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Xerxes II (r.425-424 BC) was a very short lived ruler of the Persian Empire, who was killed by the son of one of his father's concubines after a reign of only 45 days. His father, Artaxerxes I (r.464-425 BC) had been a moderately successful ruler who had achieved some successes against the Greeks before his death in 425 BC. His only legitimate son came to the throne as Xerxes II, but only forty-five days later, while in a drunker stupor, he was killed on the orders of his half brother, the son of one of his father's concubines (named Sogdianus or Secundianus). The murderer was killed himself a few months later, and his killer took the throne as Darius II (r.423-404 BC), another fairly weak ruler who allowed control of relations with the Greeks to fall into the hands of the governors of Asia Minor. It is likely that Sogdianus and Darius claimed the throne at about the same time, as the gap between the last known tablet from the reign of Artaxerxes and the first of Darius is only seventeen days (although this could reflect a later desire to wipe the two short-lived reigns from the record).