Perdiccas

Perdiccas and Perdicca, ae, m., = Περδίκκας.

• Perdiccas, a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, Curt. 3, 9, 7; 4, 3, 1; 7, 6, 19; Cic. Tusc. 5, 12, 34; Just. 13, 2, 5; 13, 6, 6; Nep. Eum. 3, 5.—
• II The name of three kings of Macedonia, esp. Perdiccas III., Just. 7, 4, 5; 7, 5, 6.

Perdiccas

(Περδίκκας), 1. Son of Orontes, a Macedonian of the province of Orestis, was one of the most distinguished of the generals of Alexander the Great. We are told that he was descended from a royal house (Curt. 10.7.8) probably that of the independent princes of Orestis, and it appears that in consequence of his noble birth he early held a distinguished place at the court of Philip of Macedon. We find him mentioned as one of the select officers who, under the title of σωματοφύλακες, were immediately about the king's person at the time of his death; and he was one of the first to avenge that crime upon the assassin Pausanias. (Diod. 16.94.) It is probable that he continued to hold the same honourable post under the youthful Alexander, though he is not distinctly mentioned as doing so until a later period (see Arr. Anab. iv. 21.7, 5.13.1, 6.11.3, 28.6); but besides this he had the separate command of one of the divisions of the phalanx, at the head of which we find him accompanying the young king in the campaign against the Illyrians, and again at the siege of Thebes. On this last occasion he greatly distinguished himself, but was severely wounded, and narrowly escaped with his life. (Arr. ib. 1.6, 8 ; Diod. 17.12.) During the earlier campaigns in Asia we likewise find him commanding one of the divisions of the phalanx, which was composed of his own countrymen the Orestians, together with the neighbouring tribe of the Lyncestians. This post he held in all the three great battles of th Granicus, Issus, and Arbela; in the last of which he was again severely wounded : and his name is also mentioned with distinction at the sieges of Halicarnassus and of Tyre. (Arr. Anab. 1.14, 20, 21, 2.8, 3.11; Curt. 3.9.7, 4.3.1, 16.32; Diod. 17.57, 61.) In the subsequent operations in Persia, Sogdiana, and India, his name occurs still more frequently; and he appears to have borne a continually increasing share in the confidence and favour of Alexander. At this time he was transferred from the infantry to the cavalry, where he commanded one of the hipparchies, or divisions of the horseguards (ἑταῖροι); but in addition to this we find him repeatedly charged with separate commands of importance, sometimes in conjunction with Ptolemy, Craterus, or Hephaestion, sometimes as sole general. He appears to have especially distinguished himself in the battle against Porus. and shortly after we find him commanding the whole left wing of the army in the action with the Cathaeans. Again, in the attack of the chief city of the Malli it was Perdiccas who was appointed to conduct the assault on one side of the fortress, while Alexander himself led that on the other. (Arr. Anab. 3.18, 4.16, 21, 22, 28, 30, 5.12, 13, 22, 6.6, 9, 15, lnd. 18; Curt. 7.6.19, 8.10.2, 14. §§ 5, 15, 9.1.19.) Nor was he forgotten in the distribution of honours at Susa, where he received a crown of gold for his services in common with the other Somatophylaces, and the daughter of Atropates, the satrap of Media, in marriage. (Arr. 7.4.7, 5.9.) In virtue of his office as Somatophylax, he was one of those in constant attendance upon the king's person when not employed on other military services (see Curt. 6.8.17, 8.1. §§ 45, 48), and thus was naturally one of the officers who were gathered around the bed of the dying Alexander. who is said in his last moments to have taken the royal signet ring from his finger and given it to Perdiccas (Diod. 17.117, 18.2; Curt. 10.5.4 ; Just. 12.15; it is remarkable that Arrian does not even allude to this circumstance.)

