Perdiccas

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Perdiccas

Perdiccas (Perdikas; died 321 BC or 320 BC) was one of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great , also known as Alexander III of Macedon was an ancient Greeks King of Macedon . He was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle....
's generals. After Alexander's death in 323 BC he became regent

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "reigning", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present or debilitated....
of all Alexander's empire.

Arrian

Arrian

File:Flavius_Arrianus.jpgLucius Flavius Arrianus 'Xenophon , known in English as Arrian , and Arrian of Nicomedia, was a Ancient Rome historian , a public servant, a military commander and a philosopher of the Roman and Byzantine Greece period....
tells us he was son of Orontes, a descendant of the independent princes of the province of Orestis

Orestis (region)

Orestis was a region of Upper Macedonia, corresponding roughly to the modern Kastoria Prefecture, West Macedonia, Greece. Its inhabitants were the tribe Orestae....
. As the commander of a battalion of heavy phalanx

Phalanx formation

The phalanx is a rectangular mass military tactical formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pike , or similar weapons....
infantry, Perdiccas distinguished himself during the conquest of Thebes (335 BC), where he was severely wounded.

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Perdiccas (Perdikas; died 321 BC or 320 BC) was one of Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great

Regent

A regent, from the Latin regens "reigning", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present or debilitated....
of all Alexander's empire.

Arrian

Arrian

Orestis (region)

Phalanx formation

Hephaestion

Hephaestion , son of Amyntor, was a Ancient Macedonians nobleman and a general in the army of Alexander the Great. He was "... by far the dearest of all the king's friends; he had been brought up with Alexander and shared all his secrets." This friendship lasted their whole lives, and was compared, by others as well as themselves, to t...
unexpectedly died in 324 BC, he was appointed his successor as commander of the Companion cavalry and chiliarch
Chiliarch

Chiliarch , in the Ancient Greece army of the Hellenistic period, was a commander of a 1,000 men unit, roughly equivalant to a modern battalion....
(vizier). Also in 324, at the nuptials celebrated at Susa

Susa

Susa was an ancient city of the Elamite, Persian Empire and Parthian empires of Iran, located about 250 km east of the Tigris River.The modern town of Shush, Iran is located at the site of ancient Susa....
, Perdiccas married the daughter of the satrap

Satrap

Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of ancient Medes and Persian Empire empires, including the Achaemenid Empire and in several of their heirs, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic civilization empires....
of Media

Medes

The Medes were an Ancient Iranian peoples who lived in the northwestern portions of present-day Iran. This area was known in Greek as Media or Medea ....
, a Persian named Atropates

Atropates

Atropates was a Persian people nobleman who served Darius III, then Alexander III of Macedon, and eventually founded an independent kingdom and dynasty that was named after him....
.

In the Partition of Babylon

Partition of Babylon

The Partition of Babylon designates the attribution of the territories of Alexander the Great between his generals after his death in 323 BCE....
made after Alexander's death (323 BC) Alexander's generals agreed that Philip III of Macedon

Philip III of Macedon

Philip III Arrhidaeus , king of Macedon from June 10, 323 BC until his death, was a son of King Philip II of Macedon by Philinna of Larissa, allegedly a Thessaly dancer, and a half-brother of Alexander the Great....
, an epileptic illegitimate son of Alexander's father Philip II of Macedon

Philip II of Macedon

Philip II of Macedon,...
, and the unborn child of Alexander's wife Roxana

Roxana

Roxana , was a Bactrian noble and a wife of Alexander the Great. She was born earlier than the year 341 BC, though the precise date remains uncertain....
should be recognized as joint kings. Perdiccas was appointed guardian and regent of the empire. He soon showed himself intolerant of any rivals, and, acting in the name of the two kings (Roxana gave birth to a son, Alexander

Alexander IV of Macedon

Alexander IV Aegus was the son of Alexander the Great and the princess Roxana, of Bactria....
), sought to hold the empire together under his own hand. He had Meleager

Meleager (general)

Meleager , son of Neoptolemus, was a Macedonian officer of distinction in the service of Alexander the Great. He is first mentioned in the war against the Getae ; and at the passage of the battle of the Granicus in the following year , we find him commanding one of the divisions of the phalanx formation, a post which he afterwards held appar...
, the infantry commander, arrested and murdered.

In 322 BC, he broke off his engagement with Nicaea

Nicaea of Macedonia

Nicaea , daughter of Antipater, was sent by her father to Asia to be married to Perdiccas, 323 BC, at a time when the former still hoped to maintain friendly relations with the regent....
, daughter of Antipater

Antipater

Antipater was a Macedonian general and a supporter of kings Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. In 320 BC, he became regent of all of Alexander's empire....
, because Olympias

Olympias

Olympias , ca. 376–316 BC, was an Epirote princess, the fourth wife of King Philip II of Macedon of Macedon and mother of Alexander the Great....
offered him the hand of Cleopatra

Cleopatra of Macedonia

Cleopatra of Macedon , was a sister of Alexander the Great and daughter of King Philip II of Macedon and Olympias. Her other siblings include half sisters Thessalonica of Macedon and Cynane, and half brother Philip III of Macedon....
, a sister of Alexander the Great.

