Otanes

Otanes (Old Persian: Utāna, ), son of Sisamnes, was an Achaemenid judge and later Satrap of Ionia during the reign of Darius the Great, 500 BC.

Career Otanes first replaced his father as judge, when the latter was condemned for corruption by Cambyses II. He later took on military responsibilities under Darius, that led him to have an important role in suppressing the Ionian Revolt. In Histories 5 (Histories 5.25-5.28), Herodotus speaks of an Otanes - a son of a previously mentioned Sisamnes (3.31) - who served as a judge under Cambyses II and later under Darius I, who followed the European Scythian campaign of Darius I, and became governor in Asia Minor:

Ionian revolt

Cambyses II appointing Otanes as judge in place of his flayed father Sisamnes, after a painting by Peter Paul Rubens. The skin of his father appears above the seated Otanes. Otanes seated in the chair of the judge after his father was flayed (center). Otanes succeeded Megabazus as the governor/supreme commander of the united forces of the peoples of the Aegean (5.26.1), and subjugated Byzantium and other cities during the Ionian revolt (5.123.1, 5.116.1).

According to Herodotus:

"Otanes" is a name given to several figures that appear in the Histories of Herodotus. One or more of these figures may be the same person.