Sabaces (name variants: Sabakes, Sauaces; Sataces; Diodorus Siculus calls him Tasiaces; Aramaic: 𐡎𐡅𐡉𐡊 SWYK, died in 333 BC) was an Achaemenid satrap of the Achaemenid Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt during the reign of king Darius III of Persia.
Resistance to Alexander the Great
Sometime before the Battle of Issus (modern-day Turkey), Sabaces left Egypt with his army to join Darius III in Syria and support him in his fight against Alexander the Great. When the Battle of Issus took place (November 333 BC), Alexander and his horse riders fought through the enemy troops until they came close to Darius III, whose life was threatened. Darius III was protected by the noblest Persians, among them also Sabaces, who was killed:
Of the Persians were killed Arsames, Rheomithres, and Atizyes, who had commanded the cavalry at the Granicus. Sabaces, viceroy of Egypt, and Bubaces, one of the Persian dignitaries, were also killed, besides about 100,000 private soldiers, among them being more than 10,000 cavalries.
— The Anabasis of Alexander by Arrian, translated by E. J. Chinnock, Book II, Chapter XI
The Persian king fled because he feared for his life; therefore, the Macedonians won the battle.
Successor of Sabaces
Mazaces was probably the successor of Sabaces in Egypt. Still, because Sabaces had taken nearly all occupying forces with him, Mazaces could not organize military resistance against the Macedonians. Therefore, Alexander the Great was able to take Egypt without fighting (332 BC).
