WAS TIRIBAZUS PRESENT AT THE BATTLE OF CITIUM?

The question whether Tiribazus was present at the scene of the naval Battle of Citium, in which Artaxerxes defeated Evagoras of Salamis, has bearing on the issue of his presence in another place where he may have been employed for his diplomatic skills, namely, the Cadusian Campaign. One notes that there is something interestingly disconcerting about the accounts we have of the battle.

Diodorus (15.2.2) first calls Tiribazus ‘a commander of the fleet’ (στρατηγοὺς δ᾽ ἀπέδϵιζϵ τῆς πϵζῆς δυνάμϵως Ὀρόνταν κηδϵστήν, τῆς δὲ ναυτικῆς Τιρίβαζον; ‘as commanders he [Artaxerxes] chose for the land force his son-in-law Orontes, and for the naval Tiribazus’). Soon, however (15.3.2), it is Glos, Tiribazus’ son-in-law (cf. 15.9.3), who is called the ‘naval commander’ (ὁ τῆς ναυτικῆς δυνάμϵως ἡγούμϵνος, ὀνομαζόμϵνος δὲ Γƛῶς; ‘leader of the naval armament, known as Glos’) and who suppresses a mutiny. Again, Tiribazus is the supreme commander after the Battle of Citium (15.8.1: τῶν ὅƛων ἔχων τὴν ἡγϵμονίαν). Some scholars believe that this discrepancy can be solved by postulating that there was a division of powers between the two persons.

Nevertheless, there may be a different interpretation. The two were probably commanders, but not at the same time; Tiribazus was not at all present during the preparations leading to the sea battle of Citium, and during the actual clash. He only arrived in Cyprus after the defeat of Evagoras to negotiate the terms of capitulation, and then assumed supreme command.This may be gathered from the other source we have of this event, namely Thopompus, or rather the summary made by Photius to book 12 of his Philippica (FGrH 115 F 103 = Bibl. cod. 176 p. 120 a 25–34):