Barsine

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Barsine ( Greek  Βαρσίνη ; * around 363 BC; † 309 BC ) was a Persian nobleman and lover of Alexander the Great .

Life

Barsine was a daughter of Artabazos II , the Persian satrap of Phrygia , and thus great-granddaughter of the Persian great king Artaxerxes II. Her mother was probably the only known wife of Artabazos II, a sister of the Rhodian generals Memnon and Mentor , Artabazos eleven sons and supposed to have given birth to ten daughters. The two sisters of Barsine, known by name, were called Artakama and Artonis , of whom the former was 324 BC. At the mass wedding of Susa with Ptolemy I and the latter married on the same occasion with Eumenes of Cardia .

In his first marriage, Barsine married her uncle mentor at an unspecified time. Because of his revolt against the Persian great king Artaxerxes III. had to Artabazos with his family around 352 BC. Flee to the Macedonian court of Philip II in Pella . According to Plutarch , Barsine was brought up in Greek, which was probably related to her family's stay in Macedonia. Around 345 BC Artabazos was allowed to return to his homeland with his followers, including Barsine, at the instigation of mentors.

Barsine presumably had three daughters with her husband, Mentor, one of whom was to marry an admiral of Alexander the Great, Nearchus , at Susa's mass wedding . After mentor around 340 BC Barsine married mentor's brother Memnon. From this marriage a son was born.

At the beginning of the Alexanderzug , Memnon received 334 BC. The supreme command of the Persian troops in the west of the empire and sent Barsine and her children as a proof of loyalty to King Dareios III. to Syria. Left behind in Damascus with the families of other distinguished Persians , Barsine fell in late 333 BC. After the battle of Issus and the subsequent capture of Damascus into the hands of Alexander the great. He had met Barsine, who had meanwhile become a widow again after Memnon's death, probably during her previous stay at Philip II's court, was now drawn to her beauty and began an intimate relationship with her. The Macedonian conqueror probably took Barsine with him on his advance into the eastern provinces of Persia, and she presumably gave birth to him in 327 BC. In Bactria the (illegitimate) son Heracles , named after the legendary hero from whom Alexander believed he was descended.

Since Alexander was still 327 BC Chr. Roxane got married, Barsine had to feel neglected. As a result, she withdrew with Heracles to Pergamon , where she lived in the middle of 323 BC. BC, shortly after the death of Alexander, appears to be resident. At first, mother and son were largely unmolested. Later, like Alexander's wife Roxane and their son Alexander IV. Aigos , they too got caught up in the power struggles of the Diadoch Wars . Polyperchon , the ruler of Macedonia who had been deposed by Kassander , tried in 309 BC. To use the 17-year-old Heracles for his own purposes and to appoint him as Macedonian king. Polyperchon succeeded in assembling an army of 20,000 men and marching against Kassander. This then negotiated with Polyperchon and pulled him to his side by transferring the administration of the Peloponnese to him. At the instigation of Kassander, Polyperchon had both Heracles and Barsine murdered.

The British ancient historian William Woodthorpe Tarn thought Barsine was an invented figure. Helmut Berve and Fritz Schachermeyr , among others, opposed his thesis .

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Plutarch , Eumenes 1, 7.
  2. ↑ Diodor , Bibliothéke historiké 16, 52, 4.
  3. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothéke historiké 16, 52, 3.
  4. ^ Plutarch, Alexander 21, 9.
  5. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothéke historiké 16, 52, 3f.
  6. ↑ a b Curtius Rufus , Historiae Alexandri Magni Macedonis 3, 13, 14.
  7. ^ Arrian , Anabasis 7, 4, 6.
  8. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothéke historiké 17, 23, 5f.
  9. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 2, 11, 9; Diodor, Bibliothéke historiké 17, 32, 3.
  10. ^ Curtius Rufus, Historiae Alexandri Magni Macedonis 3, 13, 14; Iustinus , Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 11, 10, 2.
  11. ^ Justinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 11, 10, 2f .; Plutarch, Alexander 21, 7ff.
  12. ↑ Iustinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 11, 10, 3; Plutarch, Eumenes 1, 7; among others
  13. ^ Justinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 13, 2, 7.
  14. ↑ Diodor, Bibliothéke historiké 20, 20 and 20, 28; Iustinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 15, 2, 3; Pausanias , Description of Greece 9, 7, 2.
  15. ↑ Siegfried Lauffer, Alexander the Great , p. 81, note 27.
personal data
SURNAME Barsine
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Beloved Alexander the Great
DATE OF BIRTH uncertain: 363 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 309 BC Chr.