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190-684: The most notable Diadochi include Ptolemy , Antigonus , Cassander , and Seleucus as the last remaining at the end of the Wars of the Successors , ruling in Egypt , Asia-Minor , Macedon and Persia respectively, all forging dynasties lasting several centuries. In ancient Greek, diadochos is a noun (substantive or adjective) formed from the verb, diadechesthai , "succeed to," a compound of dia- and dechesthai , "receive." The word-set descends straightforwardly from Indo-European *dek-, "receive",

380-606: A Greek cultural and political center in the Mediterranean region along with Ptolemaic Egypt , the Seleucid Empire , and the Attalid kingdom . Important cities such as Pella , Pydna , and Amphipolis were involved in power struggles for control of the territory. New cities were founded, such as Thessalonica by the usurper Cassander (named after his wife Thessalonike of Macedon ). Macedonia's decline began with

570-636: A Hellenic league in the same vein as Philip   II's League of Corinth, he managed to defeat Sparta at the Battle of Sellasia in 222   BC. Sparta was occupied by a foreign power for the first time in its history, restoring Macedonia's position as the leading power in Greece. Antigonus died a year later, perhaps from tuberculosis , leaving behind a strong Hellenistic kingdom for his successor Philip   V. Philip V of Macedon ( r.  221–179 BC ) faced immediate challenges to his authority by

760-547: A brother and cousin of Perdiccas   II who had rebelled against him. Thus, two separate wars were fought against Athens between 433 and 431   BC. The Macedonian king retaliated by promoting the rebellion of Athens' allies in Chalcidice and subsequently won over the strategic city of Potidaea . After capturing the Macedonian cities Therma and Beroea , Athens besieged Potidaea but failed to overcome it; Therma

950-595: A campaign in Magna Graecia (i.e. southern Italy ) against the Roman Republic known as the Pyrrhic War , followed by his invasion of Sicily . Ptolemy Keraunos secured his position on the Macedonian throne by giving Pyrrhus five thousand soldiers and twenty war elephants for this endeavor. Pyrrhus returned to Epirus in 275   BC after the ultimate failure of both campaigns, which contributed to

1140-494: A coalition against Perdiccas , the royal regent over Philip III of Macedon . The latter invaded Egypt but was assassinated by his own officers in 320 BC, allowing Ptolemy I to consolidate his control over the country. After a series of wars between Alexander's successors , Ptolemy gained a claim to Judea in southern Syria , which was disputed with the Seleucid king Seleucus I . He also took control of Cyprus and Cyrenaica ,

1330-576: A coalition against Perdiccas in a civil war initiated by Ptolemy's seizure of the hearse of Alexander the Great . Perdiccas was assassinated in 321   BC by his own officers during a failed campaign in Egypt against Ptolemy, where his march along the Nile River resulted in the drowning of 2,000 of his men. Although Eumenes of Cardia managed to kill Craterus in battle, this had little to no effect on

1520-520: A comment that the man who was preparing to cross from Europe to Asia could not cross from one couch to another, Alexander departed, to escort his mother to her native Epirus and to wait himself in Illyria . Not long after, prompted by Demaratus the Corinthian to mend the dissension in his house, Philip sent Demaratus to bring Alexander home. The expectation by virtue of which Alexander was diadochos

1710-516: A compact and well-ordered realm to show at the end of forty years of war. His reputation for good nature and liberality attached the floating soldier-class of Macedonians and other Greeks to his service, and was not insignificant; nor did he wholly neglect conciliation of the natives. He was a ready patron of letters, founding the Great Library of Alexandria . The Ptolemaic dynasty which he founded ruled Egypt for nearly three hundred years. It

1900-476: A few occasions, but it is likely that large stretches of Arrian's Anabasis reflect Ptolemy's version of events. Arrian once names Ptolemy as the author "whom I chiefly follow", and in his Preface writes that Ptolemy seemed to him to be a particularly trustworthy source, "not only because he was present with Alexander on campaign, but also because he was himself a king, and hence lying would be more dishonourable for him than for anyone else". Ptolemy's lost history

2090-526: A great fleet under Demetrius attacked Cyprus, and Ptolemy's brother Menelaus was defeated and captured in another decisive Battle of Salamis . Ptolemy's complete loss of Cyprus followed. The satraps Antigonus and Demetrius now each assumed the title of king; Ptolemy, as well as Cassander , Lysimachus and Seleucus I Nicator , responded by doing the same. In the winter of 306 BC, Antigonus tried to follow up his victory in Cyprus by invading Egypt; but Ptolemy

