Abrokomas (general)

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Abrokomas (Greek: Ἀβροκόμας; † after 383 BC) was a Persian general in the Achaemenid Empire .

In the spring of 401 BC In BC, the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger led a large army, to which a large number of Greek mercenaries belonged, from his residence Sardis in Asia Minor to the east. Cyrus intended to overthrow his older brother, the ruling Great King Artaxerxes II. Mnemon , in order to ascend the throne himself.

Abrokomas was commissioned by the great king to occupy the mountain passes of the Syrian gates in order to prevent the advance of Cyrus into Syria. But after Cyrus had reached Cilicia, Abrokomas gave up his positions, gathered his troops in Phenicia to move with them through Syria to Mesopotamia, where the great king gathered his army. During the march, 400 Greek mercenaries deserted from his army and ran over to Cyrus. Abrokomas reached the Euphrates with a lead of twelve days before Cyrus. In front of his Greek mercenaries, he declared him a personal enemy whom he aimed to fight. Cyrus had kept the real reason for his campaign a secret from his mercenaries, although the Greek historian Xenophon states in his anabasis that the Greeks knew very well that they should fight the great king. In order to give the great king more time to gather his army, Abrokomas had all the bridges of the Euphrates burned down, but Cyrus found a shallow spot near Thapsakos through which he could lead his army to the other bank of the river.

According to Xenophon, the assembled imperial army of the great king should have a total strength of supposedly 1,200,000 infantrymen (an admittedly greatly exaggerated figure), 200 Scythian chariots and 6,000 horsemen; Abrokomas was to be one of the four generals who were to lead the army against Cyrus , along with Tissaphernes , Gobryas and Arbakes . However, by five days Abrokomas missed the decisive battle at Kunaxa , in which Cyrus fell and the war ended in favor of the great king.

For the last time Abrokomas, next to Pharnabazos and Tithraustes , is named as the general of an invading army, whose attack on Egypt was between 385 and 383 BC. BC failed.

In connection with the Cyrus campaign, Plutarch referred to Abrokomas as "Satrap of Transeuphratene" (governor of the land beyond / west of the Euphrates), probably because he had led his army from Phenicia through Syria to Mesopotamia. For both provinces in question (namely Phenicia and Syria), however, Xenophon had named other persons in the relevant governor's offices in his tradition.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Xenophon Anabasis I 3.20
  2. ↑ Xenophon Anabasis I 4.3
  3. ↑ Xenophon Anabasis I 4.18; Almost seventy years later, Alexander the Great also used the Euphrates crossing at Thapsakos.
  4. ↑ Xenophon Anabasis I 7.12; According to the information handed down by Xenophon on the strength of the royal army as it fought at Kunaxa, the Abrocoma's contingent alone comprised 300,000 infantrymen and 50 chariots. However, Xenophon's figures are largely regarded as implausible in modern research literature, mainly because it is striking that the figures for the respective branches of the total royal army (including the troops of the Abrokomas) corresponded to exactly ten or a hundred times that of Cyrus' army. It can therefore be assumed that Xenophon simply multiplied the strength of the Cyrus army by fighting with ten or a hundred in order to determine the strength of the enemy. It is also noticeable that Abrokomas missed Kunaxa by five days, while on the Euphrates he was still twelve days before Cyrus.
  5. ^ Isocrates IV Panegyricus
  6. ↑ Plutarch Artaxerxes 4.3
personal data
SURNAME Abrokomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Αβρόκομας (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Persian general of the Achaemenids
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 383 BC Chr.