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Neoptolemus died 321 BC) was a Macedonian
officer who served under Alexander the Great. According to Arrian he belonged
to the race of the Aeacidae, so he was probably related to the family of the
kings of Epirus. Neoptolemus is mentioned as serving in the Macedonian royal
guards and distinguished himself particularly at the siege of Gaza, 332, of
which he was the first to scale the walls. Little has been written about him
during the subsequent campaigns of Alexander, however he appears to have earned
a reputation as an able soldier. Dexippus lists the satrapy of Carmania as
assigned to Neoptolemus after the death of Alexander; however, Diodorus and
Justin assign this satrapy to Tlepolemus instead.
A. G. Roos revised Dexippus' text to assign Carmania to Tlepolemus and Armenia
to Neoptolemus. Pat Wheatley and Waldemar Heckel found this revision to be
unlikely to represent the original text, and considered it more likely that the
fragment of the text of Dexippus includes a scribal error, as
"Neoptolemus" is an easy corruption of "Tlepolemus".
Neoptolemus apparently campaigned in Armenia after the death of Alexander, but
his official status in this area is unclear; he might have been a strategos
rather than a satrap. Neoptolemus managed only to create havoc in Armenia,
which suggests that he wasn't cooperating with any existing satrap.
As Neoptolemus had a reputation of being restless and unsettled, Perdiccas
regarded him with suspicion. So in 321, when Perdiccas set out for Ptolemaic
Egypt, he placed Neoptolemus under the command of Eumenes, who was told to
exercise particular vigilance regarding Neoptolemus. Perdiccas' suspicions
turned out to be well founded: Neoptolemus immediately entered into
correspondence with the hostile Macedonian leaders, Antipater and Craterus,
and, on being ordered by Eumenes to join him with his contingent, refused to
comply. In response, Eumenes immediately marched against him, defeated his
army, and compelled all the Macedonian troops in his service to take the oath
of fidelity to Perdiccas. Neoptolemus managed to escape with a small body of
cavalry and joined Craterus, whom he persuaded to march immediately against
Eumenes, while the latter was still celebrating his victory and unprepared for
a fresh attack. But their cautious adversary was not taken by surprise and met
his enemies in a pitched battle. During this battle, Neoptolemus commanded the
left wing, on which he was opposed to Eumenes himself; and the two leaders, who
were bitter personal enemies, sought each other out during the battle and
engaged in single combat, in which, after a desperate struggle, Neoptolemus was
slain by Eumenes.
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