Decline and Fall: From Court Intrigue to Alexander

After the assassination of Xerxes I in a palace conspiracy (465 BCE), the Achaemenid Empire entered a period of growing dynastic instability. Artaxerxes I (465-424 BCE) managed to stabilize the empire relatively well despite an Egyptian revolt, and the brief civil war that followed his death was resolved by Darius II around 423 BCE, whose reign saw the growing political influence of Queen Parysatis. Artaxerxes II (404-358 BCE) had to face the rebellion of his own brother, Cyrus the Younger, supported by a large contingent of Greek mercenaries, at the Battle of Cunaxa (401 BCE); the death of Cyrus the Younger there and the subsequent retreat of the surviving Greek mercenaries, "the Ten Thousand," is narrated by Xenophon in his "Anabasis."