Arses: Artaxerxes IV
Arses ruled between Artaxerxes III and Darius III. His short reign involved court conflict, and sources render his name in different forms.
Reign: 338–336 BCE
These cultural and symbolic images do not depict Dorehami members or events.
Image and licence
File:Persepolis stairs of the Apadana relief.jpg — Phillip Maiwald (Nikopol) — CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / crop
File:Persepolis stairs of the Apadana relief02.JPG — Taranis-iuppiter — CC BY-SA 3.0 · WebP / crop
Object images show the period’s heritage and are not necessarily authenticated portraits of this person.
Context and a reading path
Arses, also called Artaxerxes IV, is studied between Artaxerxes III and Darius III. Personal and royal names can appear differently in sources. Check that notes concern the same person before combining them.
How to read the evidence
Do not compensate for a short reign with invented detail. Keep the author and temporal distance alongside claims about the court and the king’s death. Explain when evidence rests on a few narratives instead of sounding more certain than the sources.
A question to discuss
How can a short biography remain informative without being padded with guesses?
The answer need not be settled beforehand. First note what the source actually tells us, then separate questions from guesses. Children can draw an object or building from the period; an imagined picture should not be presented as historical evidence.
Sources and further reading
Content reviewed: 19 October 2026
Back to the Achaemenids
Cyrus II: Cyrus the Great
About 559–530 BCE
Cambyses II
530–522 BCE
Bardiya and the Gaumata question
522 BCE
Darius I: Darius the Great
522–486 BCE
Xerxes I
486–465 BCE
Artaxerxes I
465/464–424/423 BCE
Xerxes II
424/423 BCE
Sogdianus
424/423 BCE
Darius II
about 423–404 BCE
Artaxerxes II
about 404–359/358 BCE
Artaxerxes III
359/358–338/337 BCE
Darius III
336–330 BCE
Bessus: a claimant after Darius III
330–329 BCE