Listed 100 (total found 101) sub titles with search on: Biographies for wider area of: "PELLA Town GIANNITSA" .
PELLA (Ancient city) GIANNITSA
Deinocrates, a most distinguished Macedonian architect in the time of Alexander the Great.
He was the architect of the new temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which was built
after the destruction of the former temple by Herostratus. He was employed by
Alexander, whom he accompanied into Egypt, in the building of Alexandria. Deinocrates
laid out the ground and erected several of the principal buildings. Besides the
works which he actually erected, he formed a design for cutting mount Athos into
a statue of Alexander, to whom he presented his plan upon his accession to the
throne; but the king forbad the execution of the project. The right hand of the
figure was to have held a city, and in the left there would have been a basin,
in which the water of all the mountain streams was to pour, and thence into the
sea. Another curious work which he did not live to finish, is mentioned under
Arsinoe. The so-called monument of Hephaestion by Deinocrates was only a funeral
pile (pura, Diod. xvii. 115), though a very magnificent one. It formed a pyramid,
rising in successive terraces, all adorned with great magnificence (Plin. v. 10,
s. 11, vii. 37, s. 38, xxxiv. 14, s. 42; Vitruv. i. 1.4, ii. praef.; Strab. xiv.;
Val. Max. i. 4, ext. 1; Amm. Marc. xxii. 16; Solin. 35, 43; Plut. Alex. 72, de
Alex. Virt. ii. 2; Lucian, pro Imag. 9, de conscrib. Hist. 12; Tzetz. Chil. viii.
199, xi. 367). There is immense confusion among these writers about the architect's
name. Pliny calls him Dinochares, or, according to some of the MSS., Tymochares
or Timocrates; Strabo has Cheirokrates; Plutarch, Stasikrates; and, among other
variations, Eustathius (ad Hom. Il. x. 229) calls him Diocles of Rhegium.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Calligenes (Kalligenes), the name of the physician of Philip, king of Macedonia, who attended him in his last illness at Amphipolis, B. C. 179, and concealed his death from the people till the arrival of Perseus, to whom he had sent intelligence of the great danger of the king. (Liv. xl. 56.)
Critobulus (Kritoboulos), a Greek surgeon, said by Pliny (H. N. vii. 37) to have extracted an arrow from the eye of Philip the son of Amyntas, king of Macedonia, (probably at the siege of Methone, B. C. 353) so skilfully that, though he could not save his sight, he prevented his face from being disfigured. He is also mentioned by Quintus Curtius (ix. 5) as having been the person who extracted the weapon from the wound which Alexander received in storming the principal fortress of the Mallians, B. C. 326.
Magas: Son of Ptolemy and Berenice, subdues Cyrene, revolts against Egypt. Apame: Daughter of Antiochus, wife of Magas.
Perseus Project Index. Total results on 23/7/2001: 14 for Magas.
Macedonian officer, served under Alexander the Great and Ptolemy.
Ophellas was born in Pella as the son of a Macedonian nobleman named
Silenus. He was probably educated at the court of king Philip II (359-336) and
queen Olympias, because he was later considered as one of the closest friends
of the crown prince, Alexander the Great. We know nothing about Ophellas' youth
and career during Alexander's reign (336-323), except for the fact that he was
one of the so-called trierarchs during Alexander's return from India.
These officials were responsible for the building of the navy, and we know that
only the most important courtiers were chosen for this important office.
After the death of Alexander, Ophellas sided with Ptolemy, the new
satrap of Egypt and another
personal friend of Alexander. Ptolemy had understood the situation in Alexander's
empire better than anyone else: after the death of the conqueror, it was impossible
to keep his possessions together, especially since his brother and successor Philip
Arridaeus was mentally unfit to rule. Ptolemy saw that only smaller kingdoms had
any chance of survival, and tried to become independent. Arridaeus' regent, Perdiccas,
still tried to maintain the empire's unity and attacked Egypt in 320, but after
a defeat, he was killed by his own officers Peithon, Antigenes, and Seleucus.
Ptolemy could be successful, because his back was covered by Ophellas.
In 323/322, a Spartan mercenary leader named Thibron had arrived in Cyrenaica,
a group of five Greek towns in Libya.
He carried with him a large treasure: all Babylonian taxes of the years 330-325.
This was sufficient to start a small kingdom, and he had some success. However,
the native Libyans appealed to Ptolemy, who recognized a chance when he was offered
one: he immediately sent Ophellas with a small army to the west, to support the
Libyans and occupy Cyrenaica. It was (probably) Ophellas' first independent command,
but he was successful: in the winter of 322/321, Thibron was executed, and Cyrenaica
and the Libyan tribes allied themselves to Ptolemy. Moreover, the treasure was
sent to Egypt. Ptolemy could quietly wait for Perdiccas, knowing that he would
not be attacked in his rear. As we have already seen, he won an important victory.
Meanwhile, Ophellas remained in Cyrenaica as Ptolemy's viceroy. He
founded a new harbor, called Ptolemais, which was destined to become one of the
most important towns in ancient Libya. In 313/312, there was a brief crisis; the
details are unclear, but Ophellas stayed as ruler of Cyrenaica.
In fact, it is possible that he de facto became independent. He was
certainly independent in 309, when he allied himself to Agathocles, the tyrant
of Syracuse. It is not likely
that Ophellas was still collaborating with Ptolemy, because the terms of the treaty
between Agathocles and Ophellas were, as we shall see in a moment, not in Ptolemy's
advantage.
Agathocles had tried to conquer Sicily.
This had brought him into conflict with Carthage,
which possessed the western half of this island. In the summer of 311, the Carthaginian
general Hamilcar, had won such a complete victory over Agathocles, that he was
able to proceed to the siege of Syracuse. Although this city was strongly fortified,
Agathocles had no effective army, and he had decided upon a desperate gamble:
in August 310, he had sailed away from Sicily, and had invaded the Carthaginian
homeland, Africa (modern Tunisia).
Here, he won a brilliant victory, and he proceeded against Carthage itself.
At this stage, he concluded the treaty with Ophellas. The ruler of
Cyrenaica was to bring new soldiers, and in return would be made Agathocles' governor
at Carthage. To Ophellas, this offered beautiful prospects: being the viceroy
of two masters, in territories that were separated from his master's countries
by the sea and the desert, he would have almost regal powers. (This was of course
unacceptable to Ptolemy.) Ophellas recruited many mercenaries, especially from
Athens, and started his march to Carthage in the late summer of 308. Two months
later, he arrived in Africa.
Almost immediately, the two commanders started to quarrel, and Ophellas
was assassinated in November. It is possible that Agathocles had planned the murder
all along, maybe in cooperation with Ptolemy (both men were quite capable of an
intrigue like that). However this may be, Ophellas' mercenaries had little choice
and sided with Agathocles, who was able to conclude a peace treaty which left
him in control of large parts of Sicily.
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
A native of Pella, in Macedonia. He was one of the generals of Alexander the Great, after whose death he followed the fortunes of Ptolemy. In B.C. 322 he conquered Cyrene for Ptolemy, of which city he held the government on behalf of the Egyptian king for some years. But soon after 313 he threw off his allegiance to Ptolemy, and continued to govern Cyrene as an independent state for nearly five years. In 308 he formed an alliance with Agathocles, and marched against Carthage; but he was treacherously attacked by Agathocles near this city, and was slain.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited July 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Leonnatus, a Macedonian of Pella, one of Alexander's most distinguished officers.
His father's name is variously given, as Anteas, Anthes, Onasus, and Eunus (Arrian.
Anab. iii. 5.7, vi. 28. 6, ind. 18, ap. Phot.). According to Curtius he was descended
from a royal house (Curt. x. 7), which may be the reason we find hint early occupying
a distinguished post about the person of Philip of Macedon; at the time of whose
death (B. C. 336) he was one of the select officers called the king's body guards
(somatophulakes). In this capacity he is mentioned as one of those who avenged
the death of Philip upon his assassin Pausanias (Diod. xvi. 94). Though he accompanied
Alexander on his expedition to Asia, he did not at first hold an equally distinguished
position in the service of the young king: he was only an officer of the ordinary
guards (hetairoi) when he was sent by Alexander after the battle of Issus to announce
to the wife of Dareius the tidings of her husband's safety (Arr. Anab. ii. 12.7;
Curt. iii, 12; Diod. xvii. 37; Plut. Alex. 21). Shortly after, however, during
Alexander's stay in Egypt (B. C. 331), Leonnatus was appointed to succeed Arrhybas
as one of the seven somatophulakes (Arr. Anab. iii. 5, vi. 28), and from this
time forward his name continually occurs, together with those of Hephaestion,
Perdiccas, and Ptolemy, among the officers immediately about the king's person,
or employed by him on occasions requiring the utmost confidence. Thus we find
him making one of the secret council appointed to inquire into the guilt of Philotas;
present at the quarrel between Alexander and Cleitus, and attempting in vain to
check the fury of the king; keeping watch over Alexander's tent at the time of
the conspiracy of the pages; and even venturing to excite his resentment by ridiculing
the Persian custom of prostration (Curt. vi. 8.17, viii. 146, 6.22; Arr. Anab.
iv. 12.3). Nor were his military services less conspicuous; in B. C. 327 he is
mentioned as taking a prominent part in the attack on the hill fort of Chorienes,
and was wounded at the same time with Ptolemy and Alexander himself, in the first
engagement with the barbarian tribes of the vale of the Choes. On a subsequent
occasion he led one division of the army to the attack of one of the strong positions
which the Indian mountaineers had occupied: but his most distinguished exploit
was in the assault on the city of the Malli, where Alexander's life was only saved
by the personal courage and prowess of Leonnatus and Peucestas (Arr. Anab. iv.
21, 23, 24, vi. 10; Curt. viii. 14.15, ix. 5). We next find him commanding the
division of cavalry and light-armed troops which accompanied the fleet of Alexander
down the Indus, along the right bank of the river. During the subsequent march
from thence back to Persia, he was left with a strong force in the country of
the Oreitae, to enforce the submission of that tribe and maintain the communications
with the fleet under Nearchus. These objects he successfully accomplished; and
the Oreitae and neighbouring barbarians having assembled a large army, he totally
defeated them with heavy loss. As a reward for these various services, he was
selected by Alexander as one of those whom he honoured with crowns of gold during
his stay at Susa, B. C. 325. (Arr. Anab. vi. 18, 20, 22, vii. 5, Ind. 23, 42;
Curt. ix. 10)
Leonnatus thus held so conspicuous a place among the Macedonian generals,
that in the first deliberations which followed the death of Alexander, it was
proposed to associate him with Perdiccas, as one of the guardians of the infant
king, the expected child of Roxana (Curt. x. 9.3; Justin. xiii. 2). In the arrangements
ultimately adopted however, he obtained only the satrapy of the Lesser or Hellespontine
Phrygia (Arrian. ap. Phot.; Dexippus, ibid.; Diod. xviii. 3; Curt. x. 10.2; Justin.
xiii. 4), a share which was far from contenting his ambition, though he thought
fit to acquiesce for the time. But hardly had he arrived to take possession of
his government, when he received an urgent message front Antipater, calling on
him for assistance against the revolted Greeks. Nearly at the same time also arrived
letters from Cleopatra, the sister of Alexander, urging him to aid her against
Antipater, and offering him her hand in marriage. Leonnatus immediately determined
to avail himself of the double opportunity thus presented to his ambition; first
to assist Antipater against the Greeks, and after having freed him from that danger,
to expel him in his turn from Macedonia, marry Cleopatra, and seat himself upon
the throne. With these views (for which he in vain endeavoured to obtain the support
of Eumenes) he crossed over into Europe at the head of a considerable army, and
advanced into Thessaly to the relief of Antipater, who was at this time blockaded
in Lamia by the combined forces of the Greeks (B. C. 322). He was met by the Athenians
and their allies under Antiphilus, and a pitched battle ensued, in which, though
the main army of the Macedonians suffered but little, their cavalry, commanded
by Leonnatus in person, was totally defeated, and he himself fell, covered with
wounds, after displaying in the combat his accustomed valour (Diod. xviii. 12,
14, 15; Plut. Eum. 3, Phoc. 25; Justin. xiii. 5). The only personal traits recorded
to us of Leonnatus are his excessive passion for hunting, and his love of magnificence
and display, the latter a quality common to most of his brother captains in the
service of Alexander (Plut. Alex. 40; Aelian. V. H. ix. 3; Athen. xii.).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
400 - 330
Most trusted general of the Macedonian king Philip II, loyal supporter of Alexander
the Great, but murdered on a false charge of treason.
Parmenion was the son of a nobleman from Upper Macedonia called Philotas.
The initial stages of his career are unknown to us, but he is known to have served
under king Philip II (359-336). In 356, Parmenion defeated the Illyrians in a
great battle (remembered because Philip received the news on the birthday of his
first-born son, Alexander). Ten years later, Parmenion destroyed Halos,
a strategic town in southern Thessaly. Philip II is said to have remarked that
during his reign, he had found only one trustworthy general, Parmenion.
In 336, Philip sent Parmenion and an army of 10,000 men to Asia, as
the vanguard of a larger army that was to liberate the Greek towns on the western
shore of what is now Turkey.
This operation served no military purpose, but was useful to unite the Greek towns
that Philip had subjected in 338. The moment of the invasion was well-chosen:
the news had arrived that the Persian king Artaxerxes IV Arses had been murdered
by his courtier Bagoas and was succeeded by his relative Darius III.
At first, the expeditionary force did not very well. Although the
Greek towns revolted during the spring, there was a big setback during the autumn:
Philip was murdered. The commander of the Persian mercenaries Memnon of Rhodes
was able to push back Parmenion and his demoralized troops. Nonetheless, They
remained in Asia.
Although Alexander was recognized as king in Macedonia in October
336, he was not the only candidate. One of his rivals was a prince named Attalus,
who was in the army of Parmenion. However, the general put him to death. This
was remarkable, because Parmenion was related to the victim. As a consequence,
Alexander owed something to his most experienced general and had to do something
in return, especially since Parmenion commanded a large army.
Alexander knew what he was expected to do, and in the next years,
we find many relatives of Parmenion in key positions in the Macedonian army. His
youngest son Nicanor became commander of the infantry regiment that was known
as the Shield bearers, his son-in-law Coenus commanded a phalanx battalion, and
another Nicanor was admiral of the navy of the Greek allies. Parmenion's friend
Amyntas and his brother Asander received other honorable positions. Parmenion
himself became Alexander's second in command - holding the position he already
had under Philip.
The most important appointment, however, was that of his oldest son
Philotas: he was the commander of the Companion cavalry, a unit of eight squadrons
(of 225 horsemen each) that was Macedonia's most effective weapon in any battle.
In May 334, king Alexander joined Parmenion with reinforcements. The
campaign against Persia,
which had had a bad start, could now really begin. During three great battles,
Parmenion commanded the left wing (12,000 heavily armed Macedonians, 7,000 allies,
and 5,000 mercenaries), while Alexander himself commanded the right wing, where
Philotas was his right-hand man.
Meanwhile, the Persian satraps of Cilicia,
Lydia, Hellespontine Phrygia
and other territories had assembled at Zelea,
near Dascylium. Alexander
and Parmenion moved in their direction, convinced that it would be an easy battle:
after all, the Macedonians were superior in numbers and equipment. In June, the
two armies met near the river Granicus (the modern Biga Cay). The Persians had
occupied strong defensive positions on one of the banks, which forced Alexander
to attack from a difficult angle. Most ancient sources agree that Parmenion advised
Alexander not to attack and that it was Alexander's own idea to attack at once.
Our sources disagree on what happened next. Diodorus of Sicily
writes that Alexander accepted Parmenion's advise; all other authorities agree
that the Macedonians attacked immediately. The difference between these sources
is that Diodorus uses the now lost History of Alexander by Cleitarchus as his
source, and the others are based on the Deeds of Alexander by Callisthenes, Alexander's
court historian. Because Callisthenes had reasons to be hostile to Parmenion,
Cleitarchus' description of the battle is to be preferred. The Macedonian king
followed the instructions of the experienced general.
After the battle, Parmenion captured the Persian stronghold Dascylium,
the capital of Hellespontine Phrygia.
Our sources say that it fell without struggle, but this is contradicted by the
archaeological evidence. Later, he seized Magnesia and Tralleis. Asander, a brother
of Parmenion, became satrap of Lydia. Meanwhile, Alexander conquered the Greek
towns in Asia: Sardes, Ephesus,
Miletus, Halicarnassus.
During the winter, the king moved through Lycia.
At the same time, Parmenion invaded Central Turkey from the west, drove out the
remaining Persian troops and occupied the region. The two forces met each other
in April 333 at Gordium, the capital of Phrygia, eighty kilometers west of modern
Ankara.
After a short stay, the united army moved to the east, to Cilicia,
where Parmenion captured Tarsus
and Alexander fell ill. Parmenion, who was not present, had information that the
king's doctor Philip was unreliable, and sent him a letter. He wrote that the
new Persian king Darius III Codomannus had bribed the doctor to kill the king.
However, Alexander used Philips' medicine, and gave the letter to Philip. As it
turned out, the doctor was innocent.
While Alexander was in Cilicia, Parmenion and a small army were ordered
to occupy the so-called Assyrian gates. This was the pass between the coastal
plain of Cilicia and the plain of the river Orontes in Syria;
the main road from the Persian heartland to Cilicia went through this pass. He
must have been puzzled by the fact that the enemy did not show up, but was not
alarmed until he received word that Darius' huge army was at Sochi, only two days
away. A courier was sent to Alexander's army, which covered 120 kilometers in
forty-eight hours and joined the king's army near Myriandrus.
The two commanders were planning to attack Darius in Sochi, when they
discovered that the Persian army was no longer there and was, in fact, facing
into their rear. With his enormous army, the Persian king had crossed the so-called
Amanus pass, had captured Issus, and cut off the only Macedonian line of supply.
Darius had trapped Alexander.
Not much later, battle was joined south of Issus.
Although the Macedonians had been outmaneuvered by an army that was superior in
numbers, they were victorious (November 333), not in the least because Parmenion
had been able to counter the Persian attack. This gave Alexander a chance to launch
a counter-attack.
The most impressive action of Parmenion's career took place after
the battle: he rushed to Damascus
(350 kilometers through enemy territory) and seized Darius' treasure. The surprised
Persian garrison gave him almost 55 ton gold, a great quantity of silver, 329
female musicians, 306 cooks, 13 pastry chefs, 70 wine waiters, 40 scent makers,
and the women who had lived at Darius' court. Small surprise that Parmenion needed
7,000 pack animals to bring the booty to Alexander.
After this raid, Parmenion encouraged Alexander to take a Persian
wife. After all, the age to have a male lover (Hephaestion), was over. The king
followed the generals' advice and started an affair with Barsine.
Shortly after the battle of Issus, a messenger arrived, delivering
a letter from king Darius, who offered a huge ransom for his mother, wife and
children. Alexander refused. In the next months, there were several diplomatic
exchanges, which culminated in Darius' offer of all countries west of the Euphrates
to Alexander. 'I would accept it,' said Parmenion after reading the proposal,
'if I were Alexander.' 'So would I,' replied Alexander, 'if I were Parmenion.'
The anecdote may be true, but it must be noted that many stories show
Parmenion as a very cautious man, especially in comparison to his brave king Alexander.
The trouble with these anecdotes is that Parmenion was not that cautious as all:
his lightning raid on Damascus was a very bold action indeed. The reason for this
disinformation will be discussed below.
During the next year, 332, the Macedonians pacified Syria
and Palestine. Again, Parmenion
had important commands, while his king went to the south to add Egypt to his empire.
In the summer, the Macedonian army returned to Syria and invaded Mesopotamia
and Assyria. On October 1,
331, the decisive battle took place at Gaugamela. Again, the Persians outnumbered
the Macedonians. What happened next, is unclear: the Greek and a contemporary
Babylonian source contradict each other (the Greeks state that Darius fled, the
Babylonian say that he was left alone by his soldiers). However this may be, it
is certain that the commander of the Persian right wing, Mazaeus, attacked Parmenion
and the Macedonian left. In fact, the cavalry on the Persian extreme outflanked
the Macedonians. However, Parmenion was able to keep the fighting spirit of his
men high, so that they stood their ground. This enabled Alexander to lead the
decisive charge.
After the battle of Gaugamela, Babylonia surrendered and Alexander
moved to the east, to Susa
(where Parmenion received the palace of Bagoas, the eunuch who had made Darius
king) and hence to Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenid empire. The heartland
of Darius' kingdom was surrounded by mountains, and Alexander and a small force
captured a narrow pass, the so-called Persian gates. Meanwhile, Parmenion was
sent out with the main force, entering the plain of Persepolis
from the south (330).
From now on, king Darius was on the run, and Alexander followed his
enemy in the early summer. The conquest of Ecbatana,
another capital of the Achaemenid empire, was left to Parmenion. The veteran general,
almost seventy years old, was also responsible for reinforcements and the pacification
of the mountain country of the Cadusians.
He was therefore, not with Alexander when Darius was hunted down and
murdered, and he was not present during the advance to Aria and Drangiana. Consequently,
he was unaware of the fact that his son Philotas had been accused of treason and
was executed (October 330). After Alexander had killed Philotas, the
murder of his father was inevitable. In Ecbatana, he controlled the road from
the Mediterranean to the East, possessed large sums of money and commanded many
troops. Parmenion was too powerful to remain alive, especially since he would
be angry when he heard of the execution of his son. Therefore, Alexander accused
him of treason and sent an express messenger to Ecbatana, whose duty it was to
be there before the news of the death of Philotas reached his father. The courier
gave letters to the commanders of the reinforcements (a.o. Atropates), and they
killed the old general, who never knew why.
This was -and is- a dark stain on Alexander's reputation. His court
historian, Callisthenes of Olynthus (c.370-327), had to tidy up the mess. In his
book on the Deeds of Alexander, he portrayed Parmenion as incompetent and overcautious.
In this way, the victim received the blame, not the executioner. Nearly all ancient
sources have copied this idea, which explains the hostile tradition on Parmenion.
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Alcetas (Alketas), the brother of Perdiccas and son of Orontes, is first mentioned as one of Alexander's generals in his Indian expedition (Arrian, iv. 27). On the death of Alexander, he espoused his brother's party, and, at his orders, murdered in B. C. 322 Cyane, the half-sister of Alexander the Great, when she wished to marry her daughter Eurydice to Philip Arrhidaeus (Diod. xix. 52; Polyaen. viii. 60; Arrian, ap. Phot.). At the time of Perdiccas' murder in Egypt in 321, Alcetas was with Eumenes in Asia Minor engaged against Crateris; and the army of Perdiccas, which had revolted from him and joined Ptolemy, condemned Alcetas and all the partizans of his brother to death. The war against Alcetas, who had now left Eumenes and united his forces with those of Attalus, was entrusted to Antigonus. Alcetas and Attalus were defeated in Pisidia in 320, and Alcetas retreated to Termessus. He was surrendered by the elder inhabituants to Antigonus, and, to avoid falling into his hands alive, slew himself (Diod. xviii. 29, 37, 44-46; Justin, xiii. 6, 8; Arrian, ap. Phot.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
399 - 319
Antipater. Commander of the Macedonian forces in Europe during the eastern
campaign of Alexander the Great, later regent for Alexander's mentally unstable
brother Philip Arridaeus
Antipater was born in 399 BCE as the son of a Macedonian nobleman
named Iolaus. He served as a soldier and diplomat under the kings Perdiccas III
(365-359) and Philip II (359-336) and seems to have developed a personal interest
in the education of the latter's crown prince Alexander. When the king was killed,
Antipater and Philip's trusted general Parmenion made sure that Alexander succeeded
his father. Antipater arranged that the army greeted Alexander as king, probably
played a role in the murder of a rival candidate, and Parmenion got rid of another
candidate.
