Attalus (general)

Attalus (Greek: Ἄτταλος; c. 390 BC – 336 BC), a Macedonian from Lower Macedonia, was an important courtier and soldier of Philip II of Macedonia.

General

Attalus
Native name
Ἄτταλος
Born390 BC
Lower Macedonia
Died336 BC (aged 53-54 years old)
AllegianceMacedonia
RankGeneral (Strategos)
RelationsCleopatra Eurydice (niece), Parmenion

Family connections to Philip II of Macedon

Attalus was born in Lower Macedonia in 390 BC.[1]

In 338 BC,[2] Attalus's adopted niece Cleopatra Eurydice married king Philip II of Macedonia. It is said that at the wedding, Attalus made a prayer that Cleopatra may give birth to a legitimate male heir to Philip. This was seen as a direct insult to Alexander the Great.[3][4][5][6]

In the spring of 336 BC, Philip II appointed Attalus and Parmenion as commanders of the advance force that would invade the Persian Empire in Asia Minor.[3]

Revenge-rape of Pausanias of Orestis

According to a story of Aristotle's, lengthened by Cleitarchus and Diodorus Siculus, Attalus sexually assaulted Pausanias of Orestis in retribution for besmirching the reputation of Attalus's friend (possibly relation), also named Pausanias, an event that led to the death of Pausanias, the beloved of Philip, while attempting to prove his honour after public humiliation by Pausanias of Orestis.[1][7][8]

Philip II of Macedon's later assassination by Pausanias of Orestis has been tied to this affair as Pausanias of Orestis was upset that Phillip had not punished Attalus.

Execution by Alexander

After Philip II had been assassinated and Alexander became king (October 336 BC), his stepmother Cleopatra Eurydice and her two children were all killed (Cleopatra Eurydice may have died by her own hand after the murders of her children).[9]

At the time of the assassination of Phillip and accession of Alexander the Great to the Macedonian throne, Attalus was stationed with Parmenion and the Macedonian advance army in Asia Minor. In the wake of Phillip II's death, it is alleged by hostile sources that Demosthenes of Athens wrote a letter to Attalus promising Athens' support if the two made war on Alexander.[10] Attalus submitted Demosthenes' letters to Alexander and pledged his support to the king.[11]

Despite Attalus attempting to appease him, Alexander had sent an officer to Asia Minor to either kill or arrest Attalus.[11] Even without the resentment between the two men that had occurred after the marriage of Cleopatra Eurydice, Alexander probably felt Attalus was too ambitious and popular with the Asian forces to remain alive, and would have good reason for revenge after the deaths of Cleopatra Eurydice and her children. Attalus was executed in 336 BC.[6]

References
  1. Morris, Ian; Powell, Barry B. (2010). The Greeks: History, Culture, and Society. Prentice Hall. ISBN 978-0-205-69734-2.
  2. "Peter Green. Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age. (Hellenistic Culture and Society, number 1.) Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1990. Pp. xxiii, 970. $65.00". The American Historical Review. 1991. doi:10.1086/ahr/96.5.1515. ISSN 1937-5239.
  3. Carney, Elizabeth Donnelly (2000). Women and Monarchy in Macedonia. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-3212-9.
  4. Worthington, Ian (2008). Philip II of Macedonia. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-12079-0.
  5. Carney, Elizabeth; Ogden, Daniel (2010-06-24). Philip II and Alexander the Great: Father and Son, Lives and Afterlives. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-989000-2.
  6. Bowder, Diana (1982). Who was who in the Greek World, 776 BC-30 BC. Phaidon. ISBN 978-0-7148-2207-5.
  7. Aristotle (2017-04-28). Politics. Sheba Blake Publishing. ISBN 978-3-96189-544-1.
  8. Gabriel, Richard A. (2010-08-31). Philip II of Macedonia: Greater Than Alexander. Potomac Books, Inc. ISBN 978-1-59797-519-3.
  9. "Pausanias, Description of Greece, Arcadia, chapter 7, section 7". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  10. Habicht 1998, p. 32.
  11. Thirlwall, Connop (1839). A History of Greece by the Rev. Connop Thirlwall: Vol. 6. Vol. 6. Longman, Rees, Orme, Green & Longman, Paternoster-Row and John Taylor.
  12. Alexander the Great (1956) - IMDb, retrieved 2020-09-03
  13. Gemmell, David (2011-06-08). Lion of Macedon. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-307-79763-6.
  14. Alexander (2004) - IMDb, retrieved 2020-09-03
  • Habicht, Christian (1998). Ελληνιστική Αθήνα [Hellenistic Athens] (in Greek). Athens: Odysseas. ISBN 978-960-210-310-4.
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