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2280-683: A large degree of autonomy and was never made a satrapy (i.e. province) of the Achaemenid Empire, it was expected to provide troops for the Achaemenid army . Alexander   I provided Macedonian military support to Xerxes I ( r.  486–465 BC ) during the Second Persian invasion of Greece in 480–479 BC, and Macedonian soldiers fought on the side of the Persians at the 479   BC Battle of Platea . Following

2470-576: A new agreement with Antipater at the Partition of Triparadisus . Antipater was made regent of the Empire, and the two kings were moved to Macedon. Antigonus remained in charge of Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphylia, to which was added Lycaonia . Ptolemy retained Egypt, Lysimachus retained Thrace, while the three murderers of Perdiccas—Seleucus, Peithon, and Antigenes—were given the provinces of Babylonia, Media, and Susiana respectively. Arrhidaeus,

2660-525: A new regent (since Philip   III was considered mentally unstable), in effect bypassing the council of the army as well. Forming an alliance with Ptolemy, Antigonus, and Lysimachus , Cassander had his officer Nicanor capture the Munichia fortress of Athens' port town Piraeus in defiance of Polyperchon's decree that Greek cities should be free of Macedonian garrisons, sparking the Second War of

2850-495: A number of crises and challenges along the way. The reign of Ptolemy IV Philopator (221–203 BC)is marked by historians as the beginning of the decline of Ptolemaic Egypt. However, the kingdom would persist for another 200 years. The Ptolemaic rulers gradually embraced Egyptian traditions, such as sibling royal marriages, which the Ptolemaic dynasty frequently partook in. The cosmopolitan nature of Ptolemaic Egypt can be seen with

3040-411: A number of them is neither verifiable nor probable, unless we either reckon up simple military posts or borrow from the list of foundations really established by his successors." He avoids Droysen's term in favor of the traditional "successor". In a long note he attacks Droysen's thesis as "altogether slender and unsatisfactory." Grote may have been right, but he ignores entirely Droysen's main thesis, that

3230-479: A part of them. At the report of each of Philip's victories, Alexander was said to lament that his father would leave him nothing of note to do. There was a source of disaffection, however. Plutarch reports that Alexander and his mother bitterly reproached him for his numerous affairs among the women of his court. Philip then fell in love and married a young woman, Cleopatra , when he was too old for marriage. (Macedonian kings traditionally had multiple wives.) Alexander

3420-625: A possible second wife Gygaea: Archelaus, Arrhidaeus, and Menelaus . Philip   II had Archelaus put to death in 359   BC, while Philip   II's other two half brothers fled to Olynthos, serving as a casus belli for the Olynthian War (349–348   BC) against the Chalcidian League. While Athens was preoccupied with the Social War (357–355 BC) , Philip   II retook Amphipolis from them in 357   BC and

3610-719: A principal part in the later campaigns in Afghanistan and India . He participated in the Battle of Issus , commanding troops on the left wing under the authority of Parmenion. Later he accompanied Alexander during his journey to the Oracle in the Siwa Oasis where he was proclaimed a son of Zeus . Ptolemy had his first independent command during the campaign against the rebel Bessus whom his own guards captured and handed over to Ptolemy, who then handed him over to Alexander for execution. When Alexander died in 323 BC, Ptolemy

3800-561: A pro-Athenian democracy , the Athenian navy was able to form a blockade against Macedonian seaports and invade Chalcidice in 417   BC. Perdiccas   II sued for peace in 414   BC, forming an alliance with Athens that was continued by his son and successor Archelaus   I ( r.  413–399 BC ). Athens then provided naval support to Archelaus   I in the 410   BC Macedonian siege of Pydna , in exchange for timber and naval equipment. Although Archelaus I

3990-724: A resurgent Rome should seek revenge against either Macedonia or Carthage. Although the Macedonians were perhaps only interested in safeguarding their newly conquered territories in Illyria, the Romans were nevertheless able to thwart whatever grand ambitions Philip   V had for the Adriatic region during the First Macedonian War (214–205   BC). In 214   BC, Rome positioned a naval fleet at Oricus , which

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4180-509: A revolt against Macedonian authority known as the Chremonidean War (267–261   BC). By 265   BC, Athens was surrounded and besieged by Antigonus   II's forces, and a Ptolemaic fleet was defeated in the Battle of Cos . Athens finally surrendered in 261   BC. After Macedonia formed an alliance with the Seleucid ruler Antiochus II , a peace settlement between Antigonus   II and Ptolemy II Philadelphus of Egypt

