Abistamenes (fl. 4th century BC) was a governor, orsatrap, ofCappadocia,[1][2] or at least of its southern portions, withAriarathes I of Cappadocia possibly governing the north. He is calledSabictas byArrian,[3] and was almost certainly a native Cappadocian.[4]
Abistamenes was the successor toMithrobuzanes, the lastAchaemenid satrap of Cappadocia. Mithrobouzanes was killed at theBattle of the Granicus in 334 BC, and Abistamenes was thereafter appointed satrap byAlexander the Great, although his hold over Cappadocia appears to have been weak, as Cappadocian soldiers were found fighting forKing Darius III of Persia during theBattle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. Abistamenes may no longer even have been in power at that point, however, as he seems to disappear from the historical record in the wake of theBattle of Issus in 333 BC.
Abistamenes' rule had certainly ended by the time of Alexander's death in 323 BC, when all of Cappadocia was given by Alexander's heirs toEumenes to govern.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "Abistamenes".Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
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