THE SUCCESSORS

Διάδοχοι (Diadochoi, Successors)

κοσµοπολις (Cosmopolis, World State)

The Diadochi were as much competitors in heroism with Alexander as mediators,

and the posthumous fragmentation of his empire was the result of their desire to

equal his achievement rather than to propagate it. His essentially unstable

system was held in equilibrium only by his day-to-day efforts; when his death

disturbed the balance, both army and empire fell apart.

Keegan, p. 318

SUCCESSION STRIFE

the problem with any sort of one-man rule is determining the strongman’s successor. America’s democratic constitutional process, which seems so “messy” to us, is a historically rare, peaceful exception

traditional solutions fall in two broad categories:

dynastic--an adult male heir, preferably seen as competent, with political support

a new strongman--usually from the military, who can collect political support

323-276 BC-lacking the first, Alexander’s new empire would be racked with the second alternative, until, with the death of the last Successor, the Hellenistic era would take shape as a series of rival dynastic states

DIADOCHOI--PART I

“The First Rank”

Perdiccas

Antipater

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“The Second Rank”

Somatophylakes (Bodyguards)

Ptolemy I Sotēr

Macedonian satraps

Antigonus I Monopthalmus, Seleucus I Nicator

DIADOCHOI--PART II

Other Successors

Royal Family

Philip iii of Macedon, Alexander iv of Macedon, Olympias, Euridice ii & Cleopatra of Macedon

Non-Macedonian Satraps and Generals

Eumenes of Cardia & Pyrrhus of Epirus

Sons of the Diadochoi

Cassander, Demetrius Poliorcetes & Ptolemy Keraunos

we will only examine the fate of those in

bold type

THE PARTITION OF BABYLON--

is the distribution of the territories of Alexander the Great between his generals after his death. The partition was a result of a compromise, essentially brokered by Eumenes, following a conflict of opinion between the party of Meleager, who wished to give full power to Philip III of Macedon [Alexander’s half-witted brother], and the party of Perdiccas, who wished to wait for the birth of the heir of Alexander (the future Alexander IV of Macedon) to give him the throne under the control of a regent. Under the agreement, Philip III became king, but Perdiccas, as a regent, ruled. Perdiccas, as regent, managed the repartition of the territories between the former generals and satraps of Alexander. Meleager and about 300 of his partisans were eliminated by Perdiccas soon after.

Wikipedia

The Initial Situation

commanded a battalion of the Macedonian phalanx. Distinguished in the Indian campaign

324-when Hephaestion [Alexander’s “Patroclus”] died suddenly, Perdiccas was appointed his successor as commander of the Companions

323-at Alexander’s death, he was appointed regent for the two potential heirs to the empire, the unborn son & the half-wit

322-he broke off his engagement to Antipater’s daughter because Olympias offered him the hand of her daughter Cleopatra, Alexander’s half-sister. Antipater allied with Ptolemy & Antigonus

war broke out, he moved against Egypt. “A botched attempt to cross the Nile at the wrong place cost 2,000 men to drowning and crocodiles. This was no successor to Alexander.”--Green

he was assassinated by his own officers, including Seleucus

Perdiccas Περδίκκας, Perdikkas

died 321/320 BC

No image

available

334-323-he had been Alexander’s “regent” in Greece

323-was left in control of the Balkans by Perdiccas

321-after Perdiccas’ death, became regent, guardian of Alexander's half-wit brother Philip III and now-born son

Having quelled a mutiny of his troops, he commissioned Antigonus to continue the war against Eumenes and the other partisans of Perdiccas

320-Antipater returned to Macedonia. Soon after, he was seized by an illness which terminated his active career

319-died, leaving the regency to the aged Polyperchon, passing over his own son, Cassander, a measure which gave rise to much later strife

was he the assassin of Alexander? All the ancient sources mention this rumor, most, only to deny it

Antipater Ἀντίπατρος Antipatros

c. 397 BC – 319 BC

340s-son of Antipater, taught by the philosopher Aristotle at Mieza in Macedonia. He was educated alongside the Crown Prince Alexander in a group that included Hephaestion and Ptolemy

319-Cassander rejected his father’s decision to give the regency to Polyperchon, and immediately went to seek the support of Antigonus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus as allies

317-after waging war on Polyperchon, and destroying his fleet, Cassander put Athens under the control of Demetrius of Phaleron, and declared himself Regent

Alexander IV, Roxana, and Alexander’s supposed illegitimate son Heracles were all executed on Cassander's orders, and a guarantee to Olympias to spare her life was not respected

301-after the Battle of Ipsus, in which Antigonus was killed, he was undisputed in his control of Macedonia; however, he had little time to savor the fact, dying of dropsy in 297

coin of Cassander British Museum

Cassander Κάσσανδρος Ἀντίπατρος, Kassandros Antipatros

ca. 350 – 297

king of Macedon (305–297).