4370-645: A shortage of provisions in winter. In 424 BC, Arrhabaeus , a local ruler of Lynkestis in Upper Macedonia, rebelled against his overlord Perdiccas, and the Spartans agreed to help in putting down the revolt. At the Battle of Lyncestis the Macedonians panicked and fled before the fighting began, enraging the Spartan general Brasidas , whose soldiers looted the unattended Macedonian baggage train . Perdiccas then changed sides and supported Athens, and he

4560-710: A staged banquet of reconciliation between Persians and Macedonians. Alexander perhaps undercut his own rule by demonstrating signs of megalomania . While utilizing effective propaganda such as the cutting of the Gordian Knot , he also attempted to portray himself as a living god and son of Zeus following his visit to the oracle at Siwah in the Libyan Desert (in modern-day Egypt) in 331   BC. His attempt in 327   BC to have his men prostrate before him in Bactra in an act of proskynesis borrowed from

4750-522: A third time, while Antigonus was engaged with Lysimachus in Asia Minor . On hearing a report that Antigonus had won a decisive victory there, he once again evacuated Syria. But when the news came that Antigonus had been defeated and slain by Lysimachus and Seleucus at the Battle of Ipsus in 301, he occupied Syria a fourth time. The other members of the coalition had assigned all Syria to Seleucus, after what they regarded as Ptolemy's desertion, and for

4940-405: A time, this brought an end to any resistance to Macedonian domination. Meanwhile, Peithon suppressed a revolt of Greek settlers in the eastern parts of the Empire, and Perdiccas and Eumenes subdued Cappadocia . Soon, however, conflict broke out. Perdiccas ' marriage to Alexander's sister Cleopatra led Antipater, Craterus, Antigonus, and Ptolemy to join in rebellion. The actual outbreak of war

5130-474: Is a later myth fabricated to glorify the Ptolemaic dynasty. However, through his mother Ptolemy may have been a great-grandson of Amyntas I of Macedon , making him a member of the Argead royal house and a distant relative of Alexander, who was a great-great-grandson of Amyntas. Ptolemy served with Alexander from his first campaigns, and was among the seven somatophylakes (bodyguards) of Alexander. He played

5320-445: Is no uniform agreement concerning exactly which historical persons fit the description, or the territorial range over which the role was in effect, or the calendar dates of the period. A certain basic meaning is included in all definitions, however. The New Latin terminology was introduced by the historians of universal Greek history of the 19th century. Their comprehensive histories of ancient Greece typically covering from prehistory to

5510-534: Is said to have instigated the settlement of the empire made at Babylon . Through the Partition of Babylon , he was appointed satrap of Egypt , under the nominal kings Philip III and the infant Alexander IV ; the former satrap, the Greek Cleomenes , stayed on as his deputy. Ptolemy quickly moved, without authorization, to subjugate Cyrenaica . By custom, kings in Macedonia asserted their right to

5700-505: The tagus (supreme Thessalian military leader) Alexander of Pherae , capturing the city of Larissa . The Thessalians, desiring to remove both Alexander   II and Alexander of Pherae as their overlords , appealed to Pelopidas of Thebes for aid; he succeeded in recapturing Larissa and, in the peace agreement arranged with Macedonia, received aristocratic hostages including Alexander   II's brother and future king Philip   II ( r.  359–336 BC ). When Alexander

5890-538: The Aegean Sea . He improved Macedonia's currency by minting coins with a higher silver content as well as issuing separate copper coinage . His royal court attracted the presence of well-known intellectuals such as the Athenian playwright Euripides . When Archelaus   I was assassinated (perhaps following a homosexual love affair with royal pages at his court), the kingdom was plunged into chaos, in an era lasting from 399 to 393   BC that included

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6080-767: The Antigonid Kingdom finally fell to Rome , and the Seleucids were harried from Persia by the Parthians and forced by the Romans to relinquish control in Asia Minor . A rump Seleucid kingdom survived in Syria until finally conquered by Pompey in 64 BC. The Ptolemies lasted longer in Alexandria , though as a client under Rome. Egypt was finally annexed to Rome in 30 BC. In the formal "court" titulature of

6270-657: The Balkans , the Persian general Megabazus used diplomacy to convince Amyntas   I to submit as a vassal of the Achaemenid Empire , ushering in the period of Achaemenid Macedonia . Achaemenid Persian hegemony over Macedonia was briefly interrupted by the Ionian Revolt (499–493   BC), yet the Persian general Mardonius brought it back under Achaemenid suzerainty . Although Macedonia enjoyed