In the following year (335), Alexander rewarded them: he appointed
many relatives of Parmenion as commanders in the Macedonian army, and made Antipater
supreme commander of the forces in Europe. Both men saw action. Philip had sent
Parmenion to Asia as commander of the advance guard of an expeditionary force
that was to overthrow the Achaemenid empire; the old general now had to defend
himself against the Persian commander Memnon of Rhodes.
Antipater was with Alexander during the campaign against the rebellious Greek
city Thebes.
In 334, Alexander joined Parmenion, leaving Antipater in charge of
Macedonia and Greece.
Although the main fighting was done by Alexander's army, Antipater was involved
in the war too. In the winter of 334/333, he sent reinforcements to Gordium,
where Alexander was staying. Next summer, the Persian navy, commanded by Memnon
and Pharnabazus, invaded the Aegean
Sea and threatened to bring the war to Thrace
and Macedonia. With a combination of force and good luck, Antipater kept the situation
under control. After Alexander's victories at Issus (333) and Tyre (332), the
Persian naval power was broken, and peace returned to the Aegean region.
However, the Spartan king Agis III (338-330) had accepted money from
Pharnabazus and had built a large army, consisting of 20,000 men. In 331, he organized
an anti-Macedonian coalition. Alexander sent enormous amounts of money to Macedonia,
where Antipater broke off a campaign in Thrace and built another army, twice as
big as Agis' force. In the Spring of 330, the Spartan king was defeated at Megalopolis.
He died on his way back to Sparta.
Antipater sent his own mercenaries to the east, where they met with Alexander
in Sogdiana (329). Meanwhile, a conflict had broken out between Antipater
and Alexander's mother Olympias. She decided to go to Molossis,
the small kingdom where she was born. Here, she quarreled with her daughter and
Alexander's sister, queen Cleopatra, who decided to go to Antipater and stayed
at his court for seven years.
During this period, Olympias continued to write letters to her son,
in which she informed him of Antipater's continuing misbehavior. Alexander ignored
the first complaints -which must have coincided with the arrival of the reinforcements-
but later, he seems to have lost his temper. In 324, when he returned from India,
he ordered Antipater to come to Babylon.
He sent his trusted general Craterus with 11,500 veterans back to Europe, where
he was to succeed Antipater as supreme commander of the Macedonian forces in Europe.
Antipater, however, was unable obey. In the summer, Alexander had
ordered all Greek towns to accept their exiles and give them back their possessions.
This had created great tensions and Antipater knew that he could not reduce the
strength of his forces. He sent his son Cassander to Babylon, but his diplomatic
mission was a failure, because Alexander interpreted Antipater's refusal as a
confirmation of the reports by Olympias. The family of Antipater was now in disgrace,
and when the king died on June 11, 323 BCE, it was rumored that Cassander had
poisoned him.
The conqueror was succeeded by his half-brother Philip Arridaeus,
who was not only a bastard, but also mentally unfit to rule. Therefore, general
Perdiccas was made regent. Almost immediately, the war that Antipater had predicted
broke out; it is called the Lamian War. The Athenians had been preparing for some
time and were now joined by several other Greek towns. They occupied Thermopylae,
and when Antipater arrived, he was repelled and forced to hide in the nearby fortress
of Lamia.
In the spring of 322, Leonnatus, the satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia,
was able to relieve him, but the liberator died in action and the war continued.
In the summer, however, Craterus arrived with the 11,500 veterans and a navy that
he had built in Cilicia. This meant the end of the war. Using these reinforcements,
Antipater was able to defeat the Greeks at Crannon
(September 5, 322). Their towns, which had been free allies during Alexander's
reign, were from now on treated as Macedonian subjects. It also meant the end
the Athenian democracy.
At the same time, Cleopatra left Pella and went to Sardes
in Lydia, where she offered
her hand to Perdiccas. A union between the sister of Alexander the Great and a
general would serve the unity and stability of the empire, because the unstable
Philip Arridaeus would be replaced by a stronger man.
There was one complication. Perdiccas was engaged to Antipater's daughter
Nicaea, and when this engagement was broken off, Antipater felt insulted. But
what really made war inevitable was the growth of Perdiccas' power and the fear
which this caused among the other Macedonian leaders - Antipater in the first
place, but also Craterus and Ptolemy, the satrap of Egypt.
Civil war -the First Diadoch War- broke out in the last weeks of 322. During the
next spring, the rebels cemented their alliance by intermarriage. Antipater gave
his daughters Phila and Euridice to Craterus and Ptolemy; Nicaea, who had once
been promised to Perdiccas, married to Lysimachus, the governor of Thrace.
Perdiccas saw that a formidable coalition was being organized. He
decided to invade Egypt, but was killed by his own officers Peithon, Antigenes,
and Seleucus (summer 320). Ptolemy and Perdiccas' officers started negotiations.
Ptolemy was offered the regency, but he was too smart to take the bait: he wanted
to keep what he had won, not risking it in a larger game. He appointed Peithon
and an officer named Arridaeus, two people who were clearly lacking prestige and
would never be able to stop separatists like Ptolemy.
Antipater was not happy with this arrangement. He wanted to be the
new regent, because he was capable of keeping Alexander's empire uinted. At Triparadisus
in Syria, he settled the affairs in the way he wanted. Early in 319, Antipater
and his pupil Philip Arridaeus went to Macedonia,
where Antipater succumbed a few months later to old age. He was eighty years old.
Antipater was succeeded by an old officer named Polyperchon, but he soon lost
control of the situation, and was replaced by Antipater's son Cassander.
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Antipater (Antipatros), the father of Cassander, was an officer in high favour with Philip of Macedon (Just. ix. 4), who after his victory at Chaeroneia, B. C. 338, selected him to conduct to Athens the bones of the Athenians who had fallen in the battle (Just. l. c.; Polyb. v. 10). He joined Parmenion in the ineffectual advice to Alexander the Great not to set out on his Asiatic expedition till he had provided by marriage for the succession to the throne (Diod xvii. 16); and, on the king's departure, B. C. 334, he was left regent in Macedonia (Diod. xvii. 17; Arr. Anab. i. p. 12, a.). In B. C. 331 Antipater suppressed the Thracian rebellion under Memnon (Diod. xvii. 62), and also brought the war with the Spartans under Agis III. to a successful termination. It is with reference to this event that we first find any intimation of Alexander's jealousy of Antipater -a feeling which was not improbably produced or fostered by the representations of Olympias, and perhaps by the known sentiments of Antipater himself (Curt. vi. 1.17, &c., x. 1014; Plut. Ages, Alex.) Whether, however, from jealousy or from the necessity of guarding against the evil consequences of the dissensions between Olympias and Antipater, the latter was ordered to lead into Asia the fresh troops required by the king, B. C. 324, while Craterus, under whom the discharged veterans were sent home, was appointed to the regency in Macedonia (Arr. vii.; Pseudo-Curt. x. 4.9, &c.; Just. xii. 12). The story which ascribes the death of Alexander, B. C. 323, to poison, and implicates Antipater and even Aristotle in the plot, is perhaps sufficiently refuted by its own intrinsic absurdity, and is set aside as false by Arrian and Plutarch (Diod. xvii. 118; Paus. viii. 18; Tac. Ann. ii. 73; Curt. x. 10. 4, &c.; Arr. vii.; Plut. Alex. ad fin. ; Liv. viii. 3; Diod. xix. 11; Athen. x.). On Alexander's death, the regency of Macedonia was assigned to Antipater, and he forthwith found himself engaged in a war with a strong confederacy of Grecian states with Athens at their head. At first he was defeated by Leosthenes, and besieged in Lamia, whence he even sent an embassy to Athens with an unsuccessful application for peace (Diod. xviii. 3, 12, 18; Paus. i. 25; Just. xiii. 5; Plut. Phoc., Demosth.). The approach of Leonnatus obliged the Athenians to raise the siege, and the death of that general, who was defeated by Antiphilus (the successor of Leosthenes), and who was in league against the regent with Olympias, was far more an advantage than a loss to Antipater (Diod. xviii. 14, 15; Just. xiii. 5; Plut. Eumt.). Being joined by Craterus, he defeated the confederates at Cranon, and succeeded in dissolving the league by the prudence and moderation with which he at first used his victory. Athens herself was obliged to purchase peace by the abolition of democracy and the admission of a garrison into Munychia, the latter of which conditions might surely have enabled Antipater to dispense with the destruction of Demosthenes and the chiefs of his party (Diod. xviii. 16-18; Plut. Phnoc., Demosth.; Paus. vii. 10). Returning now to Macedonia, he gave his daughter Phila in marriage to Craterus, with whom, at the end of the year B. C. 323, he invaded the Aetolians, the only party in the Lamian war who had not yet submitted (Diod. xviii. 24). But the intelligence brought him by Antigonus of the treachery of Perdiccas, and of his intention of putting away Nicaea, Antipater's daughter, to marry Cleopatra, compelled him to pass over to Asia; where, leaving Craterus to act against Eumenes, he himself hastened after Perdiccas, who was marching towards Egypt against Ptolemy (Diod. xviii. 23, 25, 29-33; Plut. Eum.; Just. xiii. 6). On the murder of Perdiccas, the supreme regency devolved on Antipater, who, at Triparadeisus in Syria, successfully maintained his power against Eurydice, the queen. Marching into Lydia, he avoided a battle with Eumenes, and he on his side was dissuaded from attacking Antipater by Cleopatra, who wished to give the regent no cause of complaint. Towards the close of the year 321, he returned into Europe, taking with him the king and queen, and leaving Antigonus to prosecute the war with Eumenes (Diod. xviii. 39, 40; Plut. Eum.). It was during the mortal illness of Antipater, B. C. 320, that Demades was sent to him from Athens to endeavour to obtainthe removal of the garrison from Munychia, and was put to death for his treacherous correspondence with Perdiccas. Antipater left the regency to Polysperchon, to the exclusion of his own son Cassander (Plut. Phoc., Dem. ad fin.; Arr. ap. Phot.; Diod. xviii. 48).
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Aristonous, of Pella, son of Peisaeus, one of the bodyguard of Alexander the Great, distinguished himself greatly on one occasion in India. On the death of Alexander, he was one of the first to propose that the supreme power should be entrusted to Perdiccas. He was subsequently the general of Olympias in the war with Cassander; and when she was taken prisoner in B. C. 316, he was put to death by order of Cassander. (Arrian, Anab. vi. 28, ap. Phot. Cod. 92; Curt. ix. 5, x. 6; Diod. xix. 35, 50, 51)
Attalus (Attalos). One of the generals of Philip of Macedon, and the uncle of Cleopatra, whom Philip married in B. C. 337. He is called by Justin (ix. 5), and in one passage of Diodorus (xvii. 2), the brother of Cleopatra; but this is undoubtedly a mistake. At the festivities in celebration of the marriage of his niece, Attalus, when the guests were heated with wine, called upon the company to beg of the gods a legitimate (psnesios) successor to the throne. This roused the wrath of Alexander who was present, and a brawl ensued, in which Philip drew his sword and rushed upon his son. Alexander and his mother Olympias withdrew from the kingdom (Plut. Alex. 7; Justin, ix. 7; Athen. xiii.); but though they soon afterwards returned, the influence of Attalus does not appear to have been weakened. Philip's connexion with Attalus not only thus involved him in family dissensions, but eventually cost him his life. Attalus had inflicted a grievous outrage upon Pausanias, a youth of noble family, and one of Philip's bodyguard. Pausanias complained to Philip; but, as he was unable to obtain the punishment of the offender, he resolved to be revenged upon the king himself, and accordingly assassinated him at the festival at Aegae in B. C. 336 (Arist. Pol. v. 8.10; Diod. xvi. 93; Plut. Alex. 10; Justin, ix. 6). Attalus was in Asia at the time of Philip's death, as he had been previously sent thither, along with Parmenion and Amyntas in the command of some troops, in order to secure the Greek cities in Western Asia to the cause of Philip (Diod. xvi. 91; Justin, ix. 5). Attalus could have little hope of obtaining Alexander's pardon, and therefore entered very readily into the proposition of Demosthenes to rebel against the new monarch. But, mistrusting his power, he soon afterwards endeavoured to make terms with Alexander, and sent him the letter which he had received from Demosthenes. This, however, produced no change in the purpose of Alexander, who had previously sent Hecataeus into Asia with orders to arrest Attalus, and convey him to Macedon, or, if this could not be accomplished, to kill him secretly. Hecateus thought it safer to adopt the latter course, and had him assassinated privately (Diod. xvii. 2, 3, 5).
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Balacrus, the son of Amyntas, obtained the command of the allies in Alexander's army, when Antigonus was appointed satrap of Phrygia, B. C. 334. After the occupation of Egypt, B. C. 331, he was one of the generals left behind in that country with a part of the army. (Arrian, i. 30, iii. 5; Curt. viii. 11)
Calas, one of Cassander's generals, whom he sent with a portion of his forces to keep Polysperchon employed in Perrhaebia, while he himself made his way to Macedon to take vengeance on Olympias, B. C. 317. Calas by bribes induced many of his opponent's soldiers to desert him, and blockaded Polysperchon himself in Naxium, a town of Perrhaebia, whence, on hearing of the death of Olympias, he escaped with a few attendants, and took refuge together with Aeacides in Aetolia, B. C. 316. (Diod. xix. 35, 36, 52)
Caranus, a Macedonian of the body called hetairoi or guards (comp. Polyb. v. 53,, xxxi. 3), was one of the generals sent by Alexander against Satibarzanes when he had a second time excited Aria to revolt. Caranus and his colleagues were successful, and Satibarzanes was defeated and slain, in the winter of B. C. 330 (Arrian, Anab. iii. 25,28; Curt. vi. 6.20, &c., vii. 3.2; comp. Diod. xvii. 81). In B. C. 329, Caranus was appointed, together with Andromachus and Menedemus, under the command of the Lycian Pharnuches, to act against Spitamenes, the revolted satrap of Sogdiana. Their approach compelled him to raise the siege of Maracanda; but, in a battle which ensued, he defeated them with the help of a body of Scythian cavalry, and forced them to fall back on the river Polytimetus, the wooded banks of which promised shelter. The rashness however or cowardice of Caranus led him to attempt the passage of the river with the cavalry under his command, and the rest of the troops plunging in after him in haste and disorder, they were all destroyed by the enemy. (Arr. Anab. iv. 3, 5; comp. Curt. vii. 6.24, 7.31, &c.)
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Cleitus, an officer who commanded the Macedonian fleet for Antipater in the Lamian
war, B. C. 323, and defeated the Athenian admiral, Eetion, in two battles off
the Echinades. In the distribution of provinces at Triparadeisus, B. C. 321, he
obtained from Antipater the satrapy of Lydia ; and when Antigonus was advancing
to dispossess him of it, in B. C. 319, after Antipater's death, he garrisoned
the principal cities, and sailed away to Macedonia to report the state of affairs
to Polysperchon. In B. C. 318, after Polysperchon had been baffled at Megalopolis,
he sent Cleitus with a fleet to the coast of Thrace to prevent any forces of Antigonus
from passing into Europe, and also to effect a junction with Arrhidaeus, who had
shut himself up in the town of Cius.Nicanor being sent against him by Cassander,
a battle ensued near Byzantium, in which Cleitus gained a decisive victory. But
his success rendered him over-confident, and, having allowed his troops to disembark
and encamp on land, he was surprised by Antigonus and Nicanor, and lost all his
ships except the one in which he sailed himself. Having reached the shore in safety,
he proceeded towards Macedonia, but was slain by some soldiers of Lysimachus,
with whom he fell in on the way (Diod. xviii. 15, 39, 52, 72).
Demetrius, son of Althaemenes, commander of one of the squadrons of Macedonian cavalry under Alexander. (Arrian, Anah. iii. 11, iv. 27, v. 21.)
Eudemus, one of Alexander's generals, who was appointed by him to the command of the troops left in India. (Arrian, Anab. vi. 27.5). After Alexander's death he made himself master of the territories of the Indian king Porus, and treacherously put that monarch to death. He by this means became very powerful, and in 317 B. C. brought to the support of Eumenes in the war against Antigonus a force of 3.500 men and 125 elephants. (Diod. xix. 14.) With these he rendered him active service in the first battle in Gabiene, but seems nevertheless to have been jealous of him, and joined in the conspiracy of Antigenes and Teutamos against him, though he was afterwards induced to divulge their plans. After the surrender of Eumenes, Eudemus was put to death by order of Antigonus, to whom he had always shewn a marked hostility. (Diod. xix. 15, 27, 44; Plut. Eum. c. 16.)
Eupolemus (Eupolemos), one of the generals of Cassander, was sent by him in 314 B. C. to invade Caria, but was surprised and taken prisoner by Ptolemy, who commanded that province for Antigonus. (Diod. xix. 68.) He must have been liberated again directly, as the next year wve find him commanding the forces left by Cassander in Greece, when he moved northward against Antigonus. (Diod. xix. 77)
Leonidas. A general of Ptolemy Soter, who sent him in B. C. 310 to dislodge from the maritime towns of Cilicia the garrisons of Antigonus, which, it was alleged, the treaty of the preceding year required him to withdraw. Leonidas was successful at first, but Demetrius Poliorcetes, arriving soon after, defeated him and regained the towns (Diod. xx. 19). Suidas tells us (s. v. Demetrios o Antigonou) that Ptolemy, after having restored freedom to the Greek cities, left Leonidas in Greece as governor. He may perhaps be referring to Ptolemy's expedition to Greece in B. C. 308, with the professed object of vindicating the liberty of the several states there (see Diod. xx. 37; Plut. Dem. 15), and the name Leonidas may be intended for Cleonidas. But the whole statement in Suidas is singularly confused.
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Lyciscus. An officer of Cassander, was sent by him to Epeirus as regent and general, when the Epeirots had passed sentence of banishment against their king Aeacides and allied themselves with Cassander, in B. C. 316. In B. C. 314, Cassander left him in command of a strong body of troops in Acarnania, which he had organised against the Aetolians, who favoured the cause of Antigonus. Lyciscus was still commanding in Acarnania, in B. C. 312, when he was sent with an army into Epeirus against Alcetas II. whom he defeated. He also took the town of Eurymenae, and destroyed it. (Diod. xix. 36, 67, 88.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Archelaus (Archelaos), a Greek GEORGAPHER, who wrote a work in which he descsribed all the countries which Alexander the Great had traversed (Diog. Laert.ii. 17). This statment would lead us to conjecture, that Archelaus was a contemporary of Alexander, and perhaps accompanied him on his expeditions. But as the work is completely lost, nothing certain can be said about the matter. In like manner, it must remain uncertain whether this Archelaus is the same as the one whose " Euboeica" are quoted by Harpocration (s. v. Halonnedos, where however Maussac reads Archemachus), and whose works on rivers and stones are mentioned by Plutarch (de Fluv. 1 and 9) and Stobaeus. (Florileg. i. 15)
Cleitarchus (Kleitarchos), son of the historian Deinon (Plin. H. N. x. 49), accompanied Alexander the Great in his Asiatic expedition, and wrote a history of it. This work has been erroneously supposed by some to have formed the basis of that of Curtius, who is thought to have closely followed, even if he did not translate it. We find Curtius, however, in one passage (ix. 5.21) differing from Cleitarchus, and even censuring him for his inaccuracy. Cicero also (de Leg. i. 2) speaks very slightingly of the production in question (ta peri Alexandron), and mentions him again (Brut. 11) as one who, in his account of the death of Thenlistocles, eked out history with a little dash of romance. Quintilian says (Inst. Or. x. 1), that his ability was greater than his veracity; and Longinus (de Sublim.) condemns his style as frivolous and inflated, applying to it the expression of Sophocles, smikrois men auliskois, phorbelas d' ater. He is quoted also by Plutarch (Them. 27, Alex. 46), and several times by Pliny, Athenaeus, and Strabo. The Cleitarchus, whose treatise on foreign words (glossai) is frequently referred to by Athenaeus, was a diffrent person from the historian.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Craterus (Krateros), a brother of Antigonus Gonatas, and father of Alexander, the prince of Corinth. (Phlegon, de Mirab. 32; Justin, Prolog. xxxvi.) He distinguished himself as a diligent compiler of historical documents relative to the history of Attica. He made a collection of Attic inscriptions, containing decrees of the people (psephismaton sunagoge), and out of them he seems to have constructed a diplomatic history of Athens. (Plut. Aristeid. 32, Cim. 13.) This work is frequently referred to by Harpocration and Stephanus of Byzantium, the latter of whom (s. v. Numphaion) quotes the ninth book of it. (Comp. Pollux, viii. 126; Schol. ad Aristoph. Av. 1073, Ran. 323.) With the exception of the statements contained in these and other passages, the work of Craterus, which must have been of great value, is lost.
Q. Curtius Rufus, the Roman historian of Alexander the Great. Respecting his life and the time at
which he lived, nothing is known with any certainty, and there is not a single
passage in any ancient writer that can be positively said to refer to Q. Curtius,
the historian. One Curtius Rufus is mentioned by Tacitus (Ann. xi. 21) and Pliny
(Ep. vii. 27), and a Q. Curtius Rufus occurs in the list of the rhetoricians of
whom Suetonius treated in his work "De Claris Rhetoribus". But there is nothing
to shew that any of them is the same as our Q. Curtius, though it may be, as F.
A. Wolf was inclined to think, that the rhetorician spoken of by Suetonius is
the same as the historia. This total want of external testimony compels us to
seek information concerning Q. Curtius in the work that has come down to us under
his name; but what we find here is as vague and unsatisfactory as that which is
gathered from external testimonies. There are only two passages in his work which
contain allusions to the time at which he lived. In the one (iv. 4, in fin.),
in speaking of the city of Tyre, he says, nunc tamen longa pace cuncta refovente,
sub tutela Romanae mansuetudinis acquiescit; the other, which is the more important
one (x. 9), contains an eulogy on the emperor for having restored peace after
much bloodshed and many disputes about the possession of the empire. But the terms
in which this passage is framed are so vague and indefinite, that it may be applied
with almost equal propriety to a great number of epochs in the history of the
Roman empire, and critics have with equal ingenuity referred the eulogy to a variety
of emperors, from Augustus down to Constantine or even to Theodosius the Great,
while one of the earlier critics even asserted that Q. Curtius Rufus was a fictitious
name, and that the work was the production of a modern writer. This last opinion,
however, is refuted by the fact, that there are some very early MSS. of Q. Curtius,
and that Joannes Sarisberiensis, who died in A. D. 1182, was acquainted with the
work. All modern critics are now pretty well agreed, that Curtius lived in the
first centuries of the Christian aera. Niebuhr regards him and Petronius as contemporaries
of Septimius Severus, while most other critics place him as early as the time
of Vespasian. The latter opinion, which also accords with the supposition that
the rhetorician Q. Curtius Rufus mentioned by Suetonius was the same as our historian,
presents no other difficulty, except that Quintilian, in mentioning the historians
who had died before his time, does not allude to Curtius in any way. This difficulty,
however, may be removed by the supposition, that Curtius was still alive when
Quintilian wrote. Another kind of internal evidence which might possibly suggest
the time in which Curtius wrote, is the style and diction of his work; but in
this case neither of them is the writer's own; both are artificially acquired,
and exhibit only a few traces which are peculiar to the latter part of the first
century after Christ. Thus much, however, seems clear, that Curtius was a rhetorician:
his style is not free from strained and high-flown expressions, but on the whole
it is a masterly imitation of Livy's style, intermixed here and there with poetical
phrases and artificial ornaments.
