  nearchus (, nearchos; c. 360 â 300 bc) was one of the officers, a navarch, in the army of alexander the great. his celebrated voyage from what is now pakistan to susa after alexander's expedition in north-western indian subcontinent is preserved in arrian's account, the indica. a native of latowho's who in the age of alexander the great: prosopography of alexander's empire by waldemar heckel page 171 isbn 1-4051-1210-7 in crete and son of androtimus,livius history his family settled at amphipolis in macedonia at some point during philip iiâs reign (we must assume after philip took the city in 357 bc), at which point nearchus was probably a young boy. he was almost certainly older than alexander, as were ptolemy, erigyius, and the others of the âboyhood friendsâ;heckel, "marshals" p.228 so depending on when androtimus came to macedonia nearchus was quite possibly born on crete. nearchus, along with ptolemy, erigyius and laomedon, and harpalus, was one of alexanderâs âmentorsâ â and he was exiled by philip as a result of the pixodarus affair (a 3.6.5; p 10.4). it is not known where the exiles went, but they were recalled only after philipâs death, on alexanderâs accession. after their recall, these men were held in the highest honour. nearchus was appointed as satrap of lycia and pamphylia in 334/3 bc (a 3.3.6), one of the earliest of alexander's satrapal appointments. in 328 bc he was relieved of his post and rejoined alexander in bactria, bringing with him reinforcements (a 4.7.2; c 7.10.4, but does not mention nearchus himself). after the siege of aornus nearchus was sent at the head of a reconnaissance mission â especially to find out about elephants (a 4.30.5â6). thumb|300px|map showing voyages of nearchus and the campaigns of alexander until shortly after acquiring the persian empire â from a history of the ancient world, george willis botsford ph.d., the macmillan company, 1913 in 326 bc, nearchus was made admiral of the fleet that alexander had built at the hydaspes (a 6.2.3; indica 18.10). however, his trierarchy was a financial responsibility â that is, nearchus put up the money for the boats (heckel, p.&nbsp;229); and there were plenty of other trierarchs in the indus fleet who were not natural born sailors. during the voyage some of the ships were damaged, and nearchus was instructed to remain behind to oversee repairs, before continuing down the river. this perhaps indicates some
300_BC_deaths 4th-century_BC_Greek_people Admirals_of_Alexander_the_Great Ancient_Cretan_generals Ancient_Greek_explorers Ancient_Greek_generals Ancient_Greeks_in_Macedon Explorers_of_Asia Hellenistic-era_people Hetairoi Historians_who_accompanied_Alexander_the_Great History_of_Bahrain Satraps_of_the_Alexandrian_Empire Settlers_in_Amphipolis