Aristonicus (eunuch)

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Aristonicus (Latin; Greek Ἀριστόνικος Aristonikos) was a eunuch of Ptolemy Epiphanes. He was brought up with the king from his early youth. Polybius speaks of him in terms of high praise, as a man of a generous and warlike disposition, and skilled in political transactions. In 185 BCE, when the king had to fight against some discontented Egyptians, Aristonicus went to Greece and engaged a body of mercenaries there.

(Polybius 23.16-17.)

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology by William Smith (1870).