The work itself is a history of Alexander the Great, and written with
great partiality for the hero. The author drew his materials from good sources,
such as Cleitarchus, Timagenes, and Ptolemaeus, but was deficient himself in knowledge
of geography, tactics, and astronomy, and in historical criticism, for which reasons
his work cannot always be relied upon as an historical authority. It consisted
originally of ten books, but the first two are lost, and the remaining eight also
are not without more or less considerable gaps. In the early editions the fifth
and sixth books are sometimes united in one, so that the whole would consist of
only nine books; and Glareanus in his edition (1556) divided the work into twelve
books. The deficiency of the first two books has been made up in the form of supplements
by Bruno, Cellarius, and Freinsheim; but that of the last of these scholars, although
the best, is still without any particular merit. The criticism of the text of
Curtius is connected with great difficulties, for although all the extant MSS.
are derived from one, yet some of them, especially those of the 14th and 15th
centuries, contain considerable interpolations. Hence the text appears very different
in the different editions. The first edition is that of Vindelinus de Spira, Venice,
without date, though probably published in 1471. It was followed in 1480 by the
first Milan edition of A. Zarotus. The most important among the subsequent editions
are the Juntinae, those of Erasmus, Chr. Bruno, A. Junius, F. Modius, Acidalius,
Raderus, Popma, Loccenius, and especially those of Freinsheim, Strassburg, 1640,
and Ch. Cellarius, 1688. The best edition that was published during the interval
between that and our own time is the variorum edition by H. Senkenburg, Delft
and Leiden, 1724.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Deinon or Dinon, father of Cleitarchus, the historian of Alexander's expedition.
He wrote a history of Persia, to which C. Nepos (Con. 5) refers as the most trustworthy
authority on the subject. He had, however, a large fund of credulity, if we may
trust Pliny (H. N. x. 49). He is quoted also in the following passages: Plut.
Alex. 36, Artax. 1, 6, 9, 10, 13, 19, 22, Them. 27; Athen. ii., iv., xi, xiii.,
xiv; Cic. de Div. i. 23; Ael. H. A. xvii. 10, V. H. vii. i.; Diog. Laert. i. 8,
ix. 50, in which two passages we also find the erroneous reading Dion.
Marsyas. Son of Periander, a native of Pella, in Macedonia, was a contemporary of Alexander,
with whom, according to Suidas, he was educated. The same author calls him a brother
of Antigonus, who was afterwards king of Asia, by which an uterine brother alone
can be meant, as the father of Antigonus was named Philip. Both these statements
point to his being of noble birth, and appear strangely at variance with the assertion
that he was a mere professional grammarian (Grammatodidaskalos), a statement which
Geier conjectures plausibly enough to refer in fact to the younger Marsyas. Suidas,
indeed, seems in many points to have confounded the two. The only other fact transmitted
to us concerning the life of Marsyas, is that he was appointed by Demetrius to
command one division of his fleet in the great sea-fight of Salamis, B. C. 306.
(Diod. xx. 50.) But this circumstance is alone sufficient to show that he was
a person who himself took an active part in public affairs, not a mere man of
letters. It is probable that he followed the fortunes of his step-brother Antigonus.
His principal work was a history of Macedonia, in ten books, commencing
from the earliest times, and coming down to the wars of Alexander in Asia, when
it terminated abruptly with the return of that monarch into Syria, after the conquest
of Egypt and the foundation of Alexandria. (Suid. l. c.) It is repeatedly cited
by Athenaeus, Plutarch, Harpocration, and other writers. Whether the Ta peri Alechandron
which are twice quoted by Harpocration (s. v. Aristion, Margites) formed merely
a part of the same work, or were altogether distinct, is uncertain, but the former
hypothesis seems the more probable. Some authors, however, assign these fragments
to the younger Marsyas.
Suidas also speaks of a history of the education of Alexander (autou
tou Alechandrou agogen) as a separate work, and ascribes, moreover, to the elder
Marsyas a treatise on the history or antiquities of Athens (Attika), in twelve
books, which Bernhardy and Geier consider as being the same with the archaiologia,
the work of the younger historian of this name.
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356 - 323
Alexander the Great between history and legend continues to provoke
a universal interest. His magnificent course, although brief, sealed indelibly
human history.
Through the spread of Greek language and Greek civilization, the adoption
of cultural elements of the East Traditions, the foundation of new cities that
developed to commercial centers, the expedition he open new horizons to the evolution
of civilizations.
It was the first time that a universal economical collaboration and
a united monetary system were put into practice. His political and administrative
reforms transformed many ruling systems to the Far East, and were embraced by
a lot of leaders during the following centuries.
His daring and his passion ensured the survival of Greek spirit as
far as the depths of Asia and created the spiritual and moral conditions for the
later evolutions of Roman and Byzantine civilization. Greek language spread out
as a means of people's communications, thus giving to the new universal Christian
religion the possibility to became easily understandable. Gospels are written
in common Greek language as well as the later translation of the Old Testament.
The great visionary Alexander crossed the world as a lightning, shocked
and flood with light people's lives. From history he passed on to the pantheon
of the legend, he became a source of inspiration and he deeply touched large masses
of different nations in all lengths and widths of the earth through the centuries
till today.
CHRONOLOGY
356B.C.
Birth of Alexander the Great in Pella son of Philip B' and Olympiad.
343B.C.
The great philosopher Aristotle undertakes Alexander's education.
338B.C.
Alexander leads in victorious battle of Cheronea.
336B.C.
Death of Philip II , Alexander King of Macedonia.
335B.C.
Alexander suppresses the rebellion of Thebes.
334B.C.
Greek expedition against the Persians with ... Granicus river battle.
Persian crushing defeat.
333B.C.
Victorious Issus Battle, decisive for Asia's Minor rule. Darius, king
of Persians flees abandoning his family.
332B.C.
Alexander is declared successor to the Pharaoh throne in Egypt. He
founds Alexandria, the city of cities
331B.C.
Battle of Gaugamila. Defeat of Persians. Alexander captures the capital
of Persian state. Satrap Vissos murders Darius. End of national Greek war against
the Persians.
329B.C.
Alexander passes through HindoKaukasos and occupies Vactriani and
Sogdiani. He founds Alexandria Eschate and marries Roxanne.
328B.C.
Alexander conquest of India. He cross Indus river and advances to Idaspis.
327B.C.
Landslide victory against Porus, ruler of India.
326B.C.
Alexander's co- warriors react against his plan to proceed to Gangi's valley.
Army and navy under Nearchus return from Patala to Babylon.
324B.C.
Celebrations in Susha. Simultaneous marriages with Persian women. Alexander marries
Statira, Darius daughter. 323B.C
Alexander returns to Babylon. Plan for a new expedition. At the pinnacle of glory
and dreams, he passes away aged 33.
This text is cited Apr 2003 from the Municipality of Pella URL below, which contains images.
Alexander, known as the Great, son of Philip II., king of Macedon, was born at
Pella, B.C. 356. He was educated by Aristotle, who acquired a great influence
over his mind and character. He first distinguished himself at the battle of Chaeronea
(338), where the victory was mainly owing to his impetuosity and courage. On the
murder of Philip (336), he ascended the throne, at the age of twenty, to find
himself surrounded by enemies on every side. He first put down rebellion in his
own kingdom, and then rapidly marched into Greece. His unexpected activity overawed
all opposition; Thebes, which had been most active against him, submitted when
he appeared at its gates; and the assembled Greeks at the Isthmus of Corinth elected
him to the command against Persia. He now directed his arms against the barbarians
of the North, and crossed the Danube (335). A report of his death having reached
Greece, the Thebans once more took up arms; but a terrible punishment awaited
them. Alexander took Thebes by assault, destroyed all the buildings, with the
exception of the house of Pindar, killed most of the inhabitants, and sold the
rest as slaves. He now prepared for his great expedition against Persia. In the
spring of 334 he crossed the Hellespont with some 35,000 men. Of these 30,000
were foot and 5000 horse, and of the former only 12,000 were Macedonians. Alexander's
first engagement with the Persians was on the river Granicus in Mysia (May, 334),
where they were entirely defeated by him. In the following year (333) he collected
his army at Gordium in Phrygia, where he cut or untied the celebrated Gordian
knot, which, it was said, was to be loosened only by the conqueror of Asia. From
thence he marched to Issus, on the confines of Syria, where he gained a great
victory over Darius, the Persian king. Darius himself escaped, but his mother,
wife, and children fell into the hands of Alexander, who treated them with the
utmost delicacy and respect. Alexander now directed his arms against the cities
of Phoenicia, most of which Coin representing Alexander the Great as Zeus Ammon.
submitted; but Tyre was not taken till the middle of 332, after an obstinate defence
of seven months. He next marched into Egypt, which unresistingly yielded to him.
At the beginning of 331 he founded near the mouth of the Nile the city of Alexandria,
and about the same time visited the temple of Zeus Ammon, in the desert of Libya,
where he was saluted by the priests as the son of Zeus. In the spring of the same
year (331) he set out against Darius, who had collected another army. He crossed
the Euphrates and the Tigris, and at length met with the immense hosts of Darius,
said to have amounted to more than a million of men, in the plains of Gaugamela.
The battle was fought in the month of October, 331, and ended in the complete
defeat of the Persians. Alexander was now the conqueror of Asia, and began to
adopt Persian habits and customs, by which he conciliated the affections of his
new subjects. From Arbela he marched to Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, all of
which surrendered to him. He is said to have set fire to the palace of Persepolis,
and, according to some accounts, in the revelry of a banquet, at the instigation
of Thais, an Athenian courtesan. At the beginning of 330, Alexander marched from
Persepolis into Media, in pursuit of Darius, whom he followed into Parthia, where
the unfortunate king was murdered by Bessus, satrap of Bactria. In 329 Alexander
crossed the mountains of the Paropamisus and marched into Bactria against Bessus,
who was betrayed to him and put to death. During the next two years he was chiefly
engaged in the conquest of Sogdiana. He also crossed the Iaxartes (the Sir), and
defeated several Scythian tribes north of that river. By the conquest of a mountain
fortress he obtained possession of Roxana, the daughter of the Bactrian chief
Oxyartes, whom he made his wife. It was about this time that he killed his friend
Clitus in a drunken brawl. He had previously put to death his faithful servant
Parmenion, on the charge of treason. In 327 he invaded India, and crossed the
Indus, probably near the modern Attock. He met with no resistance till he reached
the Hydaspes, where he was opposed by Porus, an Indian king, whom he defeated
after a gallant resistance, and took prisoner, subsequently restoring to him his
kingdom, and treating him with distinguished honour. He founded a town on the
Hydaspes, called Bucephala, in honour of his horse Bucephalus, who died here,
after carrying him through many victories. From thence he penetrated as far as
the Hyphasis (Garra). This was the farthest point which he reached, for the Macedonians,
worn out by long service, and tired of the war, refused to advance farther; and
Alexander, notwithstanding his entreaties and prayers, was obliged to lead them
back. He returned to the Hydaspes, and then sailed down the river with a portion
of his troops, while the remainder marched along the banks in two divisions. He
finally reached the Indian Ocean about the middle of 326. Nearchus was sent with
the fleet to sail along the coast to the Persian Gulf (see Nearchus); and Alexander
marched with the rest of his forces through Gedrosia, in which country his army
suffered greatly from want of water and provisions. He reached Susa at the beginning
of 325. Here he allowed himself and his troops some rest from their labours; and
anxious to form his European and Asiatic subjects into one people, he assigned
Asiatic wives to about eighty of his generals. He himself took a second wife,
Barsine, the eldest daughter of Darius. Towards the close of the year 325 he went
to Ecbatana, where he lost his great favourite, Hephaestion. From Ecbatana he
marched to Babylon, which he intended to make the capital of his empire, as the
best point of communication between his eastern and western dominions. His schemes
were numerous and gigantic, but he was cut off in the midst of them, being attacked
by a fever, which was probably aggravated by the quantity of wine he had drunk
at a banquet given to his principal officers, so that he died, after an illness
of eleven days, in the month of May or June, B.C. 323, at the age of thirty-two,
after a reign of twelve years and eight months. He appointed no one as his successor,
but just before his death gave his ring to Perdiccas. Roxana was with child at
the time of his death, and afterwards bore a son who is known by the name of Alexander
Aegus.
The body of Alexander was interred by Ptolemy in Alexandria, in a
golden coffin, and divine honours were paid to him, not only in Egypt, but also
in other countries. The sarcophagus in which the coffin was enclosed has been
in the British Museum since 1802.
No character in history has afforded matter for more discussion than
that of Alexander; and the exact quality of his ambition is to this day a subject
of dispute. By some he is regarded as little more than an heroic madman, actuated
by the mere desire of personal glory; others give him the honour of vast and enlightened
views of policy, embracing the consolidation and establishment of an empire, in
which commerce, learning, and the arts should flourish in common with energy and
enterprise of every description. Each class of reasoners find facts to countenance
their opinion of the mixed character and actions of Alexander. The former quote
the wildness of his personal daring, the barren nature of much of his transient
mastery, and his remorseless and unnecessary cruelty to the vanquished on some
occasions, and capricious magnanimity and lenity on others. The latter advert
to facts like the foundation of Alexandria, and other acts indicative of large
and prospective views of true policy; and regard his expeditions rather as schemes
of discovery and exploration than mere enterprises for fruitless conquest. The
truth appears to embrace a portion of both these opinions. Alexander was too much
smitten with military glory, and the common selfengrossment of the mere conqueror,
to be a great and consistent statesman; while such was the strength of his intellect,
and the light opened to him by success, that a glimpse of the genuine sources
of lasting greatness could not but break in upon him. The history of Napoleon
shows the nature of this mixture of lofty intellect and personal ambition, which
has seldom effected much permanent good for mankind in any age.
In person this extraordinary individual was of the middle size, with
a neck somewhat awry, but possessed of a fierce and majestic countenance.
After many dissensions and bloody wars among themselves, the generals
of Alexander laid the foundations of several great empires in the three quarters
of the globe. Ptolemy seized Egypt, where he firmly established himself, and where
his successors were called Ptolemies, in honour of the founder of their kingdom,
which subsisted till the time of Augustus. Seleucus and his posterity reigned
in Babylon and Syria. Antigonus at first established himself in Asia Minor, and
Antipater in Macedonia. The descendants of Antipater were conquered by the successors
of Antigonus, who reigned in Macedonia till it was reduced by the Romans in the
time of King Perseus. Lysimachus made himself master of Thrace; and Leonatus,
who had taken possession of Phrygia, meditated for a while to drive Antipater
from Macedonia. Eumenes established himself in Cappadocia, but was soon overpowered
by his rival Antigonus, and starved to death. During his lifetime, Eumenes appeared
so formidable to the successors of Alexander that none of them dared to assume
the title of king.
The element of the wonderful in the campaigns of Alexander, and his
tragic death at the height of his power, threw an intensely romantic interest
around his figure, so that Alexander soon became the hero of romantic story, scarcely
more wonderful than the actual, but growing from age to age with the myth-making
spirit which can work as freely in fact as in fiction. The earliest form of the
story which we know is the great romance connected with the name of Callisthenes,
which, under the influence of the popular tradition, arose in Egypt about A.D.
200, and was carried through Latin translations to the West, and through Armenian
and Syriac versions to the East. It became widely popular during the Middle Ages,
and was worked into poetic form by many writers in French and German. Alberich
of Besancon wrote in Middle High German an epic on the subject in the first half
of the twelfth century, which was the basis of the German Lamprecht's Alexanderbuch,
also of the twelfth century. The French poets Lambert li Court and Alexandre de
Bernay composed, between 1180 and 1190, a romance of Alexander, the twelve-syllable
metre of which gave rise to the name Alexandrines. The German poem of Rudolf of
Ems was based on the Latin epic of Walter of Chatillon, about 1200, which became
henceforward the prevailing form of the story. In contrast with it is the thirteenth-century
Old English epic of Alexander, based on the version of Callisthenes. The story
appears also in the East, worked up in conjunction with myths of other nationalities,
especially the Persian. It appears in Firdusi, and, among later writers, in Nizami.
From the Persians both the substance of the story and its form in poetical treatment
have extended to Turks and other Mohammedans, who have interpreted Alexander as
the Dsulkarnein ("two-horned") of the Koran, and to the Hindus, which
last had preserved no independent traditions of Alexander.
This text is from: Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. Cited May 2003 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Alexander III. (Alexandros), king of Macedonia, surnamed the Great, was born at
Pella, in the autumn of B. C. 356. He was the son of Philip II. and Olympias,
and he inherited much of the natural disposition of both of his parents--the cool
forethought and practical wisdom of his father, and the ardent enthusiasm and
ungovernable passions of his mother. His mother belonged to the royal house of
Epeirus, and through her he traced his descent from the great hero Achilles. His
early education was committed to Leonidas and Lysimachus, the former of whom was
a relation of his mother's, and the latter an Acarnanian. Leonidas early accustomed
him to endure toil and hardship, but Lysimachus recommended himself to his royal
pupil by obsequious flattery. But Alexander was also placed under the care of
Aristotle, who acquired an influence over his mind and character, which is manifest
to the latest period of his life. Aristotle wrote for his use a treatise on the
art of government; and the clear and comprehensive views of the political relations
of nations and of the nature of government, which Alexander shews in the midst
of all his conquests, may fairly be ascribed to the lessons he had received in
his youth from the greatest of philosophers. It is not impossible too that his
love of discovery, which distinguishes him from the herd of vulgar conquerors,
may also have been implanted in him by the researches of Aristotle. Nor was his
physical education neglected. He was early trained in all manly and athletic sports;
in horsemanship he excelled all of his age; and in the art of war he had the advantage
of his father's instruction.
At the early age of sixteen, Alexander was entrusted with the government
of Macedonia by his father, while he was obliged to leave his kingdom to march
against Byzantium. He first distinguished himself, however, at the battle of Chaeroneia
(B. C. 338), where the victory was mainly owing to his impetuosity and courage.
On the murder of Philip (B. C. 336), just after he had made arrangements
to march into Asia at the head of the confederate Greeks, Alexander ascended the
throne of Macedon, and found himself surrounded by enemies on every side. Attalus,
the uncle of Cleopatra, who had been sent into Asia by Parmenion with a considerable
force, aspired to the throne; the Greeks, roused by Demosthenes, threw off the
Macedonian supremacy ; and the barbarians in the north threatened his dominions.
Nothing but the promptest energy could save him; but in this Alexander was never
deficient. Attalus was seized and put to death. His rapid march into the south
of Greece overawed all opposition; Thebes, which had been most active against
him, submitted when he appeered at its gates; and the assembled Greeks at the
Isthmus of Corinth, with the sole exception of the Lacedaemonians, elected him
to the command against Persia, which had previously been bestowed upon his father.
Being now at liberty to reduce the barbarians of the north to obedience, he marched
(early in B. C. 335) across mount defeated the Triballi, and advanced as far as
the Danube, which he crossed, and received embassies from the Scythians and other
nations. On his return, he marched westward, and subdued the Illylrians and Taulantii,
who were obliged to submit to the Macedonian supremacy. While engaged in these
distant countries, a report of his death reached Greece, and the Thebans once
more took up arms. But a terrible punishment awaited them. He advanced into Boeotia
by rapid marches, and appeared before the gates of the city almost before the
inhabitants had received intelligence of his approach. The city was taken by assault;
all the buildings, with the exception of the house of Pindar, were levelled with
the ground; most of the inhabitants butchered, and the rest sold as slaves. Athens
feared a similar fate, and sent an embassy deprecating his wrath; but Alexander
did not advance further; the punishment of Thebes was a sufficient warning to
Greece.
Alexander now directed all his energy to prepare for the expedition
against Persia. In the spring of B. C. 334, he crossed over the Hellespont into
Asia with an army of about 35,000 men. Of these 30,000 were foot and 5000 horse;
and of the former only 12,000 were Macedonians. But experience had shewn that
this was a force which no Persian king could resist. Darius, the reigning king
of Persia, had no military skill, and could only hope to oppose Alexander by engaging
the services of mercenary Greeks, of whom he obtained large supplies.
Alexander's first engagement with the Persians was on the banks of
the Granicus, where they attempted to prevent his passage over it. Memnon, a Rhodian
Greek, was in the army of the Persians, and had recommended them to withdraw as
Alexander's army advanced, and lay waste the country ; but this advice was not
followed, and the Persians were defeated. Memnon was the ablest general that Darius
had, and his death in the following year (B. C. 333) relieved Alexander from a
formidable opponent. After the capture of Halicarnassus, Memnon had collected
a powerful fleet, in which Alexander was greatly deficient; he had taken many
of the islands in the Aegaean, and threatened Macedonia.
Before marching against Darius, Alexander thought it expedient to
subdue the chief towns on the western coast of Asia Minor. The last event of importance
in the campaign was the capture of Halicarnassus, which was not taken till late
in the autumn, after a vigorous defence by Memnon. Alexander marched along the
coast of Lycia and Pamphylia, and then northward into Phrygia and to Gordium,
where he cut or untied the celebrated Gordian knot, which, it was said, was to
be loosened only by the conqueror of Asia.
In B. C. 333, he was joined at Gordium by reinforcements from Macedonia,
and commenced his second campaign. From Gordium he marched through the centre
of Asia Minor into Cilicia to the city of Tarsus, where he nearly lost his life
by a fever, brought on by his great exertions, or through throwing himself, when
heated, into the cold waters of the Cydnus. Darius meantime had collected an immense
army of 500,000, or 600,000 men, with 30,000 Greek mercenaries; but instead of
waiting for Alexander's approach in the wide plain of Sochi, where he had been
stationed for some time, and which was favourable to his numbers and the evolution
of his cavalry, he advanced into the narrow plain of Issus, where defeat was almost
certain. Alexander had passed through this plain into Syria before Darius reached
it; but as soon as he received intelligence of the movements of Darius, he retraced
his steps, and in the battle which followed the Persian army was defeated with
dreadful slaughter. Darius took to flight, as soon as he saw his left wing routed,
and escaped across the Euphrates by the ford of Thapsacus ; but his mother, wife,
and children fell into the hands of Alexander, who treated them with the utmost
delicacy and respect. The battle of Issus, which was fought towards the close
of B. C. 333, decided the fate of the Persian empire; but Alexander judged it
most prudent not to pursue Darius, but to subdue Phoenicia, which was especially
formidable by its navy, and constantly threatened thereby to attack the coasts
of Greece and Macedonia. Most of the cities of Phoenicia submitted as he approached;
Tyre alone refused to surrender. This city was not taken till the middle of B.
C. 332, after an obstinate defence of seven months, and was fearfully punished
by the slaughter of 8000 Tyrians and the sale of 30,000 into slavery. Next followed
the siege of Gaza, which again delayed Alexander two months, and afterwards, according
to Josephus, he marched to Jerusalem, intending to punish the people for refusing
to assist him, but he was diverted from his purpose by the appearance of the high
priest, and pardoned the people. This story is not mentioned by Arrian, and rests
on questionable evidence.
Alexander next marched into Egypt, which gladly submitted to the conqueror,
for the Egyptiaus had ever hated the Persians, who insulted their religion and
violated their temples. In the beginning of the following year (B. C. 331), Alexander
founded at the mouth of the western branch of the Nile, the city of Alexandria,
which he intended should form the centre of commerce between the eastern and western
worlds, and which soon more than realized the expectations of its founder. He
now determined to visit the temple of Jupiter Ammon, and after proceeding from
Alexandria along the coast to Paraetonium, he turned southward through the desert
and thus reached the temple. He was sahtted by the priests as the son of Jupiter
Ammon.
In the spring of the same year (B. C. 331), Alexander set out to meet
Darius, who had collected another army. He marched through Phoeniciaand Syria
to the Euphrates, which he crossed at the ford of Thapsacus; from thence he proceeded
through Mesopotamia, crossed the Tigris, and at length met with the immense hosts
of Darius, said to have amounted to more than a million of men, in the plains
of Gaugamela. The battle was fought in the month of October, B. C. 331, and ended
in the complete defeat of the Persians, who suffered immense slaughter. Alexander
pursued the fagitives to Arbela (Erbil), which place has given its name to the
battle, and which was distant about fifty miles from the spot where it was fought.
Darins, who had left the field of battle early in the day, fled to Ecbatana (Hamadan),
in Media. Alexander was now the conqueror of Asia; and he began to assume all
the pomp and splendour of an Asiatic despot. His adoption of Persian habits and
customs tended doubtless to conciliate the affections of his new subjects; but
these outward signs of eastern royalty were also accompanied by many acts worthy
only of an eastern tyrant; he exercised no controul over his passions, and frequently
gave way to the most violent and ungovernable excesses.
