Bessus

Bessus

Bessus or Bessos (Old Persian: *Bayaçā; Greek: Βήσσος), also known by his throne name Artaxerxes V (Old Persian: 𐎠𐎼𐎫𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎠 Artaxšaçāʰ; Greek: Ἀρταξέρξης; died summer 329 BC), was a Persian satrap of the eastern Achaemenid satrapy of Bactria, as well as the self-proclaimed King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 330 to 329 BC. A member of the ruling Achaemenid dynasty, Bessus came to power shortly after killing the legitimate Achaemenid ruler Darius III (r. 336–330 BC), and subsequently attempted to hold the eastern part of the empire against the Macedonian king Alexander the Great (r. 336–323 BC). His realm quickly started to fall apart, including Bactria, which was the main center. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Bessus has received more than 525,611 page views. His biography is available in 42 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 38 in 2019). Bessus is the 1,200th most popular politician (up from 1,218th in 2019).

Bessus is most famous for murdering Darius III, the last king of the Achaemenid Empire.