Sabaces
Sabaces (name variants: Sauaces; Sataces; Diodorus Siculus calls him Tasiaces;[1] died in 333 BC) was a satrap of Egypt during the reign of king Darius III of Persia.
Some time before the Battle of Issus Sabaces left Egypt with his army to join Darius III in Syria and support him in his fight against Alexander the Great. When the Battle of Issus took place (November 333 BC) Alexander and his horsemen fought their way through the enemy troops until they came in close vicinity to Darius III, whose life was therefore threatened. Darius III was protected by the most noble Persians, among them also Sabaces, who was killed.[2] The Persian king fled because he feared for his life; therefore the Macedonians won the battle.
Mazaces was probably the successor of Sabaces in Egypt, but because Sabaces had taken with him nearly all occupying forces, Mazaces was not able to organize military resistance against the Macedonians. Therefore, Alexander the Great was able to take Egypt without fighting (332 BC).
Notes
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 17.34.5
- ^ Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri 2.11.8; Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 17.34.5; Quintus Curtius Rufus, Historiae Alexandri Magni 3.11.10 and 4.1.28
References
- Waldemar Heckel: Who’s who in the age of Alexander the Great. Prosopography of Alexander’s empire. Blackwell, Oxford 2006, ISBN 978-1-4051-1210-9
- Siegfried Lauffer: Alexander der Große. dtv, Munich 1978, third edition 1993, ISBN 3-423-04298-2, p. 78 and 87.
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