From Arbela, Alexander marched to Babylon, Susa, and Persepolis, which
all surrendered without striking a blow. He is said to have set fire to the palace
of Persepolis, and, according to some accounts, in the revelry of a banquet, at
the instigation of Thais, an Athenian courtezan.
At the beginning of B. C. 330, Alexander marched from Persepolis into
Media, where Darius had collected a new force. On his approach, Darius fled through
Rhagae and the passes of the Elburz mountains, called by the ancients the Caspian
Gates, into the Bactrian provinces. After stopping a short time at Ecbatana, Alexander
pursued him through the deserts of Parthia, and had nearly reached him, when the
unfortunate king was murdered by Bessus, satrap of Bactria, and his associates.
Alexander sent his body to Persepolis, to be buried in the tombs of the Persian
kings. Bessus escaped to Bactria, and assumed the title of king of Persia. Alexander
advanced into Hyrcania, in order to gain over the remnant of the Greeks of Darius's
army, who were assembled there. After some negotiation he succeeded; they were
all pardoned, and a great many of them taken into his pay. After spending fifteen
days at Zadracarta, the capital of Parthia, he marched to the frontiers of Areia,
which he entrusted to Satibarzanes, the former satrap of the country, and set
out on his march towards Bactria to attack Bessus, but had not proceeded far,
when he was recalled by the revolt of Satibarzanes. By incredible exertions he
returned to Artacoana, the capital of the province, in two days' march : the satrap
took to flight, and a new governor was appointed. Instead of resuming his march
into Bactria, Alexander seems to have thought it more prudent to subdue the south-eastern
parts of Areia, and accordingly marched into the country of the Drangae and Sarangae.
During the army's stay at Prophthasia, the capital of the Drangae,
an event occurred, which shews the altered character of Alexander, and represents
him in the light of a suspicious oriental despot. Philotas, the son of his faithful
general, Parmenion, and who had been himself a personal friend of Alexander, was
accused of a plot against the king's life. life was accused by Alexander before
the army, condemned, and put to death. Parmenion, who was at the head of an army
at Ecbatana, was also put to death by command of Alexander, who feared lest he
should attempt to revenge his son. Several other trials for treason followed,
and many Macedonians were executed.
Alexander now advanced through the country of the Ariaspi to the Arachoti,
a people west of the Indus, whom he conquered. Their conquest and the complete
subjugation of Areia occupied the winter of this year. (B. C. 330.) In the beginning
of the following year (B. C. 329), he crossed the mountains of the Paropamisus
(the Hindoo Coosh), and marched into Bactria against Bessus. On the approach of
Alexander, Bessus fled across the Oxus into Sogdiana. Alexander followed him,
and transported his army across the river on the skins of the tents stuffed with
straw. Shortly after the passage Bessus was betrayed into his hands, and, after
being cruelly mutilated by order of Alexander, was put to death. From the Oxus
Alexander advanced as far as the Jaxartes (the Sir), which he crossed, and defeated
several Scythian tribes north of that river. After founding a city Alexandria
on the Jaxartes, he retraced his steps, recrossed the Oxus, and returned to Zariaspa
or Bactra, where he spent the winter of 329. It was here that Alexander killed
his friend Cleitus in a drunken revel.
In the spring of B. C. 328, Alexander again crossed the Oxus to complete
the subjugation of Sogdiana, but was not able to effect it in the year, and accordingly
went into winter quarters at Nautaca, a place in the middle of the province. At
the beginning of the following year, B. C. 327, he took a mountain fortress, in
which Oxyartes, a Bactrian prince, had deposited his wife and daughters. The beauty
of Roxana, one of the latter, captivated the conqueror, and he accordingly made
her his wife. This marriage with one of his eastern subjets was in accordance
with the whole of his policy. Having completed the conquest of Sogdiana, Alexander
marched southward into Bactria, and made preparations for the invasion of India.
While in Bactria, another conspiracy was discovered for the murder of the king.
The plot was formed by Hermolaus with a number of the royal pages, and Callisthenes,
a pupil of Aristotle, was involved in it. All the conspirators were put to death.
Alexander did not leave Bactria till late in the spring of B. C. 327,
and crossed the Indus, probably near the modern Attock. He now entered the country
of the Penjab, or the Five Rivers. Taxilas, the king of the people immediately
east of the Indus, submitted to him, and thus he met with no resistance till he
reached the Hydaspes, upon the opposite bank of which Porus, an Indian king, was
posted with a large army and a considerable number of elephants. Alexander managed
to cross the river unperceived by the Indian king, and then an obstinate battle
followed, in which Porus was defeated after a gallant resistance, and taken prisoner.
Alexander restored to him his kingdom, and treated him with distinguished honour.
Alexander remained thirty days on the Hydaspes, during which time he founded two
towns, one on each bank of the river: one was called Bucephala, in honour of his
horse Bucephalus, who died here, after carrying him through so many victories;
and the other Nicaea, to commemorate his victory. From thence he marched to the
Acesines (the Chinab), which he crossed, and subsequently to the Hydraotes (the
Ravee), which he also crossed, to attack another Porus, who had prepared to resist
him. But as he approached nearer, this Porus fled, and his dominions were given
to the one whom he had conquered on the Hydaspes. The Cathaei, however, who also
dwelt east of the Hydraotes, offered a vigorous resistance, but were defeated.
Alexander still pressed forward till he reached the Ilyphasis (Garra), which he
was preparing to cross, when the Macedonians, worn out by long service, and tired
of the war, refused to proceed; and Alexander, notwithstanding his entreaties
and prayers, was obliged to lead them back. He returned to the Hydaspcs, where
he had previously given orders for the building of a fleet, and then sailed down
the river with about 8000 men, while the remainder marched along the banks in
two divisions. This was late in the autumn of 327. The people on each side of
the river submitted without resistance, except the Malli, in the conquest of one
of whose places Alexander was severely wounded. At the confluence of the Acesines
and the Indus, Alexander founded a city, and left Philip as satrap, with a considerable
body of Greeks. Here he built some fresh ships, and shortly afterwards sent about
a third of the army, under Craterus, through the country of the Arachoti and Drangae
into Carmania. He himself continued his voyage down the Indus, founded a city
at Pattala, the apex of the delta of the Indus, and sailed into the Indian ocean.
He seems to have reached the mouth of the Indus about the middle of 326. Nearchus
was sent with the fleet to sail along the coast to the Persian gulf, and Alexander
set out from Pattala, about September, to return to Persia. In his march through
Gedrosia, his army suffered greatly from want of water and provisions, till they
arrived at Pura, where they obtained supplies. From Pura he advanced to Carman
(Kirman), the capital of Carmania, where he was joined by Craterus, with his detachment
of the army, and also by Nearchus, who had accomplished the voyage in safety.
Alexander sent the great body of the army, under Hephaetion, along the Persian
gulf, while he himself, with a small force, marched to Pasargadae, and from thence
to Persepolis, where he appointed Peucestas, a Macedonian, governor, in place
of the former one, a Persian, whom he put to death, for oppressing the province.
From Persepolis Alexander advanced to Susa, which he reached in the
beginning of 325. Here he allowed himself and his troops some rest from their
labours; and faithful to his plan of forming his European and Asiatic subjects
into one people, he assigned to about eighty of his generals Asiatic wives, and
gave with them rich dowries. He himself took a second wife, Barsine, the eldest
daughter of Darius, and according to some accounts, a third, Parysatis, the daughter
of Ochus. About 10,000 Macedonians also followed the example of their king and
generals, and married Asiatic women; all these received presents from the king.
Alexander also enrolled large numbers of Asiatics among his troops, and taught
them the Macedonian tactics. He moreover directed his attention to the increase
of commerce, and for this purpose had the Euphrates and Tigris made navigable,
by removing the artificial obstructions which had been made in the river for the
purpose of irrigation.
The Macedonians, who were discontented with several of the new arrangements
of the king, and especially at his placing the Persians on an equality with themselves
in many respects, rose in mutinyagainst him, which he quelled with some little
difficulty, and he afterwards dismissed about 10,000 Macedonian veterans, who
returned to Europe under the command of Craterus. Towards the close of the same
year (B. C. 325) he went to Ecbatana, where he lost his great favourite Hephaestion;
and his grief for his loss knew no bounds. From Ecbatana he marched to Babylon,
subduing in his way the Cossaei, a mountain tribe; and before he reached Babylon,
he was met by ambassadors from almost every part of the known world, who had come
to do homage to the new conqueror of Asia.
Alexander reached Babylon in the spring of B. C. 324, about a year
before his death, notwithstanding the warnings of the Chaldeans, who predicted
evil to him if he entered the city at that time. He intended to make Babylon the
capital of his empire, as the best point of communication between his eastern
and western dominions. His schemes were numerous and gigantic. His first object
was the conquest of Arabia, which was to be followed, it was said, by the subjugation
of Italy, Carthage, and the west. But his views were not confined merely to conquest.
He sent Heracleides to build a fleet on the Caspian, and to explore that sea,
which was said to be connected with the northern ocean. He also intended to improve
the distribution of waters in the Babylonian plain, and for that purpose sailed
down the Euphrates to inspect the canal called Pallacopas. On his return to Babylon,
he found the preparations for the Arabian expedition nearly complete; but almost
immediately afterwards he was attacked by a fever, probably brought on by his
recent exertions in the marshy districts around Babylon, and aggravated by the
quantity of wine he had drunk at a banquet given to his principal officers. He
died after an illness of eleven days, in the month of May or June, B. C. 323.
He died at the age of thirty-two, after a reign of twelve years and eight months.
He appointed no one as his successor, but just before his death he gave his ring
to Perdiccas. Roxana was with child at the time of his death, and afterwards bore
a son, who is known by the name of Alexander Aegus.
The history of Alexander forms an important epoch in the history of
mankind. Unlike other Asiatic conquerors, his progress was marked by something
more than devastation and ruin; at every step of his course the Greek language
and civilization took root and flourished; and after his death Greek kingdoms
were formed in all parts of Asia, which continued to exist for centuries. By his
conquests the knowledge of mankind was increased ; the sciences of geography,
natural history and others, received vast additions; and it was through him that
a road was opened to India, and that Europeans became acquainted with the products
of the remote East.
No contemporary author of the campaigns of Alexander survives. Our
best account comes from Arrian, who lived in the second century of the Christian
aera, but who drew up his history from the accounts of Ptolemy, the son of Lagus,
and Aristobulus of Cassandria. The history of Quintus Curtius, Plutarch's life
of Alexander, and the [Figure] epitomes of Justin and Diodorus Siculus, were also
compiled from earlier writers.
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Cleitus, a Macedonian, surnamed Melas, son of Dropides, and brother to Lanice or Hellanice, nurse of Alexander the Great. He saved Alexander's life at the battle of Granicus, B. C. 334, cutting off with a blow of his sword the arm of Spithridates which was raised to slay the king. At the battle of Arbela, B. C. 331, he commanded, in the right wing, the body of cavalry called Agema (see Polyb. v. 65, xxxi. 3); and when, in B. C. 330, the guards (hetairoi) were separated into two divisions, it being considered expedient not to entrust the sole command to any one man, Hephaestion and Cleitus were appointed to lead respectively the two bodies. In B. C. 328, Artabazus resigned his satrapy of Bactria, and the king gave it to Cleitus. On the eve of the day on which he was to set out to take possession of his government, Alexander, then at Maracanda in Sogdiana, celebrated a festival in honour of the Dioscuri, though the day was in fact sacred to Dionysus--a circumstance which afterwards supplied his friends with a topic of consolation to him in his remorse for the murder of Cleitus, the soothsayers declaring, that his frenzy had been caused by the god's wrath at the neglect of his festival. At the banquet an angry dispute arose, the particulars of which are variously reported by different authors. They agree, however, in stating, that Cleitus became exasperated at a comparison which was instituted between Alexander and Philip, much to the disparagement of the latter, and also at supposing that his own services and those of his contemporaries were depreciated as compared with the exploits of younger men. Being heated with wine, he launched forth into language highly insolent to the king, quoting a passage from Euripides (Androm. 683, &c.) to the effect, that the soldiers win by their toil the victories of which the general reaps the glory. Alexander at length, stung to a frenzy of rage, rushed towards him, but was held back by his friends, while Cleitus also was forced from the room. Alexander, being then released, seized a spear, and sprung to the door; and Cleitus, who was returning in equal fury to brave his anger, met him, and fell dead beneath his weapon (Diod. xvii. 21, 57; Plut. Alex. 16, 50-52; Arr. Anab. i. 15, iii. 11, 27, iv. 8, 9; Curt. iv. 13.26, viii. 1; Just. xii.6)
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Harpalus, (Harpalos). A Macedonian, son of Machatas. who belonged to the family of the princes of Elymiotis, and nephew of Philip, king, of Macedon, the latter having married Phila, a sister of Machatas. Notwithstanding this connection, the house of the Elymiot princes seems to have been always unfavourably disposed towards Philip, who had in fact deprived them of their hereditary dominions; and though we find Harpalus residing at the court of the Macedonian king, and even on one occasion employed by him on a mission of some importance, it appears that he did not enjoy much of his confidence. (Dem. c. Aristocr.; Plut. Apophth., ed. Reiske.) It is perhaps to this cause that we are to attribute his close attachment to Alexander, and his participation in the intrigues for the marriage of that prince with the daughter of Pixodarus, a scheme which gave so much offence to Philip, that all those who were thought to have taken part in it were banished from Macedonia, Harpalus among the rest. But this temporary disgrace was productive, both to him and his companions in exile, of the greatest subsequent advantages, for immediately on the death of Philip, Alexander not only recalled those who had suffered on his account, but promoted them to important and confidential offices. Harpalus, being unfitted by his constitution of body for services in war, was appointed to the superintendence of the treasury, and in this capacity accompanied Alexander to Asia. But he proved unfaithful to his trust, and shortly before the battle of Issus was induced (probably by the consciousness of peculation and the fear of punishment) to take to flight. He made his escape to Greece, and was lingering at Megara, when he received letters from Alexander intreating his return, and promising entire forgiveness for the past. He, in consequence, rejoined the king at Tyre on his return from Egypt (B. C. 331), and not only obtained the promised pardon, but was reinstated in his former important situation. (Plut. Alex. 10; Arrian, Anab. iii. 6.) When Alexander, after the conquest of Persia and Media, determined to push on into the interior of Asia, in pursuit of Dareius, he left Harpalus at Ecbatana, with 6000 Macedonian troops, in charge of the royal treasures. From thence lie appears to have removed to Babylon, and to have held the important satrapy of that province as well as the administration of the treasury. (Arrian, Anab. iii. 19.13; Plut. Alex. 35; Diod. xvii. 108.) It was here that, during the absence of Alexander in India, he gave himself up to the most extravagant luxury and profusion, squandering the treasures entrusted to him, at the same time that he alienated the people subject to his rule, by his lustful excesses and extortions. Not content with compelling the native women to minister to his pleasures, he sent to Athens for a celebrated courtesan named Pythionice, whom he received with the most extravagant honours, and to whom, after her death, he erected two costly monuments, one at Babylon, the other at Athens, where it is mentioned by Pausanias as one of the most splendid in ail Greece. (Paus. i. 37.5.) Pythionice was succeeded by Glycera, to whom he compelled all those subject to his authority to pay honours that were usually reserved for a queen. The indignation of Greeks, as well as barbarians, was now loud against Harpalus: among others, Theopompus the historian wrote a letter of complaint to Alexander, some extracts from which are still preserved. (Athen. xiii.; Diod. xvii. 108.) Harpalus had probably thought that Alexander would never return from the remote regions of the East into which he had penetrated; but when he at length learnt that the king was on his march back to Susa, and had visited with unsparing rigour those of his officers who had been guilty of any excesses during his absence, he at once saw that his only resource was in flight. Collecting together all the treasures which lie could, amounting to a sum of 5000 talents, and assembling a body of 6000 mercenaries, he hastened to the coast of Asia, and from thence crossed over to Attica. He had previously sent to Athens a magnificent present of corn, in return for which he had received the right of citizenship (Athen. xiii.); and he probably reckoned on a favourable reception in that city; but the Athenians refused to allow him to land, and he, in consequence, repaired to Taenarus, where he left his mercenaries, and himself returned to Athens. Being now admitted within the city, he employed the treasures that he had brought with him in the most unsparing manner, in order to gain over the orators and public men at Athens, and induce the people to undertake the support of his cause against Alexander and his vicegerent, Antipater. Among those whom he thus corrupted are said to have been Demades, Charicles, the son-in-law of Phocion, and even, as is well known. Demosthenes himself. Into the various questions connected with the conduct of these statesmen, and especially the last, it is impossible here to enter: but it should be mentioned that, after the death of Harpalus, one of his slaves, who had acted as his steward in the administration of his treasures, having fallen into the power of Philoxenus, the Macedonian governor of Caria, gave a list of all those persons at Athens who had received any sums of money from Harpalus, and in this list the name of Demosthenes did not appear. (Paus. ii. 33.4.) But to whatever extent Harpalus may have succeeded in bribing individuals, he failed in his general object, for Antipater, having demanded his surrender from the Athenians, it was resolved to place him in confinement until the Macedonians should send for him. He, however, succeeded in making his escape from prison, and rejoined his troops at Taenarus, from whence he transported his mercenary force and the remainder of his treasures to Crete, with what ulterior designs we know not; but soon after his arrival in that island he was assassinated by Thimbron, one of his own officers; or, according to another account, by a Macedonian named Pausanias. (Diod. xvii. 108; Paus. ii. 33.4; Arr. ap. Phot. p. 70 a; Plut. Dem. 25; Phoc. 21, Vit. X. Oratt., ed. Reiske; Curt. x. 2.) Plutarch tells us (Alex. 35) that Harpalus, during his residence at Babylon, endeavoured to introduce there the most valuable of the plants and shrubs, natives of Greece--perhaps the first instance on record of an attempt at exotic gardening.
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Harpalos (d. 323 BC). Childhood friend and master of the treasury of Alexander the Great,
Harpalos was entrusted the responsibility of the riches won in the battles against
the Persians.
Harpalos could not resist all this wealth, though, and when Alexander
was away fighting in India,
he embezzled part of the treasury and spent it on a luxurious life style together
with his mistress Pythionike. When she died, he spent a fortune on her funeral
and had a monument built in her honour.
On Alexander's return, Harpalos had disappeared with 6000 talents
and a few troops to Athens.
The Athenian assembly gave him asylum, and let him deposit his treasure in the
temple of Athena on the Acropolis. Alexander demanded that Athens
give him Harpalos, but the city defended the man. When Harpalos realised that
Alexander was going to get to him in one way or the other, or that one of the
Athenians was going to betray him, he escaped to Crete,
where he was murdered in 323 BC.
After his escape it was discovered that half the sum of his treasure
had disappeared from the Acropolis. The Areopage made an investigation, and it
was found that several politicians had accepted bribes to help Harpalos flee Athens,
amongst others Demosthenes.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
Archelaos (?-circa 399 BC), who restructured the Macedonian kingdom, was one of the foremost Temenid kings. Son of Perdikkas II and Simiche, he succeeded his father, possibly as guardian of the legal heir. He secured his position as ruler, successfully crushed the Pydna revolt, and lent support to his friends the Aleuadai of Larisa. He instituted reforms in his kingdom, building fortresses and roads, minting a strong coinage and organizing the army. Besides being an able diplomat and innovative military leader, he was a patron of arts and letters. He invited to his court artists such as Choirilos, Timotheos, Agathon and Euripides, who taught "Archelaos" and "Bacchae", two of his tragedies. In 399 BC, at Archelaos' assassination by one of the Royal Pages, the Macedonian kingdom entered a period of dynastic strife.
This text is cited May 2003 from the Macedonian Heritage URL below.
Archelaus (Archelaos), king of Macedonia from B. C. 413 to 399. According to Plato, he was an illegitimate son of Perdiccas II. and obtained the throne by the murder of his uncle Alcetas, his cousin, and his half-brother (Plat. Gory.; Athen. v.; Ael. V. H. xii. 43), further strengthening himself by marriage with Cleopatra, his father's widow (Plat. Gory.; Aristot. Polit. v.10). Nor does there appear to be any valid reason for rejecting this story in spite of the silence of Thueydides, who had no occasion to refer to it, and of the remarks of Athenaeus, who ascribes it to Plato's love of scandal (Thuc.ii. 100; Athen. xi.). In B. C. 410 Pydna revolted from Archelaus, but he reduced it with the aid of an Athenian squadron under Theramenes, and the better to retain it, in subjection, rebuilt it at a distance of about two miles from the coast (Diod. xiii. 49). In another war, in which he was involved with Sirrhas and Arrhabaeus, he purchased peace by giving his daughter in marriage to the former (Aristot. Polit.). For the internal improvement and security of his kingdom, as well as for its future greatness, he effectually provided by building fortresses, forming roads, and increasing the army to a stronger force than had been known under any of the former kings (Thuc. ii. 100). He established also at Aegae (Arr. Anab. i.) or at Dium (Diod. xvii. 16), public games, and a festival which he dedicated to the Muses and called "Olympian". His love of literature, science, and the fine arts is well known. His palace was adorned with magnificent paintings by Zeuxis (Ael. V. H. xiv. 17); and Euripides, Agathon, and other men of eminence, were among his guests (Ael. V. H. ii. 21, xiii. 4). But the tastes and the (so-called) refinement thus introduced failed at least to prevent, even if they did not foster, the great moral corruption of the court (Ael. ll. cc.). Socrates himself received an invitation from Archelaus, but refused it, according to Aristotle (Rhet. ii. 23.8), that he might not subject himself to the degradation of receiving favours which he could not return. Possibly, too, he was influenced by disgust at the corruption above alauded to, and contempt for the king's character (Ael. V. H. xiv. 17). We read in Diodorus, that Archelaus was accidentally slain on a hunting party by his favourite, Craterus or Crateuas (Diod. xiv. 37; Wess. ad loc.); but according to other accounts of apparently better authority, Craterus murdered him, either from ambition, or from disgust at his odious vices, or from revenge for his having broken his promise of giving him one of his daughters in marriage (Aristot. Polit. v. 10).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Archelaus, taken by Plato/Socrates as an example of a tyrant who cannot
be happy because of his injustice in the discussion with Polus in the Gorgias,
was king of Macedon from
the death of his father Perdiccas II in 413 to around 400. Being in fact the son
of the king by a slave woman, he was not supposed to inherit the kingship and
had to dispose of his uncle and his half-brother, the legitimate successor, by
having them assassinated, in order to reach the throne.
Despite this fact, he seems to have been a good king, initiating the
rise of Macedon that would
eventually culminate less than a century later with his successors Philip and
Alexander the Great. His court in Pella was brilliant and he attracted there such
famous figures as Euripides (who spent there the last years of his life and died
there in 406) and Agathon (the tragic poet at whose house Plato's Symposium takes
place).
During Archelaus' reign, Macedon
was in good terms with Athens.
He was assassinated in 399 and it is not until Philip reached the
throne in 359, that Macedon
again became a noteworthy kingdom.
Bernard Suzanne (page last updated 1998), ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Plato and his dialogues URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
396 - 393
Aeropus II. King of Macedonia, guardian of Orestes, the son of Archellaus, reigned nearly six years from B. C. 399. The first four years of this time he reigned jointly with Orestes, and the remainder alone. He was succeeded by his son Pausanias. (Diod. xiv. 37, 84; Dexippus, ap. Syncell. comp. Polyaen. ii. 1. 17)
393
Son of Aeropos II (Diod. 14,84).
