ALEXANDER, despot of Pherae in Thessaly from 369 to B.C. His tyranny caused the Aleuadae of Larissa to invoke the aid of Alexander II. of Macedon, but after his withdrawal Alex ander treated his subjects as cruelly as before. The Thessalians now applied to Thebes; Pelopidas, who was sent to their assistance, was treacherously thrown into prison (368), and it was necessary to send Epaminondas with a large army to secure his release. Alexander's conduct caused renewed intervention; in 364 he was defeated by the Thebans at Cynoscephalae, where Pelopidas fell. Alexander was at last compelled by Thebes to acknowledge the freedom of the Thessalian cities, to limit his rule to Pherae, and to join the Boeotian league. He was murdered by his wife's brother at her instigation.