Artaxer`xes, the name of several Persian monarchs:
A. I.,
called the "Long-handed," from his right hand being longer than his left;
son of Xerxes
I.; concluded a peace with Greece after a war of 52
years; entertained Themistocles at his court; king from 465 to 424 B.C.
A. II., Mnemon, vanquished and killed his brother Cyrus at Cunaxa in
401, who had revolted against him; imposed in 387 on the Spartans the
shameful treaty of
Antalcidas (
q. v.); king from 405 to 359
B.C.
A. III., Ochus, son of the preceding, slew all his kindred on
ascending the throne; in Egypt slew the sacred bull Apis and gave the
flesh to his soldiers, for which his eunuch Bagsas poisoned him; king
from 359 to 338 B.C.
A. IV., grandson of Sassan, founder of the
dynasty Sassanidæ; restored the old religion of the Magi, amended the
laws, and promoted education; king from A.D. 223 to 232.