In this reign an important innovation took place in the Persian religion. Berossus (in Clemens Alex. _Protrept._ i. 5. 65) tells us that the Persians knew of no images of the gods until Artaxerxes II. erected images of Anaitis in Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, Persepolis, Bactra, Damascus, Sardis. This statement is proved correct by the inscriptions; all the former kings name only Auramazda (Ahuramazda), but Artaxerxes II. in his building inscriptions from Susa and Ecbatana invokes Ahuramazda, Anahita and Mithra. These two gods belonged to the old popular religion of the Iranians, but had until then been neglected by the true Zoroastrians; now they were introduced into the official worship much in the way in which the cult of the saints came into the Christian religion. About the history of Artaxerxes II. we are comparatively well informed from Greek sources; for the earlier part of his reign from Ctesias and Xenophon (_Anabasis_), for the later times from Dinon of Ephesus, the historian of the Persians (from whom the account of Justin is derived), from Ephorus (whose account is quoted by Diodorus) and others. Upon these sources is based the biography of the king by Plutarch. 3. ARTAXERXES III. is the title adopted by Ochus, the son of Artaxerxes II., when he succeeded his father in 359. The chronographers generally retain the name Ochus, and in the Babylonian inscriptions he is called "Umasu, who is called Artakshatsu." The same form of the name (probably pronounced Uvasu) occurs in the Syrian version of the canon of Ptolemy by Elias of Nisibis (Amos).