Socrates (son of Sathon)

Socrates ( Greek  Σωκράτης ), son of Sathon, was a Macedonian equestrian general and companion ( hetairos ) of Alexander the great in the 4th century BC.

Since the beginning of the Asian campaign in 334 BC As ilarchos , Socrates commanded that squadron of the Hetairenreidererei that was recruited from the Apollonia district . During the advance on the Granikos he supported the vanguard of the lancers of Amyntas and in the battle of the Granikos he led his squadron in cooperation with the infantry battalion of Ptolemy first across the river to attack the enemy. Presumably, Socrates also took part in the battle of Issus in 333 BC. BC, although he is no longer mentioned there by name. But then he was evidently recalled from his command and assigned to the governor Balakros in Cilicia .

After 333 BC Socrates no longer appears in the traditions. In the summer of 330 BC An officer named Plato, who came from Athens, led a reinforcement of 5000 Greek mercenaries on foot and 1000 on horseback from Cilicia to the main army in Medien . In historical research it is speculated that Curtius Rufus probably confused the officer Socrates with the famous Athenian philosopher Plato at this mention , since an officer named Plato is nowhere else mentioned.

See also

• Army of Alexander the Great

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Arrian , Anabasis 1, 12, 7 and 14, 1–15, 1.
2. ^ Curtius Rufus 4, 5, 9.
3. ^ Curtius Rufus 5, 7, 12.

literature

• Waldemar Heckel : Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great. Prosopography of Alexander's empire . Blackwell, Oxford 2006, ISBN 978-1-4051-1210-9 , p. 252.