Rhosaces (; ) was the brother of

Spithridates Spithridates (Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; fl. 365–334 BC) was a Persian satrap of Lydia and Ionia under the high king Darius III Codomannus. He was one of the Persian commanders at the Battle of the Granicus, in 334 BC. In this engagement ...

, a

satrap A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median kingdom, Median and Achaemenid Empire, Persian (Achaemenid) Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic period, Hellenistic empi ...

Ionia Ionia ( ) was an ancient region encompassing the central part of the western coast of Anatolia. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements. Never a unified state, it was named after the Ionians who ...

and

Lydia Lydia (; ) was an Iron Age Monarchy, kingdom situated in western Anatolia, in modern-day Turkey. Later, it became an important province of the Achaemenid Empire and then the Roman Empire. Its capital was Sardis. At some point before 800 BC, ...

, with whom he might have held the possession of satrap. Rhosaces served in the earlier campaigns of

Artaxerxes III Ochus ( ), known by his dynastic name Artaxerxes III ( ; ), was King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire from 359/58 to 338 BC. He was the son and successor of Artaxerxes II and his mother was Stateira. Before ascending the throne Artaxerxes was ...

in Phoenicia and in Egypt where he was singled out for his 'valour and loyalty' to serve alongside allied Theban troops. He took part in the

Battle of the Granicus The Battle of the Granicus in May 334 BC was the first of three major battles fought between Alexander the Great of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon and the Persian Achaemenid Empire. The battle took place on the road from Abydos (Hellespont ...

in 334 BC where he was killed. According to

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

, after his brother Spithridates was killed by

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 ...

the fight between Alexander and Rhosaces happened like this: :"The Persian fell, but just at this moment his brother Rhosaces galloped up and brought his sword down on Alexander's head so hard that he split his helmet and wounded his scalp. As Rhosaces aimed another blow at the same break in the helmet, Cleitus, known as "the Black," dashed up and cut off the Persian's arm." However, Arrian records Spithridates as the one who lost his arm to Cleitus and thus Diodorus seems to confound Rhosaces with his brother Spithridates. According to Arrian, Rhosaces hit Alexander hard on his helmet before Alexander managed to kill him.Arrian 1.15.7-8.

References

Military leaders of the Achaemenid Empire 334 BC deaths 4th-century BC Iranian people Military personnel of the Achaemenid Empire killed in action Opponents of Alexander the Great Persian people of the Greco-Persian Wars Year of birth unknown Achaemenid satraps of Ionia {{iran-mil-bio-stub