Satraps of Caria, Artaxexes III Ochus, 359/8 – 338.   Tetradrachm, uncertain mint circa 340, AR 14.80g. The Great King in kneeling-running position r., wearing a kidaris, drawing a bow; the quiver at his shoulder. Rev. Satrap, wearing Persian dress, galloping r. on horseback and thrusting a spear in his raised r. hand. Babelon, Traité pl. XCI, 17. Dewing 2715. A. Meadows, Pixodarus Hoard, Royal Achaemenid Issues (?) Coin Hoards IX, pl. 30, 1ff. Mildenberg, Money supply under Artaxerxes III Ochus, Studies Price, 84 and pl. 61, 84 (this coin).
Rare. Of unusually fine style for the issue and struck on very
fresh metal. About extremely fine

Ex Leu 15, 1976, 315; Spink Geneva 10 October 1977, 238; Sotheby's 4 April 1991, Viscount Wimborne, 67 and New York XXVII, 2012, Prospero, 550 sales.
Ochus, the youngest legitimate son of Artaxerxes II, was never much appreciated by his father, the Great King of the vast Achaemenid Persian Empire, and was not seriously considered as his successor. He only became designated heir after his eldest brother was executed for plotting against their father. He drove his second oldest brother to suicide, and he orchestrated the murder of his father’s favourite illegitimate son. With all other options gone, Artaxerxes II named Ochus as his successor and died soon thereafter.
When the triumphant Ochus ascended the Achaemenid throne in 358 BC, he took the name of Artaxerxes III and enacted new policies intended to restore a powerful central authority to the Persian Empire after decades of satraps creating virtually independent states for themselves within the territory of the Great King. He immediately demanded that the satraps disband their private mercenary armies, but when he attempted to remove Artabazus from Hellespontine Phrygia in 356 BC, Artaxerxes’ other satraps proved unequal to the task. With the support of Athenian and then Theban commanders, Artabazus inflicted major losses on the loyal satraps until 345 BC, when the Thebans turned on him and the rebel fled to Macedonia.
As part of his plan to restore Achaemenid prestige, in 351 BC Artaxerxes III mounted an invasion of Egypt, a province that had slipped from Persian domination in 404 BC. Unfortunately, this was defeated by the Greek mercenary generals employed by the Egyptian pharaoh Nectanebo II, forcing Artaxerxes III to withdraw. In the aftermath of this defeat, the cities of Cyprus began to throw off Persian authority as did those of Phoenicia under the leadership of Sidon. This resulted in a major show of Persian force in 343 BC, which saw Idriaeus of Caria and an Athenian mercenary fleet reduce Cyprus to submission and a punitive campaign against Sidon led by the Great King himself. Sidon was taken by force and burned to the ground along with its inhabitants while 600 of the leading men were crucified before the hapless city.
Having inflicted this brutal punishment upon Sidon as a warning against future rebellion, Artaxerxes III made a new attempt to restore Persian authority over Egypt. With a grand army of 330,000 Persians and 14,000 Greek mercenaries the Great King forced Nectanebo II to flee to Ethiopia and seized Memphis. The land of the pharaohs was once again a possession of the Achaemenids, but Egypt chafed under restored Persian rule and Artaxerxes’ intolerant religious policies so alienated the Egyptian priesthood that when Alexander the Great arrived a decade later, he was embraced by the Egyptians as a saviour.
Following the conquest of Egypt, Artaxerxes III largely focused on the containment of the growing power of Philip II of Macedon, providing Persian troops and money to support the Thracian dynast Cersobleptes and Perinthus in 340 BC. It is possible that the present coin was struck as part of the efforts to finance opposition to Philip II. Artaxerxes III ultimately failed in this regard and faced the growing possibility of a Macedonian invasion of the Persian Empire until 338 BC, when he was poisoned by his court physician.