Meleagros (general)

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Meleagros († 323 BC ), the son of Neoptolemus, was a general of Alexander the Great .

Life

Meleager is first mentioned in connection with Alexander's campaign against the Thracians and Getes , 335 BC. BC, mentioned. During the Battle of Granikos (334 BC) he commanded a division of the phalanx , a post that he was to hold during the other campaigns of the Alexander campaign . Together with Coenus and Ptolemy, the son of Seleucus, he was appointed commander of the newly wedded troops who were ordered from Caria to the Macedonian homeland, where they spent the winter of 334/333 BC. BC spent. In the summer of 333 BC One finds Meleagros again with Alexander in Gordion . As a result he took part in the battles of Issus and Gaugamela , then he fought alongside Krateros against the troops of Darius who occupied the Persian Gate, and later he was involved in the passage over the Hydaspes and in other operations in India . Despite all of these activities, he was not promoted to military leadership positions.

Only after the death of Alexander in 323 BC Chr. Came his chance, which he used immediately. There are various reports of his behavior in this situation. According to Justinus , he was the first to propose in the council of generals that either Philip III. Arrhidaios , Alexander's insane half-brother, or Heracles , the illegitimate son of Alexander and Barsine , should become king and that one should not wait for the birth of the legitimate child with whom Roxane was still pregnant at the time. Curtius Rufus, on the other hand, reported that Meleagros had violently insulted the imperial administrator Perdickas , who stood up for this very unborn child, and left the assembly suddenly in order to incite the Macedonian soldiers to revolt against Perdickas. Diodorus again writes that the general of the assembly had sent him to the excited soldiers to calm them down; Meleagros then made their displeasure their own and allied with them. In any case, Meleagros quickly managed to take the lead in the opposition to Perdiccas. He now led the foot troops who (possibly at his instigation) for the claims of Philip III. pronounced. Meleagros even ordered Perdiccas to be executed, but this was prevented by his sovereign demeanor and the fact that the cavalry and the other generals sided with Perdiccas. Meleagros' opponents left Babylon and assembled in their own camp outside the city. Everything pointed to an open rupture, but it was mainly through the intervention of Eumenes that it was possible to agree that the kingship should equally include both Philip III as well as the Roxane's child, if it should become a boy. For the time being, the reigns of Meleager and Perdiccas should remain jointly. Given the open hostility of the two, this was hardly a permanent solution. Perdiccas accepted the suggestion and managed to get Philip III. was handed over to custody. He called the entire army together and made sure that Philip III, who had just become king. Before the assembled army announced that the instigators of the recent unrest, which of course meant Meleager and his followers, were to be punished. The foot troops were surprised by the announcement and did not dare to resist. 300 of Perdicka's opponents were now led away and immediately executed. Meleager himself fled to a temple, where he was tracked down and killed on the orders of Perdiccas.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Arrian , Anabasis 1, 4; 1, 14; 1.20; 1.24; 2, 8; 3, 11; 3, 18; 5, 12; among others
  2. ^ Curtius Rufus 10, 6, 1-9, 21; Justin 13: 2, 4-4, 8; Diodorus 18, 2, 1-4; Arrian, FGrH No. 156, F 1, 1-3.
personal data
SURNAME Meleager
BRIEF DESCRIPTION General Alexander the Great
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 323 BC Chr.