Artabazos was a Persian general in the army of Xerxes I, and later satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia under the Achaemenid dynasty, founder of the Pharnacid dynasty of satraps. He was the son of Pharnaces, who was the younger brother of Hystaspes, father of Darius I. Artabazos was therefore a first cousin of the great Achaemenid ruler Darius I.
Parthian soldier
Chorasmian soldier
Coinage of Hellespontine Phrygia at the time of Artabazos I, Kyzikos, Mysia. Circa 500-450 BC. This type of electrum coins was treated as gold coinage, and competed alongside Achaemenid Darics.
Artabazos I was Satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia.
Hellespontine Phrygia or Lesser Phrygia was a Persian satrapy (province) in northwestern Anatolia, directly southeast of the Hellespont. Its capital was Dascylium, and for most of its existence it was ruled by the hereditary Persian Pharnacid dynasty. Together with Greater Phrygia, it made up the administrative provinces of the wider Phrygia region.
An Achaemenid dynast of Hellespontine Phrygia attacking a Greek psilos, Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BC.
The Polyxena sarcophagus from Hellespontine Phrygia, in Late Greek Archaic style, 520-500 BC. Çanakkale Archaeological Museum.
