Nicanor

• A grammarian, Suet. Gram. 5.—
• II A ceiebrated painter, Plin. 35, 11, 39, § 122.—
• III A roman surname, Inscr. Murat. 26, 3.

(Νικάνωρ). (1) A Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great, who, on the death of Perdiccas, received the government of Cappadocia. Antigonus made him governor of Media and its adjacent provinces, but in 312 he was deposed by Seleucus.

(2) A Macedonian officer under Cassander, by whom he was secretly despatched, immediately on the death of Antipater in B.C. 319, to take the command of the Macedonian garrison at Munychia. Nicanor arrived at Athens before the news of Antipater's death, and thus readily obtained possession of the fortress. Soon afterwards he surprised the Piraeus also, and placed both fortresses in the hands of Cassander on the arrival of the latter in Attica in 318. Nicanor was afterwards despatched by Cassander with a fleet to the Hellespont, where he gained a victory over the admiral of Polysperchon. On his return to Athens he incurred the suspicion of Cassander, and was put to death (Diod.xviii. 64 foll.; Plut. Phoc. 33).