In the deliberations which followed the death of the king (B. C. 323), Perdiccas assumed a leading part. In the general council of the officers he was the first to propose that the crown should be reserved for the child of which Roxana was then pregnant, supposing it to prove a male : and it was immediately suggested by Aristonous that the regency in the mean time should be confined to Perdicca This proposal--with the modification put forward by Pithon, that Leonnatus should be associated with him in the supreme authority,--obtained the concurrence of almost all the chief officers, supported by the whole body of the Macedonian cavalry. But the infantry, at the head of whom Meleager had placed himself [Meleager], refused to acquiesce in this decision, and clamorously demanded that Arrhidaeus, the bastard brother of Alexander, should be at once proclaimed king. Matters soon came to an open rupture between the two parties, and the cavalry, with most of the leading men in the army, withdrew from Babylon, and encamped without the city. Perdiccas at first remained behind, but an attempt made upon his life by his rival, which was frustrated only by his own intrepidity, soon compelled him to follow the example of the seceders. The cavalry now threatened to cut off the supplies, and reduce Babylon to a state of famine; but after repeated embassies a compromise was at length effected, by which it was agreed that Arrhidaeus should be declared king, reserving however to the son of Roxana a share of the sovereignty, as soon as he should be born, while Perdiccas, under the honorary title of chiliarch of the ἑταῖροι, should hold the chief command under the new monarch, Meleager taking rank immediately under him. (Curt. 10.6_8 ; Just. 13.2-4; Arrian. apud Phot. p. 69a; Dexipp. ibid. p. 64b.; Diod. 18.2.)

But this arrangement, though sanctioned by a solemn treaty, was not destined to be of long duration. Perdiccas took advantage of his new position to establish his influence over the feeble mind of the nominal king Arrhidaeus, while he lulled his rival Meleager into security by the profoundest dissimulation, until his schemes were ripe for execution, and he was able to crush at one blow Meleager himself with all his leading partisans. [Meleager]. By this decisive stroke he freed himself from one of his most formidable adversaries, but at the same time he necessarily aroused the fears of all others who felt themselves to be either his rivals or his enemies. For a time, however, he thought himself secure in the possession of the supreme power; the king was a mere puppet in his hands, and the birth of Alexander, the expected son of Roxana, appeared greatly to strengthen his authority, while the partition of the several satrapies or governments of Asia and Europe among the generals of Alexander, removed to a distance and separated from one another all his more formidable competitors. An alarming revolt of the Greek soldiers who had been settled in the provinces of Upper Asia, was successfully put down through the agency of Pithon, and the whole of those who had submitted were barbarously massacred by the express orders of the regent. (Diod. 18.7.)

Perdiccas now deemed himself at leisure (B. C. 322) to undertake the reduction of Cappadocia, which had been neglected by Alexander, and continued in virtual independence under its satrap, Ariarathes. The campaign was quickly decided; Ariarathes was defeated in two successive battles, taken prisoner, and put to death by order of the regent, who handed over the government of Cappadocia to his friend and partisan Eumenes. From thence he narched into Pisidia, where he reduced the important cities of Laranda and Isaura. Meanwhile the jealousies and apprehensions of his principal adversaries had been long secretly at work, to combine them into a league against his power. Ptolemy appears to have been from the first regarded by the regent with especial suspicion and distrust, and Perdiccas was only waiting for a plausible pretext to dispossess him of his important government of Egypt. But the regent knew that Antipater also was scarcely less hostile to him, and had already entered into secret engagements with Ptolemy, from which he now sought to detach him by requesting his daughter Nicaea in marriage. Antipater could not refuse so splendid an ofer, and immediately sent Nicaea to Perdiccas in Asia, But just about the same time the regent received overtures from Olympias, who offered him the hand of her daughter Cleopatra in return for his support against Antipater. He did not, however, deem the moment yet come for an open rupture with the latter, and consequently married Nicaea, but with the secret purpose of divorcing her and espousing Cleopatra in her stead at a subsequent period. From this time, if not before, it appears certain that he began to look forward to establishing himself eventually on the throne of Macedonia, and regarded the proposed alliance with Cleopatra merely as a stepping-stone to that object. (Arrian, apud Phot. p. 69b. 70, a.; Diod. 18.14, 16, 22, 23; Just. 13.6.)

