Crios (354 BC-) was a Macedonian general and a chief lieutenant of Alexander the Great during his early conquests.
Biography[]
Crios was born in 354 BC to a family of Macedonian nobility. He was the same age as Alexander when he was first given command of an army in 335 BC, with Alexander dispatching Crios to raise an army in Athens and march north to assist him in his conquest of Thrace. Crios conquered the town of Stoboi (in present-day North Macedonia) from the Thracians, after which he marched southeast to join Alexander's army as he waited along the Hellespont for spring of 334 BC to set in, upon which Alexander expected Crios and his army to provide support to his main body as he embarked upon the invasion of the Persian Empire. Crios would assist Alexander in his Siege of Daskyleion, opening the way for the advance into Anatlia, and Crios commanded Alexander's vanguard at the Battle of the Granicus, where Crios opened the battle by attacking Nabunaita's encamped army near present-day Inegol, Turkey. Crios was then given the task of liberating Ionia from the Persians, restoring Pergamon's autonomy and fighting in the Siege of Halicarnassus. Afterwards, Crios conquered southern Anatolia (including the Satrapy of Lydia) and won his own decisive victory, the Battle of Mazaka, over the Satrapy of Cappadocia in 333 BC. He was forced to retreat from the city due to the heavy losses he had suffered, ceding the city to Ariarathes and his massive Persian army, but he joined forces with Ptolemy and defeated Ariarathes' much larger army at the Battle of Kelainai.