Perdiccas's Tomb

[arsinoe]

Hi. I am new here, and I like to know where ATG's sucessor Perdiccas was buried.
Kisses.
Arsinoe.

[abm]

Hi Arsinoe,Welcome to pothos.
I don't know where Perdiccas is buried and I'm afraid no one does. Of all the Successors, I think only Perdiccas' brother Alketas' (possible) burial place is known, but I'd have to check. See http://www.ancientlibrary.com/wcd/Alcetas and Pekridou's book mentioned there and http://hometown.aol.co.uk/bobbbennett/riseof.htm with picture and the context of Alketas' death.regards,abm

[ruthaki]

As he was assassinated by some of his colleagues in Egypt and wasn't too well thought of at the time, perhaps they just left his body there someplace.There's a town called Perdiccas in northern Greece and I've always wondered if it was named after him.
ruthaki

[abm]

Hi Ruth,I think it is very unlikely that Perdikkas was buried in Egypt. His brother and sister were with the army at the time and they would probably not just have left his body there. They can have taken it along for burial in Macedon at a later date. Krateros' bones for instance were kept by Eumenes until his own death in 316/7 and only then were they sent back to Phila.Perdikkas was a common name in Macedon; some of the Argead kings were named Perdikkas, so the town need not have got its name from the Successor.regards,abm

[ruthaki]

Thanks for that info about Krateros' remains. I find that interesting. Yes, you are probably right about his family members retaining his bone. Who was his sister who happened to be with the army in Egypt?? I know who his brother was but at the time wasn't he up the coast on another mission?

[abm]

Hi Ruth,You are probably right about his brother; I should check that. His sister was Atalante, who was married to Attalos. There's interesting article by Heckel on their marriage: GÇÿOn Attalos and AtalanteGÇÖ, Classical Quarterly 28 (1978), 377-82 (it is reprinted as one of the appendices in his Marshals of Alexander's Empire).
The mention of Krateros' bones is in book XIX 59.3 of Diodorus.regards,
abm

[abm]

just checked it. Perdikkas indeed sent his brother Alketas with Eumenes to the Hellespont. I've also checked on Atalante and apparently she was killed along with her brother (Diodorus XVIII 37.2), so she couldn't have kept his bones. And since most of Perdikkas' friends were killed and the others probably escaped secretly and hastily, I now even doubt what I said before. However, Perdikkas' remains might eventually be given back to his family anyway.regards,
abm

[ruthaki]

Thanks for that info Alexander. Perdikkas plays a significant role in the first part of my novel (covering the events following Alexander's death). I hadn't been aware of the presence of his sister so naturally she's not mentioned, but Alketas certainly is as I knew P. had sent him up north with Eumenes about the time he'd headed south chasing after Ptolemy and Alexander's funeral bier.
Can you tell me exactly what year Alketas was finally killed too? (I probably have this in my research notes but haven't thought about it for some time.)I'm just about getting ready to reintroduce Eumenes again so it might be good info for me to know. Thanks.

[abm]

Alketas comitted suicide in 319: see Diodorus XVIII 46.7.

[arsinoe]

Had Perdiccas any children, mistress or lover ? Kisses.
Arsinoe.

[abm]

the sources don't tell us about any, so we don't know.regards,
abm

[ruthaki]

I understand he had planned to marry Kleopatra, Alexander's sister, who had abandoned her children in Epirus in the care of Olympias. She was later murdered. And before that, he was married for a brief time to one of Antipater's daughters(Nikaia) who later returned home and married Lysimachus.

[abm]

you're absolutely right, Ruth. I don't know how I could have forgotten that. The condition of my brain these days appears to be even worse than I thought .

[ruthaki]

The reason I remember this is, I did quite a lot of research about Perdikkas because I gave him a great deal of attention in the first part of my novel. The fact Kleopatra offered herself to him as a wife (and he meant to accept but was assassinated before the marriage took place) caused her to be exiled (by Anitaper) in Syria where she was later murdered (I believe, by Kassandros' agents.)

[agesilaos]

She was murdered by Antigonos in 309 when Ptolemy tried courting her; Kassander was innocent of this one.