Philotas
Philotas
Philotas son of Parmenion, commander of the elite Companion cavalry (the *hetairoi hippeis*) — the strike-force at Granicus, Issus, and Gaugamela — and by position the second officer of the campaign after his father (Arr. *Anab.* 3.26.1–2; Plut. *Alex.* 48.1). In the autumn of 330 at Phrada (Prophthasia) in Drangiana, a Macedonian named Dimnus was accused of plotting against Alexander's life; Dimnus died resisting arrest, and under interrogation other names were extracted, including Philotas, who had known of Dimnus's conspiracy for two days without reporting it (Curt. 6.7–11; Plut. *Alex.* 49; Arr. *Anab.* 3.26; Justin 12.5). Whether Philotas himself was a principal conspirator, or merely guilty of contemptuous silence — he had a history of arrogant remarks about Alexander's reliance on Persian god-talk — remains irresolvable from the sources. He was tried before a Macedonian military assembly, tortured into confession under Curt. 6.11, and executed. His father Parmenion, commanding the treasury guard at Ecbatana 1,500 km away, was assassinated by royal courier the same day — a pre-emptive killing ordered by Alexander on the logic that Parmenion would not accept his son's death without revenge (Arr. *Anab.* 3.26.3–4; Curt. 7.2.11–33).
