. Under Artaxerxes I, Zoroastrianism became the de facto religion of the empire. After Persia had been defeated at the Battle of Eurymedon (469 or 466 BC ), military action between Greece and Persia was halted. When Artaxerxes I took power, he introduced a new Persian strategy of weakening the Athenians by funding their enemies in Greece. This indirectly caused

15240-540: Was stopped prematurely when the Greeks received news of the defeat at Thermopylae and retreated. The battle was a tactical victory for the Persians, giving them uncontested control of Artemisium and the Aegean Sea. Following his victory at the Battle of Thermopylae , Xerxes sacked the evacuated city of Athens and prepared to meet the Greeks at the strategic Isthmus of Corinth and the Saronic Gulf . In 480 BC

15367-587: Was the West Syriacs who were reported as claiming descent from Asshur , the second son of Shem . Peutinger's map of the inhabited world known to the Roman geographers depicts Singara as located west of the Trogoditi. Persi. ( Latin : Troglodytae Persiae , " Persian troglodytes ") who inhabited the territory around Mount Sinjar . By the medieval Arabs, most of the plain was reckoned as part of

15494-403: Was the longest reigning of the Achaemenid kings and it was during this 45-year period of relative peace and stability that many of the monuments of the era were constructed. Artaxerxes moved the capital back to Persepolis , which he greatly extended. Also, the summer capital at Ecbatana was lavishly extended with gilded columns and roof tiles of silver and copper. The extraordinary innovation of

15621-503: Was the oldest and largest city of the ancient Assyrian empire, together with a number of other Assyrian cities, seem to have been established by 2600 BC. However it is likely that they were initially Sumerian-dominated administrative centres. In the late 26th century BC, Eannatum of Lagash , then the dominant Sumerian ruler in Mesopotamia , mentions "smiting Subartu " (Subartu being the Sumerian name for Assyria). Similarly, in c.

15748-402: Was the winner of the Battle of Salamis , after Themistocles was ostracized from Athens . Also, Artaxerxes gave him Magnesia , Myus , and Lampsacus to maintain him in bread, meat, and wine. In addition, Artaxerxes I gave him Palaescepsis to provide him with clothes, and he also gave him Percote with bedding for his house. When Artaxerxes died in 424 BC at Susa , his body was taken to

15875-407: Was then divided between a Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian communion. The Chalcedonians were often labelled 'Melkites' (Emperor's Party), while their opponents were labelled as Monophysites (those who believe in the one rather than two natures of Christ) and Jacobites (after Jacob Baradaeus ). The Maronite Church found itself caught between the two, but claims to have always remained faithful to

16002-476: Was then the only male descendant of the royal family. Briant says that although the hypothesis of a deception by Darius is generally accepted today, "nothing has been established with certainty at the present time, given the available evidence". According to the Behistun inscription , Gaumata ruled for seven months before being overthrown in 522 BC by Darius the Great (Old Persian Dāryavuš , "who holds firm

16129-518: Was to be used to check and constrain the rising power and influence of the Macedonian kingdom. In 340 BC, a Persian force was dispatched to assist the Thracian prince , Cersobleptes , to maintain his independence. Sufficient effective aid was given to the city of Perinthus that the numerous and well-appointed army with which Philip had commenced his siege of the city was compelled to give up

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