Cleitus the White was an officer of Alexander the Great surnamed "White" to distinguish him from Cleitus the Black. He is noted by Athenaeus

Athenaeus

Athenaeus , of Naucratis in Egypt, Greek rhetorician and grammarian, flourished about the end of the 2nd and beginning of the 3rd century AD...

 and Aelian

Claudius Aelianus

Claudius Aelianus , often seen as just Aelian, born at Praeneste, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric who flourished under Septimius Severus and probably outlived Elagabalus, who died in 222...

 for his pomp and luxury, and is probably the same who is mentioned by Justin

Junianus Justinus

Justin was a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire. His name is mentioned only in the title of his own history, and there it is in the genitive, which would be M. Juniani Justini no matter which nomen he bore.Of his personal history nothing is known...

 among the veterans sent home to Macedon

Macedon

Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....

ia under Craterus

Craterus

Craterus was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great and one of the Diadochi.He was the son of a Macedonian nobleman named Alexander from Orestis and brother of admiral Amphoterus. Craterus commanded the phalanx and all infantry on the left wing in Battle of Issus...

 in 324 BC.

After Alexander's death he reappears as commander of the Macedon

Macedon

Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....

ian fleet for Antipater

Antipater

Antipater was a Macedonian general and a supporter of kings Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. In 320 BC, he became Regent of all of Alexander's Empire. Antipater was one of the sons of a Macedonian nobleman called Iollas or Iolaus and his family were distant collateral relatives to the...

 in the Lamian war

Lamian War

The “Lamian War”, also referred to as the “Hellenic War” and the “War against Antipater”, was fought by the Athenians and their Aetolian, Locrian, and Phocian allies against the Macedonians in Thessaly during the winter of 323–322 BC...

, 323 BC, and defeated the Athenian

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 admiral, Eetion, in two battles off the Echinades

Taphians

In Homeric Greece, the islands of Taphos lay in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Acarnania in northwestern Greece, home of sea-going and piratical inhabitants, the Taphians...

 islands. In the distribution of provinces at Triparadisus, 321 BC, he obtained from Antipater the satrap

Satrap

Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....

y of Lydia

Lydia

Lydia was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern Turkish provinces of Manisa and inland İzmir. Its population spoke an Anatolian language known as Lydian....

; and when Antigonus

Antigonus I Monophthalmus

Antigonus I Monophthalmus , son of Philip from Elimeia, was a Macedonian nobleman, general, and satrap under Alexander the Great. During his early life he served under Philip II, and he was a major figure in the Wars of the Diadochi after Alexander's death, declaring himself king in 306 BC and...

 was advancing to dispossess him of it, in 319 BC, after Antipater's death, he garrisoned the principal cities, and sailed away to Macedonia to report the state of affairs to Polyperchon

Polyperchon

Polyperchon , son of Simmias from Tymphaia in Epirus, was a Macedonian general who served under Philip II and Alexander the Great, accompanying Alexander throughout his long journeys. After the return to Babylon, Polyperchon was sent back to Macedon with Craterus, but had only reached Cilicia by...

. In 318 BC, after Polyperchon had been baffled at Megalopolis

Megalopolis, Greece

Megalópoli is a town in the western part of the peripheral unit of Arcadia, southern Greece. It is located in the same site as ancient Megalopolis . "Megalopolis" is a Greek word for Great city. When it was founded, in 371 BC, it was the first urbanization in rustic and primitive Arcadia. In...

, he sent Cleitus with a fleet to the coast of Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

 to prevent any forces of Antigonus from passing into Europe, and also to effect a junction with Arrhidaeus

Arrhidaeus

Arrhidaeus , one of Alexander the Great's generals, was entrusted with the conduct of Alexander's funeral to Egypt in 323 BC...

, the satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia

Hellespontine Phrygia

Hellespontine Phrygia was an Achaemenid satrapy in ancient Anatolia, comprising lands of Troad, Mysia and Bithynia and whose seat was at Daskyleion, south of Cyzicus, Mysia. Pharnabazus was satrap of Darius III there, until Alexander the Great appointed Calas which was replaced by Arrhidaeus in the...

, who had shut himself up in the town of Cius

Cius

Cius or Kios , later renamed Prusias ad Mare after king Prusias I of Bithynia, was an ancient Greek city bordering the Propontis , in Bithynia , and had a long history, being mentioned by Aristotle, and Strabo. It was colonized by the Milesians and became a place of much commercial importance...

. Nicanor

Nicanor (Greek general)

Nicanor , a Macedonian officer under Cassander, by whom he was secretly despatched immediately on the death of Antipater, 319 BC, to take the command of the Macedonian garrison at Munychia, in Attica...

 being sent against him by Cassander

Cassander

Cassander , King of Macedonia , was a son of Antipater, and founder of the Antipatrid dynasty...

, a battle ensued near Byzantium

Byzantium

Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...

, in which Cleitus gained a decisive victory. But his success rendered him over-confident, and, having allowed his troops to disembark and encamp on land, he was surprised by Antigonus and Nicanor, and lost all his ships except the one in which he sailed himself. Having reached the shore in safety, he proceeded towards Macedonia, but was slain by some soldiers of Lysimachus

Lysimachus

Lysimachus was a Macedonian officer and diadochus of Alexander the Great, who became a basileus in 306 BC, ruling Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon.-Early Life & Career:...

, with whom he fell in on the way.