Hegelochus (Admiral)

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Hegelochus ( Greek  Ήγέλοχος ; † 331 BC ), son of Hippostratus, was a Macedonian naval commander ( nauarchos ) and general of Alexander the great , against whom he is said to have planned a conspiracy.

Life

Hegelochus was first seen on the Asian campaign in the Battle of Granikos in 334 BC. Called BC. After Alexander in 333 BC He had left the central Anatolian Gordion in order to move further east, he instructed Hegelochus and Amphoterus to return to the Hellespont to build a fleet there with which the Aegean should be brought under control. In the following year, the Persian fleet under Pharnabazos and Autophradates was put on the defensive and Mytilene , Tenedos and Chios were taken one after the other . In the winter of 332/331 BC BC reached Hegelochus with the fleet Egypt , where he rejoined the army of Alexander. Amphoteros took command of the fleet.

For the last time, Hegelochus is the leader of an ile (ilarchos) of the Hetairen riding under Philotas in the battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. Called BC. Presumably he was killed in this battle or in a skirmish shortly afterwards, as the historian Curtius Rufus had him for the events of 330 BC. Chr. Ready to be called fallen in battle.

origin

In Arrian Hegelochos is the patronymic ( patronymic called) "Hippostratos".

From the period from the middle to the end of the 4th century BC, only two people with the name Hippostratos have come down to us from Macedonia . In a fragment of Marsyas a Hippostratos is mentioned, who was a son of Amyntas and who fell in the campaign of King Philip II against the Illyrians (344/343 BC). In a fragment of Satyros von Kallatis another Hippostratos is mentioned, who was a brother of Cleopatra , the last wife of Philip II, and thus also a nephew of Attalus . In recent historical research it has been controversially discussed to what extent Hegelochus 'father could have been identical with one of the two traditional people, especially since Hegelochus' family background could have been a decisive motive for his possible conspiracy against Alexander.

Cleopatra was born immediately after King Philip II was murdered in 336 BC. They were murdered by Olympias together with their daughter Europa because they were seen as potential rivals to the throne of Alexander. A little later he also had Cleopatra's uncle Attalus eliminated. If Hegelochus was Cleopatra's nephew, his life would also have been in 336 BC. BC must have been in great danger, but his subsequent career under Alexander contradicts this. Felix Stähelin already noted, referring to Justinus , that Hegelochus could not have been Cleopatra's nephew, since Alexander had all of his stepmother's relatives killed. Today, however, it is often pointed out that Justinus passed on a generally negative image of Alexander and that being related to one of his rivals does not necessarily have to have resulted in his own death. But Karl Julius Beloch also rejects a connection between Hegelochus and Cleopatra, since he was her nephew in 331 BC. BC must have been much too young to be entrusted with the command of a division of the hetaires.

Waldemar Heckel, on the other hand, considers the relationship between Hegelochus and Cleopatra to be possible, as he identifies the patronyms handed down from Marsyas and Satyros as one person. Accordingly, Hegelochus would have been before the year 344/343 BC. In which his father Hippostratus fell against the Illyrians. His grandfather Amyntas, who must have been a brother or brother-in-law of Attalus, but would have outlived his own son and died around the year 353 BC. To have a late child with Cleopatra. Hegelochus would have been more than ten years older than his aunt.

The Conspiracy

In 330 BC The general Philotas was charged with treason against Alexander in connection with the Dimnos conspiracy . During his subsequent torture he confessed to treason and at the same time incriminated his father, Generalissimo Parmenion , of being involved in the conspiracy. He also gave information about another conspiracy in which his father had played a role.

So in Egypt the winter of 332/331 BC. BC Hegelochus approached Parmenion to win him over to assassinate Alexander. Philotas cited a general resentment among the Macedonians as the motive for this, after Alexander had himself declared son of the god Zeus - Amun in Siwa and thus put himself in a divine state. According to this, Hegelochus would have emerged as a representative of the old conservative military caste, which was opposed to the increasing orientalization of the army and the oriental attitudes appropriated by Alexander. At that time Parmenion ultimately rejected Hegelochus' request, however not because of an unconditional loyalty to Alexander, but because he had considered it inadvisable to eliminate the king of the Macedonians as long as the mortal enemy of all, namely Darius III. , still live.

To what extent the Hegelochus plot actually took place or to what extent it was constructed by Philotas under the agony of torture remains controversial. Just as his confessions regarding his father are to be questioned in general, since they were only passed down by Curtius Rufus and are not confirmed by any of the other authors.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Arrian , Anabasis 1.13.1.
  2. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 2.3.4; Curtius Rufus 2.2.3.
  3. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 3.2.3–7; Curtius Rufus 4.5.14-22.
  4. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 3.11.8.
  5. ↑ Curtius Rufus 6.11.22: illum dico Hegelochum, qui in acie cecidit .
  6. ↑ Arrian, Anabasis 3.11.8
  7. ↑ Marsyas (from Pella?), FGrH 135 F17 from the commentaries of Didymos on Demosthenes 12.55.
  8. ↑ For the Satyros fragment see Athenaios 13.557d; with C. Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum (FHG), III 161, fragment 5.
  9. ↑ Justin 11.5.1; see Felix Stähelin: The Greek Historian Fragments at Didymos. In: Klio 5, 1905.
  10. ^ Karl Julius Beloch: Greek History. Berlin / Leipzig 1923.
  11. ↑ Waldemar Heckel: Who was Hegelochos? In: Rheinisches Museum für Philologie 125, 1982.
  12. ↑ Curtius Rufus November 6, 2010.
  13. ↑ Curtius Rufus 6.11.22-29.
personal data
SURNAME Hegelochus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ήγέλοχος
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Fleet Commander of Alexander the Great
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 331 BC Chr.