Amyntas II., king of Macedonia, was son of Philip, the brother of Perdiccas II (Thuc. ii. 95). He succeeded his father in his appanage in Upper Macedonia, of which Perdiccas seems to have wished to deprive him, as he had before endeavoured to wrest it from Philip, but had been hindered by the Athenians (Thuc. i. 57). In the year 429 B. C. Amyntas, aided by Sitalces, king of the Odrysian Thracians, stood forward to contest with Perdiccas the throne of Macedonia itself; but the latter contrived to obtain peace through the mediation of Seuthes, the nephew of the Thracian king (Thuc. ii. 101); and Amyntas was thus obliged to content himself with his hereditary principality. In the thirtyfifth year, however, after this, B. C. 394, he obtained the crown by the murder of Pausanias, son of the usurper Aeropus (Diod. xiv. 89). It was nevertheless contested with him by Argaeus, the son of Pausanias, who was supported by Bardylis, the Illyrian chief: the result was, that Amyntas was driven from Macedonia, but found a refuge among the Thessalians, and was enabled by their aid to recover his kingdom (Diod. xiv. 92; Isocr. Archid.; comp. Diod. xvi. 4; Cic. de Off. ii. 11). But before his flight, when hard pressed by Argaeus and the Illyrians, he had griven up to the Olynthians a large tract of territory bordering upon their ownn, despairing, as it would seen, of a restoration to the throne, and willing to cede the land in question to Olynthus rather than to his rival (Diod. xiv. 92, xv. 19). On his return he claimed back what he professed to have entrusted to them as a deposit, and as they refused to restore it, he applied to Sparta for aid (Diod. xv. 19). A similar application was also made,B. C. 382, by the towns of Acanthus and Apollonia, which had been threatened by Olynthus for declining to join her confederacy (Xen. Hell. v. 2.11, &c.). With the consent of the allies of Sparta, the required succour was given, under the command successively of Eudamidas (with whom his brother Phoebidas was associated), Teleutias, Agesipolis, and Polybiades, by the last of whom Olynthus was reduced, B. C. 379 (Diod. xv. 19-23; Xen. Hell. v. 2, 3). Throughout the war, the Spartans were vigorously seconded by Amyntas, and by Derdas, his kinsman, prince of Elymia. Besides this alliance with Sparta, which he appears to have preserved without interruption to his death, Amyntas united himself also with Jason of Pherae (Diod. xv. 60), and carefully cultivated the friendship of Athens, with which state he would have a bond of union in their common jealousy of Olynthus and probably also of Thebes. Of his friendship towards the Athenians he gave proof, 1st, by advocating their claim to the possession of Amphipolis (Aesch. Peri Parapr.); and, 2ndly, by adopting Iphicrates as his son (Id. p. 32). It appears to have been in the reign of Amyntas, as is perhaps implied by Strabo (Exc. vii.), that the seat of the Macedonian government was removed from Aegae or Edessa to Pella, though the former still continued to be the burying-place of the kings. Justin (vii. 4) relates, that a plot was laid for his assassination by his wife Eurydice, who wished to place her son-in-law and paramour, Ptolemy of Alorus, on the throne, but that the design was discovered to Amyntas by her daughter. Diodorus (xv. 71) calls Ptolemy of Alorus the son of Amyntas; but see Wesseling's note ad loc., and Thirlwall, Gr. Hist. Amyntas died in an advanced age, B. C. 370, leaving three legitimate sons, Alexander, Perdiccas, and the famous Philip (Just. l. c. ; Diod. xv. 60).
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Eurydice, an An Illyrian princess, wife of Amyntas II., king of Macedonia, and mother of the famous Philip. According to Justin (vii. 4, 5), she engaged in a conspiracy with a paramour against the life of her husband; but though the plot was detected, she was spared by Amyntas out of regard to their common offspring. After the death of the latter (B. C. 369), his eldest son, Alexander, who succeeded him on the throne, was murdered after a short reign by Ptolemy Alorites, and it seems probable that Eurydice was concerned in this plot also. From a comparison of the statements of Justin (vii. 5) and Diodorus (xv. 71, 77, xvi. 2), it would appear that Ptolemy was the paramour at whose instigation Eurydice had attempted the life of her husband; and she certainly seems to have made common cause with him after the assassination of her son. But the appearance of another pretender to the throne, Pausanias, who was joined by the greater part of the Macedonians, reduced Eurydice to great difficulties, and led her to invoke the assistance of the Athenian general Iphicrates, who readily espoused her cause, drove out Pausanias, and reinstated Eurydice and Ptolemy in the full possession of Macedonia, the latter being declared regent for the young king Perdiccas (Aeschin. de Fals. Leg. 8, 9; Corn. Nep. Iphicrat. 3; Suidas, s. v. Karanos). Justin represents Eurydice as having subsequently joined within Ptolemy in putting to death Perdiccas also; but this is certainly a mistake. On the contrary, Perdiccas in fact put Ptolemy to death, and succeeded him on the throne: what part Eurydice took in the matter we know not, any more than her subsequent fate. (Diod. xvi. 2; Syncell.)
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370 - 368
Alexander II. (Alexandros), the sixteenth king of Macedonia, the eldest son of
Amyntas II., succeeded his father in B. C. 369, and appears to have reigned nearly
two years, though Diodorus assigns only one to his reign. While engaged in Thessaly
in a war with Alexander of Pherae, a usurper rose up in Macedonia of the name
of Ptolemy Alorites, whom Diodorus, apparently without good authority, calls a
brother of the king. Pelopidas, being called in to mediate between them, left
Alexander in possession of the kingdom, but took with him to Thebes several hostages;
among whom, according to some accounts, was Philip, the youngest brother of Alexander,
afterwards king of Macedonia, and father of Alexander the Great. But he had scarcely
left Macedonia, before Alexander was murdered by Ptolemy Alorites, or according
to Justin (vii. 5), through the intrigues of his mother, Eurydice, Demosthenes
(de fails. Leg.) names Apollo-phanes as one of the murderers (Diod. xv. 60, 61,
67, 71, 77; Plut. Pelop. 26, 27; Athen. xiv.; Aeschin. de fals. Leg. p. 31, 1.
33).
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Leader of the city of Aloros, married to Euridice, who was the wife of Alexander II. He came to power after the death of Alexander II.
365 - 359
Amyntas, Grandson of Amyntas II., was left an infant in nominal possession of the throne of Macedonia, when his father Perdiccas III. fell in battle agains the Illyrians, B. C. 360 (Diod. xvi. 2). He was quietly excluded from the kingly power by his uncle Philip, B. C. 359, who had at first acted merely as regent (Just. vii. 5), and who felt himself so safe in his usurpation, that he brought up Amyntas at his court, and gave him one of his daughters in marriage In the first year of the reign of Alexander the Great, B. C. 336, Amyntas was executed for a plot against the king's life.
Son of Amyntas, employs traitors, his mania for women, perjured and faithless, expels people of Anticyra, repairs to Arcadia, deposes Athenians from empire of sea, ruins Greece, bribes leading men of Elis, attacks Lacedaemonians, settles disputes between Lacedaemonians and Argives, removes bones of Linus from Thebes to Macedonia, restores exiled Orchomenians, gives Oropus to Athenians, attacks Perinthus, defeats Phocians under Onomarchus, restores exiled Plataeans, expels Potidaeans, puts an end to Sacred War, assassinated, father of Alexander the Great.
Audata, an Illyrian, the first wife of Philip of Macedon, by whom he had a daughter, Cynna. (Athen. xiii.)
Cleopatra (Kleopatra), niece of Attalus, one of the generals of Philip of Macedonia. Philip married her when he divorced Olympias in B. C. 337; and, after his murder, in the next year she was put to death by Olympias, being either compelled to hang herself (Justin, ix. 7) or boiled to death in a brazen cauldron (Paus. viii. 7.5). Her infant son or daughter, according to Justin, perished with her, being apparently looked upon as a rival to Alexander. (Just. l. c., and ix. 5; Diod. xvi. 93, xvii. 2; Plut. Alex. 10)
Eurydice, An Illyrian by birth, wife of Philip of Macedon, and mother of Cynane or Cynna. (Arrian, ap. Phot. p. 70, b.; Kuhn, ad Aelian. V. H. xiii. 36; Paus. v. 17.4). According to Dicaearchus (ap. Athen. xiii.), her name was Audata.
Antipater (Antipatros), the father of Cassander, was an officer in high favour
with Philip of Macedon (Just. ix. 4), who after his victory at Chaeroneia, B.
C. 338, selected him to conduct to Athens the bones of the Athenians who had fallen
in the battle (Just. l. c.; Polyb. v. 10). He joined Parmenion in the ineffectual
advice to Alexander the Great not to set out on his Asiatic expedition till he
had provided by marriage for the succession to the throne (Diod xvii. 16); and,
on the king's departure, B. C. 334, he was left regent in Macedonia (Diod. xvii.
17; Arr. Anab. i.). In B. C. 331 Antipater suppressed the Thracian rebellion under
Memnon (Diod. xvii. 62), and also brought the war with the Spartans under Agis
III. to a successful termination. It is with reference to this event that we first
find any intimation of Alexander's jealousy of Antipater -a feeling which was
not improbably produced or fostered by the representations of Olympias, and perhaps
by the known sentiments of Antipater himself (Curt. vi. 1.17, &c., x. 10.14; Plut.
Ages., Alex.; Perizon, ad Ael. V. H. xii. 16). Whether, however, from jealousy
or from the necessity of guarding against the evil consequences of the dissensions
between Olympias and Antipater, the latter was ordered to lead into Asia the fresh
troops required by the king, B. C. 324, while Craterus, under whom the discharged
veterans were sent home, was appointed to the regency in Macedonia (Arr. vii.;
Pseudo-Curt. x. 4.9, &c.; Just. xii. 12). The story which ascribes the death of
Alexander, B. C. 323, to poison, and implicates Antipater and even Aristotle in
the plot, is perhaps sufficiently refuted by its own intrinsic absurdity, and
is set aside as false by Arrian and Plutarch (Diod. xvii. 118; Paus. viii. 18;
Tac. Ann. ii. 73; Curt. x. 10.14, &c.; Arr. vii.; Plut. Alex.; Liv. viii. 3; Diod.
xix. 11; Athen. x.). On Alexander's death, the regency of Macedonia was assigned
to Antipater, and he forthwith found himself engaged in a war with a strong confederacy
of Grecian states with Athens at their head. At first he was defeated by Leosthenes,
and besieged in Lamia, whence he even sent an embassy to Athens with an unsuccessful
application for peace (Diod. xviii. 3, 12, 18; Paus. i. 25; Just. xiii. 5 ; Plut.
Phoc., Demosth.). The approach of Leonnatus obliged the Athenians to raise the
siege, and the death of that general, who was defeated by Antiphilus (the successor
of Leosthenes), and who was in league against the regent with Olympias, was far
more an advantage than a loss to Antipater (Diod. xviii. 14, 15; Just. xiii. 5;
Plut. Eumt.). Being joined by Craterus, he defeated the confederates at Cranon,
and succeeded in dissolving the league by the prudence and moderation with which
he at first used his victory. Athens herself was obliged to purchase peace by
the abolition of democracy and the admission of a garrison into Munychia, the
latter of which conditions might surely have enabled Antipater to dispense with
the destruction of Demosthenes and the chiefs of his party (Diod. xviii. 16-18;
Plut. Phoc., Demosth.; Paus. vii. 10). Returning now to Macedonia, he gave his
daughter Phila in marriage to Craterus, with whom, at the end of the year B. C.
323, he invaded the Aetolians, the only party in the Lamian war who had not yet
submitted (Diod. xviii. 24). But the intelligence brought him by Antigonus of
the treachery of Perdiccas, and of his intention of putting away Nicaea, Antipater's
daughter, to marry Cleopatra, compelled him to pass over to Asia; where, leaving
Craterus to act against Eumenes, he himself hastened after Perdiccas, who was
marching towards Egypt against Ptolemy (Diod. xviii. 23, 25, 29-33; Plut. Eum.;
Just. xiii. 6). On the murder of Perdiccas, the supreme regency devolved on Antipater,
who, at Triparadeisus in Syria, successfully maintained his power against Eurydice,
the queen. Marching into Lydia, he avoided a battle with Eumenes, and he on his
side was dissuaded from attacking Antipater by Cleopatra, who wished to give the
regent no cause of complaint. Towards the close of the year 321, he returned into
Europe, taking with him the king and queen, and leaving Antigonus to prosecute
the war with Eumenes (Diod. xviii. 39, 40; Plut. Eum.). It was during the mortal
illness of Antipater, B. C. 320, that Demades was sent to him from Athens to endeavour
to obtain the removal of the garrison from Munychia, and was put to death for
his treacherous correspondence with Perdiccas. Antipater left the regency to Polysperchon,
to the exclusion of his own son Cassander. (Plut. Phoc., Dem. ad fin.; Arr. ap.
Phot.; Diod. xviii. 48).
Arrhidaeus (Arridaios) or Aridaeus (Aridaios). A half-brother of Alexander the Great, son of Philip and a female dancer, Philinna of Larissa, was of imbecile understanding, which was said to have been occasioned by a potion administered to him when a boy by the jealous Olympias. Alexander had removed Arrhidaeus from Macedonia, perhaps through fear of his mother Olympias, but had not entrusted him with any civil or military command. He was at Babylon at the time of Alexander's death, B. C. 323, and was elected king under the name of Philip. The young Alexander, the infant son of Roxana, who was born shortly afterwards, was associated with him in the government. In the following year, B. C. 322, Arrhidaeus married Eurydice, and was from this time completely under the direction of his wife. On their return to Macedonia, Eurydice attempted to obtain the supreme power in opposition to Polysperchon. Roxana and her infant son fled to Epeirus, and Olympias induced Aeacides, king of Epeirus, to invade Macedonia in order to support Polysperchon. Aeacides was successful in his undertaking: Arrhidaeus and Eurydice were taken prisoners, and put to death by order of Olympias, B. C. 317. In the following year, Cassander conquered Olympias, and interred the bodies of Arrhidaeus and Eurydice with royal pomp at Aegae, and celebrated funeral games to their honour. (Plut. Alex. 77; Dexippus, ap. Phot. Cod. 82; Arrian, ap. Phot. Cod. 92; Justin, ix. 8, xiii. 2, xiv. 5; Diod. xviii. 2, xix. 11, 52; Paus. i. 6.3, 25.3, 5, viii. 7.5; Athen. iv.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Philip Arridaeus: The mentally deficient and epileptic brother of Alexander
the Great who succeeded him in 323, but had several regents, who all used their
pupil for their own purposes.
Arridaeus was the son of the Macedonian king Philip II (359-336) and
a Thessalian woman named Philinna. He was of about the same age as Alexander;
however, Alexander's mother was Philip's lawful wife Olympias, and therefore,
Alexander was recognized as the crown prince. His position was secure, but he
did not really feel that way, and when the satrap of Caria,
Pixodarus, wanted to engage his daughter to Arridaeus, Alexander intervened (c.339?).
During Alexander's reign (336-323), Arridaeus was more or less isolated.
It is not even known where he was staying during his brother's campaigns, although
it is reasonable to assume that he stayed behind in Macedonia, where Antipater,
the supreme commander of the Macedonian forces in Europe, would oversee the behavior
of the mentally unstable and epileptic prince.
Wherever he may have been during the reign of Alexander, he certainly
was at Babylon when the king
died on June 11. Next day, the Macedonian generals met to discuss the new situation.
Under normal circumstances, they, as representatives of the Macedonian nation
in arms, had to choose a new king, and the most likely candidate would be prince
Arridaeus. However, he was illegitimate and mentally unfit to rule. As a consequence,
it was difficult to reach a solution.
Perdiccas, the commander of the Companion cavalry who had been appointed
by Alexander as his successor, said that it was best to wait until queen Roxane,
a Bactrian princess by descent who was now pregnant, had given birth. If it were
a son, it would be logical to make him king. This was all too transparent: Perdiccas
wanted to be in sole command until the boy had grown up - at least eighteen years.
On the other hand, the commander of the phalanx, Meleager, said that
Arridaeus was the closest relative of Alexander and should therefore become king.
The infantry supported this proposal, because Arridaeus was of Macedonian blood
- as Roxane's son could never be. Another reason for the soldier's choice may
have been that they wanted the empire to be a unity, whereas Perdiccas and the
other cavalry commanders seemed to be aiming at a division of the kingdom.
The situation was tense, as it seemed that Meleager's soldiers wanted
to fight for Arridaeus against Perdiccas and his adherents. That would mean a
war between infantry and cavalry. Although violence was used and Meleager was
killed, the cooler heads on both sides improvised a compromise. Perdiccas was
to be regent for king Arridaeus and Roxane's son (if the baby were a son, of course).
Seeing that this was the only way to prevent civil war, everybody agreed. Arridaeus
became king under the throne name of Philip III, Roxane's baby turned out to be
a son (Alexander IV).
At about the same time, he was married to a noblewoman named Eurydice.
Our sources are extremely hostile to the queen, but it seems that she sincerely
wanted to protect her husband from being used by his regents, and incurred -as
a consequence- their everlasting hatred. Philip Arridaeus was now
king, but Perdiccas was the ruler. He issued his own orders under the name of
king Philip. This could have worked, but Perdiccas became too powerful, especially
when Olympias offered her daughter Cleopatra to the regent. This would make him
the brother-in-law of Alexander the Great, and a more direct heir to the throne
than Philip Arridaeus, who was, after all, a bastard.
Civil war -the First Diadoch War- broke out in the last months of
322: Perdiccas was attacked from several sides by the satrap of Egypt
Ptolemy, the generals Craterus and Antigonus, and Antipater, still the supreme
commander of the Macedonian forces in Europe. A year and a half later, Perdiccas
was murdered by his own officers, and a new settlement was necessary (320). This
time, the royal family -king Philip, the baby Alexander, Roxane- was placed under
the regency of Antipater, and moved to Europe. Eurydice saw that her husband had
became a pawn in a game, but her attempts to prevent this were in vain. From now
on, Philip Arridaeus was to do what Antipater wanted.
When the new regent reorganized the monarchy, he had conspicuously
ignored queen Eurydice, who was angry. She did not have to wait very long to get
a second chance: in the Autumn of 319, Antipater succumbed to old age. He had
appointed the reliable old officer Polyperchon as his successor, but his son Cassander
felt ignored, and revolted, supported by Eurydice. Almost immediately, he received
the support of Antigonus, who saw a chance to increase his power. This was the
beginning of the Second Diadoch War.
However, Polyperchon found an ally too. Antigonus was the supreme
commander of the Macedonian forces in Asia, but Philip Arridaeus could, of course,
appoint another man in this office. It is not clear how Antipater overcame the
opposition by Eurydice, but it worked: king Philip appointed Eumenes as new supreme
commander in Asia. This man had earlier fought for Perdiccas and Philip, and now
fought for Polyperchon and Philip. Antigonus was occupied with this war until
315.
In the meantime, Cassander and Eurydice had expelled Polyperchon
and the other members of the royal family (Roxane, the boy king Alexander, Olympias).
In the Spring of 317, Antipater's son was recognized as ruler of Macedonia and
regent of king Philip Arridaeus. Cassander now advanced to the south, to subdue
the towns of the Peloponnese.
Immediately, Olympias and king Aeacidas of Epirus
invaded Macedonia. It was not a very powerful coalition, but they could play one
trump card: the boy Alexander was the lawful successor of the great Alexander,
whereas Philip Arridaeus was a mere bastard and mentally unstable.
Philip Arridaeus and Eurydice met them at the frontier -Cassander
was still campaigning in the Peloponnese- but their entire army deserted them
and joined the enemy. Olympias ordered the execution of her stepson Arridaeus
and forced Eurydice to commit suicide (25 December 317).
