Nicanor (Antipatrid general)

Nicanor (/naɪˈkeɪnər/; Greek: Nικάνωρ Nīkā́nōr; executed 317 BC) was a Macedonian officer who served the Diadochus Cassander and the son in law of Aristotle.

During the Olympic Games of 324 BC, Nicanor acted as the representative of Alexander the Great reading a proclamation that ordered Greek city states to welcome back people they had sent into exile.

During the Wars of the Diadochi, Nicanor served as an officer of Cassander who dispatched him immediately on the death of Antipater in 319 BC to replace Menyllus as commander of the Macedonian garrison at Munychia in Attica.

He arrived to Athens shortly after the regent of the Macedon, Polyperchon, issued a decree blaming Antipater for the problems faced by the Greek city states and ordering the return of exiles who opposed him.

Nicanor used this connections to begin negotiations with the Athenians, who demanded the withdrawal of the Macedonian garrison from Munychia, in line with the decree that had been issued by Polyperchon.

Similarly, Alexander, the son of Polyperchon, who arrived in Attica the following spring (318 BC), at the head of a considerable army, was ineffective in persuading Nicanor to withdraw from the fortresses.