Coin of Nikokreon of Cyprus following Persian standard

Nicocreon (

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

Nικoκρέων; lived 4th century BC) was king of Salamis in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, at the time of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

's (336–323 BC) expedition against

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

. Nicocreon submitted to the conqueror along with the other Cypriot kings, without opposition. In 331 BC, after the return of Alexander from

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, Nicocreon visited the city of Tyre to pay homage to him, where he distinguished himself by the magnificence which he displayed in furnishing his theatrical exhibitions. After the death of Alexander, Nicocreon allied with

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

against

Antigonus Antigonus or Antigonos (), a Greek name meaning "comparable to his father" or "worthy of his father", may refer to: Rulers * Three Macedonian kings of the Antigonid dynasty that succeeded Alexander the Great: ** Antigonus I Monophthalmus (382� ...

, and in 315 BC, he colluded with Seleucus and

Menelaus In Greek mythology, Menelaus (; ) was a Greek king of Mycenaean (pre- Dorian) Sparta. According to the ''Iliad'', the Trojan war began as a result of Menelaus's wife, Helen, fleeing to Troy with the Trojan prince Paris. Menelaus was a central ...

, two of Ptolemy's generals, in neutralizing the Cypriot city-kingdoms which had supported Antigonus. In return for these services, Ptolemy awarded him personal command of

Citium Kition (Ancient Greek: , ; Latin: ; Egyptian: ; Phoenician: , , or , ;) was an ancient Phoenician and Greek city-kingdom on the southern coast of Cyprus (in present-day Larnaca), one of the Ten city-kingdoms of Cyprus. Name The name of the ci ...

Lapithos Lapithos or Lapethos (; ) is a town in Cyprus. ''De facto'', it is under the control of Northern Cyprus. Archeologists claim that Lapithos was founded by the Achean brothers Praxandros and Cepheus. According to Strabo, the ancient settlement o ...

, Keryneia, and

Marion Marion or MARION may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Marion (band), a British alternative rock group * ''Marion'' (miniseries), a 1974 miniseries * ''Marion'' (1920 film), an Italian silent film * ''Marion'' (2024 film), a UK short People a ...

, in addition to retaining Salamis. He was also entrusted with the chief command over the whole island of Cyprus. Nothing is known of the fortunes of Nicocreon after this. As there is no mention of his name during the memorable siege of Salamis by

Demetrius Poliorcetes Demetrius I Poliorcetes (; , , ; ) was a Macedonian Greek nobleman and military leader who became king of Asia between 306 and 301 BC, and king of Macedon between 294 and 288 BC. A member of the Antigonid dynasty, he was the son of its founder, ...

(306 BC), or the great sea-fight that followed it, it seems probable that he must have died before those events. Some scholars speculate whether the story of the fall of Nicocles and Axiothea of

Paphos Paphos, also spelled as Pafos, is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: #Old Paphos, Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and #New Paphos, New Paphos. It i ...

wasn't a misattributed telling of the downfall of Nicocreon and his house. One personal anecdote recorded about Nicocreon is his putting to death in a barbarous manner the philosopher

Anaxarchus Anaxarchus (; ; c. 380 – c. 320 BC) was a Greek philosopher of the school of Democritus. Together with Pyrrho, he accompanied Alexander the Great into Asia. The reports of his philosophical views suggest that he was a forerunner of the Greek skep ...

in revenge for an insult which the latter had offered him on the occasion of his visit to Alexander.

References

* Smith, William (editor); ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' is a biographical dictionary of classical antiquity, edited by William Smith (lexicographer), William Smith and originally published in London by John Taylor (English publisher), Tayl ...

'', ,

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, (1867)

Notes

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

, ''Bibliotheca'', xix. 59, 62, 79

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

, ''The Tusculan Disputations''
ii. 22
''On the Nature of Gods''
iii. 33
; Plutarch, ''

Moralia The ''Moralia'' (Latin for "Morals", "Customs" or "Mores"; , ''Ethiká'') is a set of essays ascribed to the 1st-century scholar Plutarch of Chaeronea. The eclectic collection contains 78 essays and transcribed speeches. They provide insigh ...

'', "De virtute morali"
36 MB PDF
;

Diogenes Laërtius Diogenes Laërtius ( ; , ; ) was a biographer of the Greek philosophers. Little is definitively known about his life, but his surviving book ''Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers'' is a principal source for the history of ancient Greek ph ...

, ''The Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers''
ix. 59
/ref> {{SmithDGRBM, title=Nicocreon(1) Ancient Greek monarchs Kings of Salamis, Cyprus 4th-century BC Greek people Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown People associated with Alexander the Great