6460-616: The Battle of Cynoscephalae . Rome then ratified a treaty that forced Macedonia to relinquish control of much of its Greek possessions outside of Macedonia proper, if only to act as a buffer against Illyrian and Thracian incursions into Greece. Although some Greeks suspected Roman intentions of supplanting Macedonia as the new hegemonic power in Greece, Flaminius announced at the Isthmian Games of 196   BC that Rome intended to preserve Greek liberty by leaving behind no garrisons and by not exacting tribute of any kind. His promise

6650-577: The Cadmea , Alexander left the Illyrian front and marched to Thebes, which he placed under siege . After breaching the walls, Alexander's forces killed 6,000 Thebans, took 30,000 inhabitants as prisoners of war , and burned the city to the ground as a warning that convinced all other Greek states except Sparta not to challenge Alexander again. Throughout his military career, Alexander won every battle that he personally commanded. His first victory against

6840-693: The Danube , forcing their surrender on Peuce Island . Shortly thereafter, the Illyrian chieftain Cleitus , son of Bardylis , threatened to attack Macedonia with the aid of Glaucias , king of the Taulantii , but Alexander took the initiative and besieged the Illyrians at Pelion (in modern Albania ). When Thebes had once again revolted from the League of Corinth and was besieging the Macedonian garrison in

7030-467: The Dardanian Kingdom , invaded Macedonia and defeated an army of Demetrius   II shortly before his death in 229   BC. Although his young son Philip immediately inherited the throne, his regent Antigonus III Doson ( r.  229–221 BC ), nephew of Antigonus   II, was proclaimed king by the army, with Philip as his heir, following a string of military victories against

7220-527: The Gallic ruler Bolgios and driving out the raiding party of Brennus , Sosthenes died and left a chaotic situation in Macedonia. The Gallic invaders ravaged Macedonia until Antigonus Gonatas , son of Demetrius, defeated them in Thrace at the 277   BC Battle of Lysimachia and was then proclaimed king Antigonus II of Macedon ( r.  277–274, 272–239 BC ). In 280 BC, Pyrrhus embarked on

7410-577: The Greek victory at Salamis in 480   BC, Alexander   I was employed as an Achaemenid diplomat to propose a peace treaty and alliance with Athens , an offer that was rejected. Soon afterwards, the Achaemenid forces were forced to withdraw from mainland Europe , marking the end of Persian control over Macedonia. Although initially a Persian vassal, Alexander   I of Macedon fostered friendly diplomatic relations with his former Greek enemies,

7600-465: The Hellespont in anticipation of an invasion into Achaemenid Anatolia . In 342   BC, Philip   II conquered a Thracian city in what is now Bulgaria and renamed it Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv ). War broke out with Athens in 340   BC while Philip   II was engaged in two ultimately unsuccessful sieges of Perinthus and Byzantion , followed by a successful campaign against

7790-613: The Italian peninsula . In 216   BC, Philip   V sent a hundred light warships into the Adriatic Sea to attack Illyria, a move that prompted Scerdilaidas of the Ardiaean Kingdom to appeal to the Romans for aid. Rome responded by sending ten heavy quinqueremes from Roman Sicily to patrol the Illyrian coasts, causing Philip   V to reverse course and order his fleet to retreat, averting open conflict for

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7980-605: The King of Epirus and the Molossians . This marriage would bear a son who would later rule as Alexander   III (better known as Alexander the Great ) and claim descent from the legendary Achilles by way of his dynastic heritage from Epirus . It is unclear whether or not the Achaemenid Persian kings influenced Philip   II's practice of polygamy, although his predecessor Amyntas   III had three sons with

8170-836: The Macedonian Wars and the rise of Rome as the leading Mediterranean power. At the end of the Third Macedonian War in 168   BC, the Macedonian monarchy was abolished and replaced by Roman client states . A short-lived revival of the monarchy during the Fourth Macedonian War in 150–148   BC ended with the establishment of the Roman province of Macedonia . The Macedonian kings, who wielded absolute power and commanded state resources such as gold and silver, facilitated mining operations to mint currency , finance their armies and, by