It was at this juncture that the daring enterprise of Cynane [Cynane] threatened to disconcert all the plans of Perdiccas; and though he succeeded in frustrating her ambitious schemes, his cruelty in putting her to death excited such general dissatisfaction, that he found himself compelled, in order to appease the murmurs of the soldiery, to give her daughter Eurydice in marriage to the king Arrhidaeus. (Arr. apud Phot. p. 70a. b.) Shortly after, his attempt to bring Antigonus to trial for some alleged offences in the government of his satrapy, brought on the crisis which had been so long impending. That general made his escape to Macedonia, where he revealed to Antipater the fill extent of the ambitious schemes of Perdiccas, and thus at once induced Antipater and Craterus to unite in a league with Ptolemy, and openly declare war against the regent. Thus assailed on all sides, Perdiccas determined to leave Eumenes in Asia Minor, to make head against their common enemies in that quarter, while he himself directed his efforts in the first instance against Ptolemy. In the spring of B. C. 321 accordingly, he set out on his march against Egypt, at the head of a formidable army, and accompanied by the king Arrhidaeus, with his bride Eurydice, as well as by Roxana and her infant son. He advanced without opposition as far as Pelusium, but found the banks of the Nile strongly fortified and guarded by Ptolemy, and was repulsed in repeated attempts to force the passage of the river; in the last of which, near Memphis, he lost great numbers of men, by the depth and rapidity of the current. This disaster caused the discontent among his troops which had been long gathering in secret, and had been exasperated rather than repressed by the severity with which he had punished the first symptoms of disaffection, to break out into open mutiny; the infantry of the phalanx were the first to declare themselves, but their example was soon followed by the cavalry, and a band of officers headed by Selencus and Antigenes hastened to the tent of Perdiccas. and despatched him with many wounds. (Diod. 18.23, 25, 29, 33_36; Arrian, apud Ihot. p. 70b. 71, a; Just. 13.6, 8; Plut. EIuls. 5, 8; Corn. Nep. Eum. 3, 5; Strab. xvii. p.794.)

We know little or nothing of the character of Perdiccas beyond what may be gathered from the part he took in the events above related, but in these he certainly appears in the darkest colours. His only redeeming qualities were his great personal courage (see on this point an anecdote related by Ael. V.H. 12.39), and his talents as a general. His selfish and grasping ambition was wholly unrelieved by any of the generosity and magnanimous spirit which had adorned that of Alexander. At once crafty and cruel, he arrayed against himself, by his dark and designing policy, all the other leaders in the Macedonian empire, while he alienated the minds of his soldiers and followers by the arrogance of his demeanour, as well as by unsparing and needless severity, and he ultimately fell a victim not to the arms of his adversaries, but to the general discontent which he had himself excited.

Perdiccas

2. One of the generals who held a subordinate command under Eumenes in the war against Antigonus, B. C. 321. He was preparing to desert to the enemy, when Eumenes became apprised of his project, and sent Phoenix against him, who surprised his camp in the night, topk him prisoner, and brought him before Eumenes, who caused him to be put to death. (Diod. 18.40.) [E.H.B]

Perdiccas I.

(Περδίκκας), was, according to Herodotus, the founder of the Macedonian monarchy, though Justin, Diodorus, and the later chronographers, Dexippus and Eusebius, represent Caranus as the first king of Macedonia, and make Perdiccas only the fourth. [Caranus.] Thucydides, however, seems to follow the same version of the history with Herodotus, since he reckons only eight kings before Archelaus. (Thuc. 2.100. See also Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. p. 221; Müller's Dorians, App. 1.15.) According to Herodotus, Perdiccas and his two brothers, Gauanes and Aeropus, were Argives of the race of Temenus, who fled from their native country to Illyria, and from thence into the upper part of Macedonia, where they at first served the king of the country as herdsmlen, but were afterwards dismissed from his service, and settled near Mount Bermius, from whence, he adds, they subdued the rest of Macedonia (Hdt. 8.37, 138). It is clear, however, that the dominions of Perdiccas and his immediate successors, comprised but a very small part of the country subsequently known under that name. (See Thuc. 2.99.) According to Eusebius (ed. Arm. p. 152, 153), Perdiccas reigned forty-eight years, but this period is, doubtless, a purely fictitious one. He was succeeded by his son Argaeus. (Hdt. 8.139.) Front a fragment of Diodorus (Exc. Vat. p. 4), it would appear that Perdiccas was regarded as the founder of Aegae or Edessa, the capital of the early Macedonian monarchs. [E.H.B]

Perdiccas Ii.

