Telesphoros (Antigonide)

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Telesphoros ( Greek  Τελέσφορος ; † after 312 BC) was a Macedonian general in the time of the Diadoch Wars . He was a nephew of the Diadoch ruler Antigonos Monophthalmos .

During the third Diadoch war, Telesphorus was at the beginning of the year 313 BC. Commanded by his uncle to head an army with which he crossed on fifty ships from Asia to the Peloponnese to fight against Cassander . He succeeded in taking several cities from the enemy, only leaving Sicyon and Corinth untouched, presumably out of consideration for Polyperchon , an ally of Antigonus , whose daughter-in-law Kratesipolis ruled these cities. Telesphoros then took part with twenty ships, in association with Medios von Larissa , in a sea battle against Cassander off Oreos ( Evia ).

During the turn of the year on 312 BC Telesphorus broke away from his uncle because he felt he was being set back by his cousin Ptolemy , who had landed in Hellas equipped with a large army and navy . With the intention of conquering his own territory, Telesphorus and his followers occupied the Acropolis of Elis , seized the Olympic sanctuary and stole fifty talents in silver from the treasure of the Temple of Zeus in order to be able to finance his mercenaries. Since the desecration of this holy place could have a negative effect on the reputation of Antigonos in Greece, Ptolemy immediately marched on the Peloponnese, from which Telesphoros was quickly defeated and taken prisoner. Ptolemy returned the temple treasure, for which a statue of Antigonus was placed in the Olympic sanctuary.

The trace of Telesphoros is then lost. Helmut Berve speculated that he could have been identical to a person of the same name mentioned later at the court of Lysimachus in Thrace . This Telesphoros was condemned to death by Lysimachus and thrown to the lions to eat after he had disapproved of a musical performance by Arsinoë II .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Diodorus 19.75.1-2.
  2. ↑ Diodorus 19.87
  3. ↑ Pausanias 6.16.3
  4. ↑ Athenaios Deipnosophistai 14,616; Plutarch Moralia 606
personal data
SURNAME Telesphoros
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Τελέσφορος (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION General of Antigonos Monophthalmos
DATE OF BIRTH 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH after 312 BC Chr.