Editing Darius II (section)

==Conflict with Athens==
As long as the power of Athens remained intact Darius did not meddle in Greek affairs. In 424 or 423 BC, Darius and the Athenian emissary Epilycus confirmed the peace between Persia and Athens, either through a new agreement or a renewal of the [[Peace of Callias]].<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Blamire |first=Alec |date=1975 |title=Epilycus' Negotiations with Persia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1087581?origin=crossref |journal=Phoenix |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=21–26 |doi=10.2307/1087581 |issn=0031-8299}}</ref> When in 413 BC, Athens supported the rebel Amorges in [[Caria]], Darius II would not have responded had not the Athenian power been broken in the same year at [[Syracuse, Sicily|Syracuse]]. As a result of that event, Darius II gave orders to his satraps in Asia Minor, Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus, to send in the overdue tribute of the Greek towns and to begin a war with Athens. To support the war with Athens, the Persian satraps entered into an alliance with Sparta. In 408 BC he sent his son [[Cyrus the Younger|Cyrus]] to Asia Minor, to carry on the war with greater energy.

Darius II may have expelled various Greek dynasts who had been ruling cities in Ionia: [[Pausanias (geographer)|Pausanias]] wrote that the sons of [[Themistocles]], which include [[Archeptolis]], Governor of [[Magnesia on the Meander|Magnesia]], "appear to have returned to Athens", and that they dedicated a painting of Themistocles in the [[Parthenon]] and erected a bronze statue to [[Artemis Leucophryene]], the goddess of Magnesia, on the [[Acropolis]].<ref name="DH200" /><ref>Paus. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Paus.%201.1.2&lang=original 1.1.2], [https://books.google.com/books?id=Wz72pKpgpx8C&pg=PA38 26.4]</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Habicht |first1=Christian |title=Pausanias Guide to Ancient Greece |date=1998 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520061705 |page=5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9cJYpYbScEUC&pg=PA5 |language=en}}</ref> They may have returned from [[Asia Minor]] in old age, after 412 BC, when the Achaemenids took again firm control of the Greek cities of Asia, and they may have been expelled by the Achaemenid [[satrap]] Tissaphernes sometime between 412 and 399 BC.<ref name="DH200">{{cite book |last1=Harvey |first1=David |last2=Wilkins |first2=John |title=The Rivals of Aristophanes: Studies in Athenian Old Comedy |date=2002 |publisher=ISD LLC |isbn=9781910589595 |page=200 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NQVPDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA200 |language=en}}</ref> In effect, from 414 BC, Darius II had started to resent increasing Athenian power in the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean]] and had Tissaphernes enter into an alliance with [[Sparta]] against [[Athens]], which in 412 BC led to the Persian conquest of the greater part of [[Ionia]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology|last=Smith|first=William|publisher=Little, Brown|year=1867|volume=3|location=Boston|pages=1154–1156}}</ref>

Darius is said to have received the visit of Greek athlete and Olympic champion [[Polydamas of Skotoussa]], who made a demonstration of his strength by killing three Immortals in front of the Persian ruler.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lynch |first1=James |title=The Ancient Olympiads: 776 BC to 393 AD |date=2015 |publisher=Warwick Press Inc. |isbn=9781987944006 |page=141 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6qjxCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT141 |language=en }}{{Dead link|date=November 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Valavanēs |first1=Panos |title=Games and sanctuaries in ancient Greece: Olympia, Delphi, Isthmia, Nemea, Athens |date=2004 |publisher=Kapon Editions |page=433 |isbn=9789607037435 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=njwKAQAAMAAJ |language=en}}</ref> A sculpture representing the scene is visible in the Museum of the History of the Olympic Games of antiquity.<ref>{{cite book |title=Ministry of Culture and Sports {{!}} Museum of the History of the Olympic Games of antiquity |url=http://odysseus.culture.gr/h/4/eh430.jsp?obj_id=11041}}</ref>[[File:Naghsh-e rostam, Irán, 2016-09-24, DD 16.jpg|left|thumb|Prospective [[Tomb of Darius II]] in [[Naqsh-e Rostam]]]]Darius II died in 404 BC, in the nineteenth year of his reign, and was followed as Persian king by Artaxerxes II.<ref name="EB1911" />