Ganymedes (eunuch)

Ganymedes was a eunuch in the court of Cleopatra VII who proved an able adversary against Julius Caesar.

Life

Ganymedes was the tutor of Cleopatra's half-sister and rival, Arsinoë. When civil war broke out between Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatra, Arsinoë sided with Ptolemy, escaping the palace in Ganymedes's company to take command of the army. She executed Achillas, the general of the army and Pothinus's co-conspirator in the murder of Pompey, and appointed Ganymedes in his stead.

Ganymedes' army was in possession of the sources of the river, which gave Ganymedes control of the canals that provided Alexandria with water, and by extension, Caesar's water supply. With this in mind, he separated his portion of the river from Caesar's, and engineered machines to fill up Caesar's canals and cisterns with salt water. Several days of increasingly brackish water panicked Caesar's legionaries to the point where Caesar had to personally deal with the situation. Aware that Alexandria was built on limestone, and that limestone was porous, Caesar ordered wells built, restoring the water supply and calming his soldiers.

Two days after Caesar frustrated Ganymedes' ploy, the Thirty-Seventh Legion arrived in Egypt, but was unable to land at Alexandria due to contrary winds and in desperate need of water. Caesar went out with his fleet to personally see what to do. Several of his sailors, sent to find water, were captured by Ganymedes' cavalry, who then informed their general of Caesar's location. Marshalling every ship at his disposal, Ganymedes engaged Caesar in a naval battle that Caesar won. The disheartened Alexandrians almost gave up the fight, but Ganymedes succeeded in rallying them once again, and prepared a larger fleet for the rematch he was sure he could win.

This rematch, under Caesar's admiral Euphranor, resulted in an even more devastating defeat for Ganymedes. Switching tactics, Ganymedes focused on bombarding Caesar's forces. This failed to impress Caesar's veterans, and resulted in a stalemate. Afterward, a delegation of Alexandrians petitioned Caesar to return Ptolemy XIII to them, as they had grown weary of Arsinoë and Ganymedes, and wished for their King to lead them.