(Περδίκκας), king of Macedonia, was the son and successor of Alexander I. It is impossible to fix the date of his accession with any degree of precision, on account of the great discrepancy in the statements of ancient authors concerning the length of his reign, to which Dexippus and Eusebius allot only twenty-two or twenty-three years, while Theopompus extended it to thirty-five, and the Parian Chronicle, apparently following Nicomedes of Acanthus, to as much as forty-one years. (See Athen. 5.217; Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. p. 222; Dexipp. apud Syncell. p. 262d; Marm. Par.) It is certain, however, that he had been on the throne of Macedonia for some time when his name first appears in history, shortly before the outbreak of the Peloponnesian war. During the early years of his reign he had entertained friendly relations with the Athenians, who, as it appears, had even bestowed on him the rights of a citizen as a reward for the services of his father Alexander during the Persian war. (Thuc. 1.57; Demosth. de Syntax. p. 173, c. Aristocr. p. 687, who erroneously calls Perdiccas king at the time of the Persian invasion.) But the countenance furnished by the Athenians to the pretensions of his brother Philip, as well as to Derdas, a Macedonian chieftain, at this time in hostility to Perdiccas, completely estranged the mind of the latter, and led to an open rupture between him and Athens. In B. C. 432, the Athenians sent a fleet and army to Macedonia to support Philip and Derdas against Perdiccas, while the latter openly espoused the cause of Potidaea, which had shaken off the Athenian yoke, at the same time that he sent ambassadors to Lacedaemon and Corinth, to induce those powerful states to declare war against Athens. His negotiations, for a time, produced no effect. But the Athenian generals also accomplished but little : they took Therma, but laid siege, without effect, to Pydna, and concluded a hasty treaty with Perdiccas, in order to be more at liberty to pursue operations against Potidaea. This peace, however, was broken almost immediately afterwards, and Perdiccas sent a body of horse to the assistance of the Potidaeans, but these troops failed in operating a diversion in favour of their allies. (Thuc. 1.57_59, 61-63; Diod. 12.34.) Perdiccas, however, continued on hostile terms with Athens, until the following year (B. C. 431), when Nymphodorus brought about a peace between them by which the Macedonian king obtained the restoration of Therma. He now supported the Athenian general Phormion against the Chalcidians. but his disposition seems to have been still unfriendly, and we find him soon after sending secret assistance to the expedition of the Ambraciots and their allies against Acarnania. (Id. 2.29, 80.)

He was soon threatened by a more formidable danger. In B. C. 429, Sitalces, king of the powerful Thracian tribe of the Odrysians, invaded Macedonia with an army of 150,000 men, with the declared object of establishing Amyntas, the son of Philip, upon the throne of that country. Perdiccas was wholly unable to oppose this mighty host, and contented himself with observing their movements, harassing them with his light cavalry, and cutting off their supplies. The very magnitude of the barbarian army proved the cause of its failure. Sitalces, indeed, ravaged the open country without opposition, and took some small towns, but was disappointed of the promised co-operation of the Athenian fleet, and after a short stay in Chalcidice, was compelled, by want of provisions, to return home. Seuthes, the nephew of the Thracian king, who had been secretly gained over by Perdiccas, was mainly instrumental in bringing about this resolution, in reward for which service Perdiccas gave him his sister Stratonice in marriage. (Thuc. 2.95_101; Diod. 12.50, 51.)

From this time we hear no more of the proceedings of Perdiccas for some years, but he appears to have continued always on hosthe terms with Athens, and it was in great part at his instigation that Brasidas in B. C. 424 set out on his celebrated expedition to Macedonia and Thrace. (Thuc. 4.79.) Immediately on the arrival of the Spartan general, Perdiccas made use of his new auxiliary to prosecute a private quarrel of his own with Arrhibaeus, prince of Lyncestis. But Brasidas, though he at first joined his forces with those of the Macedonian king, interposed rather as a mediator than an auxiliary, and soon concluded a treaty with Arrhibaeus, by which proceeding he so much offended Perdiccas, that the latter withdrew a part of the supplies which he had engaged to furnish to the Lacedaemonian army, and took little part in the operations of Brasidas in Chalcidice and Thrace. But the following spring (B. C. 423) the conclusion of a truce for a year between the Athenians and Lacedaemonians having suspended the operations of Brasidas, Perdiccas induced him once more to join in a campaign against Arrhibaeus. The king had also reckoned on the cooperation of a body of Illyrians, but these expected allies suddenly joined the enemy, and the Macedonian troops, alarmed at their defection, were seized with a panic, and compelled Perdiccas to make a hasty retreat, leaving his Spartan auxiliaries at the mercy of the enemy. Brasidas, indeed, saved his army by a masterly retreat, but the minds of the Spartans were irritated against the Macedonian king, and it was not long before matters came to an open rupture. Before the close of the year Perdiccas abandoned the Spartan alliance, and concluded peace with Athens. (Thuc. 4.82, 83, 103, 107, 124-128, 132.)