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Euridice, daughter of Amyntas, son of Perdiccas III., king of Macedonia, and Cynane, daughter of Philip. Her real name appears to have been Adea (Arrian, ap. Phot. p. 70, b.); at what time it was changed to that of Eurydice we are not told. She was brought up by her mother, and seems to have been early accustomed by her to those masculine and martial exercises in which Cynane herself delighted (Polyaen. viii. 60; Athen. xiii.). She accompanied her mother on her daring expedition to Asia; and when Cynane was put to death by Alcetas, the discontent expressed by the troops, and the respect with which they looked on Eurydice as one of the surviving members of the royal house, induced Perdiccas not only to spare her life, but to give her in marriage to the unhappy king Arrhidaeus (Arrian, ap. Phot.). We hear no more of her during the life of Perdiccas; but after his death her active and ambitious spirit broke forth: she demanded of the new governors, Pithon and Arrhidaeus, to he admitted to her due share of authority, and by her intrigues against them, and the favour she enjoyed with the army, she succeeded in compelling them to resign their office. But the arrival of her mortal enemy, Antipater, disconcerted her projects: she took an active part in the proceedings at Triparadeisus, and even delivered in person to the assembled soldiery an harangue against Antipater, which had been composed for her by her secretary Asclepiodorus; but all her efforts were unavailing, and Antipater was appointed regent and guardian of the king (Arrian, ap. Phot.; Diod. xviii. 39). She was now compelled to remain quiet, and accompanied her husband and Antipater to Europe. But the death of Antipater in 319, the more feeble character of Polysperchon, who succeeded him as regent, and the failure of his enterprises in Greece, and above all, the favourable disposition he evinced towards Olympias, determined her again to take an active part: she concluded an alliance with Cassander, and, as he was wholly occupied with the affairs of Greece, she herself assembled an army and took the field in person. Polysperchon advanced against her from Epeirus, accompanied by Aeacides, the king of that country, and Olympias, as well as by Roxana and her infant son. But the presence of Olympias was alone sufficient to decide the contest: the Macedonian troops refused to fight against the mother of Alexander, and went over to her side. Eurydice fled from the field of battle to Amphipolis, but was seized and made prisoner. She was at first confined, together with her husband, in a narrow dungeon, and scantily supplied with food; but soon Olympias, becoming alarmed at the compassion excited among the Macedonians, determined to get rid of her rival, and sent the young queen in her prison a sword, a rope, and a cup of hemlock, with orders to choose her mode of death. The spirit of Eurydice remained unbroken to the last; she still breathed defiance to Olympias, and prayed that she might soon be requited with the like gifts; then, having paid as well as she could the last duties to her husband, she put an end to her own life by hanging, without giving way to a tear or word of lamentation (Diod. xix. 11; Justin, xiv. 5; Athen. xiii.; Aelian, V. H. xiii. 36). Her body was afterwards removed by Cassander, and interred, together with that of her husband, with royal pomp at Aegae (Diod. xix. 52; Athen. iv.).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Cassander (Kassandros), king of Macedonia, and son of Antipater, was 35 years old before his father's death, if we may trust an incidental notice to that effect in Athenaeus, and must, therefore, have been born in or before B. C. 354 (Athen. i). His first appearance in history is on the occasion of his being sent from Macedonia to Alexander, then in Babylon, to defend his father against his accusers: here, according to Plutarch (Alex. 74), Cassander was so struck by the sight, to him new, of the Persian ceremonial of prostration, that he could not restrain his laughter, and the king, incensed at his rudeness, is said to have seized him by the hair and dashed his head against the wall. Allowing for some exaggeration in this story, it is certain that he met with some treatment from Alexander which left on his mind an indelible impression of terror and hatred -a feeling which perhaps nearly as much as ambition urged him afterwards to the destruction of the royal family. The story which ascribed Alexander's death to poison, spoke also of Cassander as the person who brought the deadly water to Babylon. On Polysperchon's being appointed to succeed Antipater in the regency, Cassander was confirmed in the secondary dignity of Chiliarc -an office which had previously been conferred on him by his father- that he might serve as a check on Antigonus, when (B. C. 321) the latter was entrusted by Antipater with the command of the forces against Eumienes. Being, however, dissatisfied with this arrangement, he strengthened himself by an alliance with Ptolemy Lagi and Antigonus, and entered into war with Polysperchon. The failure of Polysperchon at Megalopolis, in the same year, had the effect of bringing over most of the Greek states to Cassander, and Athens also surrendered to him, on condition that she should keep her city, territory, revenues, and ships, only continuing the ally of the conqueror, who should be allowed to retain Munychia till the end of the war. He at the same time settled the Athenian constitution by establishing 10 minae (half the sum that had been appointed by Antipater) as the qualification for the full rights of citizenship; and the union of clemency and energy which his general conduct exhibited, is said to have procured him many adherents. While, however, he was successfully advancing his cause in the south, intelligence reached him that Eurydice and her husband Arrhidaeus had fallen victims to the vengeance of Olympias, who had also murdered Cassander's brother Nicanor, together with 100 of his principal friends, and had even torn from its tomb the corpse of Iollas, another brother of his, by whom she asserted (the story being now probably propagated for the first time), that Alexander had been poisoned. Cassander immediately raised the siege of Tegea, in which he was engaged, and hastened with all speed into Macedonia, though he thereby left the Peloponnesus open to Polysperchon's son, and cutting off from Olympias all hope of aid from Polysperchon and Aeacides, besieged her in Pydna throughout the winter of B. C. 317. In the spring of the ensuing year she was obliged to surrender, and Cassander shortly after caused her to be put to death in defiance of his positive agreement. The way now seemed open to him to the throne of Macedon, and in furtherance of the attainment of this object of his ambition, he placed Roxana and her young son, Alexander Aegus, in custody at Amphipolis, not thinking it safe as yet to murder them, and ordered that they should no longer be treated as royal persons. He also connected himself with the regal family by a marriage with Thessalonica, half-sister to Alexander the Great, in whose honour he founded, probably in 316, the town which bore her name; and to the same time, perhaps, we may refer the foundation of Cassandreia in Pallene, so called after himself (Strab. Exc. c Lib. vii.). Returning now to the south, he stopped in Boeotia and began the restoration of Thebes in the 20th year after its destruction by Alexander (B. C. 315), a measure highly popular with the Greeks, and not least so at Athens, besides being a mode of venting his hatred against Alexander's memory. (Comp. Paus. ix. 7; Plut. Polit. Praec. c. 17). Thence advancing into the Peloponnesus, he retook most of the towns which the son of Polysperchon had gained in his absence; and soon after he succeeded also in attaching Polysperchon himself and Alexander to his cause, and withdrawing them from that of Antigonus, against whom a strong coalition had been formed. But in B. C. 313, Antigonus contrived, by holding out to them the prospect of independence, to detach from Cassander all the Greek cities where he had garrisons, except Corinth and Sicyon, in which Polysperchon and Cratesipolis (Alexander's widow) still maintained their ground; and in the further operations of the war Cassander's cause continued to decline till the hollow peace of 311, by one of the terms of which he was to retain his authority in Europe till Alexander Aegus should be grown to manhood, while it was likewise provided that all Greek states should be independent. In the same year Cassainder made one more step towards the throne, by the murder of the young king and his mother Roxana. In B. C. 310, the war was renewed, and Polysperchon, who once more appears in opposition to Cassander, advanced against him with Hercules, the son of Alexander the Great and Barsine, whom, acting probably under instructions from Antigonus, he had put forward as a claimant to the crown; but, being a man apparently with all the unscrupulous cruelty of Cassander without his talent and decision, he was bribed by the latter, who promised him among other things the government of the Peloponnesus, to murder the young prince and his mother, B. C. 309. At this time the only places held by Cassander in Greece were Athens, Corinth, and Sicyon, the two latter of which were betrayed to Ptolemy by Cratesipolis, in B. C. 308; and in 307, Athens was recovered by Demetrius, the son of Antigonus, from Demetrius the Phalerean, who had held it for Cassander from B. C. 313, with the specious title of "Guardian" (epimeletes). In B. C. 306, when Antigonus, Lysimachus, and Ptolemy took the name of king, Cassander was saluted with the same title by his subjects, though according to Plutarch (Demetr. 18) he did not assume it himself in his letters. During the siege of Rhodes by Demetrius in 305, Cassander sent supplies to the besieged, and took advantage of Demetrius being thus employed to assail again the Grecian cities, occupying Corinth with a garrison under Prepelaus, and laying siege to Athens. But, in B. C. 304, Demetrius having concluded a peace with the Rhodians, obliged him to raise the siege and to retreat to the north, whither, having made himself master of southern Greece, he advanced against him. Cassander first endeavoured to obtain peace by an application to Antigonus, and then failing in this, he induced Lysimachus to effect a diversion by carrying the war into Asia against Antigonus, and sent also to Seleucus and Ptolemy for assistance. Meanwhile Demetrius, with far superior forces remained unaccountably inactive in Thessaly, till, being summoned to his father's aid, he concluded a hasty treaty with Cassander, providing nominally for the independence of all Greek cities, and passed into Asia, B. C. 302. In the next year, 301, the decisive battle of Ipsus, in which Antigonus and Demetrius were defeated and the former slain, relieved Cassander from his chief cause of apprehension. After the battle, the four kings (Seleucus, Ptolemy, Cassander, and Lysimachus) divided among them the dominions of Antigonus as well as what they already possessed ; and in this division Macedonia and Greece were assigned to Cassander. To B. C. 299 or 298, we must refer Cassander's invasion of Corcyra, which had remained free since its deliverance by Demetrius, B. C. 303, from the Spartan adventurer Cleonynmus (comp. Liv. x. 2; Diod. xx. 105), and which may perhaps have been ceded to Cassander as a set-off against Demetrius' occupation of Cilicia, from which he had driven Cassander's brother Pleistarchus. The island, however, was delivered by Agathocles of Syracuse, who compelled Cassander to withdraw from it. In B. C. 298, we find him carrying on his intrigues in southern Greece, and assailing Athens and Elatea in Phocis, which were successfully defended by Olympiodorus, the Athenian, with assistance from the Aetolians. Not being able therefore to succeed by force of arms, Cassander encouraged Lachares to seize the tyranny of Athens, whence however Demetrius expelled him; and Cassander's plans were cut short by his death, which was caused by dropsy in the autumn of B. C. 297, as Droysen places it . It will have appeared from the above account that there was no act, however cruel and atrocious, from which Cassander ever shrunk where the objects he had in view required it; and yet this man of blood, this ruthless and unscrupulous murderer, was at the same time a man of refinement and of cultivated literary tastes,--one who could feel the beauties of Homer, and who knew his poems by heart.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Lysandra (Lusandra), daughter of Ptolemy Soter and Eurydice, the daughter of Antipater. She was married first to Alexander, the son of Cassander, king of Macedonia, and after his death to Agathocles, the son of Lysimachu. (Dexippus, ap. Syncell.; Euseb. Arm.; Paus. i. 9. 6; Plut. Demsetr. 31). By this second marriage (which took place, according to Pausanias, after the return of Lysimachus from his expedition against the Getae, B. C. 291) she had several children, with whom she fled to Asia after the murder of her husband, at the instigation of Arsinoe, and besought assistance from Seleucus. The latter in consequence marched against Lysiimachus, who was defeated and slain in battle B. C. 281. From an expression of Pausanias, it appears that Lysandra must at this time have accompanied Seleucus, and was possessed of much influence, but in the confusion that followed the death of Seleucus a few months after we hear no more either of her or her children. (Paus. i. 10. 3-5.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
323 - 309
305 - 281
Lysimachus: A Macedonian, afterwards king of Thrace, his history, joins in war against Antigonus, destroys Colophon and Lebedus, expels Pyrrhus from Macedonia, defeated and slain by Seleucus. Arsinoe: Daughter of Lysimachus, wife of Ptolemy II.
Alexander's successors:
Lysimachus and Seleucus
Diadochi ('successors'): name of the first generation
of military and political leaders after the death of the Macedonian king and
conqueror Alexander the Great in 323. To settle the question whether his empire
should disintegrate or survive as a unity, and, if so, under whose rule, they
fought four full-scale wars. The result, reached by 300, was a division into
three large parts, which more or less coincided with Alexander's possessions
in Europe, Asia, and Egypt.
During the next quarter of a century, it was decided whether these
states could endure. As it turned out, there were no great territorial changes,
although there were dynastic changes. After 280, the period of state-forming
came to an end.
The removal of Demetrius Poliorcetes from the scene in 285 stabilized
the situation. It was becoming increasingly clear that there would be three
major states: the empire of Ptolemy in Egypt and southern Syria, the empire
of Seleucus in Asia, and the European kingdom of Lysimachus of Thrace.
The Thracian king benefited most of the fall of Demetrius. In
the summer of 287, when Demetrius had invaded Asia, Lysimachus and Pyrrhus
had occupied northern and southern Macedonia.
The only one who might have been able to stop them would have been Ptolemy
of Egypt, who possessed several towns in the Aegean Sea region (he had captured
Athens in the spring).
But Ptolemy was by now an old man, and he was already thinking of resigning.
He had two sons, Ptolemy Ceraunus and Ptolemy Philadelphus, and it had always
been clear that Ceraunus was to succeed him. However, he was by now preferring
Philadelphus. Court intrigues handicapped father Ptolemy's Aegean policy,
and Lysimachus could continue to build up his power.
In 286, Lysimachus' son Agathocles was fighting in Asia
Minor against Demetrius, and his father was busy reorganizing his territories
in Macedonia. At the same time, Pyrrhus of Epirus
invaded Thessaly, which had until then be loyal to Demetrius and his son Antigonus
Gonatas. There may have been some degree of coordination with the Athenians,
who attacked his garrison in Piraeus and liberated themselves. Gonatas was
now reduced to central Greece and the Peloponnese,
and concluded a peace treaty with Pyrrhus, in which he ceded all Thessaly
in return for the unchallenged possession of the town of Demetrias. A bigger
disappointment must have come later in the same year, when Gonatas learned
that his father had been taken captive by Seleucus.
Now that Demetrius was removed, the allies Pyrrhus and Lysimachus
started to quarrel (285). At the same time, Ptolemy retired and gave the throne
to Ptolemy Philadelphus. His older son, Ptolemy Ceraunus, fled to Seleucus,
who promised to restore him. Within a few months after the capture of Demetrius,
the alliance that had been organized against him, had disappeared, and a new
round of wars seemed inevitable.
The first to strike was Lysimachus, who was frustrated by Pyrrhus
attacks on Thessaly.
He did not offer battle, but bought Pyrrhus' commanders, made diplomatic overtures,
and in the summer, the king of Epirus had to return to his home land. Southern
Macedonia and Thessaly were now part of Lysimachus' empire, which stretched
from Thermopylae to the
Danube and from the Ionian
Sea to the river Halys in central Turkey.
However, Lysimachus' empire was built on sand, although in Thrace,
his rule was unchallenged. He had ruled the country since the settlement at
Babylon in 323, 38 years ago. But the other territories were new acquisitions:
the eastern provinces had been occupied 15 years ago and Macedonia, with its
strong feeling of independence and great past, was a very recent addition.
There were strong resentments against the Thracian king, and one small accident
would enough to upset the delicate balance. This incident happened in the
first weeks of 282. It will be remembered that Lysimachus had married Nicaea,
the daughter of Antipater, in 321. They had a son, Agathocles, Lysimachus'
trusted right-hand man and the one who was appointed as successor. In 299,
both men had married to daughters of Ptolemy: Lysimachus had taken Arsinoe
as his wife, and Agathocles had married Lysandra. Now Arsinoe, seeing that
she and her children would become subjects of her stepson and her sister,
decided to blacken Agathocles' reputation, so that her own son would become
king.
At least, this is what our sources say. It should however be noted
that Demetrius was by now dead and that the first Ptolemy had died in January
282. It is possible that political motives also played a role, and it is likely
that Agathocles was not entirely blameless. But whatever the reasons, Agathocles
was killed by his father.
Immediately, Agathocles' wife Lysandra and his friend Philaetarus
of Pergamum fled to Seleucus, who was, at that moment, in Babylon.
They asked him to come to their assistance. This was an offer Seleucus could
not refuse: he could rightfully intervene in Thrace -where he could place
the son of Lysandra and Agathocles on the throne, and he could also intervene
in Egypt, where he could
place Ptolemy Ceraunus on the throne. The thought that he could also place
himself on the two thrones may have crossed his mind.
In the winter of 282/281, he invaded Lysimachus' Asian possessions.
He was a prudent man: before he set out, he had already appointed his son
Antiochus as his successor. According to the eastern custom, Antiochus took
over his father's wife (Stratonice, the daughter of Demetrius), and he was
made ruler of the eastern satrapies - as once the Persian crown prince had
been.
The army of the seventy-seven years old Seleucus met the army
of Lysimachus, eighty years old, at Curupedion, in the west of Asia Minor,
in February 281. By the end of the day, Lysimachus was dead. He had already
built his tomb at Belevi near Ephesus (pictures), but was never buried in
this mausoleum.
Seleucus proceeded to the west, where nothing could prevent him
from adding Thrace and Macedonia to his empire. However, he was assassinated
by Ptolemy Ceraunus. We do not know his motives, although it is likely that
Seleucus had made it too clear that he wanted to unite the empire of Alexander
and did not want to give Ceraunus and the son of Lysandra their shares.
Thus ended the life of Seleucus. In a few year's time, the four
main players of the game of hellenistic state building had all died: Demetrius
in 283, Ptolemy in 282, Lysimachus and Seleucus in 281. Their kingdoms had
stabilized, and the men were succeeded by their sons: Antigonus Gonatas in
Greece, Ptolemy II Philadelphus in Egypt, and Antiochus in Asia. Lysander's
empire was the exception: not his son but Ptolemy Ceraunus became king.
Although Ptolemy II and Antiochus immediately started a war, its
impact was limited: the king of Egypt merely benefitted from the crisis in
the Seleucid empire after the death of its founder. When he had taken Damascus
and noted that Antiochus was as powerful as his father, an armistice was concluded.
Antiochus accepted the defeat because he needed all his energy to organize
the conquests in what is now Turkey. The First Syrian War had lasted less
than twelve months (280-279). The situation now seemed quiet. But there was
to be one border correction and dynastic change. to part eleven
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Lysimachus (Lusimachos), king of Thrace. He was a Macedonian by birth (according
to Arrian, a native of Pella), but not by origin, his father, Agathocles, having
been originally a Penest or serf of Cranon in Thessaly, who had insinuated himself
by his flatteries into the good graces of Philip of Macedon, and risen to a high
place in his favour. (Arr. Anab. vi. 28; Theopomp. ap. Athen. vi.; Euseb. Arm.).
Lysimachus himself was early distinguished for his undaunted courage, as well
as for his great activity and strength of body, qualities to which he probably
owed his appointment to the important post of one of the somatophulakes, officers
immediately about the person of Alexander. But though we find him early attaining
this distinction, and he is frequently mentioned as in close attendance on the
king, he does not seem to have been readily entrusted with any separate command,
or with the conduct of any enterprise of importance, as was so often the case
with Ptolemy, Perdiccas, Leonnatus, and others of the same officers. Hence it
would appear that Alexander deemed him more qualified for a soldier than a general.
(Arr. Anab. v. 13, 24, vi. 28, vii. 5, Ind. 18; Curt. viii. 1, 46; but comp. Aelian.
V. H. xii. 16, who calls him strategein agathos.) We are told by Q. Curtius that
Lysimachus, when hunting in Syria, had killed a lion of immense size single-handed,
though not without receiving severe wounds in the contest; and this circumstance
that writer regards as the origin of a fable gravely related by Justin, Plutarch,
Pliny, and other authors, that on account of sonic offence, Lysimachus had been
shut up by order of Alexander in the same den with a lion; but though unarmed,
had succeeded in destroying the animal, and was pardoned by the king in consideration
of his courage. (Curt. viii. 1.15; Plut. Demetr. 27; Paus. i. 9. 5 ; Justin. xv.
3; Plin. H. N. viii. 16 (21); Val. Max. ix. 3, ext. 1; Seneca, de Ira, iii. 17.)
In the division of the provinces, after the death of Alexander, Thrace and the
neighbouring countries as far as the Danube were assigned to Lysinmachus, an important
government, which lie is said to have obtained in consequence of his well-known
valour, as being deemed the most competent to cope with the warlike barbarians
that bordered that country on the north. (Diod. xviii. 3; Arrian, up. Phot.; Dexippus,
ibid.; Curt. x. 10,4; Justin. xiii. 4.) Nor was it long before he had occasion
to prove the justice of this opinion; he had scarcely arrived in his government
when he was called upon to oppose Seuthes, king of the Odrysians, who had assembled
a large army, with which he was preparing to assert his independence. In the first
battle Lysimachus obtained a partial victory, notwithstanding a great disparity
of force; but we know nothing of the subsequent events of the war. (Diod. xviii.
14; Paus. i. 9. 6.) It seems probable, however, that he was for some time much
occupied with hostilities against the Odrysians and other barbarian tribes; and
that it was this circumstance which prevented him from taking any active part
in the wars which arose between the other generals of Alexander. But during the
seven years which he thus spent in apparent inactivity, it is clear that he had
not only consolidated his power, but extended his dominion as far as the mouths
of the Danube, and occupied with his gar risons the Greek cities along the western
shores of the Euxine. (Diod. xix. 73)
At length, in B. C. 315, the increasing power of Antigonus induced
Lysimachus to join the league which Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Cassander, had already
formed against that monarch: he laid claim to the Hellespontine Phrygia, in addition
to the territories he already possessed; and on the refusal of Antigonus, immediately
prepared for war. Still we do not hear of his taking any active part in the hostilities
that ensued, until he was aroused by the revolt of thie Greek cities on the Euxine,
Callatia, Istrus, and Odessus. He thereupon immediately crossed the Haemus with
an army, defeated the forces of the Scythian and Thracian tribes, which the Greeks
had called in to their assistance, as well as a fleet and army sent by Antigonus
to their support, and successively reduced all the three cities. (Diod. xix. 56,
57, 63; App. Syr. 53; Paus. i. 6. 4.) By the general peace of 311, Lysimachus
was confirmed in the possession of Thrace (including, apparently, his recent acquisitions
on the north), but without any farther accession of territory. (Id. xix. 105.)
In 309 he founded the city of Lysinmachia, on the Hellespont, not far from the
site of Cardia, great part of the inhabitants of which he compelled to remove
to the new settlement. (Id. xx. 29; Paus. i. 9. 8; App. Syr. 1.) Three years afterwards
(B. C. 306) he followed the example first set by Antigonus, and immediately imitated
by Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Cassander, and assumed the title and insignia of royalty.
(Diod. xx. 53; Plut. Dconeir. 18; Jcstin. xv. 2.)
We hear no more of Lysimachus for some time: but he appears, though
taking no prominent part in the hostilities between the other rival monarchs,
to have been constantly on friendly terms, if not in direct alliance with Cassander,
to whose sister, Nicaea, he was married, and who was accustomed, we are told,
to apply to him for counsel on all occasions of difficulty. (Diod. xx. 106.) Thus
in 304 we find them both sending supplies of corn to the relief of the Rhodians,
at that time besieged by Demetrius (Id . xx. 96); and two years later (B. C. 302)
Lysimachus readily joined in the plan originated by Cassander, for forming a general
coalition to oppose the alarming progress of Antigonus and Demnetrius. They accordingly
sent ambassadors to Ptolemy and Seleucus, who were easily persnaded to join the
proposed league; and in the meatime they both took the field in person; Cassander
to oppose Demetrius in Greece, while Lysimachus, with a large army, invaded Asia
Minor. His sac cesses were at first rapid: several cities on the Hellespont either
voluntarily submitted, or were reduced by force; and while his lieutenant, Prepelaus,
subduted the greater part of Aeolia and lonia, he himself overran Phrygia. and
made himself master of the important town of Synnada. On the advance of Antigonus,
however, he determined to confine himself to the defensive, and not risk a general
engagement until lie should have been joined by Seleucus : he, in consequence,
withdrew first to Dorylaeum, where he fortified himself in a strong position,
but was ultimately forced from thence; and retiring into Bithynia, took up his
winter quarters in the fertile plains of Salomia, where the neighbourbood of the
friendly city and port of Heracleia secured him abundant supplies. Before the
close of the winter Seleucus arrived in Cappadocia, while Demetrius, on the other
side, with the army which lie brought from Greece, recovered possession of the
chief towns on the Hellespont. All particulars of the campaign of the following
year are lost to us; we know only that in the course of the spring Lysimachus
effected his junction with Seleucus; and Demetrius, on the other hand, united
his forces with those of Antigonus; and that early in the summer of B. C. 301
the combined armies met at Ipsus, in the plains of Upper Phrygia. The battle that
ensued was deeisive: Antigonus himself fell on the field, and Demetrius, with
the shatered remnant of his forces, fled direct to Ephesus, and from thence embarked
for Greece. The conquerors immediately proceeded to divide between them the dominions
of the vanquished; and Lysimachus obtained for his share all that part of Asia
Minor extending from the Hellespont and the Aegaean to the heart of Phrygia; but
the boundary between his dominions and those of Seleucus in the latter quarter
is nowhere clearly indicated. (Diod. xx. 106-109, 113; Plut. Denmetr. 28-30; Justin.
xv. 2, 4; Appian. Syr. 55; Paus. i. 6. 7; Euseb. Arm. Concerning the extent of
Lysimachus' dominions, see Droysen, Hellenism. vol. i. p. 545, foll.)
The power of Lysimachus was thus firmly established, and he remained
from this time in undisputed possession of the dominions thus acquired, until
shortly before his death. During the whole of this period his attention seems
to have been steadily directed to the strengthening and consolidation of his power,
rather than to the extension of his dominions. His naturally avaricious disposition
led him to accumulate vast treasures, for which the possession of the rich gold
and silver mines of Thrace gave him peculiar advantages, and lie was termed in
derision, by the flatterers of his rival, "the treasurer (gaxophulax)." The great
mass of these accumulations was deposited in the two strong citadels of Tirizis
on the coast of Thrace, and of Perganmus in Mysia. (Strab. vii., xiii.; Athen.
vi.; Plut. Demetr. 25.) At the same time he sought, after the fashion of other
other contemporary monarchs, to strengthen his footing in his newly-acquired dominions
in Asia by the foundation of new cities, or at least by the enlargement and re-establishment
of those previously existing. Thus, lie rebuilt Antigonia, a colony founded by
his rival Antigonus, on the Ascanian lake, and gave to it the name of Nicaea,
in honour of his first wife: he restored Smyrna, which had long remained almost
unin habited, but which quickly rose again to a high point of prosperity; and
when Ephesus, which had been one of he last places in Asia that remained faithful
to Demetrius, at length fell into his hands, he removed tile city to a situation
nearer the sea, and repeopled it with the inhabitants of Lebedus and Colophon,
in addition to its former population. New Hium and Alexandria Troas are also mentioned
as entitled to him for improvements which almost entitled him to rank as their
founder. (Strab xii., xiii., xiv.; Pau s. i. 9. 7, vii. 3. 4, 5; Steph. Byz. v.
Ephesos.) In Europe we hear less of his internal improvements, but lie appears
to have effectually reduced to submission the barbarian tribes of the Odrysians,
Paeonians, &c., and to have established his dominion without dispute over all
the countries south of the Danube. (Paas. i. 9. 6; Polyan. iv. 12. 3 Diod. ap.
Tzetz. Chil. vi. 53.)
Meanwhile, Lysinmachus was not indifferent to the events that were
passing around him. The alliance concluded by Selcucus with Demetrius led him
in his turn to draw closer the bonds of union between himself and Ptolemy; and
it was probably about the same period that he married Arsinoε, the daughter of
the Egyptian king. (Plut. Demetr. 31; Paus. i. 10. 3; comp. Droysen, Helenism.
vol. i.p. 555.) With Macedonia his frieadly relations continued unbroken until
the death of Cassander (B. C. 297), and after that event he sought still to maintain
them by giving his daughter Eurydice in marriage to Antipater, one of the sons
of the deceased king. The dissensions between the brothers however, having eventually
opened the way for Demetrius to seat himself on the throne of Macedonia, Lysimachus
found himself involved in a war with that monarch, but was content to purchase
peace by abandoning the claims of his son-in-law, whom he soon after put to death,
either to gratify Demetrius, or from displeasure at the indignant remonstrances
of the young man himself. (Paus. i. 10. 1; Justin. xvi. 1, 2; Plut. Pyrrh. 6;
Diod. Exc. Hoeschel. xxi.) We are told that Lysimachus was compelled to conclude
this disadvantageous peace, because he was at the time embarrassed by the hostilities
in which he was engaged on his northern frontier with the Getae. (Justin. xvi.
