Alcetas ( Greek Ἀλκέτας; died 320 BC) was the brother of Perdiccas and the son of Orontes from Orestis. He is first mentioned as one 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 generals in his

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n expedition. On the death of Alexander, Alcetas was a strong supporter of his brother Perdiccas. At Perdiccas' orders, in 323 BC Alcetas murdered Cynane, the half-sister of Alexander the Great, as she wished to marry off her daughter Eurydice to Philip Arrhidaeus, the nominal king of

Macedon Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

. At the time of Perdiccas' murder by his own troops in

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in 321 BC, Alcetas was with

Eumenes Eumenes (; ; ) was a Ancient Greece, Greek general, satrap, and Diadoch, Successor of Alexander the Great. He participated in the Wars of Alexander the Great, serving as Alexander's personal secretary and later on as a battlefield commander. Eume ...

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

engaged against Craterus. The Perdiccas' army revolted from him and joined

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 ...

. They condemned Alcetas and all of Perdiccas' supporters to death. The war against Alcetas, who had now left Eumenes and united his forces with those of Attalus, was waged by Alexander's general Antigonus. Alcetas and Attalus were defeated at the Battle of Cretopolis in Pisidia in 320 BC and Alcetas retreated to Termessos. At this time, Antigonus came and set up camp in front of the city, seeking delivery of his rival. Not wanting their city to be dragged into disaster for the sake of a Macedonian foreigner, the elders of the city decided to hand Alcetas over to Antigonus. However, the youths of Termessos wanted to keep their word and refused to go along with the plan. The elders sent Antigonus an envoy to inform him of their intent to surrender Alcetas. According to a secret plan to continue the fight, the youth of Termessos managed to leave the city. Learning of his imminent capture and preferring death to being handed over to his enemy, Alcetas killed himself. The elders delivered his corpse to Antigonus. After subjecting the corpse to all manner of abuse for three days, Antigonus departed Pisidia leaving the corpse unburied. The youth, greatly resenting what had happened, recovered Alcetas' corpse, buried it with full honours, and erected a beautiful monument to his memory.

References

External links

* 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 ...

'', ,

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, (1867) *Papastathopoulou A., Vus O. Pisidian Termessos: "Tomb of Alcetas" in the context of the First War of the Diadochi (321-319 BC), 202

*Papastathopoulou A., Vus O. Pisidian Termessos: “Tomb of Alcetas” in the context of the First War of the Diadochi (321–319 BC) (Presentation), 202

Ancient Greek generals Ancient Macedonian generals Generals of Alexander the Great Military personnel who died by suicide Suicides by sharp instrument in Turkey Suicides in ancient Macedonia Ancient Orestians 4th-century BC Greek people Year of birth unknown 320 BC deaths {{AncientGreece-bio-stub