For other uses, see Pleistarchus

Pleistarchus

Pleistarchus or Plistarch was the Agiad King of Sparta from 480 to 458 BC. He was the son of Leonidas I and Gorgo. For the early part of his reign, his cousin Pausanias, acted as regent because Pleistarchus was not of age.-Popular culture:...

Pleistarchus or Plistarch was son of Antipater

Antipater

Antipater was a Macedonian general and a supporter of kings Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. In 320 BC, he became Regent of all of Alexander's Empire. Antipater was one of the sons of a Macedonian nobleman called Iollas or Iolaus and his family were distant collateral relatives to the...

 and brother of Cassander

Cassander

Cassander , King of Macedonia , was a son of Antipater, and founder of the Antipatrid dynasty...

, king of Macedon

Macedon

Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....

ia. He is first mentioned in the year 313 BC

313 BC

Year 313 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Cursor and Brutus...

, when he was left by his brother in the command of Chalcis

Chalcis

Chalcis or Chalkida , the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, is situated on the strait of the Evripos at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the Greek χαλκός , though there is no trace of any mines in the area...

, to make headway against Ptolemy

Ptolemy (general)

Ptolemy ; died 309 BC) was a nephew of Antigonus, and who served as a general to Alexander the Great who afterwards became king of Asia....

, the general of Antigonus

Antigonus I Monophthalmus

Antigonus I Monophthalmus , son of Philip from Elimeia, was a Macedonian nobleman, general, and satrap under Alexander the Great. During his early life he served under Philip II, and he was a major figure in the Wars of the Diadochi after Alexander's death, declaring himself king in 306 BC and...

, when Cassander himself was recalled to the defence of Macedonia. Again, in 302 BC

302 BC

Year 302 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Denter and Paullus...

, when the general coalition was formed against Antigonus, Pleistarchus was sent forward by his brother, with an army of 12000 foot and 500 horse, to join Lysimachus

Lysimachus

Lysimachus was a Macedonian officer and diadochus of Alexander the Great, who became a basileus in 306 BC, ruling Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon.-Early Life & Career:...

 in Asia. As the Hellespont and entrance of the Euxine was occupied by Demetrius

Demetrius I of Macedon

Demetrius I , called Poliorcetes , son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus and Stratonice, was a king of Macedon...

, he endeavoured to transport his troops from Odessus

Varna

Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...

 direct to Heraclea

Heraclea Pontica

Heraclea Pontica , an ancient city on the coast of Bithynia in Asia Minor, at the mouth of the river Lycus. It was founded by the Greek city-state of Megara c.560-558 and was named after Heracles who the Greeks believed entered the underworld at a cave on the adjoining Archerusian promontory .The...

, but lost by far the greater part on the passage, some having been captured by the enemy's ships, while others perished in a storm, in which Pleistarchus himself narrowly escaped shipwreck. Notwithstanding this misfortune, he seems to have rendered efficient service to the confederates, for which he was rewarded after the battle of Ipsus

Battle of Ipsus

The Battle of Ipsus was fought between some of the Diadochi in 301 BC near the village of that name in Phrygia...

 (301 BC

301 BC

Year 301 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Dictatorship of Corvus...

) by obtaining the province of Cilicia

Cilicia

In antiquity, Cilicia was the south coastal region of Asia Minor, south of the central Anatolian plateau. It existed as a political entity from Hittite times into the Byzantine empire...

, as an independent government. This, however, he did not long retain, being expelled from it in the following year by Demetrius, almost without opposition. Hereupon he returned to his brother Cassander, and from this time there is no further record of his activities. Pausanias

Pausanias (geographer)

Pausanias was a Greek traveler and geographer of the 2nd century AD, who lived in the times of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius. He is famous for his Description of Greece , a lengthy work that describes ancient Greece from firsthand observations, and is a crucial link between classical...

 mentions him as having been defeated by the Athenians

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 in an action in which he commanded the cavalry and auxiliaries of Cassander; but the period at which this event took place is uncertain. It is perhaps to him that the medical writer, Diocles of Carystus

Diocles of Carystus

Diocles of Carystus , a very celebrated Greek physician, was born at Carystus in Euboea, lived not long after the time of Hippocrates, to whom Pliny says he was next in age and fame. Not much is known of his life, other that he lived and worked in Athens, where he wrote what may be the first...

, addressed his work, which is cited more than once by Athenaeus

Athenaeus

Athenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD...

, as τα προς Πλεισταρχον Υγιεινα.