8360-507: The Ptolemaic Kingdom centered on Egypt . Ptolemy was basileus and pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt from 305/304 BC to his death in 282 BC, and his descendants continued to rule Egypt until 30 BC. During their rule, Egypt became a thriving bastion of Hellenistic civilization and Alexandria a great seat of Greek culture . Ptolemy I was the son of Arsinoe of Macedon by either her husband Lagus or Philip II of Macedon ,

8550-817: The Pythian Games . Athens initially opposed his membership on the council and refused to attend the games in protest, but they eventually accepted these conditions, perhaps after some persuasion by Demosthenes in his oration On the Peace . Over the next few years, Philip II reformed local governments in Thessaly, campaigned against the Illyrian ruler Pleuratus I , deposed Arybbas in Epirus in favor of his brother-in-law Alexander   I (through Philip   II's marriage to Olympias), and defeated Cersebleptes in Thrace. This allowed him to extend Macedonian control over

8740-530: The Roman Empire ran into many volumes. For example, George Grote in the first edition of History of Greece , 1846–1856, hardly mentions the Diadochi, except to say that they were kings who came after Alexander and Hellenized Asia. In the edition of 1869 he defines them as "great officers of Alexander, who after his death carved kingdoms for themselves out of his conquests." Grote cites no references for

8930-599: The Roman Republic negotiated the Treaty of Phoenice in 205   BC, ending the war and allowing the Macedonians to retain some captured settlements in Illyria. Although the Romans rejected an Aetolian request in 202   BC for Rome to declare war on Macedonia once again, the Roman Senate gave serious consideration to the similar offer made by Pergamon and its ally Rhodes in 201   BC. These states were concerned about Philip   V's alliance with Antiochus III

9120-467: The Roman consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus managed to expel Philip   V from Macedonia in 198   BC, forcing his men to take refuge in Thessaly. When the Achaean League switched their loyalties from Macedonia to Rome, the Macedonian king sued for peace, but the terms offered were considered too stringent, and so the war continued. In June 197   BC, the Macedonians were defeated at

9310-469: The Rosetta Stone , an edict ordered by Ptolemy V Epiphanes (204–180 BC), would be written in three languages: Egyptian hieroglyphs , Coptic , and Greek . However, the Ptolemaic rulers' insistence on the incorporation of Greek influences into Egyptian society led to many peasant revolts and uprisings throughout the course of the kingdom's existence. This division was to last for a century, before

9500-604: The Seleucid Empire , and Lysimachus ( r.  306–281 BC ), King of Thrace , defeated the Antigonids at the Battle of Ipsus in 301   BC, killing Antigonus and forcing Demetrius into flight. Cassander died in 297 BC, and his sickly son Philip   IV died the same year, succeeded by Cassander's other sons Alexander V of Macedon ( r.  297–294 BC ) and Antipater II of Macedon ( r.  297–294 BC ), with their mother Thessalonike of Macedon acting as regent. While Demetrius fought against

9690-442: The Strymon River near the Kingdom of Macedonia, where the colonial city of Amphipolis was founded in 437/436   BC so that it could provide Athens with a steady supply of silver and gold as well as timber and pitch to support the Athenian navy . Initially Perdiccas II did not take any action and might have even welcomed the Athenians, as the Thracians were foes to both of them. This changed due to an Athenian alliance with

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9880-414: The Susa weddings in 324   BC. Meanwhile, in Greece, the Spartan king Agis III attempted to lead a rebellion of the Greeks against Macedonia. He was defeated in 331   BC at the Battle of Megalopolis by Antipater, who was serving as regent of Macedonia and deputy hegemon of the League of Corinth in Alexander's stead. Before Antipater embarked on his campaign in the Peloponnese , Memnon,

10070-444: The Thracian Odrysian kingdom through conquest and diplomacy. With a reformed army containing phalanxes wielding the sarissa pike, Philip   II defeated the old powers of Athens and Thebes in the Battle of Chaeronea in 338   BC. Philip   II's son Alexander the Great , leading a federation of Greek states , accomplished his father's objective of commanding the whole of Greece when he destroyed Thebes after

10260-517: The comitia centuriata finally voted in approval of the Roman Senate's declaration of war in 200   BC and handed their ultimatum to Philip   V, demanding that a tribunal assess the damages owed to Rhodes and Pergamon, the Macedonian king rejected it. This marked the beginning of the Second Macedonian War (200–197   BC), with Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus spearheading military operations in Apollonia. The Macedonians successfully defended their territory for roughly two years, but

