Editing Perdiccas (section)

==Career under Alexander==
[[File:Macedonian Army Thessalian.jpg|left|thumb|[[Relief carving]] of a mounted horseman on the [[Alexander Sarcophagus]] of [[Sidon]]. Depicting the [[Battle of Issus]], this figure is often identified as Perdiccas.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Perdiccas - Livius |url=https://www.livius.org/articles/person/perdiccas/ |access-date= |website=www.livius.org }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=The attribution is speculative |first=as the historian Heckel Waldemar notes that "no Macedonian except Alexander can be identified with certainty". |date=2006 |title=Mazaeus, Callisthenes and the Alexander Sarcophagus |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4436826 |journal=Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte |volume=55 |issue=4 |page=393 |jstor=4436826 |issn=0018-2311}}</ref>|220x220px]]
As the commander of a battalion of the [[Macedonian phalanx]] ([[Phalanx formation|heavy infantry]]), in 335{{Nbsp}}BC Perdiccas fought in the [[Alexander's Balkan campaign|Balkan campaigns of Alexander]] against the [[Illyrians|Illyrian]] peoples located northwest of Macedon. In the same year, he distinguished himself during the [[Battle of Thebes|conquest]] of [[Thebes (Greece)|Thebes]], which had rebelled against Macedon following the death of Philip II. Perdiccas led a contingent which stormed the rear gate of the city, and was heavily wounded during the fighting.{{sfn|Heckel|2016|p=156}}

Afterward, Perdiccas accompanied Alexander on his [[Wars of Alexander the Great|campaigns against]] the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Persian Empire]]. Sources generally agree that Perdiccas was a loyal soldier of Alexander.{{sfn|Anson|2014|p=80}}{{sfn|Heckel|2016|p=153, citing Tarn CAH VI, 462}} For example, the ancient historian [[Plutarch]] reports the following conversation between the two prior to the [[Battle of Granicus]] (the first encounter between Alexander and the Persians), when Alexander was allotting lands and properties to his followers:

{{blockquote|So that at last [Alexander] had portioned out or engaged almost all the royal property; which giving Perdiccas an occasion to ask him what he would leave himself, he replied, his hopes. "Your soldiers," replied Perdiccas, "will be your partners in those," and refused to accept of the estate he had assigned him. Some others of his friends did the like...<ref>This comes from Plutarch's Life of Alexander, 15.4</ref>}}

Perdiccas led his battalion at the battles of Granicus, [[Battle of Issus|Issus]], and [[Battle of Gaugamela|Gaugamela]], where he again distinguished himself and was wounded. Perdiccas became a {{Transliteration|grc|[[somatophylax]]}} ({{gloss|bodyguard}}) of Alexander following this, and his influence probably grew steadily thereafter.{{sfn|Heckel|2016|p=158}} Perdiccas' battalion was used by Alexander to flank and win the [[Battle of the Persian Gate]] in 330{{Nbsp}}BC.{{sfn|Arrian|loc=2.18}} When [[Philotas]], the son of [[Parmenion]] and an important general in Alexander's army, was held in suspicion by the king, Perdiccas was among the close companions who joined Alexander in discussing what should be done.{{sfn|Heckel|2016|pp=157-158}} When Alexander attempted to kill another of his companions, [[Cleitus the Black]], in 328{{Nbsp}}BC, Perdiccas was among those who held Alexander back.{{sfn|Heckel|2016|p=158}}

Subsequently, he held an important command in the Indian campaigns of Alexander. Perdiccas and [[Hephaestion]], Alexander's closest companion, were generally compatible and seemed to have got along well, as both were selected by Alexander to ford the [[Indus River]] (a task which required coordination) and did so without issue.{{sfn|Heckel|2016|p=159}} This contrasts Hephaestion's known quarrels with other prominent generals of Alexander, such as Craterus and [[Eumenes of Cardia]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Oczachowska |first=Klaudia |date=2024-08-31 |title=Beloved Hephaestion – detested Hephaestion |url=https://czasopisma.uwm.edu.pl/index.php/ep/article/view/10505 |journal=Echa Przeszłości |language=en |issue=XXV/1 |pages=11–23 |doi=10.31648/ep.10505 |issn=2450-078X|doi-access=free }}</ref> Perdiccas was part of the cavalry under Alexander's control at the [[Battle of the Hydaspes]] in 326{{Nbsp}}BC and crossed the river with him in said battle. Perdiccas later plundered around [[Sangala]], and assaulted and sacked the [[Mallian]] towns.{{sfn|Heckel|2016|p=159}} Alexander was wounded in this campaign, having been shot in the chest with an arrow that penetrated his armor; some traditions say Perdiccas was the one who cut the arrow out with a sword and saved the king's life.{{sfn|Heckel|2016|p=160}}{{sfn|Arrian|loc=7.11}}

In 324{{Nbsp}}BC, at the [[Susa weddings|nuptials celebrated]] at [[Susa]], a prominent Persian city, Perdiccas married the daughter of the Persian [[satrap]] of [[Medes|Media]], [[Atropates]]. Perdiccas' wife's name is not known and he likely divorced her following Alexander's death.{{sfn|Heckel|2016|p=161, who cites Arrian 7.4.5.}} When Hephaestion unexpectedly died the same year, Perdiccas was appointed his successor as commander of the [[Companion cavalry]] and [[chiliarch]], effectively becoming Alexander's second-in-command. He was also entrusted with the responsibility of transferring Hephaestion's corpse to [[Babylon]] for burning and burial.{{sfn|Heckel|2016|p=161}} As Alexander lay dying in his bed, he gave his [[Seal (emblem)|signet ring]] to Perdiccas.{{sfnm|Heckel|2006|1p=198|Diod.|2loc=17.117.3, 18.2.4. There is some scholarly debate about whether this really occurred or is "Perdiccan [[propaganda]]". Most scholars accept it at face value to explain how Perdiccas became so influential after Alexander's death, but others reject its veracity due to how the histories of the time came down to us ||{{pb}}AtkinsonYardley|2009|3p=145 points out [[Ptolemy I Soter|Ptolemy's]] enmity for Perdiccas (Ptolemy's lost account greatly influenced later surviving sources, namely [[Arrian]]) might explain the muddled tradition, as well as [[Quintus Curtius Rufus|Curtius]]' tendency to see Roman patterns, or perhaps place them, in Greek history |Badian|2012|4loc=passim in "The Ring and the Book", believes it is impossible to know the truth of the matter, in that evidence for and against are roughly equal. Regardless, Perdiccas' dominance over the other Successors immediately after Alexander's death is undisputed}}{{sfnm|Anson|2014|1p=15|Heckel|2016|2p=162, who believes that this is something "Ptolemy the historian took pains to suppress". {{pb}}What exactly Alexander intended with this gesture is unclear. Most scholars believe Alexander wanted Perdiccas to handle the empire's administration until [[Alexander IV of Macedon|his son]] came of age, while others, citing the Liber de Morte (which says Alexander wanted his wife, [[Roxana]], to marry Perdiccas) believe it is possible, though highly unlikely, that Alexander wanted Perdiccas to succeed him as king altogether}} Although Alexander's intention with this action is not clear, it is probable that he wanted Perdiccas to reign as regent until his children came of age.