Critolaus

Family: Achæans · Role: General · First appears: Book 7 · Chapter 14

After Diæus had served as General, Critolaus was chosen as his successor by the Achæans. At Tegea, as Roman envoys had arrived to settle disputes between the Lacedæmonians and Achæans, he privately urged the commissioners not to attend the general meeting. When they stayed away, he postponed discussion until another meeting six months later; discovering the deception, the envoys returned to Rome.

At Corinth, Critolaus assembled an Achæan army and persuaded it to make war against Sparta and Rome. Near Scarphea, Metellus’ army caught the retreating Achæans, killing many and taking about 1,000 alive. Critolaus was not seen alive after the battle and was not found among the dead. Book 10 also identifies him as the son of Hicetaon and the husband of Aristomache.

Relationship record

Life events

• Critolaus succeeded Diæus as General of the Achæans.(Book 7 · Chapter 14)
  • With: Diæus
  • “And after Diæus had served his time as General, Critolaus was chosen as his successor by the Achæans”
• Critolaus secretly urged Roman commissioners to avoid the Achæan general meeting.(Book 7 · Chapter 14 · 📍 Tegea in Arcadia)
  • “he privately urged the commissioners not to attend the general meeting”
• Critolaus deceived the Romans by postponing discussion until another general meeting six months later.(Book 7 · Chapter 14)
  • “And when the commissioners did not come, then he displayed great guile to the Romans, for he told them to wait for another general meeting of the Achæans that would be held six months later”
• The Roman envoys returned to Rome after discovering Critolaus’s deception.(Book 7 · Chapter 14)
  • “And the Roman envoys, when they discovered they were being deceived, returned to Rome.”
• Critolaus assembled an Achæan army and persuaded it to war against Sparta and Rome.(Book 7 · Chapter 14 · 📍 Corinth)
  • “And Critolaus collected an army of Achæans at Corinth, and persuaded them to war against Sparta, and also to wage war at once against the Romans.”
• Metellus defeats the retreating Achæans; Critolaus disappears and is not seen alive afterward.(Book 7 · Chapter 15 · 📍 Scarphea)
  • With: Metellus
  • “And Metellus’ army came up with Critolaus and the Achæans as they were in retreat a little before Scarphea, and many they killed and about 1,000 they took alive. But Critolaus was not seen alive after the battle, nor was he found among the dead”

Book 7 · Chapter 14

• with Diæus (Critolaus succeeded Diæus as General.) “And after Diæus had served his time as General, Critolaus was chosen as his successor by the Achæans;”

Book 7 · Chapter 15

• enemies with Metellus “And Metellus’ army came up with Critolaus and the Achæans as they were in retreat a little before Scarphea, and many they killed and about 1,000 they took alive.”

Book 10 · Chapter 26

• married with Aristomache “Aristomache likewise is represented in the poem called The Return from Ilium as the daughter of Priam, and wife of Critolaus the son of Hicetaon”
• parent: Hicetaon “Aristomache likewise is represented in the poem called The Return from Ilium as the daughter of Priam, and wife of Critolaus the son of Hicetaon”

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Extracted from the original text of Pausanias' Description of Greece. Made with Rho MD.