founder of the longest-lasting Ptolemaic dynasty

323-one of the organizers of the Partition. Became satrap of Egypt, nominally under the two kings

without authorization, he quickly annexed Cyrenaica to the west (modern eastern Libya)

320-he then organized the war against Perdiccas

318-he secured Syria and Cyprus

315-when Antigonus One-Eye showed dangerous ambition, he joined the coalition against him

311-309--a brief peace interrupted the warsMarble bust in the Louvre

3rd century BC

Ptolemy I Soter Πτολεµαῖος Σωτήρ, Ptolemaĩos Sōtḗr,

Ptolemy the Savior c. 367 BC – c. 283 BC

founder of the Antigonid dynasty

321-with the death of Perdiccas, a new attempt at division of the empire took place. Antigonus found himself entrusted with the command of the war against Eumenes, who had joined Perdiccas against the coalition of Antipater, Antigonus, Ptolemy, Craterus, and the other generals

319-Antigonus and the other dynasts refused to recognize Polyperchon, since it would undermine their own ambitions. Once again, war broke out

315-Antigonus now was in possession of the empire's Asian territories, his authority stretching from the eastern satrapies to Syria and Asia Minor in the west. He seized the treasures at Susa and entered Babylon. The governor of the city, Seleucus fled to Ptolemy and entered into a league with him, Lysimachus and Cassander against Antigonus

Antigonus I Monophthalmus Ἀντίγονος ὁ Μονόφθαλµος, "Antigonus the

One-eyed" 382 BC – 301 BC

son of Antigonus Monophthalmus (One-eyed)

315-At the age of twenty-two he was left by his father to defend Syria against Ptolemy. He was defeated at the Battle of Gaza, his first (unsuccessful) siege

310-he was soundly defeated when he tried to expel Seleucus Nicator from Babylon; his father was defeated in the autumn. As a result of this Babylonian War, Antigonus lost almost two thirds of his empire: all eastern satrapies became Seleucus'

Marble bust, Roman, 1st century AD of a Greek original from 3rd century BC

Demetrius I ( Δηµήτριος, 337 – 283 ) Poliorcetes ( Πολιορκητής - "The

Besieger") king of Macedon (294–288).

Antigonus

Cassander

Ptolemy

Seleucus

Lysymachus

Ἀλεξάνδρεια Ἐσχάτη Alexandria Eschatē

the farthest Alexandria

these colonists made the first major interaction between an

urbanized Indo-European culture and the Chinese

civilization. This led to the opening of the Silk Road in

the 1st century BC Wikipedia

son of Antigonus I Monophthalmus (One-eyed)

315-At the age of twenty-two he was left by his father to defend Syria against Ptolemy. He was defeated at the Battle of Gaza, his first and last unsuccessful siege

310-he was soundly defeated when he tried to expel Seleucus I Nicator from Babylon; his father was defeated in the autumn. As a result of this Babylonian War, Antigonus lost almost two thirds of his empire: all eastern satrapies became Seleucus'

After several campaigns against Ptolemy on the coasts of Cilicia and Cyprus, Demetrius sailed with a fleet of 250 ships to Athens. He freed the city from the power of Cassander and Ptolemy, expelled the garrison which had been stationed there under Demetrius of Phalerum

307-besieged and took Munychia. After these victories he was worshipped by the Athenians as a tutelary deity under the title of Soter (σωτήρ) ("Preserver") [or “Savior”]Marble bust, Roman copy, 1st century AD of a

Greek original from 3rd century BC

Demetrius I ( Δηµήτριος, 337 – 283 ) Poliorcetes ( Πολιορκητής - "The

Besieger") king of Macedon (294–288).

Antigonus clearly meant to secure firm control of the eastern Mediterranean sea routes, since he at once sent Demetrius to reduce that...great naval bastion, Rhodes, then under Ptolemy’s control…. For over a year (305/4), Demetrius assaulted the island’s capital with a fearsome array of siege engines, fire arrows, rams and torsion catapults. Ptolemy’s ships ran the blockade to supply the defenders, and in the end Demetrius was forced to leave the Rhodians independent. His title of “the Besieger” thus had a decidedly ironic flavor about it. The Rhodians celebrated by erecting a colossal statue of Helios at the harbor entrance, paid for by the sale of Demetrius’ abandoned siege-gear. They also bestowed on Ptolemy the title of “Savior.”

Green, The Hellenistic Age, pp. 36-37

The Colossus of Rhodes was a statue of the Greek Titan Helios, erected during the 280’s BC. It is considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. • Before its destruction in 226 BC - due to an earthquake - it stood over 107 ft high, making it one of the tallest statues of the ancient world.

