According to the fortification tablets found at Persepolis, Pharnaces was the chief economic official to Darius I between 506 and 497 BCE.[2][4] He was a Mayor of the Palace, his statutory attribute being a short stick, probably made of a precious metal. He likely appears on some of the reliefs in Persepolis.[3]
Pharnaces had a son named Artabazus, who was appointed as satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia by Xerxes I circa 477 BCE. Artabazus and his heirs, known as the "Pharnacid dynasty" after Pharnaces, would rule the region into the 4th century BCE and until its take-over by Alexander the Great.[2][7][4]
References
^Persepolis, Apadana, North Stairs, Central Relief - Livius.
^ a b cBriant, Pierre (2002). From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Eisenbrauns. p. 339. ISBN 9781575061207.
^ a bPharnaces (1) - Livius.
^ a bStronk, Jan (2016). Semiramis' Legacy: The History of Persia According to Diodorus of Sicily. Edinburgh University Press. p. 206. ISBN 9781474414272.
^Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated). Delphi Classics. 2013. p. 1408. ISBN 9781909496286.
^Kitto, John (1852). The Popular Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature: Condensed from the Larger Work. Gould and Lincoln. p. 108.
^"The dynasty seems to have been founded by Pharnaces, the son of Arsames, Darius' uncle" in Achaemenid History. Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten. 1988. p. 178. ISBN 9789062584031.