Teutamus

Teutamus (Ancient Greek: Tεύταμoς; lived 4th century BC) was a Macedonian officer, who, in 319 BC, shared with Antigenes the command of the select troops called the Argyraspids.

Teutamus is also a spider genus (Liocranidae)

Etymology

The name Teutamos appears to contain the Proto-Indo-European root *teutéhₐ-, a word meaning "people" or "tribe".[1] The root also appears in Celtic names, such as Celtic deity Toutatis.[2]. The root is also present in the name of ancient Illyrian ruler Teuta.

Joseph Vendryes had suggested that compound names with the root *teutéhₐ- seem to be common around the southeast and the Balkans,[3] although the name "is attested ... in Messapic, in Osco-Umbrian, in Venetic, in Gaulish, in Celtiberian, in Brittonic languages, in Welsh, in German and in the Baltic languages".[4]

History

The details of his military career and promotion are unknown until the present moment.

When Eumenes, after escaping from Nora, joined the Argyraspids in Cilicia, Antigenes and Teutamus at first, in obedience to the orders of the regent Polyperchon and Olympias, placed themselves under his command but they secretly regarded him with jealousy, and Teutamus even listened to the overtures of Ptolemy, and would have joined in a plot against the life of Eumenes, had he not been dissuaded by his more prudent colleague.[5] But though they continued to follow the guidance of Eumenes, and with the troops under their command, bore an important part in his campaigns against Antigonus, they took every opportunity of displaying their envy and jealousy, which their general in vain tried to allay, by avoiding all appearance of the exercise of authority. During the winter campaign in Gabiene (316 BC) the two leaders of the Argyraspids were the prime movers of a plot for the destruction of Eumenes; and after the final action, Teutamus was the first to open negotiations with Antigonus for the recovery of the baggage of the Argyraspids by the betrayal of his rival into his hands.[6] By this act of treachery he probably hoped to secure the favour of Antigonus, as well as to supplant his own colleague or leader, Antigenes; but we find no farther mention of his name, and it is probable that he was sent, with the greater part of the Argyraspids, to perish in Arachosia.[7]

References

• Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, "Teutamus", Boston, (1867)

Further reading

• Goukowsky, Paul. "Makedonika". In: Revue des Études Grecques, tome 100, fascicule 477-479, Juillet-décembre 1987. pp. 240-255. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/reg.1987.151] ; www.persee.fr/doc/reg_0035-2039_1987_num_100_477_1512

Notes

1. Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q. (2006), The Oxford Introduction to Proto-Indo-European and the Proto-Indo-European World, USA: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-929668-5, p. 269.
2. Duval, Paul Marie. "«Teutates, Esus, Taranis»". In: Travaux sur la Gaule (1946-1986). Rome: École Française de Rome, 1989. pp. 281. (Publications de l'École française de Rome, 116) [www.persee.fr/doc/efr_0000-0000_1989_ant_116_1_3668]
3. Vendryes, Joseph. "Teutomatos". In: Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres, 83ᵉ année, N. 5, 1939. p. 478. [DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/crai.1939.77232] ; www.persee.fr/doc/crai_0065-0536_1939_num_83_5_77232
4. Bader, Françoise. "Le nom des Vénètes et leur expansion". In: Autour de Michel Lejeune. Actes des journées d'études organisées à l'Université Lumière Lyon 2 – Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée, 2-3 février 2006. Lyon: Maison de l'Orient et de la Méditerranée Jean Pouilloux, 2009. p. 52. (Collection de la Maison de l'Orient méditerranéen ancien. Série philologique, 43) [www.persee.fr/doc/mom_0184-1785_2009_act_43_1_2653]
5. Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, xviii. 59, 62; Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Eumenes", 13
6. Plutarch, 13, 16, 17
7. Diodorus, xix. 48

---

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William, ed. (1870). "^{article name needed}". Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.