10450-506: The commander-in-chief ( strategos autokrator ) of a forthcoming campaign to invade the Achaemenid Empire. Philip's plan to punish the Persians for the suffering of the Greeks and to liberate the Greek cities of Asia Minor as well as perhaps the panhellenic fear of another Persian invasion of Greece, contributed to his decision to invade the Achaemenid Empire. The Persians offered aid to Perinthus and Byzantion in 341–340   BC, highlighting Macedonia's strategic need to secure Thrace and

10640-496: The diadochi were declared kings of their respective territories. The beginning of Hellenistic Greece was defined by the struggle between the Antipatrid dynasty , led first by Cassander ( r.  305–297 BC ), son of Antipater, and the Antigonid dynasty , led by the Macedonian general Antigonus I Monophthalmus ( r.  306–301 BC ) and his son, the future king Demetrius   I ( r.  294–288 BC ). Cassander besieged Athens in 303   BC, but

10830-448: The distribution of power , Craterus hastened to Macedonia to assume the protection of Alexander's family. The news of Alexander's death caused the Greeks to rebel in the Lamian War . Craterus and Antipater defeated the rebellion in 322 BC. Despite his absence, the generals gathered at Babylon confirmed Craterus as Guardian of the Royal Family. However, with the royal family in Babylon, the Regent Perdiccas assumed this responsibility until

11020-476: The legend that the Macedonian kings of the Argead dynasty were descendants of Temenus , king of Argos , and could therefore claim the mythical Heracles as one of their ancestors as well as a direct lineage from Zeus , chief god of the Greek pantheon . Contradictory legends state that either Perdiccas I of Macedon or Caranus of Macedon were the founders of the Argead dynasty, with either five or eight kings before Amyntas   I. The assertion that

11210-415: The region of Macedonia in modern Greece . It gradually expanded into the region of Upper Macedonia , inhabited by the Greek Lyncestae and Elimiotae tribes, and into regions of Emathia , Eordaia , Bottiaea , Mygdonia , Crestonia , and Almopia , which were inhabited by various peoples such as Thracians and Phrygians . Macedonia's non-Greek neighbors included Thracians, inhabiting territories to

11400-463: The rise of Rome because Greek cities in southern Italy such as Tarentum now became Roman allies. Pyrrhus invaded Macedonia in 274   BC, defeating the largely mercenary army of Antigonus   II at the 274   BC Battle of Aous and driving him out of Macedonia, forcing him to seek refuge with his naval fleet in the Aegean. Pyrrhus lost much of his support among the Macedonians in 273   BC when his unruly Gallic mercenaries plundered

11590-489: The tyrannies installed in Greece were to be abolished and Greek freedom was to be restored. When Alexander the Great died at Babylon in 323   BC, his mother Olympias immediately accused Antipater and his faction of poisoning him, although there is no evidence to confirm this. With no official heir apparent , the Macedonian military command split, with one side proclaiming Alexander's half-brother Philip   III Arrhidaeus ( r.  323–317 BC ) as king and

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11780-474: The war elephants of King Porus of the Pauravas threatened Alexander's troops, he had them form open ranks to surround the elephants and dislodge their handlers by using their sarissa pikes. When his Macedonian troops threatened mutiny in 324   BC at Opis , Babylonia (near modern Baghdad , Iraq ), Alexander offered Macedonian military titles and greater responsibilities to Persian officers and units instead, forcing his troops to seek forgiveness at

11970-443: The Aegean Sea against increasing Achaemenid encroachment, as the Persian king Artaxerxes III further consolidated his control over satrapies in western Anatolia . The latter region, yielding far more wealth and valuable resources than the Balkans, was also coveted by the Macedonian king for its sheer economic potential. When Philip II married Cleopatra Eurydice , niece of general Attalus , talk of providing new potential heirs at

12160-412: The Age of the Epigoni. Satrap at Partition of Babylon; possibly Nicanor of Stageira Satrap at Partition of Babylon Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy I Soter ( / ˈ t ɒ l əm i / ; Greek : Πτολεμαῖος Σωτήρ , Ptolemaîos Sōtḗr , "Ptolemy the Savior "; c. 367 BC – January 282 BC) was a Macedonian Greek general, historian, and successor of Alexander the Great who went on to found

12350-441: The Alexandrine and Hellenistic Ages, beginning with Alexander. Philip had married a woman who changed her name to Olympias to honor the coincidence of Philip's victory in the Olympic Games and Alexander's birth, an act that suggests love may have been a motive as well. Macedon's chief office was the basileia , or monarchy, the chief officer being the basileus , now the signatory title of Philip . Their son and heir, Alexander,

