Page 90 - Sarpedon’dan Keykubad’a Bir Zamanlar Antalya

Friend of The Youth of
Termessos The Macedonian
General Alketas

The people of Termessos, who gained a great reputation in
the historical scene by defending their city against the Macedo-
nian king Alexander the Great and his army, came face to face
with the same army again years later. However, this time, the
city the Macedonians wanted was not Termessos, but anoth-
er Macedonian general who had taken refuge with them. The
name of this general was Alketas. Alketas, one of the important
commanders appointed by Alexander the Great in his Indian
campaign, is also the brother of General Perdikkas, one of Alex-
ander’s right-hand men. After the untimely death of Alexander
the Great, during the struggles between his successors, Alketas
became the biggest supporter of his brother Perdikkas. How-
ever, Alketas fell into a very difficult situation when his brother
was killed by the soldiers of his own unit in Egypt and then Pto-
lemy joined Perdikkas’ army to his own unit. Because Ptolemy,
who became stronger, sentenced the supporters of Alketas and
Perdikkas to death, because he saw them as a danger to him-
self. Thereupon, Alketas, who was cornered, took the support of
Eumenes, another of successors to Alexander, and formed an
alliance with Attalos. However, Antigonos, one of Alexander’s

Fig. 53: Relief of Alketas Depicted on a Horse.
Photo by A. Gürbüz

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