1.) We know little of the circumstances which led to this war (B. C. 292), but
it appears to have been one of pure aggression on the part of Lysimachus. If so,
he was deservedly punished by the series of disasters that followed. His son Agathocles,
who had led an army into the enemy's territory, was defeated and taken prisoner,
but generously set at liberty and sent back to Lysimachus. Notwithstanding this
the king soon assembled a more powerful army, with which he crossed the Danube
and penetrated into the heart of the country of the Getae; but he was soon reduced
to the greatest distress by want of provisions, and ultimately compelled to surrender
with his whole army. Dromichaetes, king of the Getae, treated him with the utmost
generosity, and after gently reproaching him with his unprovoked aggression, restored
him at once to his liberty. (Diod. Exc. xxi., Exc. Vat. xxi.; Strab. vii; Paus.
i. 9.6; Plut. Demetr. 39, 52; Polyaen. vii. 25) On his return to his own dominions
Lysimachus found that Demetrius had taken advantage of his absence and captivity
to invade the cities of Thrace, but that prince had been already recalled by the
news of a fresh insurrection in Greece, and Lysimachus apparently found himself
too weak to avenge the aggression at the moment. (Plat. Demetr. 39.) In B. C.
288, however, he once more united with Ptolemy and Seleucus in a common league
against Demetrius, to which the accession of Pyrrhus was easily obtained, and
early in the following spring Lysimachus invaded Macedonia on the one side, and
Pyrrhus on the other. The success of their arms was owing not so much to their
own exertions as to the disaffection of the Macedonian soldiers. Demetrius, abandoned
by his own troops, was compelled to seek safety in flight, and the conquerors
obtained undisputed possession of Macedonia, B. C. 287. Lysimachus was compelled
for a time to permit Pyrrhus to seat himself on the vacant throne, and to rest
contented with the acquisition of the territories on the river Nestus, on the
borders of Thrace and Macedonia. He soon after appears to have found an opportunity
to annex Paeonia to his dominions; and it was not long before he was able to accomplish
the object at which he was evidently aiming, and effect the expulsion of Pyrrhus
from his newly acquired kingdom of Macedonia, B. C. 286. For this result Lysimachus
appears to have been indebted mainly to the influence exercised upon the Macedeonians
by his name and reputation as one of the veteran generals and companions of Alexander.
(Plut. Demetr. 44, Pyrrh. 11, 12; Paus. i. 10. 2; Justin. xvi. 3; Dexippus, ap.
Syncell.)
Lysimachus now found himself in possession of all the dominions in
Europe that had formed part of the Macedonian monarchy, as well as of the greater
part of Asia Minor. The captivity of Demetrius soon after delivered him from his
most formidable enemy; and, in order still farther to secure himself from any
danger in that quarter, he is said to have repeatedly urged upon Seleucus the
ungenerous advice to put his prisoner at once to death. (Plut. Demetr. 51; Diod.
xxi. Exc. Vales.) But the course of events had now rendered Lysimachus and Seleucus
themselves rivals, and, instead of joining against any common foe, all their suspicions
and apprehensions were directed henceforth towards one another. This naturally
led the former to draw yet closer the bonds of his alliance with Egypt. Lysimachus
himself, as we have seen, had already married ArsinoΓ«, daughter of Ptolemy Soter;
his son Agathocles had espoused Lysandra, another daughter of the same monarch,
and, in B. C. 285, he gave his daughter Arsinoe in marriage to Ptolemy Philadelphus,
who had already ascended the Egyptian throne. (Schol. ad Theocr. Idyll. xvii.
128; Paus. i. 7. 3.)
The few remaining events of the reign of Lysimachus were for the most
part connected with his private relations; and the dark domestic tragedy that
clouded his declining years led also to the downfal of his empire. In B. C. 302,
after the death of his first wife Nicaea, he had married Amastris, the widow of
Dionysius, tyrant of Heracleia, whose noble character appears to have made a great
impression upon his mind, so that long after he had been induced, by motives of
policy, to abandon her for ArsinoΓ«, he still dwelt with fondness upon the memory
of her virtues; and in 286 proceeded to avenge her murder upon her two sons, Oxathres
and Clearchus, both of whom he put to death. He at that time restored Heracleia
to the possession of its freedom, but was soon after persuaded to bestow that
city as a gift upon his wife, ArsinoΓ«, whose influence seems to have been at
this time on the increase. It was not long before she exerted it to much worse
purpose. The young prince, Agathocles, had long been the object of her enmity,
and she sought to poison the mind of the aged king against him, by representing
him as forming designs against the life of Lysimachus. She found a ready auxiliary
in her stepbrother, Ptolemy Ceraunus, who had just arrived as a fugitive at the
court of Lysimachus; and the king was at length induced to listen to their representations,
and consent to the death of his unhappy son, who perished, according to one account,
by poison, while others state him to have fallen by the hand of Ptolemy himself.
(Memnon, c. 6-8, ed. Orell.; Justin. xvii. 1; Paus. i. 10.3; Strab. xiii.)
The consequences of this bloody deed proved fatal to Lysimachus: the
minds of his subjects were alienated; many cities of Asia broke out into open
revolt; his faithful eunuch, Philetaerus, to whom he had confided the charge of
his treasury at Pergamus, renounced his allegiance; and Lysandra, the widow of
Agathocles, fled with her children to the court of Seleucus, who, notwithstanding
his advanced age, hastened to raise an army, and invade the dominions of Lysimachus.
The latter also was not slow to cross into Asia, [p. 870] and endeavour to check
the rising spirit of disaffection. The two monarchs--the last survivors of the
warriors and companions of Alexander, and both of them above seventy years of
age--met in the plain of Corus (Corupedion); and in the battle that ensued Lysimachus
fell by the hand of Malacon, a native of Heracleia (B. C. 281). His body was given
up to his son, Alexander, and interred by him at Lysimachia. (Memnon, c. 8; Justin.
xvii. i. 2; App. Syr. 62; Paus. i. 10. 4, 5; Oros. iii. 23; Euseb. Arm.)
The age of Lysimachus at the time of his death is variously stated:
Hieronymus of Cardia, probably the best authority, affirms that he was in his
80th year (ap. Lucian. Macrob. 11). Justin, on the contrary, makes him 74; and
Appian (l. c.) only 70 years old; but the last computation is certainly below
the truth. He had reigned 25 years from the period of his assuming the title of
king, and had governed the combined kingdoms of Macedonia and Thrace during a
period of five years and six months. (Euseb. Arm. l. c.)
The accounts transmitted to us of Lysimachus are too fragmentary and imperfect
to admit of our forming a very clear idea of his personal character; but the picture
which they would lead us to conceive is certainly far from a favourable one: harsh,
stern, and unyielding, he appears to have been incapable of the generosity which
we find associated in Pyrrhus and Demetrius, with courage and daring at least
equal to his own; while a sordid love of money distinguished him still more strikingly
from his profuse, but liberal contemporaries. Even his love for Amastris, one
of the few softer traits presented by his character, did not prevent him from
sacrificing her to the views of his interested ambition. Self-aggrandisement indeed
seems to have been at all times his sole object; and if his ambition was less
glaringly conspicuous than that of some of his contemporaries, from being more
restrained by prudence, it was not the less his sole motive of action, and was
even farther removed from true greatness.
Lysimachus was by his various wives the father of a numerous family:
Justin indeed states (xvii. 2) that he had lost fifteen children before his own
death; but the greater part of these (if they ever really existed) are wholly
unknown. Besides Agathocles, whose fate has been already mentioned, we hear of
six children of Lysimachus who survived him; viz. 1. Alexander, who, as well as
Agathocles, was the offspring of an Odrysian woman named Macris. (Polyaen. vi.
12; Paus. i. 10. 5.) 2. Arsinoe, the wife of Ptolemy Philadelphus, a daughter
of Lysimachus and Nicaea. 3. Eurydice (probably also a daughter of Nicaea), married
to Antipater, the son of Cassander . 4. Ptolemy. 5. Lysimachus. 6. Philip. The
three last were all sons of Arsinoe, and shared for a time their mother's fortunes.
One other daughter is mentioned as married, during her father's lifetime, to Dromichaetes,
king of the Getae. (Paus. i. 9. 6.)
The coins of Lysimachus are very numerous, and those in gold and silver
remarkable for the beauty of their workmanship. They all bear on the obverse the
head of Alexander, represented with horns, as the son of Ammon.
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Oct 2006 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
297 - 294
Son of Cassander, deposes and punishes his brother Antipater, assassinated by Demetrius, son of Antigonus.
Philip IV. Eldest son of Cassander, king of Macedonia, he succeeded on the throne, B.C. 296 and he reigned only a few months.
Antipater (Antipatros), second son of Cassander, king of Macedonia, by Thessalonica, sister of Alexander the Great. Soon after the death of Cassander (B. C. 296), his eldest son Philip also died of consumption (Paus. ix. 7; Plut. Demetr. 905, f.), and great dissensions ensued between Antipater and his younger brother Alexander for the government. Antipater, believing that Alexander was favoured by his mother, put her to death. The younger brother upon this applied for aid at once to Pyrrhus of Epeirus and Demetrius Poliorcetes. Pyrrhus arrived first, and, exacting from Alexander a considerable portion of Macedonia as his reward, obliged Antipater to fly before him. According to Plutarch, Lysimachus, king of Thrace, Antipater's father-in-law, attempted to dissuade Pyrrhus from further hostilities by a forged letter purporting to come from Ptolemy Soter. The forgery was detected, but Pyrrhus seems notwithstanding to have withdrawn after settling matters between the brothers; soon after which Demetrius arrived. Justin, who says nothing of Pyrrhus, tells us, that Lysimachus, fearing the interference of Demetrius, advised a reconciliation between Antipater and Alexander. On the murder of Alexander by Demetrius, the latter appears, according to Plutarch, to have been made king of all Macedonia, to the exclusion at once of Antipater. According to Justin, Lysimachus conciliated Demetrius by putting him in possession of Antipater's portion of the kingdom, and murdered Antipater, who appears to have fled to him for refuge. The murder seems, from Diodorus, to have been owing to the instigation of Demetrius (Plut. Pyrr., Demetr.; Just. xvi. 1, 2; Diod. Sic. xxi. Exc. 7) .
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Dec 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Eurydice, a daughter of Lysimachus, king of Thrace, who gave her in marriage to Antipater, son of Cassander, king of Macedonia, when the latter invoked his assistance against his brother Alexander. (Justin, xvi. 1; Euseb. Arm.). After the murder of Antipater, she was condemned by her father to perpetual imprisonment. (Justin, xvi. 2)
309 - 285
Demetrios I Poliorketes. Son of Antigonus, inherits his father's ambition, defeated by Ptolemy, puts down tyranny at Athens. garrisons Museum Hill at Athens, defeats Ptolemy off Cyprus and besieges him in Egypt, besieges Rhodes, builds Sicyon on new site, invades Laconia, assassinates Alexander, son of Cassander, makes himself king of Macedonia, defeats Lysimachus, marches against Seleucus and Ptolemy, captured by Seleucus
Demetrius (Demetrios) I., king of Macedonia, surnamed Poliorcetes (Poliorketes),
or the Besieger, was the son of Antigonus, king of Asia, and Stratonice, the daughter
of Corrhaeus. He was distinguished when a young man for his affectionate attachment
to his parents, and he and Antigonus continued, throughout the life of the latter,
to present a rare example of unanimity. While yet very young, he was married to
Phila, the daughter of Antipater and widow of Craterus, a woman of the noblest
character, but considerably older than himself, in consequence of which it was
not without difficulty that he was persuaded by Antigonus to consent to the match
(Plut. Demetr. 14). He accompanied his father in his campaigns against Eumenes,
and commanded the select body of cavalrv called etairoi at the battle in Gabiene
(B. C. 317), at which time he was about twenty years old (Diod. xix. 29). The
following year he commanded the whole right wing of the army of Antigonus in the
second battle of Gabiene (Id. xix. 40); and it must be mentioned to his credit,
that after the capture of Eumenes, he interceded earnestly with his father to
spare his life (Plut. Eum. 18). Two years afterwards, he was left by Antigonus
in the chief command of Syria, while the latter proceeded to carry on the war
in Asia Minor. In the spring of B. C. 312, Ptolemy invaded Syria with a large
army; and Demetrius, contrary to the advice of the more experienced generals whom
his father had left with him as a council of war, hastened to give him battle
at Gaza, but was totally defeated and lost the greater part of his army. This
reverse compelled him to abandon Tyre and the whole of Syria, which fell into
the hands of Ptolemy, and Demetrius retired into Cilicia, but soon after in part
retrieved his disaster, by surprising Cilles (who had been sent against him by
Ptolemy) on his march near Myus, and taking him and his whole army prisoners (Diod.
xix. 80-85, 93; Plut. Demetr. 5, 6). He was now joined by Antigonus, and Ptolemy
immediately gave way before them. Demetrius was next employed by his father in
an expedition against the Nabathaean Arabs, and in a more important one to recover
Babylon, which had been lately occupied by Seleucus. This he accomplished with
little difficulty, but did not complete his work, and without waiting to reduce
one of the forts or citadels of Babylon itself, he left a force to continue the
siege, and returned to join Antigonus, who almost immediately afterwards concluded
peace with the confederates, B. C. 311 (Diod. xix. 96-98, 100; Plut. Demetr. 7).
This did not last long, and Ptolemy quickly renewed the war, which was however
almost confined to maritime operations on the coasts of Cilicia and Cyprus, in
which Demetrius, who commanded the fleet of Antigonus, obtained many successes.
In 307 he was despatched by his father with a powerful fleet and army to endeavour
to wrest Greece from the hands of Cassander and Ptolemy, who held all the principal
towns in it, notwithstanding that the freedom of the Greek cities had been expressly
guaranteed by the treaty of 311. He first directed his course to Athens, where
he was received with enthusiasm by the people as their liberator. Demetrius the
Phalerean, who had in fact governed the city for Cassander during the last ten
years, was expelled, and the fort at Munychia taken. Megara was also reduced,
and its liberty proclaimed; after which Demetrius took up his abode for the winter
at Athens, where he was received with the most extravagant flatteries: divine
honours being paid him under the title of "the Preserver" (o Soter), and his name
being ranked with those of Dionysus and Demeter among the tutelary deities of
Athens (Plut. Demetr. 8-13; Diod. xx. 45, 46). It was at this time also that he
married Eurydice. the widow of Ophellus of Cyrene, but an Athenian by birth, and
a descendant of the great Miltiades (Plut. Demetr. 14).
From Athens Demetrius was recalled by his father to take the command
of the war in Cyprus against Ptolemy. He invaded that island with a powerful fleet
and army, defeated Ptolemy's brother, Menelaus, who held possession of the island,
and shut him up in Salamis, which he besieged closely both by sea and land. Ptolemy
himself advanced with a numerous fleet to the relief of his brother; but Demetrius
was prepared for his approach, and a great sea-fight ensued, in which, after an
obstinate contest, Demetrius was entirely victorious: Ptolemy lost 120 ships of
war, besides transports; and his naval power, which had hitherto been regarded
as invincible, was utterly annihilated (B. C. 306). Menelaus immediately afterwards
surrendered his army and the whole of Cyprus into the hands of Demetrius. It was
after this victory that Antigonus for the first time assumed the title of king,
which he bestowed also at the same time upon his son,--an example quickly followed
by their rival monarchs (Diod. xx. 47-53; Plut. Demetr. 15-18; Polyaen. iv. 7.7;
Justin, xv. 2).
Demetrius now for a time gave himself up to luxury and revelry in
Cyprus. Among other prisoners that had fallen into his hands in the late victory
was the noted courtezan, Lamia, who, though no longer in the prime of her youth,
soon obtained the greatest influence over the young king (Plut. Demetr. 16, 19,
27; Athen. iv., xiii.). From these enjoyments he was, however, soon compelled
to rouse himself, in order to take part with Antigonus in his expedition against
Egypt: but the fleet which he commanded suffered severely from storms, and, after
meeting [p. 963] with many disasters, both father and son were compelled to retreat
(Diod. xx. 73-76; Plut. Demetr. 19). In the following year (B. C. 305) Demetrius
determined to punish the Rhodians for having refused to support his father and
himself against Ptolemy, and proceeded to besiege their city both by sea and land.
The siege which followed is rendered one of the most memorable in ancient history,
both by the vigorous and able resistance of the besieged, and by the extraordinary
efforts made by Demetrius, who displayed on this occasion in their full extent
that fertility of resource and ingenuity in devising new methods of attack, which
earned for him the surname of Poliorcetes. The gigantic machines with which he
assailed the walls, the largest of which was called the Helepolis or city-taker,
were objects of admiration in succeeding ages. But all his exertions were unavailing,
and after the siege had lasted above a year, he was at length induced to conclude
a treaty, by which the Rhodians engaged to support Antigonus and Demetrius in
all cases, except against Ptolemy, B. C. 304 (Diod. xx. 81-88, 91-100; Plut. Demetr.
21, 22).
This treaty was brought about by the intervention of envoys from Athens;
and thither Demetrius immediately hastened, to relieve the Athenians, who were
at this time hard pressed by Cassander. Landing at Aulis, he quickly made himself
master of Chalcis, and compelled Cassander not only to raise the siege of Athens,
but to evacuate all Greece south of Thermopylae. He now again took up his winter-quarters
at Athens, where he was received as before with the most extravagant flatteries,
and again gave himself up to the most unbounded licentiousness. With the spring
of 303 he hastened to resume the work of the liberation of Greece. Sicyon, Corinth,
Argos, and all the smaller towns of Arcadia and Achaia, which were held by garrisons
for Ptolemy or Cassander, successively fell into his hands; and it seems probable
that he even extended his expeditions as far as Leucadia and Corcyra. The liberty
of all the separate states was proclaimed; but, at a general assembly held at
Corinth, Demetrius received the title of commander-in-chief of all Greece (egemon
tes Hellados), the same which had been formerly bestowed upon Philip and Alexander.
At Argos, where he made a considerable stay, he married a third wife -Deidameia,
sister of Pyrrhus, king of Epeirus- though both Phila and Eurydice were still
living. The debaucheries in which he indulged during his stay at Athens, where
he again spent the following winter, and even within the sacred precincts of the
Parthenon, where he was lodged, were such as to excite general indignation; but
nothing could exceed the meanness and servility of the Athenians towards him,
which was such as to provoke at once his wonder and contempt. A curious monument
of their abject flattery remains to us in the Ithyphallic hymn preserved by Athenaeus
(vi.). All the laws were, at the same time, violated in order to allow him to
be initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries (Plut. Demetr. 23-27; Diod. xx. 100,
102, 103; Polyaen. iv. 7.3, 8; Athen. vi., xv.).
The next year (B. C. 302) he was opposed to Cassander in Thessaly,
but, though greatly superior in force, effected little beyond the reduction of
Pherae. This inactivity came at a critical time: Cassander had already concluded
a league with Lysimachus, who invaded Asia, while Seleucus advanced from the East
to co-operate with him. Antigonus was obliged to summon Demetrius to his support,
who concluded a hasty treaty with Cassander, and crossed over into Asia. The following
year their combined forces were totally defeated by those of Lysimachus and Seleucus
in the great battle of Ipsus, and Antigonus himself slain, B. C. 301 (Diod. xx.
106-113; Plut. Demetr. 28, 29). Demetrius, to whose impetuosity the loss of the
battle would seem to be in great measure owing, fled to Ephesus, and from thence
set sail for Athens: but the Athenians, on whose devotion he had confidently reckoned,
declined to receive him into their city, though they gave him up his fleet, with
which he withdrew to the Isthmus. His fortunes were still by no means hopeless:
he was at the head of a powerful fleet, and still master of Cyprus, as well as
of Tyre and Sidon; but the jealousies of his enemies soon changed the face of
his affairs; and Ptolemy having entered into a closer union with Lysimachus, Seleucus
was induced to ask the hand of Stratonice, daughter of Demetrius by his first
wife, Phila. By this alliance Demetrius obtained the possession of Cilicia, which
he was allowed to wrest from the hands of Pleistarchus, brother of Cassander;
but his refusal to cede the important towns of Tyre and Sidon, disturbed the harmony
between him and Seleucus, though it did not at the time lead to an open breach
(Plut. Demetr. 30-33).
We know nothing of the negotiations which led to the conclusion of
a treaty between Demetrius and Ptolemy almost immediately after the alliance between
the former and Seleucus, but the effect of these several treaties was the maintenance
of peace for a space of near four years. During this interval Cassander was continually
gaining ground in Greece, where Demetrius had lost all his possessions; but in
B. C. 297 he determined to reassert his supremacy there, and appeared with a fleet
on the coast of Attica. His efforts were at first unsuccessful; his fleet was
wrecked, and he himself badly wounded in an attempt upon Messene. But the death
of Cassander gave a new turn to affairs. Demetrius made himself master of Aegina,
Salamis, and other points around Athens, and finally of that city itself, after
a long blockade which had reduced the inhabitants to the last extremities of famine
(B. C. 295). Lachares, who from a demagogue had made himself tyrant of Athens,
escaped to Thebes, and Demetrius had the generosity to spare all the other inhabitants.
He, however, retained possession of Munychia and the Peiraeeus, and subsequently
fortified and garrisoned the hill of the Museum (Plut. Demetr. 33, 34; Paus. i.
25.7, 8). His arms were next directed against the Spartans, whom he defeated,
and laid siege to their city, which seemed on the point of falling into his hands,
when he was suddenly called away by the state of affairs in Macedonia. Here the
dissensions between Antipater and Alexander, the two sons of Cassander, had led
the latter to call in foreign aid to his support; and he sent embassies at once
to Demetrius and to Pyrrhus, who had been lately reinstated in his kingdom of
Epeirus. Pyrrhus was the nearest at hand, and had already defeated Antipater and
established Alexander on the throne of Macedonia, when Demetrius, unwilling to
lose such an opportunity of aggrandizement, arrived with his army. He was received
with apparent friendliness, but mutual jealousies quickly arose. Demetrius was
informed that the young king had formed designs against his life, which he anticipated
by causing him to be assassinated at a banquet. He was immediately afterwards
acknowledged as king by the Macedonian army, and proceeded at their head to take
possession of his new sovereignty, B. C. 294 (Plut. Demetr. 35-37, Pyrrh. 6, 7;
Justin. xvi. 1; Paus. i. 10.1, ix. 7.3; Euseb. Arm.).
While Demetrius had by this singular revolution become possessed of
a kingdom in Europe, he had lost all his former possessions in Asia: Lysimachus,
Seleucus, and Ptolemy having taken advantage of his absence in Greece to reduce
Cilicia, Cyprus, and the cities which he had held on the coasts of Phoenicia and
Asia Minor. He, however, concluded a peace with Lysimachus, by which the latter
yielded to him the remaining portion of Macedonia, and turned his whole attention
to the affairs of Greece. Here the Boeotians had taken up arms, supported by the
Spartans under Cleonymus, but were soon defeated, and Thebes taken after a short
siege, but treated with mildness by Demetrius. After his return to Macedonia he
took advantage of the absence of Lysimachus and his captivity among the Getae
to invade Thrace; but though he met with little opposition there, he was recalled
by the news of a fresh insurrection in Boeotia. To this he speedily put an end,
repulsed Pyrrhus, who had attempted by invading Thessaly to effect a diversion
in favour of the Boeotians, and again took Thebes after a siege protracted for
nearly a year (B. C. 290). He had again the humanity to spare the city, and put
to death only thirteen (others say only ten) of the leaders of the revolt (Plut.
