Aristodemus of Miletus


 * For others with the same name, see Aristodemus (disambiguation)

Aristodemus (in Greek Aριστoδημoς; lived 4th century BC), native of Miletus, was a friend and flatterer of Antigonus, king of Asia, who sent him, in 315 BC, to the Peloponnese with 1000 talents, and ordered him to maintain friendly relations with Polyperchon and his son Alexander, to collect as large a body of mercenaries as possible, and to conduct the war against Cassander. On his arrival in Laconia, he obtained permission from the Spartans to engage mercenaries in their country, and thus raised in the Peloponnese an army of 8000 men. The friendship with Polyperchon and his son Alexander was confirmed, and the former was made governor of the peninsula. The ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt Ptolemy, who was allied with Cassander, sent a fleet against the general and the allies of Antigonus, and Cassander made considerable conquests in the Peloponnese. After his departure, Aristodemus and Alexander at first endeavoured in common to persuade the towns to expel the garrisons of Cassander, and recover their independence. But Alexander soon allowed himself to be made a traitor to the cause he had hitherto espoused, and was rewarded by Cassander with the chief command of his forces in the Peloponnese. In 314 BC, Aristodemus invited the Aetolians to support the cause of Antigonus; and having raised a great number of mercenaries among them, he attacked Alexander, who was besieging Cyllene, and compelled him to raise the siege. He then restored several other places, such as Patras in Achaea and Dyme in Aetolia, to what was then called freedom. After this, 306 BC, Aristodemus occurs once more in history.