“ The campaign commenced with a double operation. Perdiccas himself raised an army; and, taking Philip and Eurydice, and also Roxana and her babe in his [Pg 34] train, he marched into Egypt to make war against Ptolemy. At the same time, Antipater and Craterus, at the head of a large Macedonian force, passed across the Hellespont into Asia Minor, on their way to attack Perdiccas in Babylon. Perdiccas sent a large detachment of troops, under the command of a distinguished general, to meet and encounter Antipater and Craterus in Asia Minor, while he was himself engaged in the Egyptian campaign. ”
Perdiccas
Definition and stakes
Perdiccas, a key Macedonian general and regent after Alexander the Great’s death, appears in historical and literary sources as a figure caught in struggles for power and military aspirations. Classical writers such as Arrian and Plutarch portray him as a tactician maneuvering through internal disputes, while Jacob Abbott’s Pyrrhus recounts his military efforts against Ptolemy and Antipater.
Robert E. Howard, in The Lost Valley of Iskander, reinterprets Perdiccas in a mythical framework, highlighting his lasting symbolic significance. From ancient narratives to imaginative fiction, Perdiccas represents the challenges of leadership and the weight of legacy in a divided empire.
Quotes about “Perdiccas”
Robert E. Howard,
The Lost Valley of Iskander
(1934)
“ Emerging from the chamber, he found himself in a narrow street, with the stars fading for dawn. The building he had just quilted was dilapidated and obviously deserted. Down the narrow way he saw the house of Perdiccas. So he had not been carried far. Evidently his abductors had anticipated no interference. He wondered how much of a hand Bardylis had had in the plot. He did not like to think that the youth had betrayed him. But in any event, he would have to return to the house of Perdiccas, to obtain the packet he had concealed in the wall. ”
“ There were about two thousand men thus lost in the attempt to recross the stream.In all military operations, the criterion of merit, in the opinion of an army, is success; and, of course, the discontent and disaffection which prevailed in the camp of Perdiccas broke out anew in consequence of these misfortunes. There was a general mutiny. The officers themselves took the lead in it, and one hundred of them went over in a body to Ptolemy's side, taking with them a considerable portion of the army; while those that were left remained with Perdiccas, not to defend, but to destroy him. ”
