Thibron (; died 322 BC)''

Oxford Classical Dictionary The ''Oxford Classical Dictionary'' (''OCD'') is generally considered "the best one-volume dictionary on antiquity," an encyclopædic work in English consisting of articles relating to classical antiquity and its civilizations. It was first pub ...

'',
Thibron, Spartan mercenary commander, d. 322 BCE
was a

Lacedaemonian 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 valley of Evrotas river in Laconia, in southeastern Pe ...

who was a confidential officer of

Harpalus Harpalus (Greek: Ἅρπαλος), son of Machatas, was a Macedonian aristocrat and childhood friend of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. Harpalus was repeatedly entrusted with official duties by Alexander and absconded with large su ...

, the

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 ...

ian

satrap A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median kingdom, Median and Achaemenid Empire, Persian (Achaemenid) Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic period, Hellenistic empi ...

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

under

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

. According to one account it was Thibron who murdered Harpalus in

Crete Crete ( ; , Modern Greek, Modern: , Ancient Greek, Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the List of islands by area, 88th largest island in the world and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fifth la ...

, in 324 BC. He then possessed himself of his late master's treasures, fleet, and army, and, ostensibly espousing the cause of some

Cyrenaean Cyrene, also sometimes anglicization of names, anglicized as Kyrene, was an ancient Greeks, ancient Greek Greek colonization, colony and ancient Romans, Roman Cities of the Roman Empire, city near present-day Shahhat in northeastern Libya in Nor ...

exiles, sailed to Cyrene with the intention of subjugating it. He defeated the Cyrenaeans in a battle, obtained possession of their harbour, Apollonia, together with the treasures he found there, and compelled them to capitulate on condition of paying him 500 talents, and supplying him with half of their war-chariots for his expeditions. This agreement, however, they were soon induced to repudiate by Mnasicles, one of Thibron's officers, who had deserted his standard, and gone over to the enemy. Although Thibron was aided by the Barcaeans and Hesperians, and succeeded in taking the town of

Taucheira Tocra, Taucheira or Tukrah, is a town on the coast of the Marj District in the Cyrenaica region of northeastern Libya, founded by Cyrene. It lay 200 stadia west of Ptolemais. Today it is a coastal town west of Marj. History Founded by the ...

, under the able direction of Mnasicles, the Cyrenaeans recovered Apollonia. Thibron's fortunes were further dealt a heavy blow when his fleet was almost totally destroyed in a storm with heavy loss of men. Undeterred, he collected reinforcements from the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

, defeated the Cyrenaeans (who were now aided by the Libyans and

Carthaginians The Punic people, usually known as the Carthaginians (and sometimes as Western Phoenicians), were a Semitic people, Semitic people who Phoenician settlement of North Africa, migrated from Phoenicia to the Western Mediterranean during the Iron ...

), and closely besieged Cyrene. Pressed by scarcity, the citizens quarrelled among themselves. The chiefs of the

oligarchical Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or through ...

party were driven out from the city, and betook themselves partly to

Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy I Soter (; , ''Ptolemaîos Sōtḗr'', "Ptolemy the Savior"; 367 BC – January 282 BC) was a Macedonian Greek general, historian, and successor of Alexander the Great who went on to found the Ptolemaic Kingdom centered on Egypt. Pto ...

, king of Egypt, and partly to Thibron. Ptolemy thereupon sent a large force against Cyrene under

Ophellas Ophellas or Ophelas (fl. c. 350 – 308 BC) was an ancient Macedonian soldier and politician. Born in Pella in Macedonia, he was a member of the expeditionary army of Alexander the Great in Asia, and later acted as Ptolemaic governor of Cyren ...

. The exiles who had taken refuge with Thibron, endeavoured to escape and join Ophellas, but were detected and put to death. The Cyrenaean people then made common cause with Thibron against the new invader; but Ophellas defeated him. Thibron was forced to flee, but fell into the hands of some Libyans, who delivered him to Epicydes, an

Olynthian 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, a ...

whom Ophellas, having taken Taucheira, had made governor of the town. The citizens of Taucheira, with the sanction of Ophellas, sent Thibron to Apollonia, where he was crucified in 322 BC.

References

Bibliography

* Bosworth, Albert Brian (2016)
"Thibron (2), Spartan mercenary commander, d. 322 BCE"
In ''Oxford Classical Dictionary''. Accessed 28 January 2022. * {{DGRBM, author=EE, title=Thimbron or Thibron, volume=3, pages=1103-1104, url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moa/acl3129.0003.001/1111 322 BC deaths 4th-century BC Spartans Ancient Cyrenaica People executed by crucifixion Year of birth unknown