Perdiccas | |
|---|---|
Περδίκκας | |
 | |
| Regent of Macedon | |
| In office 323 BC – 321/320 BC | |
| Monarch | Alexander IV |
| Preceded by | Alexander III (as King) |
| Succeeded by | Peithon and Arrhidaeus |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 355 BC |
| Died | 321/320 BC (aged 34–36) |
| Cause of death | Killed by his own soldiers |
| Occupation | General Regent |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance | Macedonia |
| Years of service | 335 – 321/320 BC |
| Battles/wars | |
Perdiccas (Greek: Περδίκκας, Perdikkas; c. 355 BC – 321/320 BC) was a Macedonian general, Successor of Alexander the Great, and regent of Alexander's empire after his death. When Alexander was dying, he entrusted his signet ring to Perdiccas.[2] Initially the most pre-eminent of the Successors,[3] Perdiccas effectively ruled Alexander's increasingly unstable empire[4] from Babylon for three years, until his assassination, as the kings he ruled for were incapable.[5]
Perdiccas was born to Macedonian nobility. A supporter, somatophylax and Hetairoi of Alexander, he took part in Alexander's campaign against the Achaemenid Empire, distinguishing himself in Thebes and Gaugamela, and followed Alexander into India. When Alexander died in 323 BC, Perdiccas rose to become supreme commander of the imperial army, as well as regent for Alexander's vast empire, ruling on behalf of Alexander's intellectually disabled heir, King Philip III Arrhidaeus and his infant son, King Alexander IV of Macedon.
Perdiccas gained supreme power but also inherited the problems of Alexander's quickly conquered and unstable empire. To consolidate power and retain authority, Perdiccas crushed numerous revolts, like that of Ariarathes, and assassinated rivals, like Meleager. Perdiccas' position as regent was never fully secure, however, and his authority was repeatedly contested by other generals. His attempt to marry Cleopatra of Macedon, Alexander's sister, which would have given him claim to the Macedonian throne, angered critical generals—including Antipater, Craterus and Antigonus—who decided to revolt against the regent in the First War of the Diadochi. In response to this formidable coalition and a provocation from another general, Ptolemy, Perdiccas invaded Egypt, but his soldiers mutinied and killed him in 321/320 BC when the invasion foundered.
- ^ Head of Heracles left, wearing lion skin headdress / [BASILEWS FILIPPOU]. Zeus Aëtophoros seated right; wheel and monogram in left field, monogram below throne.
- ^ Heckel 2006, p. 198; Diod., 17.117.3, 18.2.4.
- ^ Heckel 2016, p. 153. "Perdiccas deserves to be considered the first of the Diadochoi. To him Alexander had given his signet ring and, with it, all the uncompleted projects, all the unresolved and festering problems of an empire too quickly subdued and ruled, primarily, by force... In order to continue Alexander’s work Perdiccas would have to be another Alexander, and this he was not... Confounded in every undertaking by the jealousy of his colleagues and maligned after his death in the memoirs of an enemy, Perdiccas is remembered as a man of far-reaching ambition, ruined by his own incompetence and abrasive personality".
- ^ Besides Macedon and Greece, which were held by Antipater.
- ^ Anson 2014, p. 59; Diod., 18.36.7.