Bessus
Achaemenid satrap and pretender to throne (died 329 BC) · Politicians · Died 329 BC
A Persian satrap who murdered his own king, declared himself emperor, and lasted about a year before his allies gave him up to Alexander the Great.
Bessus is read about 298 times a day, in 44 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 9 November 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 111 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?A life in dates
Media & music
Photos 6
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The punishment of Bessus by Andre Castaigne (1898-1899)_of_Firdausi_MET_DP215675.jpg?width=1200)
"Alexander Executes Janusiyar and Mahiyar, the Slayers of Darius", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi MET DP215675_of_Firdausi_MET_(cropped).jpg?width=1200)
Alexander Executes Janusiyar and Mahiyar, the Slayers of Darius", Folio from a Shahnama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi MET (cropped)
Alexander, the half-brother of Darab
Iskandar comforting the dying Dara, Safavid Shiraz, circa 1540
Khalili Collection Aramaic Documents IA21About this person
Bessus governed Bactria under the Achaemenid Empire when Darius III still held the throne. In 330 BC he killed Darius and proclaimed himself Artaxerxes V, King of Kings, attempting to rally the eastern provinces against Alexander's advance. The empire he claimed began dissolving almost immediately - even Bactria, his power base, slipped away. He fled north into Sogdia, where his own men arrested him and turned him over to the Macedonian king. Alexander had him executed at Ecbatana in the summer of 329 BC. A thousand years later the Persian epic Shahnameh remembered him under the name Janusipar.
