Crateros

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Lion hunt by two men, probably Alexander and Krateros (mosaic from Pella)

Krateros ( Greek  Κρατερός , * around 370 BC; † 320 BC ), son of Alexandros and Aristopatra, was a Macedonian general of Alexander the Great and fought after his death in 323 BC. In the Diadoch Wars against the imperial administrator Perdiccas .

Life

General Alexander

The Alexanderzug

Krateros, about whose childhood and youth little is known, accompanied the Macedonian King Alexander III, who the Romans later called the Great , together with his brother Amphoterus , from the beginning of 334 BC. Chr. In on his revenge campaign against the Persian Empire represented Asia campaign .

At first he led a detachment of the pezhetairoi in the battle of Granikos , in the battle of Issus the entire infantry of the left wing of the Macedonians was subordinate to him, which made him the next officer of the general Parmenion . At the Siege of Tire he was responsible for the maritime combat, while at the Battle of Gaugamela he again commanded the infantry on the left wing. During the campaign in the eastern provinces, Krateros proved himself several times in the management of independent commando companies, for example against Spitamenes in the conquest of Bactria and Sogdia (328 to 327 BC). On the retreat from India in 326 BC He led a contingent of troops along the western banks of the Hydaspes and the Indus , which marched parallel to the Indus fleet. But even before he reached the Indian Ocean, he began marching west. Moving over Alexandria in Archosia (Kandahar) he reached 325 BC. In Karmanien again the main army , which had been led by Alexander through the Drosian desert . After their arrival in Susa in 324 BC. At the mass wedding , Krateros was married to the Persian princess Amastris .

According to an anecdote handed down by Diodorus (17.114.2) and Plutarch ( Alexander 47.10), Kraterus rivaled Hephaistion for the favor of Alexander. While Krateros showed his unconditional devotion to the king ( philobasileus ), Hephaistion was only devoted to the person of Alexander ( philalexandros ).

After the revolt of the army in Opis in 324 BC Krateros was commissioned by Alexander to return the veterans to Macedonia and replace Antipater as strategist from Europe. On the way there he reached 323 BC. In Cilicia the news of the death of the king.

Guardian of royal affairs

Although Krateros could have turned back to Babylon in order to be able to participate in the imminent distribution of power there, he decided to continue the march to Macedonia quickly. Because from Antipater he received the news of the revolt of the Greeks against Macedonian hegemony. Nevertheless, he was given the position of guardian of royal affairs ( Greek: prostates tes basileias ) in the imperial order of Babylon , which was associated with the supervision and protection of the royal family. However, the royal family was in Babylon, which is why the Imperial Regent Perdiccas took over these tasks for the time being.

Arrived in Macedonia in 322 BC. Through the victory in the Battle of Krannon, Krateros contributed significantly to the victory of Antipater, whom he recognized as the strategos of Europe, against the Greeks in the Lamian war . He consolidated his understanding with him through his marriage to his daughter Phila , for which he separated from Amastris. Krateros intended to return to Babylon to carry out the office assigned to him. However, the events after the one-eyed Antigonus 321 BC rolled over. Came to Europe and there reported about the plans of the regent Perdiccas to want to reach for the royal throne. Krateros allied himself with his father-in-law and the wealthy strategist of Egypt , Ptolemy , to go to the first Diadoch war against Perdiccas.

Death and succession

Krateros and Antipater marched with their army through the whole of Asia Minor, but Perdiccas, who had marched into Egypt against Ptolemy, eluded them. The regent's general, Eumenes von Kardia , succeeded in occupying the Hellespont , which threatened to cut off Krateros and Antipater from Europe.

Krateros therefore went to meet him with an army. As a Greek, Eumenes was not highly recognized among the Macedonians and, as a former secretary, had hardly any combat experience. The general talent of the Krateros, however, was recognized everywhere and he enjoyed a high reputation among the Macedonians, which is why a victory against Eumenes was out of the question. In the run-up to the battle, it is said that Eumenes had concealed from his subordinate Macedonian warriors who should face them, in fear that they would overflow to Krateros. But in the battle of the Hellespont (spring 320 BC), which was fought mainly by cavalry on both sides, Eumenes was surprisingly victorious. Krateros himself was killed in battle, and his troops then joined the victor, who granted him an honorable burial.

After the death of his son-in-law and Perdiccas, who was murdered by his own soldiers, Antipater became imperial administrator. He died as early as 319 BC. BC, his friend and confidante Polyperchon became his successor. Eumenes, the victor over Krateros, had meanwhile fought on Polyperchon's side and thus assumed the position of his dead opponent. He fell three years later in a battle against Antigonus in eastern Iran.

Krateros had a son of the same name who served the Antigonids .

Representations

Krateros commissioned a consecration gift ( anathema ) in the form of a bronze group of statues for the dolphin sanctuary . Both Pliny ( Historia naturalis 35,64) and Plutarch ( Alexander 40) reported the creation of this sculpture by the sculptors Lysippus and Leochares , which showed the scene of a lion hunt in which Alexander got into a life-threatening situation in relation to the lion he was hunting , from which Krateros saved him. From the compilation of several evidence from the works of Plutarch, Arrian ( Anabasis 2,13–15) and Curtius Rufus (8,1,2) it can be assumed that this hunt took place in the summer of 331 BC. BC in Syria, where Alexander had spent several months of rest in Tire after returning from Egypt. In nearby Sidon were the large zoos of the Persian great kings, but they have been around since 333 BC. Were in Alexander's possession.

Krateros did not live to see the completion of the statue and the hall surrounding it, so it could only be consecrated by his son. The work is no longer preserved, but the foundation of the hall and the consecration epigram. The mosaic uncovered during excavations in the Macedonian Pella (see above), which shows a lion hunt by two men, is probably a pictorial representation of the statue from Delphi commissioned by Krateros. More hunting scenes by Alexander and his companions can be seen on the so-called Alexander sarcophagus ( Istanbul Archaeological Museum ).

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personal data
SURNAME Crateros
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Κρατερός (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Macedonian general of Alexander the great
DATE OF BIRTH around 370 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 320 BC Chr.