Mercenary Decree

As a so-called mercenaries decree in which it is ancient history research, the general regulation of the Macedonian king Alexander the Great to his satraps and generals referred to the immediate dissolution of all privately established mercenaries involved.

After Alexander had subjugated Persia as well as Egypt and India as part of his so-called Alexanderzug , he issued during his march back from India to central Persia in December 325 BC. Chr. From Carmania the order to dissolve all privately formed mercenary armies. This order was addressed directly to his subordinate satraps and generals after Alexander had learned of all kinds of insubordination. However, due to the gigantic size of the Alexander Empire, the persons concerned did not receive the ordinance until a few weeks or even months later.

Very little is known in the historical sources about the facts about the mercenary decree and its effects , so that hardly anything is known about this political process and its connections. It is relatively certain that multitudes of unemployed mercenaries migrated through the areas of the Alexander empire, with a large part probably reaching as far as Greece . In the late autumn of 324 BC Then a large number of mercenaries had probably gathered at Cape Tainaron in the southern Peloponnese ; furthermore, even former Persian satraps and generals are said to have been among them. Finally, the Athenian Leosthenes was elected commander of the approximately 8,000-strong mercenary troops, who took the opportunity to join forces with other anti-Macedonian-minded troops and states and spark a rebellion against the Macedonian yoke, which eventually expanded into the Lamian War . A connection between the dismissal of a large number of soldiers by the mercenary decree and the masses of mercenaries who migrated through Persia and Asia Minor during this time can only be assumed, but cannot be clearly proven on the basis of the available sources.

See also

• Alexander the Great
• Alexander Reich
• Exile decree
• Lamish war
• Army of Alexander the Great

Sources and literature

swell

• Diodorus von Agyrion : Greek world history .

literature

• Hermann Bengtson : Greek History. From the beginning to the Roman Empire . 5th edition, Munich 1977 (reprint as 9th edition 2002), ISBN 3-406-02503-X .