Menides
Menidas (Ancient Greek : ) also known as Menetus, Menoites (Ancient Greek : ) was a Macedonian military leader, participant in the Eastern campaign of Alexander the Great and the wars of the Diadochi.
Information about Menides' life is fragmentary, and his name has several spellings, leading some historiographers to believe that there were multiple individuals named Menetus and Menides. At the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC, he led the mercenary cavalry units on the right flank, which were assigned an important task during the battle. After the death of Alexander the Great, Menides entered the service of the successor Peithon.
Biography
Etymology
The first mention of the character dates back to 332/331 BC, when the army of Alexander the Great was in Egypt. Arrian wrote that Menetus, the son of Hegesander, brought 400 Greek mercenaries to Memphis. J. G. Droysen also identified Menetus, the son of Hegesander, with one of the commanders of the Battle of Gaugamela. This opinion, although recognized as probable, is not universally accepted. Thus, G. Bervet noted that Menetus or Menoites is mentioned by Diodorus Siculus as an associate of the satrap of Media Peithon during the wars of the Diadochi. On this basis, the historian opposed the identification of Menides and Menetus. W. Heckel, on the contrary, considered their identity possible.
Military career
Modern historians also note that Arrian did not specify whether the mercenaries brought to Memphis by Menidas were cavalry or infantry. However, a detachment of 400 infantrymen was not significant to the overall army. Accordingly, the generally accepted view in historiography is that they were cavalry, since ancient historians paid special attention to this reinforcement. At the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC, Menidas's mercenary cavalry, which consisted of several detachments totaling approximately 400 horsemen, was positioned in the second line of the right flank behind the hetairoi. According to Alexander's orders, if the Persians maneuvered to encircle the main forces of the Macedonians, Menidas was to deploy his detachment and accept battle. During the battle, when the Persian cavalry attempted to carry out such a maneuver, Alexander the Great sent Menidas's horsemen to intercept them. However, Menidas, due to the disparity in forces, was forced to retreat. Alexander the Great then sent detachments of Aretas's prodromes, Ariston's paeons, and mercenary foot soldiers to his aid, who, at the cost of heavy losses, managed to stop the Persians and disrupt their ranks.
In the following stages of the battle, according to Quintus Curtius Rufus, Menides, "either by his own decision or by order of the king," tried to prevent the plunder of the baggage train, which the Persians had reached by outflanking the Macedonians' left flank. However, the attempt proved futile, as Menides was forced to retreat under the onslaught of the Caucasians and Scythians, "without avenging the damage, but merely bearing witness to it". During the battle, Menides was seriously wounded by a Persian arrow.
In 330 BC, Menidas, along with other generals, was stationed near Parmenion in Ecbatana, while Alexander's main army continued its campaign. Command of Menidas's mercenary cavalry was transferred to Philip, the son of Menelaus. Soon, when the main Macedonian army was at Phrada, Alexander the Great ordered the arrest of Parmenion's son, Philotas, the commander of the hetairoi, on charges of plotting. After Philotas's execution, Alexander the Great decided to also eliminate his father and, according to Arrian, sent a messenger to Sitalces, Cleander, and Menidas with orders to kill Parmenion. Together, the generals organized the assassination of Parmenion, who had participated in the Macedonian army's campaigns of conquest even before Alexander's birth. Under Philip II he was one of the chief advisers of the Macedonian king.
Menides rejoined the main army in 329/328 BC at Zariasp, where he arrived with Epocyllus and Ptolemy with reinforcements of four thousand foot soldiers and a thousand cavalry. In the winter of the following year 328/327 BC, Alexander the Great sent Menides from Nautakas with Epocyllus and Sopolidas to Macedonia to recruit reinforcements for the army. Menides did not manage to fulfill Alexander's order before the start of the Indian campaign and waited for the king in Babylon. When Alexander was dying, Menides, according to Arrian, along with other close associates of the king, turned to the temple of Serapis with a plea for help. There he even underwent the necessary incubation ritual.
Presumably, after Alexander's death, Menidas entered the service of Peithon, satrap of Media. In 316/315 BC, Antigonus accused Peithon of plotting a conspiracy and executed him, after which he appointed Orontobates as the new satrap of Media. Orontobates left Antigonus camp for Media, accompanied by the strategist Hippostratos with an army of 3,500 mercenaries. Peithon's friends, the most prominent of whom were Meleager and Menides, gathered a force of 800 horsemen from among Peithon's and Eumenes' former supporters and rebelled. They ravaged the lands of Media and even managed to successfully raid the camp of Hippostratos and Orontobates. Hippostratos may have died during this battle. The rebellion was soon suppressed. Considering that Menides is not mentioned among the dead rebels, it is possible that he either fled or was captured and continued serving in Antigonus's army. Menides' subsequent fate is unknown.