Dioscurides or Dioskourides ( el, Διοσκουρίδης, ) was a nephew of

Antigonus I Monophthalmus Antigonus I Monophthalmus ( grc-gre, Ἀντίγονος Μονόφθαλμος , 'the One-Eyed'; 382 – 301 BC), son of Philip from Elimeia, was a Macedonian Greek nobleman, general, satrap, and king. During the first half of his life he serv ...

and admiral during the Wars of the Diadochi. Very little is known about him. He was possibly the brother of another nephew of Antigonus, Polemaios, son of Polemaios. Dioscurides is first mentioned in the history of Diodorus of Sicily in 314 BC, when he led 80 ships from the

Hellespont The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

and Rhodes to assist Antigonus during his siege of Tyre. This possibly indicates that he had been put by his uncle in charge of raising ships in these areas. Antigonus then sent him with a fleet of 190 ships to the Aegean Sea, with the task of getting the local islands to switch their support to Antigonus. Dioscurides was apparently successful in this mission, and this event is generally considered by modern scholars to mark the establishment of the

Nesiotic League The League of the Islanders ( grc, τὸ κοινὸν τῶν νησιωτῶν, to koinon tōn nēsiōtōn) or Nesiotic League was a federal league (''koinon'') of ancient Greek city-states encompassing the Cyclades islands in the Aegean Sea. Or ...

. In late 313 BC, Dioscurides led an Antigonid fleet in defending Lemnos from the

Athenians Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

, who had been encouraged to attack the island by Antigonus' rival, Cassander. Nothing further is known of him thereafter. According to Antigonus' biographer

Richard Billows Richard A. Billows is a professor of history at Columbia University. His specialty is the Classics, Classical Mediterranean, especially the Ancient Greece, Hellenistic World post-Alexander the Great, Alexander. He holds an undergraduate degree in ...

, this may be because Dioscurides died young, or because he later participated in Polemaios' unsuccessful rebellion against Antigonus.

References

Sources

* {{cite book, last=Billows, first=Richard A., author-link=Richard Billows, title=Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State, publisher=University of California Press, location=Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, year=1990, isbn=0-520-20880-3 4th-century BC Macedonians Ancient Macedonian admirals generals of Antigonus I Monophthalmus