Derdas II (

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

: Δέρδας) was the ruler of the region of

Elimiotis Elimiotis or Elimeia () was a region of Upper Macedonia that was located along the Haliacmon river. The capital of Elimiotis was Aiani, located in the modern municipality of Kozani, Western Macedonia. It was bordered by Orestis and Eordaea ...

(Ἐλιμιώτις), also rendered as Elymia (Ἐλιμία) and Elimeia (Ἐλίμεια), in the early 4th century BCE. Elimiotis was a client state of

Macedon Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

. The year 394/3 was a time of dynastic uncertainty in

. The Macedonian king Aëropus, who had usurped the throne in 398/7 died this year of an illness and was succeeded by his son Pausanias. His reign was short, as we learn from

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus or Diodorus of Sicily (; 1st century BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek historian from Sicily. He is known for writing the monumental Universal history (genre), universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty ...

Pausanias too, the king of the Macedonians, died after a reign of one year, being assassinated by Amyntas, who seized the kingship and reigned twenty-four years.

In this report Diodorus missed a step. Pausanias was, indeed, killed by "Amyntas", but not the man who reigned for twenty-four years.

Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...

, in a discussion of royal assassinations, said in his ''Politics'':

Any sort of insult (and there are many) may stir up anger, and when men are angry, they commonly act out of revenge, and not from ambition. For example… Amyntas the Little as killedby Derdas, because he boasted of having enjoyed his youth.

Scholars today give Aristotle credit for knowing the order events better than Diodorus, primarily because he lived at the Macedonian court only a few years after these events and would have known many of the witnesses. The accepted conclusion is that Amytas the Little (who was the son of either the rebellious Philip discussed above or his brother Menelaus) was, in turn, eliminated by Amyntas, son of

Arrhidaeus Arrhidaeus or Arrhidaios ( lived 4th century BC), one of Alexander the Great's generals, was entrusted by Ptolemy to bring Alexander's body to Egypt in 323 BC, contrary to the wishes of Perdiccas who wanted the body sent to Macedonia. On the murd ...

, from another branch of the royal family (who became

Amyntas III Amyntas III () was king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 393/2 to 388/7 BC and again from 387/6 to 370 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty through his father Arrhidaeus, a son of Amyntas, one of the sons of Alexander I. His mo ...

). Rather than do the deed himself, Amyntas III prevailed upon Derdas, a scion of the ruling family of Elimiotis, and probably either the son or grandson of

Derdas I Derdas I (Ancient Greek: Δέρδας) was the ruler of the region of Elimiotis (Ἐλιμιώτις), also rendered as Elymia (Ἐλιμία) and Elimeia (Ἐλίμεια), in the mid 5th century BCE. Our information about him comes from a few pa ...

to act for him. Aristotle's comment suggests that Derdas already had reasons to resent Amyntas the Little. Derdas II was later an active participant in a four-year campaign (382–379) waged by

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

against

Olynthus Olynthus ( ''Olynthos'') is an ancient city in present-day Chalcidice, Greece. It was built mostly on two flat-topped hills 30–40m in height, in a fertile plain at the head of the Gulf of Torone, near the neck of the peninsula of Pallene, Cha ...

, the leading city of the Chalcidike, which was attempting to build a league of cities on that peninsula. Two cities under pressure to join, Akanthos and Apollonia, sought help from Sparta in resisting this threat. Sparta, having assumed responsibility for keeping the peace throughout Greece since defeating Athens in the

Peloponnesian War The Second Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC), often called simply the Peloponnesian War (), was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek war fought between Classical Athens, Athens and Sparta and their respective allies for the hegemony of the Ancien ...

, committed to the project of reining in Olynthus. During the next four summers, Sparta repeatedly sent armies north to the region to attack Olynthus. In this effort, they sought troops from within the Peloponnese,

Boeotia Boeotia ( ), sometimes Latinisation of names, Latinized as Boiotia or Beotia (; modern Greek, modern: ; ancient Greek, ancient: ), is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Central Greece (adm ...

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

and Macedon. Among those from the last was a four-hundred man cavalry under the command of Derdas, “ruler of Elimeia”. In the first summer, it appears that Derdas' participation was somewhat reluctant. When mounting an attack on Olynthus, the Spartan commander

Teleutias Teleutias () was the brother of the Spartan king Agesilaus II, and a Spartan naval commander in the Corinthian War. He first saw action in the campaign to regain control of the Corinthian Gulf after the Spartan naval disaster at Cnidus in 394 BC, ...

stationed Derdas and his cavalry:

next to himself on the left… He did this both because he admired this cavalry unit and because he wished to honor Derdas, so that he would be glad he had joined the expedition.

The attack faltered at one point and

the entire force would probably been defeated if Derdas had not immediately advanced toward the gates of the city with his entire cavalry force… The Olynthian cavalry realized what was happening and, becoming afraid they would be cut off from the gates, turned about and returned to the city in great haste. And that is where Derdas killed a great number of the cavalry as they attempted to pass by him…

Olynthos was not defeated, however, and the next summer (381) Derdas anticipated the renewal of campaign by taking his cavalry to Apollonia in the spring. The Olynthians chose to attack the city before the Spartan army arrived, but as they approached the gates, Derdas counterattacked, routing them and chasing them all the way back to Olynthos itself. After this, the Olynthians kept close to home. The campaign went on for another two summers, but eventually the Olynthians sued for peace (379) and made a formal alliance with Sparta.Xen., v.3.26.

References

{{Reflist 4th-century BC Greek monarchs Ancient Elimiotes