Alketas (Diadoche)

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Relief of a rider from the possible grave of Alketas in Termessos

Alketas ( Greek  Ἀλκέτας ; † 319 BC in Termessos ), son of Orontes, was a Macedonian general of Alexander the Great and one of his diadochi . He was a younger brother of Perdiccas .

During Alexander's Asian campaign , Alketas followed around 331 BC. After his brother as commander of the lynkestischen and Orestischen phalanx .

After Alexander's death in 323 BC In Babylon he supported his brother, who had taken over the reign of the Alexander Empire. As of 322 BC The belligerent Macedonian princess Kynane moved to Asia to live with her daughter Eurydice with King Philip III. To marry Arrhidaios , Alketas was sent to meet her by his brother to prevent this. He slew Kynane, but had to let the wedding happen under pressure from the warriors under his command. At the beginning of the First Diadoch War, Alketas fought on the coast of Asia Minor against Antipater and Krateros , while his brother turned against Ptolemy (I) in Egypt . Perdiccas was there in 320 BC. Murdered, both sister Atalante executed.

Alketas and his brother's other supporters were then ostracized by the victors at the Triparadeisus conference and sentenced to death in absentia. Together with his brother-in-law Attalus , Alketas now took over the leadership of the Perdiccans, but refused to merge with Eumenes von Kardia because he did not want to recognize the native Greek as the leader. Equipped with a strong fleet and his brother's treasure, Alketas was able to establish himself in Caria after he had won a victory over Asandros . Then he penetrated as far as Pisidia , where he, however, in the spring of 319 BC. Chr. In the near Kretopolis of Antigonus Monophthalmos was surprised and defeated. Alketas managed to escape from the battlefield to nearby Termessos , where he wanted to raise a new army with the support of the young city population. But when the city was reached by Antigonus, the city elders wanted to hand him over. Before that happened, Alketas committed suicide, his body was handed over to Antigonus, who refused a burial and instead left him lying on the roadside.

According to Diodor's report , the body of Alketas was recovered and buried by the young men from Termessos who were sympathetic to him. A rock tomb in the ruins of the ancient city, containing a relief of an armored Macedonian horseman, is believed to be his own.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Diodorus 19.52.5.
  2. ↑ Diodorus 18:37.2; Justin 8/13/10.
  3. ↑ Plutarch , Eumenes 8.7–8.
  4. ↑ Diodorus 18:39; 7; Polyainos , Strategika 4.6.7.
  5. ↑ Diodorus 18.47.3.
personal data
SURNAME Alketas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION General of Alexander the Great and Perdiccas, Diadoche
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 319 BC Chr.
Place of death Termessos