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  then is slain; Cassander campaigns in Aetolia and Illyria;

  Polemaeus invades Caria; Seleucus and the Athenian

  admiral Aristotle unsuccessful y attack Lemnos

  Early Winter

  Cassander sends an army to Caria; Antigonus leaves

  Demetrius in Syria and moves to Phrygia

  Winter 313/12

  Antigonus in Celaenae; Asander briefly allies

  with Antigonus; revolt of Pontic cities

  312

  February

  Antigonus gains control of Carian cities

  Late Spring/

  Telesphorus to Greece

  Early Summer

  Summer

  Polemaeus sent to Greece; revolt of Cyrene

  Summer/Fal

  Polemaeus’ operations in Greece; Cassander in Epirus

  and Euboea

  Fal

  Ptolemy to Cyprus: Telesphorus deserts Antigonid cause

  and attacks Elis; Elis freed and Telesphorus returns to

  allegiance; Battle of Gaza; Ptolemy occupies Phoenicia

  Winter 312/11

  Demetrius defeats Cilles; Antigonus in Syria

  311

  April

  Seleucus retakes Babylon

  Spring/Summer

  Demetrius’ Nabataean campaign

  Fal

  Seleucus occupies Media and Susiane; Demetrius’

  raid on Babylonia

  Winter 311/10

  Peace between Antigonus, Cassander, Ptolemy,

  and Lysimachus

  310

  Spring

  Murders of Roxane and Alexander IV

  Late Spring/

  Antigonus invades Babylonia

  Summer

  Chronology

  xiii

  309

  Late Spring/

  Polemaeus revolts from Antigonus; Ptolemy’s operations

  Early Summer

  in Cilicia; death of Polemaeus

  Summer

  Death of Heracles, son of Alexander the Great

  Fall/Winter

  Founding of Lysimacheia

  308

  Spring

  Ptolemy’s operations in Lycia; his acquisition of Sicyon

  and Corinth

  Summer

  Ophel as’ campaign in North Africa; return of Antigonus

  from the east; murder of Cleopatra, sister of Alexander

  the Great; Seleucus occupies upper satrapies, makes treaty

  with Chandragupta

  307

  Spring

  Ptolemy’s operations in the Aegean and Greece; Demetrius

  “frees” Athens

  Fal

  Pyrrhus becomes king of Epirus

  306

  Spring

  Demetrius’ operations in Cyprus begin; founding

  of Antigoneia-on-the-Orontes

  June

  Battle of Salamis; Antigonus and Demetrius proclaimed

  kings

  Summer

  Surrender of Cyprus to Demetrius; death of Philip,

  son of Antigonus

  November

  Antigonus and Demetrius’ failed invasion of Egypt

  305

  Spring

  Demetrius launches attack on Rhodes

  304

  Spring

  Cassander captures island of Salamis, besieging Athens;

  Demetrius abandons siege of Rhodes, and returns

  to Athens; other Diadochs proclaim themselves kings

  Summer

  Demetrius’ advance into Boeotia and Euboea

  303

  Spring

  Demetrius invades the Peloponnesus, captures Sicyon

  and Corinth; new Hellenic league

  Summer

  Cleonymus captures Corcyra

  Late Summer/Fal Demetrius secures Achaea, all of Arcadia, except Mantinea,

  and Argos; marries Deidameia and forms as alliance

  with Epirus

  Winter 303/2

  Failed attempt by Cassander to make peace with Antigonus

  302

  Winter

  Alliance of Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus

  against Antigonus

  xiv Chronology

  Spring

  Start of Fourth Diadoch War; formation of new League

  of Corinth; Demetrius initiated into Eleusinian Mysteries

  April/May

  Lysimachus and Cassander’s general Prepelaus cross to Asia

  Summer

  Antigonus moves into Asia Minor

  Summer/Fal

  Demetrius campaigning in Thessaly

  Fal

  Antigonus and Lysimachus campaigning in Phrygia;

  Pyrrhus forced from the throne of Epirus and joins

  Demetrius

  Winter 302/1

  Demetrius recalled from Greece; Ptolemy seizes Phoenicia

  and returns to Egypt; Corcyra independent

  301

  Late Spring

  Battle of Ipsus; death of Antigonus

  300

  Spring

  New alliance between Ptolemy, Cassander, and

  Lysimachus; alliance between Seleucus and Demetrius;

  Demetrius takes possession of Cilicia; Lachares takes

  control of Athens

  Late Spring/

  Alliance between Demetrius and Ptolemy; Pyrrhus

  Summer

  to Egypt as a hostage for Demetrius’ good behavior

  298?

  Demetrius’ failed attempt to “liberate” Athens

  298/97

  Winter

  Death of Cassander, succeeded by son Philip (IV)

  297

  Spring

  Death of Philip IV, ruler of Macedonia; Macedonia divided

  among Cassander’s surviving sons, Alexander and Antipater

  Early Summer

  Pyrrhus returns to Epirus

  Summer

  Demetrius in Peloponnesus

  295

  Spring?

