Abistamenes (fl. 4th century BC) was a governor, or
satrap, of
Cappadocia,[1][2] or at least of its southern portions, with
Ariarathes I of Cappadocia possibly governing the north. He is called Sabictas by
Arrian,[3] and was almost certainly a native Cappadocian.[4]
Abistamenes was the successor to
Mithrobuzanes, the last
Achaemenid satrap of Cappadocia. Mithrobouzanes was killed at the
Battle of the Granicus in 334 BC, and Abistamenes was thereafter appointed satrap by
Alexander the Great, although his hold over Cappadocia appears to have been weak, as Cappadocian soldiers were found fighting for
King Darius III of Persia during the
Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC. Abistamenes may no longer even have been in power at that point, however, as he seems to disappear from the historical record in the wake of the
Battle of Issus in 333 BC.
Abistamenes' rule had certainly ended by the time of Alexander's death in 323 BC, when all of Cappadocia was given by Alexander's heirs to
Eumenes to govern.