Baeton

Baeton (Ancient Greek: Βαίτων) was a man of ancient Macedonia who lived in the 4th century BCE. He was a contemporary of Alexander the Great, and participated in his campaigns, with his colleague Diognetus [ca], as a bematist (ὁ Ἀλεξάνδρου βηματιστής) or "road engineer", that is, someone who measures distances in his marches.

He wrote a work upon the subject entitled The Stations of Alexander's March (σταθμοί τῆς Ἀλεξάνδρου πορείας). Aside from a couple of stray quotes in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder, and the Deipnosophistae of Athenaeus, this work is lost, and no record exists of its contents. Pliny mentions that a copy of the surveys of Baeton and Diognetus was given by Zenobius, treasurer of Alexander the Great, to the geographer Patrocles.

References

  1. ↑ Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 10.422b.
  2. ↑ Pliny the Elder, Natural History 6.17. s. 21, 19. s. 22, 7.2
  3. ↑ Solin. 55.
  4. ↑ Almagor, Eran (2020). "The Royal Road from Herodotus to Xenophon (via Ctesias)". In Tuplin, Christopher; Ma, John (eds.). Aršāma and His World: The Bodleian Letters in Context. Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. p. 167. ISBN 9780198860716. Retrieved 2025-09-06.
  5. ↑ Chugg, Andrew (2012). The Quest for the Tomb of Alexander the Great. AMC Publications. p. 235. ISBN 9780955679063. Retrieved 2025-09-06.
  6. ↑ Ionescu, Dan-Tudor (2025). Alexander the Great in Bactria and India: Narrative sources and historical geography. Bucharest University Press. p. 290. ISBN 9786061615711. Retrieved 2025-09-06.
  7. ↑ Laourdas, Vasileios, ed. (1968). Ancient Macedonia: Papers Read at the First International Symposium Held in Thessaloniki 26-29 August, 1968. Vol. 1. Institute for Balkan Studies. pp. 369–370. Retrieved 2025-09-06.
  8. ↑ Griffith, Guy Thompson, ed. (1966). Alexander the Great: the Main Problems. Heffer. pp. 12–14. Retrieved 2025-09-06.
  9. ↑ "Geography". Encyclopedia Britannica. Vol. 9 (4 ed.). Andrew Bell. 1810. p. 545. Retrieved 2025-09-06.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Smith, William (1870). "Baeton". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 453.