Clitus the White (in Greek Kλειτoς Λευκoς; died 318 BC) was an officer of Alexander the Great surnamed "White" to distinguish him from Clitus the Black. He is noted by Athenaeus and Aelian for his pomp and luxury, and is probably the same who is mentioned by Justin among the veterans sent home to Macedonia under Craterus in 324 BC.¹

After Alexander's death he reappears as commander of the Macedonian fleet for Antipater in the Lamian war, 323 BC, and defeated the Athenian admiral, Eetion, in two battles off the Echinades islands. In the distribution of provinces at Triparadisus, 321 BC, he obtained from Antipater the satrapy of Lydia; and when Antigonus was advancing to dispossess him of it, in 319 BC, after Antipater's death, he garrisoned the principal cities, and sailed away to Macedonia to report the state of affairs to Polyperchon. In 318 BC, after Polyperchon had been baffled at Megalopolis, he sent Clitus with a fleet to the coast of Thrace to prevent any forces of Antigonus from passing into Europe, and also to effect a junction with Arrhidaeus, the satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia, who had shut himself up in the town of Cius. Nicanor being sent against him by Cassander, a battle ensued near Byzantium, in which Clitus gained a decisive victory. But his success rendered him over-confident, and, having allowed his troops to disembark and encamp on land, he was surprised by Antigonus and Nicanor, and lost all his ships except the one in which he sailed himself. Having reached the shore in safety, he proceeded towards Macedonia, but was slain by some soldiers of Lysimachus, with whom he fell in on the way.²

References

Smith, William (editor); Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, "Clitus (3)", Boston, (1867)

Notes

1 Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, xii; Aelian, Histoires diverses, ix. 3; Justin, Epitome of Pompeius Trogus, xii. 12; Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri, vii. 12

2 Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca, xviii. 39, 52, 72

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This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1867).