Patroclus (admiral)

After the outbreak of the Chremonidean War, he led a diplomatic and military expedition to the Aegean Sea that expanded Ptolemaic control by establishing bases at Crete, Ceos, Thera, Attica and the Argolid.

[1] His appointment to that office has been seen by some scholars as either a reward, or an incentive, for his execution of the poet Sotades, who in his compositions denounced the incestuous marriage between Ptolemy II and Arsinoe.

Sotades was imprisoned in Alexandria, but managed to escape to the "island of Kaunos", until Patroclus captured him and ordered him to be placed in a leaden box and dropped him into the sea.

The actual extent of Patroclus' authority is a matter of dispute in current scholarship, but it is clear that he enjoyed broad powers over the other Ptolemaic commanders and their allies in the Aegean Sea.

[4][5] In early 267 BC, he headed a large Ptolemaic embassy to Crete, with the aim of securing his master's influence there, as well as bases for operations in the Aegean Sea.

[8] As the Athenian port of Piraeus was probably still in the hands of an Antigonid Macedonian garrison, he also fortified an uninhabited island off the coast of Attica, named after him "Isle of Patroclus".

Patroclus requested the assistance of the Spartan king Areus I, excusing his inability to take the offensive alone with the comment that his men were native Egyptians and sailors.

This presence implies an attempt to neutralize the fortress of Sounion on the extreme south of Attica, which was probably also under Antigonid control, as well as an effort to supply Athens overland, bypassing the Antigonid-controlled Piraeus.

The reasons for this reluctance are unclear, but it appears that, especially in the last years of the war, Ptolemaic involvement was limited to financial support for the Greek city-states and naval assistance.