  Demetrius begins siege of Athens

  294

  Spring

  Demetrius “liberates” Athens

  Spring/Summer

  Demetrius invades Laconia, defeats Spartans twice

  Summer

  Civil war between the brothers in Macedonia;

  intervention of Pyrrhus

  Late Summer/

  Demetrius arrives in response to invitation

  Early Fall

  from Alexander

  Fal

  Murder of Alexander IV; Demetrius (I) king of Macedonia

  Winter 294/3

  Foundation of Demetrias

  293

  Marriage of Antiochus and Stratonice

  291

  Demetrius marries Lanassa

  Chronology

  xv

  288

  Spring

  With Demetrius preparing to invade Asia Minor,

  new coalition of Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus,

  and Pyrrhus is formed against him

  Fal

  Lysimachus and Pyrrhus invade Macedonia;

  Macedonia divided between Lysimachus and Pyrrhus;

  Demetrius flees to Cassandreia; death of Phila

  Winter

  Murder of Antipater

  287

  Spring

  Reestablishment of Athenian democracy;

  Ptolemy new patron of Nesiotic League

  Summer

  Ptolemy repudiates Eurydice and Ceraunus;

  Ptolemy regains Cyprus; Demetrius returns to Asia

  286

  Demetrius campaigning in Asia Minor

  285

  Spring

  Seleucus captures Demetrius; Lysimachus subverts

  Pyrrhus’ army and becomes sole king of Macedonia

  284

  Summer?

  Ptolemy Philadelphus made co-ruler of Egypt

  283

  Win
ter 283/2

  Lysimachus murders his son Agathocles

  282

  February?

  Death of Demetrius

  Spring?

  Death of Ptolemy I; Ptolemy (II) Philadelphus,

  sole ruler of Egypt

  282/81 Winter

  Seleucus invades Lysimachus’ possessions in Asia Minor

  281

  February/March

  Battle of Corrupedium; death of Lysimachus

  Summer

  Seleucus crosses to Macedonia; Seleucus murdered by

  Ceraunus (September); Ceraunus, king of Macedonia

  280

  Death of Ceraunus

  276

  Antigonus Gonatas king of Macedonia

  Preface

  This work is not a history of the Hellenistic Age, only those slightly more than

  forty years that followed Alexander the Great’s death. Its purpose is to look

  critical y at the events which, and the personalities who, set the path upon which the Hellenistic world would proceed, not to examine the resulting journey. It is

  designed both for scholars and also for the general reader. While presenting a

  narrative of events, this narrative will be interspersed with the more important

  scholarly debates that affect so completely this history of the events that occurred more than twenty-three centuries ago. Many of these debates on some of the finer

  points have been either ignored or relegated to footnotes, so as not to disrupt the flow of the narrative. However, the more important ones will be set forth in their appropriate place in the narrative. Only in the case of certain chronological

  controversies will the debates appear in a separate section at the end of particular chapters. The ultimate goal is to present a readable and reasoned account of

  Alexander’s Successors, the Diadochi.

  As with all my works, I wish to thank my wife Jeanne for putting up with me in

  general, and more particularly I am most grateful for her aid in reading and

  commenting on what I have written. I also wish to thank my colleagues in the field of Alexander and Hellenistic studies, and especial y those affectionately known as the “Alexander Group.” To them all goes my appreciation for their support and

  insights over these many years. I would also like to thank the editors at Wiley

  Blackwel , Haze Humbert for suggesting the project and working with the

  prospectus, Allison Kostka for shepherding it to completion, and Janet Moth for

  proofing the final manuscript. For all of their assistance I am very grateful.

  Map 1 Regions of Macedonia

  Map 2 Greece and Asia Minor

  Map 3 The Hellenistic world

  1

  Introduction

  Any history of the Diadochi, the Successors, the generals who inherited the empire of Alexander the Great, will of necessity be an adventure story of larger-than-life characters pursuing glory and empire. This was an age that arose directly out of

  the conquests of one of the most mercurial figures in world history. It is only by comparison to the great Conqueror himself that these individuals’ exploits pale.

  After al , they were fighting over an empire, stretching from Greece to Egypt to

  India, that he had created, and that ultimately none of them singularly could hold.

  Yet it is in their struggles with each other over what might be called Alexander’s estate that the Hellenistic world was created. This estate over which they contended was both material and mythical. On the one hand, there was the physical, territorial, empire, but on the other was the legend of Alexander himself. This myth that grew with each passing year was often the exemplar by which supporters of the various

  Diadochi would measure their generals and rulers. Alexander, however, himself

  was but a catalyst in the creation of this new age (Anson 2013b: 181–8). He set the stage; he conquered the old Persian nemesis that had haunted Greek affairs since

  the sixth century bc, but then he left that stage. In his leaving, he is supposed to have said, when asked to whom he left his empire, “to the strongest.” He certainly had done little to ensure the empire’s survival. In the words of Ernst Badian (1964a: 203), “Alexander was, essential y, not interested in a future without himself.” He left a legacy of tremendous potential, but also one of administrative ambiguity and a

  world wedded to warfare as the means to virtual y every end.

