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Cleitus the Black (375 BC – 328), was an
officer of the Macedonian army led by Alexander the Great. He saved Alexander's
life at the Battle of the Granicus in 334 and was killed by him in a drunken
quarrel six years later. Cleitus was the son of Dropidas (who was the son of
Critias) and brother of Alexander's nurse, Lanike. He would be given the
epithet 'the Black' to distinguish him from Cleitus the White.
Military Service:
Cleitus was made a commander of the Greek Cavalry under
Philip II, a
position he would retain under Alexander the Great. At the Battle of the
Granicus in 334, when Alexander was personally under attack by Rhoesaces
and Spithridates, Cleitus severed Spithridates's hammer arm before the Persian
satrap could bring it down on Alexander thus saving his life. He would later be
promoted to one of the two commanders of the companion cavalry following the
trial and execution of Philotas.
The death of Cleitus The quarrel between Alexander and Cleitus
In 328 Artabazos resigned his satrapy of Bactria, and Alexander gave it to
Cleitus. On the eve of the day on which he was to set out to take possessions
of his government, Alexander organized a banquet during a feast day for
Dionysus in the satrapial palace at Maracanda (what is now the town of
Samarkand). At this banquet an angry dispute arose, the particulars of which
are disputed by various authors. Most of the members were rather drunk, and
Alexander announced a reorganization of commands. Specifically, Cleitus was
given orders to take 16,000 of the defeated Greek mercenaries who formerly
fought for the Persian King north to fight the steppe nomads in Central Asia.
Cleitus knew that he would no longer be near the king and would be a forgotten
man. Furious at the thought of commanding what he saw as second-rate soldiers
and fighting nomads in the middle of nowhere, he spoke his mind. To make
matters worse, when Alexander arrogantly boasted that his accomplishments were
far greater than that of his father, Phillip II, Cleitus responded by saying
that Alexander was not the legitimate king of the Macedonians, and that all of
his achievements were due to his father. Alexander called for his guards, but
they did not want to intervene in a quarrel between friends. Alexander threw an
apple at Cleitus' head and called for a dagger or spear, but the party near the
two men removed the dagger, restrained Alexander, and hustled Cleitus out of
the room. The Hypaspists had conveniently left the vicinity of Alexander.
Alexander then called for his trumpeter to summon the army; the alarm was not
sounded. Nevertheless, Cleitus managed to return to the room to utter more
grievances against Alexander (it is possible that Cleitus had not even left the
room). But sources agree that at this point Alexander got hold of a javelin and
threw it through Cleitus's heart.
In all of the four major known texts, it is shown that Alexander grieved for
the death of Cleitus. Alexander may have genuinely not wanted to kill Cleitus.
However, Cleitus was a member of Philip II's generation and Alexander had been
removing that generation from power to keep his own peers in power. The motives
of Cleitus in this quarrel have been interpreted in various ways. Cleitus may
have been angered at Alexander's increasing adoption of Persian customs. After
the death of King Darius III, Alexander was legally King of the Persian Empire.
Alexander was now employing eunuchs and was tolerant of such Persian customs as
proskynesis, which was considered degrading by many in the Macedonian army.
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Clitus the Black Clitus "the
Black": Macedonian officer (c.375-328), killed by Alexander the Great.
Clitus was the son of one Dropides, who probably belonged to the Macedonian
nobility and may have belonged to the faction that helped Philip become king in
the first weeks of 360. His daughter was wet-nurse of Philip's son and
crown-prince Alexander. Clitus became an officer of the Companion cavalry, a
unit of eight squadrons (of 225 horsemen each) that was Macedonia's most
effective weapon in battle. Its overall commander was Philotas, the son of
Philip's most reliable general Parmenion. Clitus' exact position among the
Companions is unclear, but he may already have been commander of the agema, the
squadron that served as the king's bodyguard. In any case, he was close to the
young king during the battle of the Granicus, where Alexander defeated a
Persian provincial army (June 334). During the fight, Clitus saved Alexander's
life. He certainly was commander of the agema during the battle of Gaugamela (1
October 331). He is next heard of in Susa, one of the capitals of the
Achaemenid empire, where he fell ill. In 330, he brought Macedonian
reinforcements to Parthia, where he joined forces with Alexander in September.
By now, he was one of Alexander's most trusted officers, and he was the natural
successor of Philotas when he was accused of treason in October 330 and
executed. Clitus was probably not involved in the trial of his superior, which
may have been masterminded by another officer, Craterus. Alexander, however,
had learned a lesson from the Philotas affair: it was dangerous to make one man
sole commander of the Companions. Therefore, Clitus had to accept a second,
minor commander, Alexander's closest friend Hephaestion. The years 329 and 328
saw fighting in Bactria and Sogdia, satrapies in the northeast of the
Achaemenid empire. Since most of the fighting was done on horseback, we would
expect the commanders of the Companion cavalry to be prominent in our sources,
but they are conspicuously absent. The reason is that the unit of Hephaestion
and Clitus was too large for the guerilla warfare in Sogdia. It was divided
into smaller units and Hephaestion commanded one of them. Clitus was appointed
as future satrap of Bactria and Sogdia, an incredibly important function. (In
the Achaemenid empire, this task was left to the crown prince.) In the autumn
of 328, however, a tragic incident took place. During a drinking party in the
satrapial palace at Maracanda in Sogdia, many courtiers were flattering
Alexander, who had won a difficult war in the Sogdianian desert. Some called
him the son of Zeus-Ammon and belittled Alexander's human father Philip, others
made jokes about the commanders who had been defeated and killed by the native
leader Spitamenes. This was more than Clitus, who had served under Philip and
knew the dead commanders, could stomach: he started to praise Philip. Hearing
his words, Alexander felt offended, and in his drunken rage pushed aside his
bodyguards Ptolemy and Perdiccas and run a lance through Clitus, who died on
the spot. When the king was sober again, he understood that he had made one of
the greatest mistakes of his life. For three days, he considered suicide but
then he decided to accept life again. The fact that the officers had
constructed some evidence to suggest that Clitus was a traitor, may have
helped. The same can be said about the court philosopher Anaxarchus of Abdera,
who told him that the king was justice impersonated, and could therefore never
act badly. This may have been comfortable to Alexander, but set a new standard
of flattery. From now on, hardly anybody dared to correct Alexander any more.
Clitus is sometimes called "Clitus the Black" to distinguish him from
another Macedonian officer ("the White"), who rose to prominence
after Alexander's death. This page was created in 2001; last modified on 23
April 2020.
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