Battle of Cunaxa in the context of "Rhodogune (daughter of Artaxerxes II)"

Arses or Arsaces (c. 445–359/8 BC), known by his regnal name Artaxerxes II (Old Persian: 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂 Artaxšaçāʰ; Ancient Greek: Ἀρταξέρξης), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 405/4 BC to 359/8 BC. He was the son and successor of Darius II (r. 423 – 405/4 BC) and his mother was Parysatis.

Soon after his accession, Artaxerxes II faced opposition from his younger brother Cyrus the Younger, who assembled an army composed of troops from his Lydian and Ionian satrapies as well as Greek mercenaries in his bid for the throne. The forces of the brothers clashed at Cunaxa in 401 BC, which resulted in the defeat and death of Cyrus. Following this, Artaxerxes II had to contend with several other revolts; a revolt by Evagoras I (r. 411–374 BC) in Cyprus between 391–380 BC, by the Phoenicians in c. 380 BC, and most importantly, the revolts by the western satraps (known as the Great Satraps' Revolt) in the 360s and 350s BC, led by distinguished figures such as Datames, Ariobarzanes, and Autophradates.

The Ten Thousand (Ancient Greek: οἱ Μύριοι, hoi Myrioi) were a force of mercenary units, mainly Greeks, employed by Cyrus the Younger to attempt to wrest the throne of the Persian Empire from his brother, Artaxerxes II. Their march to the Battle of Cunaxa and back to Greece (401–399 BC) was recorded by Xenophon, one of their leaders, in his work Anabasis.

Cyrus the Younger (Old Persian: 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 Kūruš; Ancient Greek: Κῦρος Kyros; died 401 BC) was an Achaemenid prince and general. He ruled as satrap of Lydia and Ionia from 408 to 401 BC. Son of Darius II and Parysatis, he died in 401 BC in battle during a failed attempt to oust his elder brother, Artaxerxes II, from the Persian throne.

The history of Cyrus and of the retreat of his Greek mercenaries is told by Xenophon in his Anabasis. Another account, probably from Sophaenetus of Stymphalus, was used by Ephorus. Further information is contained in the excerpts from Artaxerxes II's physician, Ctesias, by Photius; Plutarch’s Lives of Artaxerxes II and Lysander; and Thucydides' History of Peloponnesian War. These are the only early sources of information on Cyrus the Younger.

Orontes I (Old Persian: *Arvanta-; died 344 BC) was a military officer of the Achaemenid Empire and satrap of Armenia at the end of the 5th-century BC and first half of the 4th-century BC. He is notable for having led the unsuccessful Great Satraps' Revolt in Asia Minor against the Achaemenids from 362/1 BC to 360/359 BC.

He was the son of Artasyrus, a high-ranking Bactrian nobleman. Through his maternal line, Orontes traced his descent back to the Persian magnate Hydarnes, one of the six companions of the King of Kings Darius the Great (r. 522–486 BC). Orontes first appears in records in 401 BC as the satrap of Armenia. There he participated in the Battle of Cunaxa, where he pursued the Ten Thousand following their retreat. In the same year, he married Rhodogune, a daughter of Artaxerxes II (r. 404–358 BC).

Artasyrus (also spelled Artasouras; Old Iranian: Arta-sūra) was a Bactrian nobleman in the Achaemenid Empire, who was the father of Orontes I (died 344 BC), the satrap of the Armenia and ancestor of the Orontid dynasty. The career of Artasyrus is obscure. According to the Greek historian Plutarch, he held the high-ranking office of the "King's Eye". He has been suggested to be the same person as the namesake Iranian noble who participated in the Battle of Cunaxa in 401 BC. He and Orontes I are the only Bactrians who are known to have occupied high offices under the Achaemenid Empire. Bactrians that settled in other parts of the empire either did so by their own will or as garrison-colonists.