12540-457: The Antipatrid forces in Greece, Antipater   II killed his own mother to obtain power. His desperate brother Alexander   V then requested aid from Pyrrhus of Epirus ( r.  297–272 BC ), who had fought alongside Demetrius at the Battle of Ipsus, but was sent to Egypt as a hostage as part of an agreement between Demetrius and Ptolemy   I. In exchange for defeating the forces of Antipater   II and forcing him to flee to

12730-444: The Argeads descended from Temenus was accepted by the Hellanodikai authorities of the Ancient Olympic Games , permitting Alexander I of Macedon ( r.  498–454 BC ) to enter the competitions owing to his perceived Greek heritage. Little is known about the kingdom before the reign of Alexander   I's father Amyntas I of Macedon ( r.  547–498 BC ) during the Archaic period . The kingdom of Macedonia

12920-433: The Athenian and Spartan -led coalition of Greek city-states. His successor Perdiccas   II ( r.  454–413 BC ) led the Macedonians to war in four separate conflicts against Athens, leader of the Delian League , while incursions by the Thracian ruler Sitalces of the Odrysian kingdom threatened Macedonia's territorial integrity in the northeast. The Athenian statesman Pericles promoted colonization of

13110-419: The Black in 328   BC is described as "vengeful and reckless" by Dawn L. Gilley and Ian Worthington. Continuing the polygamous habits of his father, Alexander encouraged his men to marry native women in Asia, leading by example when he wed Roxana , a Sogdian princess of Bactria. He then married Stateira II , eldest daughter of Darius   III, and Parysatis II , youngest daughter of Artaxerxes III , at

13300-442: The Chalcidice, and Amphipolis in return for the release of the enslaved Athenians as well as guarantees that Philip   II would not attack Athenian settlements in the Thracian Chersonese . Meanwhile, Phocis and Thermopylae were captured by Macedonian forces, the Delphic temple robbers were executed, and Philip   II was awarded the two Phocian seats on the Amphictyonic Council and the position of master of ceremonies over

13490-407: The Diadochi (319–315   BC). Given a string of military failures by Polyperchon, in 317   BC, Philip   III, by way of his politically engaged wife Eurydice II of Macedon , officially replaced him as regent with Cassander. Afterwards, Polyperchon desperately sought the aid of Olympias in Epirus. A joint force of Epirotes, Aetolians, and Polyperchon's troops invaded Macedonia and forced

13680-484: The Diadochi and Epigoni as "powerful individuals." The title of the volume on the topic, however, is The Graeco-Macedonian Age... , not Droysen's "Hellenistic". Droysen's "Hellenistic" and "Diadochi Periods" are canonical today. A series of six (as of 2014) international symposia held at different universities 1997–2010 on the topics of the imperial Macedonians and their Diadochi have to a large degree solidified and internationalized Droysen's concepts. Each one grew out of

13870-435: The Diadochi finalized the breakup of the unified Empire of Alexander. Antigonus I Monophthalmus and his son Demetrius I of Macedon were pitted against the coalition of three other companions of Alexander: Cassander, ruler of Macedon; Lysimachus, ruler of Thrace; and Seleucus I Nicator, ruler of Babylonia and Persia. Antigonus was killed, but his son Demetrius took a large part of Macedonia and continued his father's dynasty. After

14060-453: The Diadochi, men who knew where they had stood, but not where they would stand now. As there had been no definite ranks or positions of hetairoi, there were no ranks of Diadochi. They expected appointments, but without Alexander they would have to make their own. For purposes of this presentation, the Diadochi are grouped by their rank and social standing at the time of Alexander's death. These were their initial positions as Diadochi. Craterus

14250-576: The Diadochi," or "Diadochi Period" ( die Zeit der Diodochen or Diadochenzeit ), which ran from the death of Alexander to the end of the "Diadochi Wars" ( Diadochenkämpfe , his term), about 278 BC, and the "Epigoni Period" ( Epigonenzeit ), which ran to about 220 BC. He also called the Diadochi Period "the Diadochi War Period" ( Zeit der Diadochenkämpfe ). The Epigoni he defined as "Sons of the Diadochi" ( Diadochensöhne ). These were

14440-614: The Great of the Seleucid Empire, which invaded the war-weary and financially exhausted Ptolemaic Empire in the Fifth Syrian War (202–195   BC) as Philip   V captured Ptolemaic settlements in the Aegean Sea. Although Rome's envoys played a critical role in convincing Athens to join the anti-Macedonian alliance with Pergamon and Rhodes in 200   BC, the comitia centuriata (people's assembly) rejected

