The fight of Eumenes of Cardia against Neoptolemus, Wars of the Diadochi

Neoptolemus ( grc, Νεoπτόλεμος; died 321 BC) was a

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an Classical antiquity, ancient monarchy, kingdom on the periphery of Archaic Greece, Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. Th ...

ian officer who served under

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

. According to Arrian he belonged to the race of the Aeacidae, so he was probably related to the family of the kings of

Epirus sq, Epiri rup, Epiru , native_name_lang = , settlement_type = Historical region , image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg , map_alt = , map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...

. Neoptolemus is mentioned as serving in the Macedonian

royal guards Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a c ...

(ἑταῖροι) and distinguished himself particularly at the

siege of Gaza The siege of Gaza took place in 332 BC, and was part of the Egyptian campaign of Alexander the Great, the ancient Greek king of Macedonia. It ended the Thirty-first Dynasty of Egypt, which functioned as a satrapy of the Achaemenid Persia ...

, 332 BC, where he was the first to scale the walls. Little has been written about him during the subsequent campaigns of Alexander; however, he appears to have earned a reputation as an able soldier. Dexippus lists the satrapy of Carmania as assigned to Neoptolemus after the death of Alexander; however,

Diodorus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

and

Justin Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...

assign this satrapy to

Tlepolemus In Greek mythology, Tlepolemus (; Ancient Greek: Τληπόλεμος ''Tlēpólemos'') was the leader of the Rhodian forces in the Trojan War.Homer, ''Iliad'2.653–70 Family Tlepolemus was a son of Heracles and Astyoche, daughter of Phylas, ...

instead. A. G. Roos revised Dexippus' text to assign Carmania to Tlepolemus and Armenia to Neoptolemus. Pat Wheatley and

Waldemar Heckel Waldemar Heckel (born 1949) is a Canadian historian. Heckel was born in Bad Königshofen, Germany in 1949. He attained his master's degree in 1973 from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, and earned his doctorate in 1978 at the University ...

found this revision to be unlikely to represent the original text, and considered it more likely that the fragment of the text of Dexippus includes a scribal error, as "Neoptolemus" is an easy corruption of "Tlepolemus". Neoptolemus apparently campaigned in Armenia after the death of Alexander, but his official status in this area is unclear; he might have been a '' strategos'' rather than a satrap. Neoptolemus managed only to create havoc in Armenia, which suggests that he wasn't cooperating with any existing satrap. As Neoptolemus had a reputation of being restless and unsettled, Perdiccas regarded him with suspicion. So in 321 BC, when Perdiccas set out for Ptolemaic Egypt, he placed Neoptolemus under the command of

Eumenes Eumenes (; grc-gre, Εὐμένης; c. 362316 BC) was a Greek general and satrap. He participated in the Wars of Alexander the Great, serving as both Alexander's personal secretary and as a battlefield commander. He later was a participant in t ...

, who was told to exercise particular vigilance regarding Neoptolemus. Perdiccas' suspicions turned out to be well founded: Neoptolemus immediately entered into correspondence with the hostile Macedonian leaders, Antipater and Craterus, and, on being ordered by Eumenes to join him with his contingent, refused to comply. In response, Eumenes immediately marched against him, defeated his army, and compelled all the Macedonian troops in his service to take the oath of fidelity to Perdiccas. Neoptolemus managed to escape with a small body of cavalry and joined Craterus, whom he persuaded to march immediately against Eumenes, while the latter was still celebrating his victory and unprepared for a fresh attack. But their cautious adversary was not taken by surprise and met his enemies in a pitched battle. During this battle, Neoptolemus commanded the left wing, on which he was opposed to Eumenes himself; and the two leaders, who were bitter personal enemies, sought each other out during the battle and engaged in single combat, in which, after a desperate struggle, Neoptolemus was slain by Eumenes.

References

* Smith, William (editor); ''

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 ...

''
"Neoptolemus (1)"

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, (1867)

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neoptolemus 321 BC deaths 4th-century BC Macedonians 4th-century BC kings of Armenia Ancient Macedonian generals Generals of Alexander the Great Ancient Epirotes Satraps of the Alexandrian Empire Year of birth unknown