The Marshals of Alexander's Empire

389 Pages·1992·3.53 MB·English

by  Waldemar Heckel

THE MARSHALS OF ALEXANDER’S
EMPIRE

THE MARSHALS OF
ALEXANDER’S EMPIRE
Waldemar Heckel

London and New York
First published 1992 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York,
NY 10001
© 1992 Waldemar Heckel
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of
thousands of eBooks please go to http://www.ebookstore.tandf.co.uk/.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or
by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A CIP catalogue record for this book is available
from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Heckel, Waldemar The marshals of
Alexander’s empire/Waldemar Heckel. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1.
Alexander, the Great, 356–323 B.C.-Friends and associates. 2. Generals-Macedonia-Biography. I.
Title DF234.2.H38 1992 938′.07–dc20 91–43616
ISBN 0-203-97389-5 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-415-05053-7 (Print Edition)
For Lois
TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Abbreviations viii
List of Maps xiii
Preface vii

Part I

Chapter i: The ‘Old Guard’ 3
Chapter ii: The ‘New Men’ 47
Chapter iii: Casualties of the Succession 152
Chapter iv: The So-called ‘Boyhood Friends’ of Alexander 190

Part II

Chapter v: The Somatophylakes 217
Chapter vi: Commanders of Regular Hypaspists 274
Chapter vii: Commanders of the Argyraspids 280
Chapter viii: Commanders of Infantry 291
Chapter ix: Commanders of Cavalry 314
Appendices 333
General Bibliography 351
Concordance 367
PREFACE
This book has a rather long and complicated history. It began in the late 1970s as a
doctoral dissertation (‘Marshals of the Alexanderreich’, Diss. University of British
Columbia, 1978), directed by Phillip E.Harding and the late Malcolm F.McGregor, and
concerned itself primarily with the ‘New Men’, who remain the figures of central interest
even in this version. Since 1975, I have devoted myself to matters of prosopography, with
the aim of revising, up-dating and continuing the second volume of Helmut Berve’s Das
Alexanderreich auf prosopographischer Grundlage (Munich, 1926). This undertaking
has proved long and arduous, often interrupted by other projects. The present book is thus
a compromise—much more than the original dissertation, far less than the envisioned
prosopography.
I had intended that The Marshals should be a collection of biographies illuminating
the careers of the most prominent of Alexander’s officers, a work aimed not primarily at
specialists in the field but useful to them. But as the scope of the book widened, with a
concomitant proliferation of pages and footnotes—to say nothing of the escalating
price—it became clear that the casual reader might be intimidated by the format of the
volume. I have, nevertheless, tried to make the lives contained in the first three or four
chapters comprehensible even to those who are not professional students of Alexander;
Part II contains career-studies that are supplementary to those of Part I. Whether I have
succeeded, the reader will decide. The critic will, of course, find much to criticise. I am
acutely aware that, by increasing the number of individuals discussed in the book, I have
exposed myself to the criticism that I have not included them all, or that the method of
organisation is confusing rather than helpful. A detailed ‘Table of Contents’, as well as an
index and concordance should compensate for certain peculiarities of composition, but
there will, no doubt, always be those who prefer an exhaustive treatment and alphabetical
arrangement.
Predictably, the work is idiosyncratic, the selection of individuals and topics uneven
and arbitrary. In part this is due to the subject-matter and the nature of recent scholarly
publications. The famous Diadochoi (‘Successors’), Antigonos the One-Eyed,
Lysimachos, Ptolemy Soter, and Seleukos Nikator, are given only partial treatment. Full
vitae for these men are virtually impossible to provide in a work of this scope and
redundant in the light of the recent books of Richard A.Billows and John Grainger, and
the imminent appearance of Helen S. Lund’s monograph on Lysimachos. Eumenes of
Kardia receives only a brief discussion and will have to await Edward Anson’s full-scale
study. Furthermore, what I do say about these historical individuals, and indeed many
others whose careers intertwined with theirs, owes much to the work of these scholars. To
Professor Anson I am particularly grateful for not only reading substantial portions of my
