Abistamenes

Abistamenes (fl. 4th century BC) was a governor, or satrap, of Cappadocia,Citation
last = Smith
first = William
author-link = William Smith (lexicographer)
contribution = Abistamenes
editor-last = Smith
editor-first = William
title = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
volume = 1
pages = 3
publisher =
place =
year = 1867
contribution-url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-bio/0012.html ] [Curt. iii. 4] or at least of its southern portions, with Ariarathes I of Cappadocia possibly governing the north. He is called Sabictas by Arrian, [Anab. ii. 4.] and was almost certainly a native Cappadocian.cite book
last = Bosworth
first = Albert Brian
coauthors =
title = Conquest and Empire: The Reign of Alexander the Great
publisher = Cambridge University Press
date = 1993
pages = p. 231
month =
isbn = 0-521-40679-x ] Gronovius conjectures that instead of "Abistamene Cappadociae praeposito" we ought to read "Abicta magnae Cappadociae", &c.

Abistamenes was the successor to Mithrobouzanes, the last Achaemenid satrap of Cappadocia. Mithrobouzanes was killed at the Battle of the Granicus (334 BC), and Abistamenes was thereafter appointed satrap by Alexander the Great, although his hold over Cappadocia appears to have been weak, as Cappadocian soldiers were found fighting for King Darius III of Persia during the Battle of Gaugamela (331 BC). Abistamenes may no longer even have been in power at that point, however, as he seems to disappear in the wake of the Battle of Issus (333 BC).

The rule of Abistamenes was certainly long done by the time of Alexander's death in 323 BC, when the entirety of Cappadocia was given by Alexander's heirs to Eumenes to govern.

References