But he was little disposed to enter heartily into the cause of his new allies, whom he supported so feebly as to lead to the failure of their arms in Chalcidice, and in B. C. 418 he secretly joined the new league concluded between Sparta and Argos. This led to a renewal of hostilities between him and the Athenians, but apparently without any important result. At a subsequent period we find him again in alliance with Athens, without any account of the circumstances that led to this change; but it is evident that he joined one or other of the belligerent parties according to the dictates of his own interest at the moment. (Thuc. 5.80, 83. 6.7, 7.9.) The exact date of the death of Perdiccas cannot be determined, but it is clear from Thucydides that it could not have occurred before the end of B. C. 414, or the beginning of 413. The Parian Chronicle, by a strange error, assigns it to the archonship of Astyphilus, B. C. 420. (Thuc. 7.9; Marm. Par.; Clinton, F. H. vol. ii. pp. 74, 223.) [E.H.B]

Perdiccas Iii.

(Περδίκκας), king of Macedonia, was the second son of Amyntas II., by his wife Eurydice. He was still very young when the assassination of his brother Alexander II., by Ptolemy of Aiorus, caused the crown of Macedonia to devolve by hereditary right upon him. Ptolemy, however, assumed the government as regent during the minority of Perdiccas, with the concurrence of Eurydice. But the appearance of a new competitor for the throne, Pausanias, soon compelled both Eurydice and her two sons, Perdiccas and Philip, to have recourse to the assistance of the Athenian general Iphicrates, who drove out the usurper, and re-established Perdiccas upon the throne. Ptolemy seems to have been reinstated in his office of regent or guardian of the young king, under which name he virtually enjoyed the sovereign power, until at length Perdiccas caused him to be put to death, and took the government into his own hands, B. C. 364. (Just. 7.4, 5; Aesch. de Fals. Leg. §§ 28-31, ed. Bekk.; Diod. 15.77, 16.2 ; Syncell. p. 263; Flathe, Gesch. Mlacedon. vol. i. p. 39-40; Thirlwall's Greece, vol. v. p. 162-164.) Of the subsequent reign of Perdiccas we have very Little information. We learn only that he was at one time engaged in hostilities with Athens on account of Amphipolis (Aesch. l.c. §§ 32-33), and that he was distinguished for his patronage of men of letters. Among these we are told that Euphraeus, a disciple of Plato, rose to so high a place in his favour, as completely to govern the young king, and exclude from his society all but philosophers and geometers. (Carystius, apud Atthen. xi. pp. 506, e. 508, d.) Perdiccas fell in battle against the Illyrians after a reign of five years, B. C. 359. (Diod. 16.2. The statement of Just. 7.5, that he was killed by Ptolemy of Alorus is clearly erroneous. See, however. Curt. 6.11.26.) He left an infant son, Amyntas, who was, however, excluded from the throne by his uncle Philip. [Amyntas, No. 3.]

[E.H.B]

Perdiccas

(Περδίκκας), was protonotary of Ephesus. If we may trust a conjecture mentioned by Fabricius, he attended a synod held at Constantinople, A. D. 1347, at which were present two of the same name, Theodorus and Georgius Perdiccas. Works Poem on the Miraculous Events connected with our Lord's History

The subject of this poem is the miraculous events connected with our Lord's history, principally those of which Jerusalem was the theatre. But besides Jerusalem, he visits Bethany, Bethpage, and Bethlehem. In this poem--which consists of 260 verses of that kind termed politici--he writes as if from personal inspection, but, if this was really the case, he is wanting in clearness and distinctness of delineation. While some of the details are curious, his geography is singularly inaccurate. Thus, he places Galilee on the northern skirts of the Mount of Olives. Editions

