hetairos

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ἑταῖρος (hetaîros).

Noun

hetairos (plural hetairoi)

1. (historical) A companion of an ancient Greek king, as a member of the aristocracy and later elite cavalry.
   • 1962, George John Stagakis, Sr., Institutional Aspects of the Hetairos Relation, Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin–Madison, →OCLC, pages vi and 116:

     Further, the members of an hetaireia may aid an hetairos to fight his adversaries, to intimidate his victims from seeking legal satisfaction, or simply to provide him with the opportunity to carry on the amenities or frivolities of social life. […] The Hetairoi, basically, are a group of people of various origins, Macedonians, Greeks, and barbarians, around a Macedonian monarch. This is, precisely, the one feature which characterizes the hetairoi of the Homeric kings.

   • 1972, P. J. Bicknell, Studies in Athenian Politics and Genealogy, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH, →OCLC, pages 37 and 94:

     At the time of Kleisthenes’ reform certainly, and I believe consistently thereafter, Aristeides was a hetairos of the Alkmeonidai¹¹⁹. […] The reconciliation was cemented by the marriage of Kimon to Alkmeonid Isodike and of Kallias Lakkoploutos, hetairos of the Alkmeonidai⁴⁷, to Kimon’s half-sister Elpinike⁴⁸.

   • 1989, Robert Develin, Athenian Officials, 684–321 B.C., Cambridge, Cambs.: Cambridge University Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 185:

     I do not accept that the ephoroi of Lysias 12.43, 46, said to be chosen by ‘the so-called hetairoi’, were in any way state officials.

   • 1992, Waldemar Heckel, The Marshals of Alexander’s Empire, London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, pages 51, 85, 91, 214, 258, and 339:

     Antigonos himself was an hetairos of Alexander (Aelian, VH 14. 47a); Justin describes him as Philippo regi et Alexandro Magno socius (16. 1. 12). […] This was not the case with Krateros, whom Alexander chided in private; for Krateros was not one to be dishonoured before his own troops, and before the hetairoi. […] About the life of Anteas nothing is known, though he was most likely an hetairos of Philip II. […] Alexander's hetairos suffered from a physical ailment. […] Demetrios, allegedly a member of Dimnos' conspiracy, was removed from office in the land of the Ariaspians and replaced with Ptolemy son of Lagos (Arr. 3. 27. 5), an hetairos of the King. […] A Makedonian hetairos of Alexander (Arr. 3. 6. 7) and father of the Page Charikles (Arr. 4. 13. 7), Menandros commanded mercenary infantry from perhaps 334 until the spring of 331 B.C.

Related terms

• hetaira
• hetaireia

Further reading

• Companion cavalry on Wikipedia.Wikipedia