Persian Strategy against Egypt and the Date for the Battle of Citium

Abstract

SOMETIME IN THE EARLY YEARS of the fourth century Evagoras of Cyprus began (or was forced into) a prolonged revolt from the Persian empire. The chronology of this revolt and of its main events is disputed and may be beyond recovery. The only full ancient narrative that we have comes from Diodorus of Sicily, and is manifestly tangled. Scattered passages in his narrative claim that the revolt began in 391/90 (Diod. 14.98.3), lasted very nearly ten years, and ended in 385/4 (Diod. 15.9.2). Something is wrong, if only with Diodorus' arithmetic. Isocrates (Paneg. 140-141) provides information which only adds to the confusion. He says that at the time of writing the war in Cyprus was unfinished after six years and mentions a little-known Persian assault on Egypt of three years' duration, apparently as a preliminary to the assault on Cyprus. Unfortunately the date for the Panegyricus itself is disputed, but ca 380 has seemed best to many scholars and, despite some serious problems, must be accepted. Progress has been made recently on the dates of the commencement and termination of the revolt thanks to a thorough study of the question by Christopher Tuplin.1 In the present study, his article is taken as read and the dates of ca 390 for the outbreak of the revolt and ca 380 for its conclusion are ac-