Aristodemus of Miletus

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Aristodemos ( Greek  Ἀριστόδημος ; † after 306 BC) from Miletus was a follower of Antigonos Monophthalmos during the Diadoch Wars in the 4th century BC.

At the beginning of the third Diadoch war in the spring of 314 BC In BC Aristodemus was sent by Antigonos with 1,000 talents to the Peloponnese to negotiate an alliance with Polyperchon and to raise a mercenary army with which he should lead the fight against Kassander . He landed in Laconia and received permission from the Spartans to recruit mercenaries from them, so that he was soon able to raise an army of 8,000 mercenaries. He then met with Polyperchon, with whom he was able to successfully negotiate the alliance and whose son Alexander was sent to Antigonus in Asia for reassurance. Before Tire, Antigonus proclaimed the right to autonomy of the Greek Poleis and accused Kassander of various offenses against the empire and his royal family, thereby justifying the war against Kassander. The initiative in the Peloponnese was first taken by Cassander, who successively took Kenchreai and Orchomenos and included Polyperchon in Messene . But when he withdrew to Macedonia, Aristodemus and Alexander went on the counter-offensive and retook these cities. This was followed by a severe setback for the Antigonids faction when Alexander betrayed their cause and switched to Cassander's side and henceforth represented his cause in the Peloponnese.

Aristodemus succeeded in the fall of 313 BC. To win the Aitolians for an alliance with Antigonus, then he turned with his mercenaries against Alexander, who was just besieging Kyllene . After successfully horrifying the city, he subsequently freed Patras and Aigion from the Macedonian occupation, which he then, following the Antigonid program, granted autonomy. In return, Alexander undertook to recapture these cities and was eventually murdered by citizens of Sicyon . Aristodemos himself then disappears from the traditions for a few years, although he may have continued to represent the Antigonid cause in Greece. At that time the nephews of Antigonus, Telesphorus and Ptolemy , were sent to Greece with large troops, but both of them betrayed their uncle one after the other after a few successful conquests.

It is possible that Aristodemus was in the spring of 311 BC. Involved in the creation of the " Diadoch peace ", provided that it was identical with the diplomatic negotiator of the same name named in the Antigonus letter to the skeptics , who mediated between Lysimachus and Antigonus.

From the year 307 BC BC Aristodemos belonged to Demetrios Poliorketes' retinue when he was crossed to Greece in the fourth war of the Diadochs. Aristodemus played a decisive role in the capture of Athens and the overthrow of the oligarchs under Demetrios of Phaleron in June of that year. In the summer of 306 BC He took part in the victorious battle of Salamis , after which he was commissioned by Demetrios to bring the message of victory to Antigonus in the newly founded Antigoneia in Syria (later Antioch , today Antakya in Turkey). He praised him as king ( basileus ) , whereupon the assembled army also proclaimed Antigonus and Demetrios king. He finally accepted the royal diadem and had one sent to Demetrios in Cyprus, possibly commissioning Aristodemus to do it again. This then disappears from the traditions.

literature

  • RM Errington: Diodorus Siculus and the Chronology of the Early Diadochoi, 320-311 BC In: Hermes . Volume 105, 1977, pp. 478-504.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Diodorus 19, 57, 5.
  2. ↑ Diodorus 19, 60, 1.
  3. ↑ Diodorus 19, 63, 4 and 64, 1.
  4. ↑ Diodorus 19, 64, 2.
  5. ↑ Diodorus 19, 64, 3.
  6. ↑ Diodorus 19, 66, 2-3.
  7. ^ J. Arthur R. Munro: A Letter from Antigonus to Scepsis, 311 BC In: The Journal of Hellenic Studies . Volume 19 (1899), pp. 330-340 ( digitized version http: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Djournalofhelleni19soci~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D330~ double-sided%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D) = Wilhelm Dittenberger , Orientis Graeci inscriptiones selectae (OGIS), No. 5 ( digitized versionhttp: //vorlage_digitalisat.test/1%3D~GB%3D~IA%3Dorientisgraeciin01dittuoft~MDZ%3D%0A~SZ%3D15~ double-sided%3D~LT%3D~PUR%3D ; PHI Greek Inscriptions ).
  8. ↑ Plutarch , Demetrius 9, 1.
  9. ↑ Plutarch, Demetrius 17, 2.
  10. ↑ Plutarch, Demetrius 17, 3-5.
personal data
SURNAME Aristodemus of Miletus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ἀριστόδημος (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION General and diplomat of Antigonos Monophthalmos and Demetrios Poliorketes
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 306 BC Chr.