Cara'nus
3. A Macedonian of the body called
ἑταῖροι or guards (comp.
Plb. 5.53,, 31.3), was one of the generals sent by
Alexander against Satibarzanes when he had a second time excited Aria to revolt. Caranus and his colleagues were successful, and Satibarzanes was defeated and slain, in the winter of B. C. 330. (Arrian,
Arr. Anab. 3.25,28;
Curt. 6.6.20, &c., 7.3.2, Freinsheim,
ad loc., 7.4.32, &c.; comp.
Diod. 17.81.) In B. C. 329, Caranus was appointed, together with Andromachus and Menedemus, under the command of the Lycian Pharnuches, to act against Spitamenes, the revolted satrap of Sogdiana. Their approach compelled him to raise the siege of Maracanda; but, in a battle which ensued, he defeated them with the help of a body of Scythian cavalry, and forced them to fall back on the river Polytimetus, the wooded banks of which promised shelter.
The rashness however or cowardice of Caranus led him to attempt the passage of the river with the cavalry under his command, and the rest of the troops plunging in after him in haste and disorder, they were all destroyed by the enemy. (
Arr. Anab. 4.3,
5; comp.
Curt. 7.6.24,
7.31, &c.)
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