Pantauchus

(Πάνταυχος).

1. A Macedonian of Alorus, son of Nicolaus, an officer in the service of Alexander, was one of those appointed to the command of a trireme on the descent of the Indus, B. C. 327. (Arrian Ind. 18.) Though this is the only occasion during the wars of that monarch on which his name is mentioned, yet we are told that he had earned a great reputation both for ability as a commander and for his personal strength and prowess. These qualities obtained for him a high place among the generals of Demetrius Poliorcetes, who in B. C. 289 left him with a large force to hold possession of Aetolia against Pyrrhus. On the approach of that monarch, Pantauchus hastened to meet him, and give him battle, when a single combat ensued between the young king and the veteran officer, in which the former was victorious. Pantauchus was carried off the field severely wounded, and his army was totally routed. Whether or not he died of his wounds we know not, but his name is not again mentioned. (Plut. Pyrrh. 7, Demetr. 41.)

2. Son of Balacrus, one of the chief friends and counsellors of Perseus, king of Macedonia, by whom we find him employed on various important confidential occasions. Thus in B. C. 171 he was one of the hostages given by the king during his conference with the Roman deputy Q. Marcius, and subsequently one of the ambassadors sent to P. Licinius Crassus with proposals for peace: and three years later (B. C. 168) he was despatched to Gentius, king of Illyria, to secure the adherence of that monarch, at whose court he remained for some time, stimulating him to acts of open hostility against Rome, and urging him to throw his whole power into the contest in favour of Perseus. (Plb. 27.8, 29.2, 3; Liv. 42.39, 44.23.) [E.H.B]