Promachos (soldier)

Promachos (* 4th century BC; † 324 BC ) was a simple soldier in the army of Alexander the Great who died of alcohol poisoning soon after his victory in a drinking competition.

When Alexander the Great turned himself in 324 BC When he was on his way back from his Indian campaign in the Persian city of Susa , the Indian gymnosophist Kalanos , who belonged to his entourage, fell ill and voluntarily died by immolating himself on a stake. Alexander celebrated the death of Kalanos, as he had requested, with a drinking feast. Chares of Mytilene reported on this in his no-preserved, at least ten-volume work on Alexander, from which Plutarch and Athenaeus drew. Accordingly, a drinking competition was held at the feast on the occasion of Kalanos' death, and a talent was offered as a prize for the winner. The Macedonian soldier Promachos was able to win this bonus after allegedly drinking around 13 liters of unmixed wine. The high alcohol consumption caused his death after just a few days. 41 other people who took part in the competition are also said to have succumbed to the consequences of excessive wine consumption.

literature

Siegfried Lauffer , Alexander the Great . 3rd edition Munich 1993, ISBN 3-423-04298-2 , p. 167.
Johannes Zwicker : Promachos 17). In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume XXIII, 1, Stuttgart 1957, Col. 645 f.

Remarks

↑ Chares of Mytilene, The Fragments of the Greek Historians (FGrH), No. 125, F 19a (in Athenaios 10, 49, p. 437 from) and F 19b (in Plutarch, Alexander 70, 1f.); see. also Claudius Aelianus , Varia historia 2, 41.

personal data
SURNAME	Promachos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Soldier of Alexander the Great
DATE OF BIRTH	4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH	324 BC Chr.

[1] Chares of Mytilene, The Fragments of the Greek Historians (FGrH), No. 125, F 19a (in Athenaios 10, 49, p. 437 from) and F 19b (in Plutarch, Alexander 70, 1f.); see. also Claudius Aelianus , Varia historia 2, 41.