Pleistarchus (Antipatrid)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pleistarchus (in Greek Πλεισταρχος; lived 4th century BC) was son of Antipater and brother of Cassander, king of Macedonia. He is first mentioned in the year 313 BC, when he was left by his brother in the command of Chalcis, to make headway against Ptolemy, the general of Antigonus, when Cassander himself was recalled to the defence of Macedonia.¹ Again, in 302 BC, when the general coalition was formed against Antigonus, Pleistarchus was sent forward by his brother, with an army of 12000 foot and 500 horse, to join Lysimachus in Asia. As the Hellespont and entrance of the Euxine was occupied by Demetrius, he endeavoured to transport his troops from Odessus direct to Heraclea, but lost by far the greater part on the passage, some having been captured by the enemy's ships, while others perished in a storm, in which Pleistarchus himself narrowly escaped shipwreck.² Notwithstanding this misfortune, he seems to have rendered efficient service to the confederates, for which he was rewarded after the battle of Ipsus (301 BC) by obtaining the province of Cilicia, as an independent government. This, however, he did not long retain, being expelled from it in the following year by Demetrius, almost without opposition.³ Hereupon he returned to his brother Cassander, and from this time there is no further record of his activities. Pausanias mentions him as having been defeated by the Athenians in an action in which he commanded the cavalry and auxiliaries of Cassander; but the period at which this event took place is uncertain.⁴ It is perhaps to him that the medical writer, Diocles of Carystus, addressed his work, which is cited more than once by Athenaeus, as τα προς Πλεισταρχον Υγιεινα.⁵