- Iollas
Iollas (in Greek Ioλλας or Ioλας; lived
4th century BC ), son ofAntipater , and brother ofCassander , king ofMacedon . He was one of the royal youths who, according to the Macedonian custom, held offices about the king's person, and was cup-bearer toAlexander the Great at the period of his last illness (323 BC ). Those writers who adopt the idea of the king having been poisoned, represent Iollas as the person who actually administered the fatal draught, at the banquet given to Alexander by Medius, who, according to this story, was an intimate friend of Iollas, and had been induced by him to take part in the plot.rf|1|arr_7.27_plut1_77_curt_10.10_just_12.14_vitr_8.3 It is unnecessary to point out the absurdity and inconsistency of this tale.Plutarch himself tells us expressly that it was never heard of until six years afterwards (317 BC ), whenOlympias availed herself of this pretext as an excuse for the cruelties she exercised upon the friends and adherents of Antipater. Iollas was then dead, but she caused his grave to be opened, and desecrated with every mark of indignity.rf|2|plut1_77_diod_19.11 The period or occasion of his death is nowhere mentioned: the last we hear of him is in322 BC , when he accompanied his sister Nicaea to Asia, where she was married toPerdiccas .rf|3|phot_92 The story ofHyperides having proposed the voting a reward to Iollas as the murderer of Alexanderrf|4|plut2, which is in direct contradiction to the statement of Plutarch already cited, is unquestionably a mere invention of later times.References
*Smith, William (editor); "
Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology ", [http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/1713.html "Iollas"] ,Boston , (1867)Notes
ent|1|arr_7.27_plut1_77_curt_10.10_just_12.14_vitr_8.3
Arrian , "Anabasis Alexandri ", [http://websfor.org/alexander/arrian/book7b.asp vii. 27] ; Plutarch, "Parallel Lives ", "Alexander", [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plut.+Caes.+77.1 77] ; Curtius Rufus, "Historiae Alexandri Magni", [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/historiens/quintecurce/dix.htm x. 10] ; Justin, "Epitome of Pompeius Trogus", [http://www.forumromanum.org/literature/justin/english/trans12.html#14 xii. 14] ;Vitruvius , "De architectura ", [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Vitr.+8.3.1 viii. 3] ent|2|plut1_77_diod_19.11 Plutarch, [http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plut.+Caes.+77.1 ibid.] ent|3|phot_92 Photius, "Bibliotheca", [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_03bibliotheca.htm cod. 92] ; ent|4|plut2 Pseudo-Plutarch, "Moralia ", "Lives of the Ten Orators", [http://www.attalus.org/old/orators2.html#Hypereides Hyperides]----------
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