Belesys I (Babylonian: ) was the ruler of Achaemenid Syria as the satrap of Eber-Nari from 407 to 401 BCE. His father's name was .
Details Belesys' name is recorded (as ) on clay tablets from Babylon, where he officiated between the years 421 and 414 BC. It is thought that he was the vice governor and subordinate of the Babylonian satrap Gobryas/ during this time, though it has also been suggested that Belesys/Bēlšunu and Gobryas/ were the same individual.
From 407 to 401 B.C. BC Belesys I ruled Achaemenid Syria as the satrap of Eber-Nari, as mentioned by Xenophon in his Anabasis (1.4.10). On his journey to Mesopotamia, the rebellious prince Cyrus the Younger is noted to have burnt down the palace and gardens of Belesys on the Dardas River near Aleppo – an "irreversible hostile act" that suggests Cyrus and the satrap were "implacable foes".
Belesys I had a son, (or ), who died in 402 B.C. himself officiated as satrap of Babylonia. Another later satrap of Syria, Belesys II, was probably one of his descendants.
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General references
Pierre Briant: From Cyrus to Alexander. A History of the Persian Empire. Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake IN 2002, ISBN 1-57506-031-0. Matthew W. Stolper: Bēlšunu the Satrap. In: Francesca Rochberg-Halton (Hrsg.): Language, Literature, and History. Philological and Historical Studies Presented to Erica Reiner (= American Oriental Series. 67). American Oriental Society, New Haven CT 1987, ISBN 0-940490-67-6, S. 389–402. Matthew W. Stolper: The Babylonian Enterprise of Belesys. In: Pierre Briant (Hrsg.): Dans les pas des Dix-Mille. Peuples et pays du Proche-Orient vus par un Grec (= Pallas. 43, ). Presses Universitaires du Mirail, Toulouse 1995, S. 217–238.