He led a contingent of troops in the Achaemenid army of Xerxes I during the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC.
Azanes was a Sogdian, a member of an Iranian group of people that inhabited Sogdia, and the son of Artaios[1] (Artaeus).
[2] All that is known about him comes from Herodotus who reports that Azanes went to war with Xerxes I against the Greeks in 480 B.C., thus participating in the Persian invasion of Greece,[1] which was started as a response to the defeat of the First Persian invasion of Greece at the Battle of Marathon, and resulted in Greek victory.
The Greeks managed to protect the Peloponnesus, and lured the Persians in the Straits of Salamis, where their ships disorganized and were defeated.
Xerxes I fled back to Asia and Mardonius was left to complete the conquest.