Perdiccas (
Greek: Περδίκας; died May—June
320 BC) was one of
Alexander the Great's generals. After Alexander's death in
323 BC he became
regent of all Alexander's empire.
He was son of
Orontes, a descendant of the independent princes of the province of
Orestis. As the commander of a battalion of heavy
phalanx infantry, Perdiccas distinguished himself during the conquest of
Thebes (
335 BC), where he was severely wounded. Subsequently he held an important command in the Indian campaigns of Alexander. When
Hephaestion unexpectedly died in
324 BC, he was appointed his successor as commander of the Companion cavalry and
chiliarch (vizier). Also in 324, at the nuptials celebrated at
Susa, Perdiccass married the daughter of the
satrap of
Media, a Persian named
Atropates.
In the
Partition of Babylon made after Alexander's death (
323 BC) Alexander's generals agreed that
Philip III of Macedon, an epileptic illegitimate son of Alexander's father
Philip II of Macedon, and the unborn child of Alexander's wife
Roxana should be recognized as joint kings. Perdiccas was appointed guardian and regent of the empire. He soon showed himself intolerant of any rivals, and, acting in the name of the two kings (Roxana gave birth to a son,
Alexander), sought to hold the empire together under his own hand. He had
Meleager, the infantry commander, arrested and murdered.
In
322 BC, he broke off his engagement with
Nicaea, daughter of
Antipater, because
Olympias offered him the hand of
Cleopatra, a sister of Alexander the Great.
Perdiccas' most loyal supporter was
Eumenes, governor of
Cappadocia and
Paphlagonia. These provinces had not yet been conquered by the Macedonians.
Antigonus (governor of
Phrygia, Lycia and
Pamphylia) refused to undertake the task when Perdiccas ordered him to. Having been summoned to the royal presence to stand his trial for disobedience, Antigonus fled to Europe and entered an alliance with
Antipater, Craterus and
Ptolemy against him.
Leaving the war in
Asia Minor to Eumenes, Perdiccas marched to attack Ptolemy in
Egypt. He reached
Pelusium but failed to cross the
Nile. A mutiny broke out amongst his troops, disheartened by failure and exasperated by his severity. Perdiccas was assassinated by his officers (
Peithon, Antigenes, and
Seleucus) sometime between
21 May and
19 June of
320 BC.
Perdiccas appears as one of the main characters in the historical novel
Funeral Games, by
Mary Renault. Renault uses the spelling
Perdikkas, which is closer to the original Greek.