320-After Alexander’s death, Seleucus was nominated as the satrap of Babylon

Antigonus forced Seleucus to flee from Babylon, but, supported by Ptolemy, he was able to return in 312

Seleucus' later conquests include Persia and Media. He was defeated by the emperor of India, Chandragupta Maurya and accepted a marriage alliance (with a 500-elephant-dowry) after ceding the territories considered as part of India

Seleucus defeated Antigonus in the battle of Ipsus in 301 BC and Lysimachus in the battle of Corupedium in 281

He was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus during the same year. His successor was his son Antiochus I

established the Seleucid dynasty and empire. His kingdom would be one of the last holdouts of Alexander's former empire to Roman rule. It was only outlived by the Ptolemaic Kingdom in Egypt by roughly 34 years. He founded many cities, the most famous, Antioch, named for his son

Roman copy from a Greek original, from Herculaneum. Now in the National

Archaeological Museum of Naples, Italy.

Seleucus I (given the surname by later

generations of Nicator Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ, Seleucus the

Victor) ca. 358 – 281

a second cousin of Alexander through Olympias. He was brother-in law to Demetrius Poliorketes

302-first expelled from the throne by Cassander. Taken as hostage to Alexandria where he married Ptolemy’s step-daughter Antigone

297-briefly restored to Epirus by Ptolemy, Pyrrhus had his co-ruler Neoptolemus II of Epirus, puppet of the now-deceased Seleucus, murdered. Next, he went to war against his former ally and brother-in-law Demetrius

by 286- he had taken control over the kingdom of Macedon. Pyrrhus was driven out of Macedon by Lysimachus in 284

one of the strongest opponents of early Rome. Some of his battles, though successful, cost him heavy losses, from which the term "Pyrrhic victory" was coined

Pyrrhus or Pyrrhos Πύρρος, Pyrros

319/318–272

king of Epirus (306-302 & 288–285) king of Macedon (274–272)

Pyrrhus’ Wars Against Rome & Carthage 281-275 BC

Plutarch records that Hannibal ranked Pyrrhus as the greatest commander the world had ever seen, ..t.--Wikipedia

the eldest son of Ptolemy Soter, ruler of Egypt, and his third wife Eurydice, daughter of the regent Antipater

His younger half-brother, also called Ptolemy, became heir apparent and, in 282, ascended to the throne as Ptolemy II

Ptolemy Keraunos had left Egypt and arrived at the court of Lysimachus. His half-sister, Arsinoe, was wife of Lysimachus

After Lysimachus' defeat and death in the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC, against Seleucus Nicator, Ptolemy Keraunos murdered Seleucus in order to gain the power of his former protector. He then rushed to Lysimacheia where he had himself acclaimed king by the Macedonian army. At this time he also formally relinquished his claim to the Egyptian throne. To stabilize his throne, Ptolemy asked his half-sister Arsinoe, the widow of Lysimachus, to marry him

279-he was captured and killed during the wars against the Gauls, who conducted a series of mass raids against Macedon and the rest of Greece.

Ptolemy Keraunos Πτολεµαῖος Κεραυνός

died 279 His epithet Keraunos is Greek for

"Thunder" or "Thunderbolt" king of Macedon (281–279)

The Gallic threat was brief, but it had significant consequences. The Gauls soon

transferred their terror to Anatolia, but only after being defeated at Delphi … by

the Aetolian League (the organization of the city-states of northwest Greece) and

Antigonus Gonatas (“Knock-knees”), the son of Demetrius Poliorcetes.

Their victories over the Gauls transformed the position of both the Aetolians

and Antigonus, legitimizing the emergence of the former as the preeminent

power in central Greece and the protector of Delphi and the latter as king of

Macedon. The final pieces of the new political system that had so gradually and

painfully emerged from the wreckage of Alexander’s empire had fallen into place.

Thus ended “Alexander’s funeral games.”

Pomeroy et al., Ancient Greece, p 476

So-called dying Gaul and his wife. Marble, Roman copy after an Hellenistic original from a monument built by Attalus I of Pergamon after

his victory over Gauls, ca. 220 BC

...Alexander’s rejection of constitutional government, of civic militarism, and of municipal autonomy ensured that his conquests would never result in a stable Hellenic civilization in Asia, or even liberty in Greece--but simply the Successor’s (Διάδοχι, Diadochi) kingdoms (323-31 B.C.) of his like-minded marshals who followed. For three centuries theocrats--Macedonians, Epirotes, Selucids, Ptolemies, Attalids--would rule, fight, plunder and live in splendor amid a Hellenic veneer of court elites and professionals in Asia and Africa until at last they were subdued by the legions of republican Rome.

Hanson, Carnage and Culture, p. 82