thumb|upright=1.2|Pharnabazus was Satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia.

thumb|Coinage of Pharnabazos, circa 398-396/5 BC, [[Kyzikos, Mysia. Obv: Legend ΦΑΡ-Ν-[A]-BA ("FAR-N-[A]-BA", for Pharnabazos), head of Pharnabazos, wearing the satrapal cap tied below his chin, with diadem. Rev: Ship's prow left, with a griffin and prophylactic eye; two dolphins downward; below, a tuna.]]

Pharnabazus II (Old Iranian: Farnabāzu, ; ruled 413–374 BC) was a Persian soldier and statesman, and Satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia. He was the son of Pharnaces II of Phrygia and grandson of Pharnabazus I, and great-grandson of Artabazus I. He and his male ancestors, forming the Pharnacid dynasty, had governed the satrapy of Hellespontine Phrygia from its headquarters at Dascylium since 478 BC. He married Apama, daughter of Artaxerxes II of Persia, and their son Artabazus also became a satrap of Phrygia. According to some accounts, his granddaughter Barsine may have become Alexander the Great's concubine.

According to research by Theodor Nöldeke, he was descended from Otanes, one of the associates of Darius in the murder of Smerdis.

Satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia

War with Sparta against Athens (–404 BC)

Athens was the dominant power in the Aegean in the 5th century BC, following the Greeks' victories over the Achaemenids in the Second Persian invasion of Greece (480–479 BC). Athens, powered by the alliance formed under the Delian League, has even been called the Athenian Empire at that time, and formed the largest threat to the Achaemenid possessions in Asia Minor.

Pharnabazus II was first recorded as satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia in 413 BC, when he received orders from Darius II of Persia to send in the outstanding tribute of the Greek cities on the Ionian coast, tribute he had a hard time to obtain due to Athenian interference. Thucydides described this situation, faced by both satraps Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes:

thumb|left|The assassination of the exiled Athenian general [[Alcibiades may have been organized by Pharnabazes, at the request of Sparta.]]

He, like Tissaphernes of Caria, entered into negotiations with Sparta and began a war with Athens. The conduct of the war was much hindered by the rivalry between the two satraps, of whom Pharnabazus was by far the more energetic and upright. Pharnabazus initially fought with the Spartans against the Athenians during the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), even, in one instance, coming to the rescue of the retreating Spartan forces, and riding his horse into the sea to fend off the Athenians while encouraging his regiment.

In 404 BC, Pharnabazus may also have been responsible for the assassination of the Athenian general Alcibiades, who had taken refuge in the Achaemenid Empire. The assassination was probably at the instigation of the Spartans, and specifically Lysander. As Alcibiades was about to set out for the Persian court, his residence was surrounded and set on fire. Seeing no chance of escape he rushed out on his assassins, dagger in hand, and was killed by a shower of arrows.

Conflict with the Ten Thousand (399 BC)

thumb|An Athenian mercenary [[peltast (left) supporting an Achaemenid knight of Hellespontine Phrygia (center) attacking a Greek psilos (right), Altıkulaç Sarcophagus, early 4th century BCE. Pharnabazus then arranged with the Spartan admiral Anaxibius for the rest of the Greek mercenaries to be shipped out of the Asian continent to Byzantium.

War with Athens against Sparta (395–387 BC)

Conflict with Spartan King Agesilaos in Asia Minor

thumb|Meeting between Spartan King [[Agesilaus II|Agesilaus (left) and Pharnabazus (right) in 395 BC, after which Agesilaus left Hellespontine Phrygia proper.]]

Hellespontine Phrygia was attacked and ravaged by the Spartan king Agesilaos in 396-395 BC, who particularly laid waste to the area around Daskyleion, the capital of Hellenistic Phrygia. According to Plutarch, Agesilaus said upon leaving Asia Minor "I have been driven out by 10,000 Persian archers", a reference to "Archers" (Toxotai) the Greek nickname for the Darics from their obverse design, because that much money had been paid to politicians in Athens and Thebes in order to start a war against Sparta.

Participation to the Corinthian War on the side of Athens (395-393 BC)

Pharnabazes went on to aid the Athenians against the Spartans in the Corinthian War (394–387 BC). During this period, Pharnabazus is notable for his command of the Achaemenid fleet at the Battle of Cnidus (394 BC) in which the Persians, allied with the former Athenian admiral and then commissioned into Persian service, Conon, annihilated the Spartan fleet, ending Sparta's brief status as the dominant Greek naval power. This was the first time in 90 years, since the Greco-Persian Wars, that the Achaemenid fleet was going so far west.

Rebuilding of the walls of Athens

thumb|Pharnabazus funded the rebuilding the [[Long Walls|walls of Athens, and provided his seamen as manpower, in 393 BC.]]

After being convinced by Conon that allowing him to rebuild the Long Walls around Piraeus, the main port of Athens, would be a major blow to the Lacedaemonians, Pharnabazus eagerly gave Conon a fleet of 80 triremes and additional funds to accomplish this task.

With the assistance of the rowers of the fleet, and the workers paid for by the Persian money, the construction was soon completed. Athens quickly took advantage of its possession of walls and a fleet to seize the islands of Scyros, Imbros, and Lemnos, on which it established cleruchies (citizen colonies).

As a reward for his success, Pharnabazus was allowed to marry the king's daughter, Apame. He was recalled to the Achaemenid Empire in 393 BC, and replaced by satrap Tiribazus.

After 4 years of preparations in the Levant, Pharnabazes gathered an expeditionary force had 200,000 Persian troops, 300 triremes, 200 galleys, and 12,000 Greeks under Iphicrates. The Achaemenid Empire had also been applying pressure on Athens to recall the Greek general Chabrias, who was in the service of the Egyptians, but in vain. The Egyptian ruler Nectanebo I was thus supported by Athenian General Chabrias and his mercenaries.

Expedition

The force landed in Egypt with the Athenian general Iphicrates near Mendes in 373 BC. The expedition force was too slow, giving time to the Egyptians to strengthen defences. Pharnabazus and Iphicrates appeared before Pelusium, but retired without attacking it, Nectanebo I, king of Egypt, having added to its former defences by laying the neighbouring lands under water, and blocking up the navigable channels of the Nile by embankments. (Diodorus Siculus xv. 42; Cornelius Nepos, Iphicrates c. 5.) Fortifications on the Pelusiac branch of the Nile ordered by Nectanebo forced the enemy fleet to seek another way to sail up the Nile. Eventually the fleet managed to find its way up the less-defended Mendesian branch.

After several weeks the Persians, and their Greek mercenaries under Iphicrates, had to re-embark. The expedition against Egypt had failed. Pharnabazus was replaced by Datames to lead a second expedition to Egypt, but he failed and then started the "Satraps' Revolt" against the Great King.]]

From 368 BC many western satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire started to rebel against Artaxerxes II, in the Great Satraps' Revolt, so Nectanebo provided financial support to the rebelling satraps and re-established ties with both Sparta and Athens.

Coinage

A large number of coins have been found from that period, presumably in order to pay for the troops, particularly for the Greek troops under Iphicrates. The large coinage was minted in Tarsos, Cilicia. The coins use images of the god of war Ares wearing an Attic helmet, or a seated Baal.