Patrocles (geographer)

Patroclus (Greek Πατροκλῆς ) was a Macedonian general, admiral and discoverer of the first Seleucid kings.

During the Diadochenkriege Patroclus was entrusted by Seleucus I in 312 BC with the defense of Babylon, which he successfully defended against Demetrius I Poliorketes. In the year 286 BC, he was involved in the capture of Demetrios Poliorketes.

Patrocles explored on behalf of Seleucus I in the years 285-282 BC the Caspian Sea. His report is lost except for fragments. Apparently he assumed that the Oxus, today's Amu Darya, which opens into the Caspian Sea and concluded that there was a connection between the Caspian Sea and the Oceanus, which India could have been reached by water from the Caspian sea. This false assumption may be because all the Greeks previously known seas were connected with the Okeanos, even if it is only via a narrow waterway such as the Bosphorus. The Dead Sea was considered a lake and therefore constituted no exception, the assumption had to the 16th Century stock.

Under Antiochus I officiated Patrocles 280 BC as commander in chief in Asia Minor, where one of his subordinates was defeated in a battle against Zipoites.

Swell

• Diodorus, Libraries historike 19, 100, 5
• Plutarch, Demetrius 47, 3
• Memnon, FrGrHist 434 § 9, 1-2.
• Pliny the Elder, Naturalis historia 6, 21, 58
• Strabo, Geographika 2.68-74; 9.508f
• Photios 224
• FGrH 712 F 4f.