work but also allowing me to read the entire typescript of his book on Eumenes.
Professor Billows sent me a stimulating (unpublished) discussion of the Philippoi of
Alexander’s reign, from which I have derived virtually as much profit as from the
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Anspach i–iii Anspach, A.E., De Alexandri Magni expeditione Indica
(Leipzig, 1903).
Atkinson, Curtius i J.E.Atkinson, A Commentary on Q.Curtius Rufus’
Historiae Alexandri Magni, Books 3 and 4 (Amsterdam,
1980).
Badian, Studies E.Badian, Studies in Greek and Roman History (Oxford,
1964).
Baumbach A.Baumbach, Kleinasien unter Alexander dem Grossen
(Diss. Jena, publ. Weida i. Th., 1911).
Beloch iii–iv2 K.J.Beloch, Griechische Geschichte, 2nd ed., vols. 3–4
(Berlin-Leipzig, 1927).
Bengtson, Strategie H.Bengtson, Die Strategie in der hellenistischen Zeit
(Munich, 1937–1952).
Bengtson, Philipp und Alexander H.Bengtson, Philipp und Alexander der Grosse (Munich,
1985).
Bengtson, Diadochen H.Bengtson, Die Diadochen. Die Nachfolger Alexanders
des Grossen (Munich, 1987).
Berve i–ii H.Berve, Das Alexanderreich auf prosopographischer
Grundlage, 2 vols (Munich, 1925–1926).
Billows, Antigonos R.A.Billows, Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of
the Hellenistic State (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1990).
Boerma R.N.H.Boerma, Justinus’ Boeken over de Diadochen, een
historisch Commentaar, Boek 13–15, cap. 2 (Amsterdam,
1979).
Borza E.N.Borza, In the Shadow of Olympus. The Emergence of
Macedon (Princeton, 1990).
Bosworth, Arrian i A.B.Bosworth, A Historical Commentary on Arrian’s
History of Alexander, vol. 1 (Oxford, 1980).
Bosworth, Conquest and Empire A.B.Bosworth, Conquest and Empire. The Reign of
Alexander the Great (Cambridge, 1988).
Breloer, Kampf B.Breloer, Alexanders Kampf gegen Poros (Stuttgart,
1933).
Breloer, Bund B.Breloer, Alexanders Bund mit Poros: Indien von Dareios
zu Sandrokottos, Sammlung orientalistischen Arbeiten 9
(Leipzig, 1941).
Briant P.Briant, Antigone le Borgne (Paris, 1973).
Brunt, Arrian i–ii P.A.Brunt, Arrian, Loeb Classical Library, vol. 1
(Cambridge, Mass., 1976), vol. 2 (Cambridge, Mass.,
1983).
Carney, Macedonian Aristocracy E.D.Carney, ‘Alexander the Great and the Macedonian
Aristocracy’ (Diss. Duke University, 1975).
Cary M.Cary, A History of the Greek World from 323 to 146
B.C., 2nd ed. (London, 1951).
Cauer F.Cauer, ‘Philotas, Kleitos, Kallisthenes: Beiträge zur
Alexandergeschichte’, Neue Jahrbücher für classische
Philologie, Supplbd 20 (1894).
Cawkwell, Philip G.L.Cawkwell, Philip of Macedon (London, 1978).
Cloché, La Dislocation P.Cloché, La Dislocation d’un Empire (Paris, 1959).
Cook, PE J.M.Cook, The Persian Empire (New York, 1983).
Davies, APF J.K.Davies, Athenian Propertied Families 600–300 B.C.
(Oxford, 1971).
Develin, Athenian Officials R.Develin, Athenian Officials 684–321 B.C. (Cambridge,
1989).
Dittenberger, Syll.3 W.Dittenberger, Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum, 3rd ed.
vol. 1 (Leipzig, 1915).
Dittenberger, OGIS W.Dittenberger, Orientis Graeci Inscriptiones Selectae 2
vols (Leipzig, 1903–1905).
Droysen J.G.Droysen, Geschichte des Hellenismus, 3rd ed.
(Tübingen, 1952–1953; repr. Darmstadt, 1980).
Eggermont, ‘Gandhara’ Eggermont, P.H.L., ‘Alexander’s Campaign in Gandhara
and Ptolemy’s List of IndoScythian Towns’, Orientalia
Lovaniensia Periodica 1 (1970), 63–123.
Eggermont Eggermont, P.H.L., Alexander’s Campaigns in Sind and
Baluchistan and the Siege of the Brahmin Town of
Harmatelia (Leuven, 1975).
Ellis, Philip II J.R.Ellis, Philip II and Macedonian Imperialism (London,
1976; repr. Princeton, 1986).
Engel, Machtaufstieg R.Engel, Untersuchungen zum Machtaufstieg des
Antigonos I. Monophthalmos (Kallmünz, 1976).
Engels, Logistics D.W.Engels, Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the
Macedonian Army (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1978).
Errington, Hist. Mac. R.M.Errington, A History of Macedonia, trans. by
C.Errington (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1990).
FGrHist F.Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker
(Berlin and Leiden, 1923–).
FHG C.Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, 5 vols
(Paris, 1841–1870).
Fontana, Le Lotte M.J.Fontana, Le Lotte per la successione di Alessandro
Magno dal 323 al 315 (Palermo, 1960).
Fox Robin Lane Fox, Alexander the Great (London, 1973).
Fuller Maj.-Gen. J.F.C.Fuller, The Generalship of Alexander the
Great (London, 1958).
Goukowsky i–ii P.Goukowsky,EssaisurlesoriginesduMythe