Poros (king)

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Alexander and Porus (painter: Charles Lebrun )

Poros ( Puru ; † 317 BC ) was a powerful Indian king who lived towards the end of the 4th century BC. Ruled the principality of Paurava between the rivers Jhelam and Ravi .

Poros was born in 326 BC. BC by the Macedonian king Alexander the Great , who had penetrated into India, in the battle of the Hydaspes , where Alexander had received support from Porus' archenemy Taxiles . The great bravery of Poros, who was wounded during the fighting, was also recognized by his opponents. Alexander reconciled himself with him, left him in his government and even added further areas to his empire. In return, Poros became a loyal client king , who in the conference of Triparadeisos 320 BC. BC (or as early as 321 BC) the easternmost part of the Alexander Empire was also awarded. Poros was born in 317 BC. Murdered by the Macedonian military strategist Eudemos as a result of the turmoil of the Diadoch fights . Otto Stein assumed, however, that statements about Poros and Taxiles were mixed up in the sources; therefore 317 BC Not Poros, but Taxiles was murdered.

The story has already been described in various ways in antiquity. a. by Quintus Curtius Rufus . The most famous recent arrangement is Alessandro nell'Indie (1729) by Pietro Metastasio , which was set to music by numerous composers of the 18th century, including Leonardo Vinci and Johann Adolf Hasse . This libretto is also the basis for the opera Poro ( HWV 28) by Georg Friedrich Händel .

literature

  • Waldemar Heckel : Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great. Prosopography of Alexander's Empire. Blackwell, Malden MA et al. 2006, ISBN 1-4051-1210-7 , p. 231 f.

Web links

Commons : Poros (King)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. On Taxiles and his relationship to Poros, see also Otto Stein : Taxiles . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VA, 1, Stuttgart 1934, Col. 78-85.
  2. Otto Stein: Taxiles. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume VA, 1, Stuttgart 1934, column 80 f.