Perdiccas' most loyal supporter was Eumenes

Eumenes

Eumenes of Cardia was a ancient Greece general and scholar. He participated in the wars of the Diadochi as a supporter of the Macedonian Argead dynasty royal house....
, governor of Cappadocia

Cappadocia

Cappadocia, Wikipedia:IPA for English /k?p?'do???/ , was an extensive inland district of Asia Minor . The name continued to be used in western sources and in the Christianity tradition throughout history and is still widely used as an international Tourism in Turkey concept to define a region of exceptional natural wonders characterized by...
and Paphlagonia

Paphlagonia

Paphlagonia was an ancient area on the Black Sea coast of north central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus to the east, and separated from Phrygia by a prolongation to the east of the Bithynian Olympus....
. These provinces had not yet been conquered by the Macedonians. Antigonus

Antigonus

Antigonus, a Greek people name meaning "comparable to his father" or "worthy of his father", may refer to:* Three Macedonn kings of the Antigonid dynasty that succeeded Alexander the Great in Asia:...
(governor of Phrygia

Phrygia

In antiquity, Phrygia was a kingdom in the west central part of Anatolia, in what is now modern-day Turkey. The Phrygians initially lived in the Southern Balkans; according to Herodotus, under the name of Bryges, changing it to Phruges after their final migration to Anatolia, via the Hellespont....
, Lycia

Lycia

Lycia was a region in Anatolia in what are now the Provinces of Turkey of Antalya Province and Mugla Province on the southern coast of Turkey. It was a federation of ancient cities in the region and later a Roman province of the Roman Empire....
and Pamphylia

Pamphylia

In ancient geography, Pamphylia was the region in the south of Asia Minor, between Lycia and Cilicia, extending from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Taurus ....
) refused to undertake the task when Perdiccas ordered him to. Having been summoned to the royal presence to stand his trial for disobedience, Antigonus fled to Europe and entered an alliance with Antipater

Antipater

Antipater was a Macedonian general and a supporter of kings Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. In 320 BC, he became regent of all of Alexander's empire....
, Craterus

Craterus

For other uses , see Craterus Craterus was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great and one of the Diadochi.He was the son of a Macedonian nobleman named Alexander from Orestis and brother of admiral Amphoterus....
and Ptolemy

Ptolemy I Soter

Ptolemy I Soter was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great who became ruler of Egypt and founder of both the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Dynasty....
against him.

Leaving the war in Asia Minor to Eumenes, Perdiccas marched to attack Ptolemy in Egypt

Ptolemaic Egypt

Ptolemaic Egypt began when Ptolemy I Soter declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt in 305 BC and ended with the death of queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and the Aegyptus in 30 BC....
. He reached Pelusium

Pelusium

Pelusium was a city in the eastern extremes of Egypt's Nile Delta, 30 km to the southeast of the modern Port Said. Alternative names include Sena and Per -Amun , Pelousion , Sin , Sey?n , and Tell el-Farama ....
but failed to cross the Nile

Nile

The Nile is a major north-flowing river in Africa, generally regarded as the List of rivers by length in the world.The Nile has two major tributary, the White Nile and Blue Nile, the latter being the source of most of the Nile's water and silt, but the former being the longer of the two....
. A mutiny broke out amongst his troops, disheartened by failure and exasperated by his severity. Perdiccas was assassinated by his officers (Peithon

Peithon

Peithon or Pithon was the son of Crateuas, a nobleman from Eordaia in western Macedonia. One of the bodyguards of Alexander the Great, later satrap of Medes and one of the diadochi....
, Antigenes

Antigenes (general)

Antigenes was a general of Alexander the Great, who also served under Philip II of Macedon, and lost an eye at the siege of Perinthus . After the death of Alexander he obtained the satrapy of Elam....
, and Seleucus

Seleucus I Nicator

Seleucus I , was a Ancient Macedonians officer of Alexander the Great. In the Wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander's death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire....
) sometime in either 321 or 320 BC. Problems with the chronology of Diodorus have led to uncertainty as to the year in which he died.

Historical Novels

Perdiccas appears as one of the main characters in the historical novel Funeral Games
Funeral Games

Funeral Games is a 1981 historical novel by Mary Renault, dealing with the death of Alexander the Great and its aftermath, the gradual disintegration of his empire....
, by Mary Renault
Mary Renault

Mary Renault born Mary Challans, was an England writer best known for her historical novels set in Ancient Greece. In addition to vivid fictional portrayals of Theseus, Socrates, Plato and Alexander the Great, she wrote a non-fiction biography of Alexander....
. Renault uses the spelling Perdikkas.

Perdiccas is one of the characters in the historical novel Roxana Romance by A.J. Cave with the Hellenic spelling of Perdikkas.

External links

article by Jona Lendering on
entry in historical sourcebook by Mahlon H. Smith