  At his death, Alexander’s potential heirs were a child, Heracles, by a mistress; a half-brother of dubious competence, and an as yet unborn son by his Bactrian or

  Sogdian wife Roxane (Heckel 2006: 187, 241). In short, there was to be no smooth

  transition in power, and, in the final analysis, Alexander’s family, the Argeads, would not long survive the great king’s death.

  While his Successors contended in a world in which few parameters had been

  set, some of these were to resound until the fall of the various Hellenistic states to Rome, and in some cases to transcend even this conquest. These qualities were

  especial y important given the personal nature of Alexander’s empire and his

  Alexander’s Heirs: The Age of the Successors, First Edition. Edward M. Anson.

  © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

  2

  Alexander’s Heirs

  Successors’ kingdoms. Unlike the later Roman empire, in which lands secured

  overseas by Roman armies redounded to the benefit of the Roman state, Alexander’s conquests were regarded as his personal possessions won through his personal

  triumphs. For Alexander, Macedonia was a manpower resource only. His connec-

  tion to his homeland grew dimmer with every new conquest and with every step

  he took further into the east. He even planned to center his empire on Babylon

  (Str. 15.3.9–10). This personal aspect of rule was one of Alexander’s major legacies to his Successors. Alexander’s kingdom was one won on the battlefield, and warfare was not just the backdrop of Alexander’s initial conquests, but also that of the first forty years of the Hellenistic age. The ruler as general, ever attempting to increase his personal domains, is the history of the Hellenistic world, and, perhaps, the

  legacy of Alexander not just to his contemporaries, the Successors, about whom

  this book relates, but to the age as a whole.

  This history is a story of vaulting ambition, treachery, and wars almost without

  cessation. It was this inheritance, first from Alexander, and then from his immediate true heirs, his generals, that formed the underpinnings of the entire Hellenistic period. Even after the establishment of relatively stable royal families in the kingdoms carved from Alexander’s empire by the second and third generations of the

  Conqueror’s successors, personal monarchy and warfare remained the staples of

  the new age. Alexander’s generation was to serve as a transition from the conquest itself to the more settled world by comparison that appeared with the emergence

  of formal Hellenistic states. In part, these more settled conditions were the result of the emptying of the vast treasuries that had been captured from the Persians. These funds fueled the almost incessant warfare of the Successors.

  While Alexander had not created an empire that was fixed by tradition or

  institutions, he had created a governmental pattern that was to be reinforced

  by his more successful Diadochs. Alexander had in the main copied the

  administrative structure of the Persian empire, which had the various regions

  divided up into provinces or satrapies, under the administrative authority of a

  governor or satrap, but Alexander’s legacy was much more than the transmittal

  of some basic Persian administrative organization, and it was this inheritance

  that was conti
nued and enhanced by his Successors. Alexander had created his

  empire in war and blood, and those who came after him fought for their share

  of this inheritance in the same fashion. The Successors had to demonstrate their

  fitness to rule on a regular basis, while their descendants owed their legitimacy, in the main, to their forebears. For Alexander the core of his empire was his

  increasingly polyglot army, with the military camp serving as his true capital.

  With few exceptions this was another way in which those who followed emulated

  the Conqueror. With respect to those territories brought under their aegis

  through conquest, the Successors mostly sought to dominate these areas through

  garrisons and often, again in the pattern of Alexander, with city foundations, but also through securing the loyalty of local elites. With regard to the last, Alexander had been most adept (Briant 2002: 870, 842–4, 1046–60), and among his

  Successors, Peucestas and Seleucus were noted for their acceptance of foreign

  Introduction

  3

  traditions and peoples. Peucestas, Alexander’s satrap of Persis, wore Persian

  dress, learned the Persian language (Arr. Anab. 6.30.2–3), and treated many Persians as his close, personal, advisors and allies (Diod. 19.22.2). Later, in the second great contest of Alexander’s Successors, Peucestas assembled an army

  that included 6000 Persian archers and slingers, 3000 heavy infantry made up

  of “men of many races … in Macedonian array,” and 400 Persian cavalrymen

  (Diod. 19.14.5). Seleucus’ later success in securing much of the east was tied to his ability “to find common ground with the native populations” (Olbrycht 2013:

  168). In both Babylonia and Iran his “generosity” and “benevolence” secured the

  support of even the common people (Diod. 19.91.2, 92.5).

  As part of this courting of the local elite, it was equal y important for the successful Diadoch to recognize the nature of the military organization bequeathed by

  Alexander. This was no longer the national force of Macedonia, but rather a

  polyglot army of different nationalities, including increasing numbers of true

  mercenaries, but with all exhibiting many of the characteristics of mercenaries

  (Anson 1991: 230–47). Troops in this period tended to follow leaders who were

  both successful on the battlefield and excellent paymasters. Often, defeated armies would desert their now beaten general and enter service with the commander of

  the victorious force. The other aspect of these armies of the Diadochs was that,

  while they may have had Macedonian cores, the majority of the troops were Asians