Charidemus (or Kharidemos, ), of Oreus in Euboea, was an ancient Greek mercenary leader of the 4th century BC. He had a complicated relationship with Athens, sometimes aiding the city in its efforts to secure its interests in the northern Aegean, sometimes working against it. He was castigated by Demosthenes in his oration Against Aristocrates for repeated treacherous actions toward Athens, yet later he received Athenian citizenship and was elected one of its generals. In this capacity he ran afoul of Alexander III (the Great) of Macedon and was ordered into banishment after the destruction of Thebes in 335. He retired to Persia, where he was first honored by the Great King, but was later executed after sneering at the quality of the Persian army. Biography Early life Charidemus was probably born in the early 390s BCE in Oreus, a city in northern Euboea (near Histiaea) of a citizen mother and non-citizen father named Philoxenus. His first military action is presumed to have been against an Athenian attack on Oreus led by its general Chabrias in 377, during which he served as a light-infantry soldier. Following this he spent some years as a pirate. Early military career By 368 Charidemus was leading a mercenary force that was hired by the Athenian general Iphicrates to assist in an effort to retake Amphipolis, a colony established by Athens near the mouth of the Strymon River in Thrace in 437. Athens had lost control of it during the Peloponnesian War and had never regained it. At this time it was under the protection of Olynthus, the major city of the Chalcidice Peninsula. This campaign lasted three years and was unsuccessful. In 365, though, Iphicrates had secured a group of hostages from Amphipolis that, it was hoped, would facilitate the surrender of the city. Before negotiations could take place, Athens relieved Iphicrates and replaced him with Timotheus, who had been conducting campaigns in Samos, Anatolia, and the Chersonnese Peninsula. Iphicrates was ordered to convey the hostages to Athens, but assigned that duty to Charidemus and then went north into Thrace to the court of its king, Cotys, who was his father-in-law (and an enemy of Athens). Charidemus, instead of taking the hostages to Athens, returned them to Amphipolis, thus ruining Athens’ chance to reassume control over it. The exact timing of these events is unclear, as is Iphicrates’ reason for not returning to Athens