This poem was inserted in a compilation of Allatius entitled Συμμικτὰ, published at Amsterdam, in 1653, vol. i. pp. 65-78. Further Information

Allatius, l.c. ; Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. iv. p. 663, vol. viii. p. 99. [W.M.G]

Perdiccas

(Περδίκκας). (1) The founder of the Macedonian monarchy according to Herodotus (viii. 137). He and his two brothers Gauanes and Aëropus were Argives who settled near Mount Bermius, whence they gradually conquered a part of the territory that was later known as Macedonia. Other writers, however, make Caranus the founder of the kingdom and Perdiccas only the fourth among the early kings. (See Caranus.) Perdiccas was succeeded by his son Argaeus. See Macedonia.

(2) The son and successor of Alexander I. of Macedonia, reigning from B.C. 454 to 413. Shortly before the Peloponnesian War, Perdiccas was at war with the Athenians, who sent a force to support his brother Philip, and Derdas, a Macedonian chieftain, against the king, while the latter espoused the cause of Potidaea, which had shaken off the Athenian yoke, B.C. 432 (Diod. Sic.xii. 34). In the following year peace was concluded between Perdiccas and the Athenians, but it did not last long, and he was during the greater part of his reign on hostile terms with the Athenians. In B.C. 429 his dominions were invaded by Sitalces, king of the powerful Thracian tribe of the Odrysians, but the enemy was compelled, by want of provisions, to return home (Diod. Sic.xii. 50). It was in great part at his instigation that Brasidas in B.C. 424 set out on his celebrated expedition to Macedonia and Thrace. In the following year (B.C. 423), however, a misunderstanding arose between him and Brasidas; in consequence of which he abandoned the Spartan alliance, and concluded peace with Athens (Thuc.iv. 82). Subsequently we find him at one time in alliance with the Spartans and at another time with the Athenians; and it is evident that he joined one or other of the belligerent parties according to the dictates of his own interest at the moment.

(3) Perdiccas III., king of Macedonia, B.C. 364-359, was the second son of Amyntas II., by his wife Eurydicé. On the assassination of his brother Alexander II., by Ptolemy of Alorus, B.C. 367, the crown of Macedonia devolved upon him by hereditary right, but Ptolemy virtually enjoyed the sovereign power as guardian of Perdiccas till B.C. 364, when the latter caused Ptolemy to be put to death, and took the government into his own hands (Just.vii. 4). Of the reign of Perdiccas we have very little information. We learn only that he was at one time engaged in hostilities with Athens on account of Amphipolis, and that he was distinguished for his patronage of men of letters. He fell in battle against the Illyrians in B.C. 359.

(4) Son of Orontes, a Macedonian of the province of Orestis, was one of the most distinguished of the generals of Alexander the Great. He accompanied Alexander throughout his campaign in Asia; and the king, on his death-bed, is said to have taken the royal signet ring from his finger and given it to Perdiccas (Q. Curt. x. 5, 4). After the death of the king (B.C. 323), Perdiccas had the chief authority intrusted to him under the command of the new king Arrhidaeus, who was a mere puppet in his hands, and he still further strengthened his power by the assassination of his rival Meleager. (See Meleager.) The other generals of Alexander regarded him with fear and suspicion; and at length his ambitious schemes induced Antipater, Craterus, and Ptolemy to unite in a league and declare open war against Perdiccas. Thus assailed on all sides, Perdiccas determined to leave Eumenes in Asia Minor, to make head against their common enemies in that quarter, while he himself marched into Egypt against Ptolemy. He advanced without opposition as far as Pelusium, but found the banks of the Nile strongly fortified and guarded by Ptolemy, and was repulsed in repeated attempts to force the passage of the river; in the last of which, near Memphis, he lost great numbers of men. Thereupon his troops, who had long been discontented with Perdiccas, rose in mutiny and put him to death in his own tent (Diod.xviii. 14-36).

Perdiccas Perdiccas, person, attacks Ptolemy in Egypt

• Paus. 1.6.3
• assassinated: Paus. 1.6.3

Perdiccas(2), person

• Greeks the descendants of: Hdt. 5.22
• his escape from Lebaea and establishment of the Temenid dynasty in Macedonia: Hdt. 8.137-139