Perdiccas (355-320 BC) was a Macedonian general who took part in the conquests of Alexander and the Wars of the Diadochi. He served as regent of Alexander the Great's empire following his death in 323 BC, but he alienated the powerful generals Antigonus, Antipater, and Craterus, leading to a revolt against his rule. He later invaded Egypt in response to Ptolemy's theft of Alexander's body, only to be killed by his own mutinying soldiers in 320 BC.
Biography[]
Perdiccas was the son of the Macedonian nobleman Orontes, and he commanded a battalion of phalangists during the 335 BC conquest of Thebes, during which he was severely wounded. He went on to become one of Alexander the Great's most important commanders, holding a major command during his invasion of India. In 324 BC, he married the daughter of the Persian satrap of Media, and he became commander of the Companion Cavalry and Chiliarch on Hephaestion's death. When Alexander died on 11 June 323 BC, he gave his ring to Perdiccas, who became regent of Macedon on the birth of Alexander and Roxana's son Alexander IV of Macedon. Perdiccas was a heavy-handed regent who attempted to wipe out opposition to his rule, and, in 322 BC, he invaded the unconquered Persian satrapy of Cappadocia. However, Antigonus refused to support this venture, leading to war between the two men. Perdiccas went on to marry Alexander's sister Cleopatra of Macedon, breaking his engagement to Antipater's daughter in the process. Antipater, Antigonus, and the snubbed general Craterus launched a revolt against Perdiccas, and, in 321 BC, Ptolemy stole Alexander's body as it was being transported to Macedonia and took it to Egypt, leading to Perdiccas invading Ptolemaic Egypt. Perdiccas failed to make progress in Egypt, and many of his men drowned while attempting to cross the Nile near Memphis. In response, Perdiccas' men mutinied, and his officers Peithon, Antigenes, and Seleucus murdered him, while his officers and the rest of the army defected to Ptolemy.