Eumenes

Lore & Background

Eumenes was a native of Cardia in the Thracian Chersonese. His father, Hieronymus, cultivated a friendship with Philip II of Macedon, leading Eumenes to be employed as a private royal secretary by Philip, probably in 342 BC. He served as hetairos and royal secretary under both Philip and Alexander the Great, accompanying Alexander into Asia. Eumenes did not get along with Hephaestion, Alexander's closest companion, and Plutarch reports an anecdote of Eumenes hiding money from Alexander. After Alexander's victory at Gaugamela in 331 BC, Eumenes began performing military and diplomatic missions, and was promoted to leader of the companion cavalry after Hephaestion's death in late 324 BC. He participated in the Marriages at Susa, wedding Artonis, daughter of Persian satrap Artabazus II.

Reader's Guide

Eumenes' significance lies in his role as a key figure in the Wars of the Diadochi, where he championed the Argead royal house against the successors who sought to carve up Alexander's empire. Despite less experience as a commander, he defeated Craterus, one of Alexander's most accomplished generals, at the Battle of the Hellespont in 321 BC. His later campaigns against Antigonus included a victory at Paraitakene and an indecisive defeat at Gabiene, after which he was betrayed by his own soldiers, the Silver Shields, and executed. His legacy is preserved in Plutarch's Parallel Lives, where he is paired with the Roman rebel Quintus Sertorius, highlighting his reputation as a capable but ultimately doomed loyalist. Eumenes' career illustrates the complex loyalties and shifting alliances that characterized the period after Alexander's death.

Did You Know?

• Eumenes was a native of Cardia in the Thracian Chersonese, and his father Hieronymus was a prominent citizen who cultivated a friendship with Philip II of Macedon.
• He wed Artonis, daughter of Persian satrap Artabazus II, whose sister Barsine was a mistress of Alexander and mother of his son Heracles.
• Eumenes is recorded as an author of the Ephemerides, a chronicle of Alexander the Great's activities leading up to his illness and death.
• After his defeat at Gabiene, Eumenes was betrayed by his soldiers, the Silver Shields, and given over to Antigonus, who executed him in the winter of 316–315 BC.