Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c11.96

c11.96

Eudamus was probably disfavoured as a partisan of Eumenes, a rival of Antipater.¹ It is significant that according to a reading of a passage of Diodorus, Eudamus is said to have seized a number of elephants after the death of Alexander, having treacherously slain Porus.² The hostility to Porus is explicable if the Indian Rājā had been granted favours by the Regent in Macedon at the expense of the Thracian commander. Eudamus had however soon to leave India to help Eumenes in his fight against Antipater. The event is usually dated in or about 317 B.C. and must in any case have preceded the execution of Eumenes in 316 B. C. Pithon, who favoured the side of Antigonus,³ another great general who claimed a share of Alexander's inheritance, left India about the same time in 316 B.C.⁴ and was slain in the battle of Gaza four years later.⁵