Spithridates

Spithridates (Old Persian: *Spiθradātaʰ; Ancient Greek: Σπιθριδάτης Spithridátēs; 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, while he was aiming a blow from behind at Alexander the Great, his arm was cut off by Cleitus the Black and he subsequently died.[1]

Spithridates attacking Alexander from behind at the Battle of Granicus. Charles le Brun (detail).
Spithridates
Coin of Spithridates, Achaemenid Satrap of Sparda (Lydia and Ionia), circa 334 BC
Satrap of Lydia
In office
365 – 334 BC
Preceded byAutophradates
Succeeded byposition abolished
Personal details
Died334 BC
At the Granicus in the Troad region
(modern-day Biga River, Turkey)
Military service
AllegianceAchaemenid Empire Achaemenid Empire
Battles/wars

Diodorus calls him Spithrobates (Σπιθροβάτης Spithrobátēs), and appears to confound him with Mithridates, the son-in-law of Darius, whom Alexander slew in the battle with his own hand; while what Arrian records of Spithridates, Diodorus accounts it for his brother Rhosaces.[2][3]

Spithridates was replaced by the Hellenistic satrap Asander in his territories.

  1. Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri, 1.12.8, 15.8, 16.3
  2. Diodorus, Bibliotheca historica, XVII. 19, 20
  3. Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Alexander", 16 ; Moralia, "On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander", I. 2

Sources

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Spithridates". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.

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