Demetr. 39, 40; Diod. xxi. Exc. 10, Exc. Vales.). Pyrrhus was now one of the most
formidable enemies of Demetrius, and it was against that prince and his allies
the Aetolians that he next directed his arms. But while he himself invaded and
ravaged Epeirus almost without opposition, Pyrrhus gained a great victory over
his lieutenant Pantauchus in Aetolia; and the next year, Demetrius being confined
by a severe illness at Pella, Pyrrhus took advantage of the opportunity to overrun
a great part of Macedonia, which he, however, lost again as quickly, the moment
Demetrius was recovered (Plut. Demetr. 41, 43, Pyrrh. 7, 10).
It was about this time that Demetrius concluded an alliance with Agathocles,
king of Syracuse, whose daughter Lanassa, the wife of Pyrrhus, had previously
surrendered to him the important island of Corcyra (Plut. Pyrrh. 11; Diod. xxi.
Exc. 11). But it was towards the East that the views of Demetrius were mainly
directed: he aimed at nothing less than recovering the whole of his father's dominions
in Asi`a, and now hastened to conclude a peace with Pyrrhus, that he might continue
his preparations uninterrupted. These were on a most gigantic scale: if we may
believe Plutarch, he had assembled not less than 98,000 foot and near 12,000 horse,
as well as a fleet of 500 ships, among which were some of 15 and 16 banks of oars
(Plut. Demetr. 43). But before he was ready to take the field, his adversaries,
alarmed at his preparations, determined to forestall him. In the spring of B.
C. 287, Ptolemy sent a powerful fleet against Greece, while Pyrrhus (notwithstanding
his recent treaty) on the one side and Lysimachus on the other simultaneously
invaded Macedonia. But Demetrius's greatest danger was from the disaffection of
his own subjects, whom he had completely alienated by his proud and haughty bearing,
and his lavish expenditure on his own luxuries. He first marched against Lysimachus,
but alarmed at the growing discontent among his troops, he suddenly returned to
face Pyrrhus, who had advanced as far as Beraea. This was a most unfortunate step:
Pyrrhus was at this time the hero of the Macedonians, who no sooner met him than
they all declared in his favour, and Demetrius was obliged to fly from his camp
in disguise, and with difficulty made his escape to Cassandreia (Plut. Demetr.
44, Pyrrh. 11; Justin, xvi. 2). His affairs now appeared to be hopeless, and even
his wife Phila, who had frequently supported and assisted him in his adversities,
now poisoned herself in despair. But Demetrius himself was far from desponding;
he was still master of Thessaly and some other parts of Greece, though Athens
had again shaken off his yoke: he was able to raise a small fleet and army, with
which, leaving his son Antigonus to command in Greece, he crossed over to Miletus.
Here he was received by Eurydice, wife of Ptolemy, whose daughter Ptolemais had
been promised him in marriage as early as B. C. 301, and their long delayed nuptials
were now solemnized. Demetrius at first obtained many successes; but the advance
of Agathocles with a powerful army compelled him to retire. He now threw himself
boldly into the interior of Asia, having conceived the daring project of establishing
himself in the eastern provinces of Seleucus. But his troops refused to follow
him. He then passed over into Cilicia, and after various negotiations with Seleucus,
and having suffered the greatest losses and privations from famine and disease,
he found himself abandoned by his troops and even by his most faithful friends,
and had no choice but to surrender himself a prisoner to Seleucus (B. C. 286).
That king appears to have been at first disposed to treat him with honour, but
took alarm at his popularity with the army, and sent him as a prisoner to the
Syrian Chersonesus. Here he was confined at one of the royal residences, where
he had the liberty of hunting in the adjoining park, and does not seem to have
been harshly treated. Seleucus even professed an intention of restoring him to
liberty, and indignantly rejected the proposal of Lysimachus to put him to death;
but the restless spirit of Demetrius could ill brook confinement, and he gave
himself up without restraint to the pleasures of the table, which brought on an
illness that proved fatal. His death took place in the third year of his imprisonment
and the fifty-fifth of his age, B. C. 283 (Plut. Demetr. 45-52; Polyaen. iv. 9;
Diod. xxi. Exc. Vales.) His remains were sent by Seleucus with all due honours
to his son Antigonus, who interred them at Demetrias in Thessaly, a city which
he had himself founded. (Plut. Demetr. 53.)
There can be no doubt that Demetrius was one of the most remarkable
characters of his age: in restless activity of mind, fertility of resource, and
daring promptitude in the execution of his schemes, he has perhaps never been
surpassed; but prosperity always proved fatal to him, and he constantly lost by
his luxury and voluptuousness the advantages that he had gained by the vigour
and activity which adversity never failed to call forth. His life was in consequence
a continued succession of rapid and striking vicissitudes of fortune. It has been
seen that he was guilty of some great crimes, though on the whole he can be charged
perhaps with fewer than any one of his contemporaries; and he shewed in several
instances a degree of humanity and generosity very rarely displayed at that period.
His besetting sin was his unbounded licentiousness, a vice in which, says Plutarch,
he surpassed all his contemporary monarchs. Besides Lamia and his other mistresses,
he was regularly married to four wives, Phila, Eurydice, Deidameia, and Ptolemais,
by whom he left four sons. The eldest of these, Antigonus Gonatas, eventually
succeeded him on the throne of Macedonia.
According to Plutarch, Demetrius was remarkable for his beauty and
dignity of countenance. (Plut. Demetr. 2)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Alexander's successors:
the adventures of Demetrius
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Son of Ptolemy.
Surnamed Thunderbolt, assassinates Seleucus, defeated and slain by Gauls.
279 - 277
Son of Demetrius, king of Macedonia, defeated by Lysimachus, recovers Macedonia, sends contingent against Gauls, defeated by Pyrrhus, encounters Pyrrhus at Argos, aids Aristotimus, tyrant of Elis, invades Attica, introduces Macedonian garrison into Athens, receives Antagoras and Aratus of Soli.
King of Macedonia,
son of Demetrios Poliorketes. When his father died in 282 he took the throne,
and was to fight for his title as king many times. He was an educated man and
had received his schooling in Athens.
One of his teachers was Zeno of Citium.
In 277 BC he defeated the Celts, but three years later he was driven
away by Pyrrhus. He could return soon, though, since Pyrrhus died in 272 BC. Antigonos
was greatly hated by the Greeks, since he had put tyrants to rule many cities,
as well as putting military camps around the country, also called the Three Fetters
of Hellas. The Egyptian king
Ptolemaios II made Athens
and Sparta declare war against
him, but they were defeated in the so called Chremonideian War. As a result of
this, Athens was to be occupied
by the Macedonians for 35 years.
This text is cited Sept 2003 from the In2Greece URL below.
Demetrius II., king of Macedonia, was the son of Antigonus Gonatas, and succeeded his father in B. C. 239. According to Justin (xxvi. 2), he had distinguished himself as early as B. C. 266 or 265, by the defeat of Alexander of Epeirus, who had invaded the territories of his father: but this statement is justly rejected by Droysen and Niebuhr on account of his extreme youth, as he could not at this time have been above twelve years old. Of the events of his reign, which lasted ten years, B. C. 239-229 (Polyb. ii. 44; Droysen, ii.), our knowledge is so imperfect, that very opposite opinions have been formed concerning his character and abilities. He followed up the policy of his father Antigonus, by cultivating friendly relations with the tyrants of the different cities in the Peloponnese, in opposition to the Achaean league (Polyb. ii. 44), at the same time that he engaged in war with the Aetolians, which had the effect of throwing them into alliance with the Achaeans. We know nothing of the details of this war, which seems to have arisen for the possession of Acarnania; but though Demetrius appears to have obtained some successes, the Aetolians on the whole gained ground during his reign. He was assisted in it by the Boeotians, and at one time also by Agron, king of Illyria (Polyb. ii. 2. 46, xx. 5). We learn also that he suffered a great defeat from the Dardanians, a barbarian tribe on the north-western frontier of Macedonia, but it is quite uncertain to what period of his reign we are to refer this event (Prol. Trogi Pompeii, lib. xxviii.; Liv. xxxi. 28). It was probably towards the commencement of it that Olympias, the widow of Alexander of Epeirus, in order to secure his support, gave him in marriage her daughter Phthia (Justin. xxviii. 1), notwithstanding which he appears to have taken no steps either to prevent or avenge the death of Olympias and her two sons. Demetrius had previously been married to Stratonice, daughter of Antiochus Soter, who quitted him in disgust on his second marriage with Phthia, and retired to Syria (Justin, l. c.; Euseb. Arm. i.; Joseph. c. Apion. i. 22).
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Son of Antigonus, inherits his father's ambition, defeated by Ptolemy, puts down tyranny at Athens, garrisons Museum Hill at Athens, defeats Ptolemy off Cyprus and besieges him in Egypt, besieges Rhodes, builds Sicyon on new site, invades Laconia, assassinates Alexander, son of Cassander, makes himself king of Macedonia, defeats Lysimachus, marches against Seleucus and Ptolemy, captured by Seleucus.
229 - 222
Regent of Macedonia, guardian of Philip, son of Demetrius, friend of Aratus and Achaeans, makes peace with Cleomenes, king of Sparta, defeats Cleomenes at Sellasia.
More infornation at his native place, the Ancient Elimeia
Son of Demetrius, king of Macedonia, had Antigonus as guardian, apes Philip, son of Amyntas, employs poison, invades Laconia, poisons Aratus, attempts to murder Philopoemen, garrisons Corinth, Chalcis, and Magnesia, which he calls the keys of Greece, subjugates Dyme, terrifies and bribes Elateans, captures Lilaea, sends his son Demetrius to Peloponnese, at war with Romans, defeated by Romans at Cynoscephalae, his death.
179 - 168
Son of Philip, king of Macedonia, poisons his brother Demetrius, attacks Abrupolis, king of the Sapaeans, conquered by Romans, carried prisoner to Italy.
Son of Antiochus, surnamed Nicator, his history, flees to Ptolemy in Egypt, defeats Antigonus, takes Demetrius prisoner, receives Lysandra and Alexander, defeats and slays Lysimachus, restores image of Apollo to Branchidae, and image of Brauronian Artemis to Syrians of Laodicea, founds Seleucia on the Tigris, his city (Antioch) on the Orontes, assassinated by Ptolemy Thunderbolt, his statues at Athens and Olympia.
Laodice, daughter of Seleucus IV. Philopator, was married to Perseus, king of Macedonia. (Polyb. xxvi. 7; Liv. xlii. 12; Inscr. Del. ap. Marm. Arundel. No. 41.) The marriage is spoken of by Polybius in the year B. C. 177, as having then lately taken place.
Cleopatra, a daughter of Philip and Olympias, and sister of Alexander the Great, married Alexander, king of Epeirus, her uncle by the mother's side, B. C. 336. It was at the celebration of her nuptials, which took place on a magnificent scale at Aegae in Macedonia, that Philip was murdered (Diod. xvi. 92). Her husband died in B. C. 326 ; and after the death of her brother, she was sought in marriage by several of his generals, who thought to strengthen their influence with the Macedonians by a connexion with the sister of Alexander. Leonatus is first mentioned as putting forward a claim to her hand, and he represented to Eumenes that he received a promise of marriage from her (Plut. Eum. 3). Perdiccas next attempted to gain her in marriage, and after his death in B. C. 321, her hand was sought by Cassander, Lysimachus, and Antigonus. She refused, however, all these offers; and, anxious to escape from Sardis, where she had been kept for years in a sort of honourable captivity, she readily acceded to proposals from Ptolemy; but, before she could accomplish her design, she was assassinated by order of Antigonus. (Diod. xviii. 23, xx. 37; Justin. ix. 6, xiii. 6, xiv. 1; Arrian, ap. Phot.)
This text is from: A dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, 1873 (ed. William Smith). Cited Nov 2005 from The Perseus Project URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks
Brother of Cassander.
Macedonian cavalry officer, executed by Alexander the Great in October 330.
Alexander became king of Macedonia
in October 336, but he was not the only candidate. One of the rivals, a man named
Attalus, was put to death by Parmenion, the most important general of Alexander's
father Philip II. This was remarkable, because Parmenion was related to the murdered
prince.
Alexander owed something to the old general and was forced to do something
in return, especially since Parmenion commanded a big army, the vanguard of an
expeditionary that the Macedonians had sent against the Achaemenid empire. Alexander
knew what he was expected to do, and in the next years, we find many relatives
of Parmenion in key positions in the Macedonian army. For example, his youngest
son Nicanor became commander of the infantry regiment that was known as the Shield
bearers, his son-in-law Coenus commanded a phalanx battalion, and another Nicanor
was admiral of the navy of the Greek allies. Parmenion's friend Amyntas and his
brother Asander received other honorable positions. Parmenion himself was Alexander's
second in command.
The most important appointment, however, was that of his oldest son
Philotas: he was the commander of the Companion cavalry, a unit of eight squadrons
(of 225 horsemen each) that was Macedonia's most effective weapon in any battle.
Until then, Philotas had only commanded a cavalry squadron from Upper Macedonia.
In his new position, Philotas was present at all great battles of
Alexander's Persian campaign. Together with his king, he led the cavalry charge
at the Granicus river (June 334), he prevented the Persian navy from finding a
safe anchorage during the siege of Miletus (Summer 334), and was present at the
beginning of the siege of Halicarnassus. During the winter, the Companion cavalry
was part of Parmenion's army group, which moved from Sardes
to the east along the Royal road, occupying Gordium
in the winter.
During the great battle at Issus, Alexander successfully used the
Companions as a crowbar to create a gap in the Persian lines (November 333) and
during the siege of Tyre, he again used Philotas' men during the main charge (July
332). No activities of the regiment are mentioned during the second half of the
year, but it is certain that at least one unit was with Alexander when he subdued
Egypt. As we will see below,
Philotas was also in Egypt. However, he is not mentioned in the accounts of Alexander's
famous visit to the oracle of Ammon at Siwa.
The decisive battle in the war against Persia
took place on October 1, 331, at Gaugamela in the north of modern Iraq. Again,
Alexander used the Companion cavalry as a crowbar and again, he was victorious
over the Persians (who were demoralized after evil omens). In the last weeks of
the year, the Companions were present during the battle at the Persian gates,
and in the spring of 330, Alexander used them to pursue the last Achaemenid king
of Persia, Darius III Codomannus. When he had been killed, half of Philotas' regiment
went to western Hyrcania; it is not clear whether their commander was with them.
Passing through Parthia and Aria, the Macedonians reached Drangiana.
By now, many soldiers were discontent. They had been expecting to return home
after the fall of the Achaemenid empire and the death of its king. However, they
were now forced to march to the east and nobody knew what their king was doing.
Moreover, it seemed that Alexander was more and more becoming something of a Persian
king himself, something the soldiers did not appreciate. Officers of the old school
like Parmenion were sent on honorable missions - but were conspicuously far away
from the royal court. These were clear signals that the war was to continue for
a long time.
In October 330, Philotas was accused. He was said to have known of
an earlier conspiracy by ordinary Macedonian soldiers who wanted to kill their
king, and not to have reported it. This was not the first time that Philotas was
accused: something similar had already been brought to Alexander's attention when
he was in Egypt. Back then, Alexander had ignored the rumors. This time, however,
there was solid evidence that soldiers had attempted to kill the king, and the
accusations against Philotas were taken seriously.
At first, Alexander forgave Philotas, but the next day, the accusations
were renewed by the phalanx commanders Craterus and Coenus, Philotas' brother-in-law.
It is not known whether they had a secret agenda, but we may be suspicious, now
that we see two infantry commanders accusing the leading cavalry commander. During
the night, Philotas was arrested. According to Quintus Curtius Rufus, Philotas
only said to the king that the bitter hatred of his enemies had triumphed over
Alexander's kindness.
As the army exercised capital jurisdiction in Macedonia, Alexander
organized a trial. He accused Philotas and produced an intercepted letter from
Parmenion to his son that contained the line 'first of all take care of yourselves
and the of your people - that is how we shall accomplish our purpose'. This was
no real evidence, but the court found Philotas guilty of conspiracy.
However, the precise nature of the conspiracy was still unknown. Hephaestion,
Craterus and Coenus declared that torture should be employed to force the truth
out of Philotas. He confessed that he and his father had wanted to kill Alexander,
whose claim to be a god was scandalous. The plan had been postponed until Darius
was dead, because otherwise, the enemy would benefit from it, whereas with the
Persian leader removed, Asia and Europe would be the reward of the assassination.
The soldiers' conspiracy had offered an excellent opportunity. Having confessed
all this, Philotas and a few others were speared or stoned to death. To commemorate
the event, Alexander renamed the city where the conspiracies had been detected
Prophthasia or Anticipation (modern Farah).
It is not clear what really happened. No ancient author doubts that
the first conspiracy was a fact; the problem is the conspiracy of Philotas and
Parmenion. The confession of the tortured man can, of course, not be taken as
proof that he and his father were really attempting to gain the kingdom. On the
other hand, it is strange that Philotas did not report the first conspiracy. It
is possible that he wanted to see what happened: if the soldiers' attempt failed,
nothing was lost, if it were successful, the army would chose him as its commander
and king. But although he had much to gain, the fact that he had a motive does
not mean that he really did what he was accused of. We will never known what really
happened.
The consequences of the murder were clear. In the first place, from
now on, the Companion cavalry had two commanders, Clitus and Hephaestion. This
was a safety measure against too powerful commanders.
In the second place, the execution of Philotas made the murder of
his father Parmenion inevitable. Whether the son had been guilty or not was unimportant:
the father was too powerful to stay alive. He was in Ecbatana,
where he controlled the road from the Mediterranean to the East, large sums of
money and many troops, reinforcements that were delayed. Therefore, Alexander
sent an express messenger, whose duty it was to be at Ecbatana before the news
of the death of Philotas reached Parmenion. The courier gave letters to the commanders
of the reinforcements, and they killed the old general.
Jona Lendering, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the Livius Ancient History Website URL below, which contains interesting hyperlinks.
Callines (Kallines), a veteran officer in the royal companion-cavalry (tes hippou tes hetairikes) of Alexander the Great, took an active part in the reconciliation between him and his army in B. C. 324. (Arrian, Anab. vii. 11.)
Epocillus (Epokillos), a Macedenian, was commissioned by Alexander, in B. C. 330, to conduct as many of the Thessalian cavalry and of the other allied troops as wished to return home, as far as the sea-coast, where Menes was desired to make arrangements for their passage to Euboea. In B. C. 328, when Alexander was in winter quarters at Nautaca, he sent Epocillus with Sopolis and Menidas to bring reinforcements from Macedonia. (Arr. Anab. iii. 19, iv. 18.)
Gorgias, one of Alexander's officers, was among those who were brought reluctantly from Macedonia by Amyntas, son of Andromenes, when he was sent home to collect levies in B. C. 332. (Curt. vii. 1, ad fin.; see Vol. I. p. 155, b.) Gorgias was one of the commanders left by Alexander in Bactria to complete the reduction of the Bactrian insurgents, and to check further rebellion, while the king himself marched to quell the revolt in Sogdiana, B. C. 328. (Arrian, Anab. iv. 16.) He accompanied Alexander in his Indian expedition, and, together with Attalus and Meleager, commanded the mercenaries at the passage of the Hydaspes against Porus in B. C. 326. (Arrian, Anab. v. 12; comp. Curt. viii. 13; Plut. Alex. 60 ; Diod. xvii. 87, &c.) This is perhaps the same Gorgias whose name occurs in Justin (xii. 12) among the veterans whom Alexander sent home under Craterus in B. C. 324; and, in that case, he must be distinguished from the Gorgias who is mentioned by Plutarch (Eum. 7) as one of the officers of Eumenes in his battle against Craterus and Neoptolemus in Cappadocia, in B. C. 321.
Agathon is best known to us from what Plato says of him in his Symposium,
describing the banquet given by the former in celebration of his tragic victory.
He is introduced as a handsome young man, well dressed, of polished manners, courted
by the fashion, wealth and wisdom of Athens, and dispensing hospitality with ease
and refinement. The Epideixis, in praise of love, which he recites in the Symposium,
is full of the artificial and rhetorical expressions which might be expected from
a former pupil of Gorgias. Aristotle tells us that he was the first to introduce
into the drama arbitrary choral songs, which had nothing to do with the subject,
and that he wrote pieces with fictitious names, which appear to have been half
way between the idyl and comedy. His intimacy with Aristophanes doubtless saved
him from many well-deserved strictures, though in one of his comedies, the latter
burlesques his flowery style, representing him as a delicate and effeminate youth,
and it may be only for the sake of punning on his name that he makes Dionysus
call him a noble poet.
Agathon was a friend of Euripides, accompanying him to the court of
Archelaus of Macedon, where
he died about 402 B.C. He had all the faults, without the genius, of his famous
contemporary, and these he carried to excess, attempting to surprise the spectators
with unexpected developments and strange, improbable denouments. Add to this his
fondness for epigram, antitheses and other rhetorical embellishments, after the
fashion of Gorgias, and no wonder that whatever he possessed of ability was smothered
beneath his mannerisms. Yet, of the latter, he appears to have been proud, considering
them essential to his verse; for when asked to purge himself of such blemishes,
he replied: "You do not see that that would be to purge Agathon's play of
Agathon." His poetry was full of trope, inflection and metaphor; glittering
with sparkling ideas and flowing softly along, with harmonious words and nice
construction, but lacking in the element of truly virile expression and deficient
in manly thought and vigor. With him begins the decline of tragic art in its higher
sense.
Alfred Bates, ed.
This text is cited July 2003 from the TheatreHistory URL below.
Christian poet of the fifth century; b. at Pella in Macedonia,
but of a Bordelaise family. He was the son of an official, which explains his
birth in Macedonia and his
sojourn at Carthage while
he was a child. He soon returned to Bordeaux.
He was probably the grandson of the poet Ausonius.
At the age of eighty-three he composed an account of his life. His
autobiography is a thanksgiving, although illness, loss of property, and dangers
from invasion occupy more space in it than do days of happiness. The account is
interesting, for it presents a sincere picture of the period, and the expression
of exalted sentiments. Unfortunately the style and versification do not always
correspond to the sincerity and the height of inspiration. The date is uncertain.
The passage which apparently gives it is altered but may be between 459 and 465.
Paul Lejay, ed.
Transcribed by: Joseph E. O'Connor
This extract is cited June 2003 from The Catholic Encyclopedia, New Advent online edition URL below.
This file forms part of A Hellenistic Bibliography, a bibliography on post-classical Greek poetry and its influence, accessible through the website of the department of Classics of the University of Leiden.
The file contains 30 titles on Posidippus, arranged by year of publication.
Compiled and maintained by Martijn Cuypers
Email: m.p.cuypers@let.leidenuniv.nl
Additions and corrections will be gratefully received.
Last updated: April 23, 2002
The great philosopher Aristotle was born in Stagira in Halkidiki. He attended oratorical lessons by Isocrates in Athens. Later he became a Student of Platon. In 343 B.C he was invited to Pella by Philip II, who trusted Alexander's education to him. He endowed Alexander spiritually, he inspired him with the values of the Greek civilization and the great vision of its spreading out. When Alexander left for Asia he returned to Athens and founded the walking school. His work is of great importance for humanity and will continue to influence research and knowledge through the centuries.
This text is cited Apr 2003 from the Municipality of Pella URL below.
He was born in Salamina in 480 B.C. and diet in Pella in 406 B.C. He was one of the greatest ancient tragic poets who celebrated the cosmic power of love (eros), a precursor of Alexandrian poets. He wrote many tragedies as "Troianes","Suppliantes", "Medea"... He lived the last years in Pella where he wrote "Bacchae" inspired by the worship of and the natural environment.
This text is cited Apr 2003 from the Municipality of Pella URL below.
Chrysogonus, the father of the poet Samus, was an intimate friend and devoted servant of Philip V. of Macedon. (B. C. 220--179.) He was employed by Philip both in war and in peace, and possessed great influence with the king, which he seems to have exercised in an honourable manner, for Polybius says that Philip was most merciful when he followed the advice of Chrysogonus. (Polyb. v. 9, 97, vii. 12, ix. 23)
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