Perdiccas(?), Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 3, Alexander sarcophagus 4th C. BCE
"The opinion of Perdiccas was adopted with the consent of all; and it was resolved to wait for the delivery of Roxane; and, if a boy should be born, they appointed Leonatus, Perdiccas, Craterus, and Antipater, as his guardians, to whom they at once took an oath of obedience.
When the cavalry had also taken the oath, the infantry, indignant that no share in the deliberation had been granted to them, proclaimed Arrhidaeus, the brother of Alexander, king, chose him guards from their own body, and appointed that he should be called Philippus, after the name of his father. These proceedings being reported to the cavalry, they despatched two of their officers, Attalus and Meleager, to quell the excitement; but they, hoping for power for themselves by flattering the multitude, neglected their commission and took the side of the soldiers. The insurrection soon gathered strength, when it once began to have a head and regular management. The infantry rushed in a body, under arms, to the palace, with a resolution to cut the cavalry to pieces; but the cavalry, hearing of their approach, retreated in haste from the city, and after pitching their camp, began to threaten the infantry in return. Nor did the animosity of the chiefs, meanwhile, abate. Attalus despatched some of his men to assassinate Perdiccas, the leader of the opposite party, but, as he was armed, the assassins did not dare go near him, though he freely invited them to approach; and such was the resolution of Perdiccas, that he went of his own accord to the infantry, and, summoning them to an assembly, represented to them the atrocity of their conduct; admonishing them to consider against whom they had taken arms; that they were not Persians, but Macedonians; not enemies, but their own countrymen; most of them their kinsmen, but certainly all of them their fellow soldiers, sharers of the same camp and of the same dangers; that they would present a striking spectacle to their enemies, who would rejoice at the mutual slaughter of those by whose arms they grieved at having been conquered; and that they would atone with their own blood to the manes of their slaughtered adversaries.
Perdiccas having enforced these arguments with eloquence peculiar to himself, produced such an effect upon the infantry, that his admonitions were obeyed, and he was unanimously chosen general."
-Justinus, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus' Philippic Histories: Book 13, Sections 2-4
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| Perdiccas(?), Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 3, Alexander sarcophagus. Current location: Istanbul, Arkeoloji Müzesi. |
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