Otanes (son of Sisamnes)

For other people with the same name, see Otanes.

Otanes
Otanes
Military career
Allegiance	Achaemenid Empire
Service years	c. 500 BC
Rank	Judge, later Satrap of Lydia
Conflicts	Ionian revolt

Otanes (Old Persian: Utāna, Ancient Greek: Ὀτάνης), son of Sisamnes, was an Achaemenid judge and later Satrap of Ionia during the reign of Darius the Great, c. 500 BC.

Career

Otanes first replaced his father as judge, when the latter was condemned for corruption by Cambyses II. He later took on military responsibilities under Darius, that led him to have an important role in suppressing the Ionian Revolt. In Histories 5 (Histories 5.25-5.28), Herodotus speaks of an Otanes - a son of a previously mentioned Sisamnes (3.31) - who served as a judge under Cambyses II and later under Darius I, who followed the European Scythian campaign of Darius I, and became governor in Asia Minor:

Ionian revolt

Otanes succeeded Megabazus as the governor/supreme commander of the united forces of the peoples of the Aegean (5.26.1), and subjugated Byzantium and other cities during the Ionian revolt (5.123.1, 5.116.1).

According to Herodotus:

This Otanes, then, who sat upon that seat, was now made successor to Megabazus in his governorship. He captured Byzantium, Calchedon, Antandrus in the Troad, and Lamponium, and with ships he had taken from the Lesbians, he took Lemnos and Imbros, both of which were still inhabited by Pelasgians.

According to Herodotus, this Otanes also married one of Darius' daughters (5.116.1):

"Daurises, Hymaees, and Otanes, all of them Persian generals and married to daughters of Darius, pursued those Ionians who had marched to Sardis, and drove them to their ships. After this victory they divided the cities among themselves and sacked them."

— Herodotus 5.116

"Otanes" is a name given to several figures that appear in the Histories of Herodotus. One or more of these figures may be the same person.

Sources

• Herodotus (1862). History of Herodotus, Volume 2. pp. 384–396.