Talk:Eumenes

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 19 January 2021 and 7 May 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): ColtonJW.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 20:57, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Changes

I am going to change a few statements made in this article for the purpose of making it more accurate.

For one, I am going to qualify Gabiene and Paraitacene as victories, if still indecisive ones. The fact remains that Eumenes carried the day in both battles, despite being betrayed during the second.

Secondly, too much emphasis is placed on "Macedonians" as a whole not trusting Eumenes, disliking Eumenes, etc. In fact, Plutarch lets us know that Eumenes' detractors were almost uniformly found in his peer group of Macedonian officers, and not among the thousands of line Macedonian soldiers he commanded. The later showed only loyalty and adulation toward him, second only to another living man:

"Alcetas flatly refused to serve, because his Macedonians, he said were ashamed to fight against Antipater, and loved Craterus so well, they were ready to receive him for their commander." -Plutarch

It was immediately after Craterus' death was discovered that we see the only instance of Macedonian soldiers resenting Eumenes as a foreigner in any capacity. The worst these troops ever actually do to Eumenes, though, was be lazy during times of peace and allow their leaders and the dreaded Silver Shields to deliver Eumenes to Antigonus... after their baggage train had been lost.

Robert Ansen wrote well when he described the mercenary tendencies the Royal Macedonian army had adopted since crossing into Bactria and India. Eumenes, so Plutarch tells us, "... came again to be popular ..." after selling off estates to pay his men well, and the order for him to be guarded by a thousand of their best "... was cheerfully obeyed ..." His decision to gift them with purple cloaks and hats also refers to the increasing need to make nice with the troops via shiny stuff.

Consider, for example, these quotes:

"The Macedonians, ... while there was no show of danger, allowed themselves to be corrupted, ... and affected to appear generals-in-chief. But when Antigonus came upon them with a great army, then not only the common soldiers cast their eyes upon Eumenes, but these men, who had appeared so great in a peaceful time of ease, submitted all of them to him, and quietly posted themselves severally as he appointed them."

Plutarch uses the term "Macedonians" for more than one purpose. In this case, there is a clear differentiation between the Macedonian officer and the Macedonian footman.

"At the sight of the [enemy], the front stopped their march, and called out for Eumenes, for they would not advance a step but under his conduct; and fixing their arms in the ground gave the word among themselves to stand, requiring their officers also not to stir or engage or hazard themselves without Eumenes. ... As soon as the soldiers saw [Eumenes] they saluted him in their Macedonian dialect, and took up their shields, and striking them with their pikes, gave a great shout; inviting the enemy to come on, for now they had a leader."

"By this time, the greater part of the forces were come together to Eumenes, and admiring his sagacity, declared him alone commander-in-chief of the whole army; upon which Antigenes and Teutamus, the commanders of the Argyraspids, being very much offended, and envying Eumenes, formed a conspiracy against him; and assembling the greater part of the satraps and officers, consulted when and how to cut him off."

By now, we've seen that the rank and file soldiers have a meaningful voice in the confirmation of leadership. Think back, for example, to the role the phalanx played in the determination of who was to become king after Alexander's death.

"After long conversation [between Eumenes and Ptolemy, nephew of Antigonus] ... all that were present were astonished at his courage and gallantry. And many of the Macedonians flocked to see what sort of person Eumenes was, for since the death of Craterus no man had been so much talked of in the army."

And this is his enemy's army that reacts thus--without hatred, but astonishment and curiosity.

Envy, hate, jealousy, etc., were not the feelings the soldiers felt, but the sentiments expressed by such men as Antigenes and Teutamus, Neoptolemus, Peucestas, and other officers. Tellingly, two of those four have post-Alexandrian records marked primarily by their duplicity; Antigenes was burnt alive for his treachery by the man he sold Eumenes to; Teutamus we (also tellingly) never hear from again; and the Silver Shields were sent to the eastern reaches of the empire to be killed off. This, while Eumenes' troops wept at their commander's fate.

So much for Eumenes being hated for being a foreigner. More like, being hated for being more successful.

Phoebus Americanos (talk) 13:21, 15 April 2009 (UTC) question - why the article say that the elite regiment of Macedonians was Greek? Any sources for such description?

We actually know that they were Macedonian, and thus writing here that they were Greeks , in context of Alexander's army, their baggage train and women, children and slaves), is incorrect as it is not supported by the scientific literature, nor sources.

Also we cannot say with certainty that Eumenes was Greek per se, only that he came from Cardia, ancient Athenian colony, in Thrace and he was a son of poor wagoner with unusually bright mind and managerial skills. He definitely was a product of the Hellenic millieu - education and culture, he was non-Macedonian and the rest of his origin is but a mystery.

Interesting aspect of Hieronimus of Cardia is in that he most likely was not only a fellow Cardian but also the nephew of Eumenes of Cardia, and thus his recollections influenced the way Plutarch and Diodorus construed the heroic struggle between these two Alexander's warlords - eg see Bosworth, The Legacy of Alexanders, or works of Jane Hornblower.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.193.43.88 (talk) 19:22, 12 October 2009 (UTC)