14630-531: The Hellenistic empires ruled by dynasties we know as Diadochs, the title was not customary for the Monarch, but has actually been proven to be the lowest in a system of official rank titles, known as Aulic titulature , conferred – ex officio or nominatim – to actual courtiers and as an honorary rank (for protocol) to various military and civilian officials. Notably in the Ptolemaic Kingdom , it

14820-720: The Illyrian Dardani and Aetolian League. Philip   V and his allies were successful against the Aetolians and their allies in the Social War (220–217 BC) , yet he made peace with the Aetolians once he heard of incursions by the Dardani in the north and the Carthaginian victory over the Romans at the Battle of Lake Trasimene in 217   BC. Demetrius of Pharos is alleged to have convinced Philip   V to first secure Illyria in advance of an invasion of

15010-591: The Illyrians in the north and the Aetolians in Thessaly. Aratus sent an embassy to Antigonus III in 226   BC seeking an unexpected alliance now that the reformist king Cleomenes III of Sparta was threatening the rest of Greece in the Cleomenean War (229–222   BC). In exchange for military aid, Antigonus   III demanded the return of Corinth to Macedonian control, which Aratus finally agreed to in 225   BC. In 224   BC, Antigonus   III's forces took Arcadia from Sparta. After forming

15200-474: The Macedonian regent Antipater ; their sons Ptolemy Keraunos and Meleager ruled in turn as kings of Macedon. Ptolemy's final marriage was to Eurydice's cousin and lady-in-waiting, Berenice I . Upon his death, he was succeeded by his son with Berenice, Ptolemy II . Ptolemy was born in 367 BC in the ancient kingdom of Macedon . His mother was Arsinoe . According to Satyrus the Peripatetic , Arsinoe

15390-460: The Macedonian throne. Amyntas III was forced to flee his kingdom in either 393 or 383   BC (based on conflicting accounts), owing to a massive invasion by the Illyrians led by Bardylis . The pretender to the throne Argaeus ruled in his absence, yet Amyntas   III eventually returned to his kingdom with the aid of Thessalian allies. Amyntas   III was also nearly overthrown by

15580-567: The Macedonians. Demetrius   II also lost an ally in Epirus when the monarchy was toppled in a republican revolution . Demetrius   II enlisted the aid of the Illyrian king Agron to defend Acarnania against Aetolia, and in 229   BC, they managed to defeat the combined navies of the Aetolian and Achaean Leagues at the Battle of Paxos . Another Illyrian ruler, Longarus of

15770-423: The Persian kings was rejected as religious blasphemy by his Macedonian and Greek subjects after his court historian Callisthenes refused to perform this ritual. When Alexander had Parmenion murdered at Ecbatana (near modern Hamadan , Iran ) in 330   BC, this was "symptomatic of the growing gulf between the king's interests and those of his country and people", according to Errington. His murder of Cleitus

15960-531: The Persians in Asia Minor at the Battle of the Granicus in 334   BC used a small cavalry contingent as a distraction to allow his infantry to cross the river followed by a cavalry charge from his companion cavalry . Alexander led the cavalry charge at the Battle of Issus in 333   BC, forcing the Persian king Darius III and his army to flee. Darius   III, despite having superior numbers,

16150-480: The Preface to his work that the period "is of no interest in itself," but serves only to elucidate "the preceding centuries," Austin comments "Few nowadays would subscribe to this view." If Grote was hoping to minimize Droysen by not giving him credit, he was mistaken, as Droysen's gradually became the majority model. By 1898 Adolf Holm incorporated a footnote describing and evaluating Droysen's arguments. He describes

16340-537: The Roman Senate decided in 184/183   BC to force Philip   V to abandon Aenus and Maronea , since these had been declared free cities in the Treaty of Apamea. This assuaged the fear of Eumenes   II that Macedonia could pose a threat to his lands in the Hellespont. Perseus of Macedon ( r.  179–168 BC ) succeeded Philip   V and executed his brother Demetrius , who had been favored by

16530-415: The Roman Senate's proposal for a declaration of war on Macedonia. Meanwhile, Philip   V conquered territories in the Hellespont and Bosporus as well as Ptolemaic Samos , which led Rhodes to form an alliance with Pergamon , Byzantium , Cyzicus , and Chios against Macedonia. Despite Philip   V's nominal alliance with the Seleucid king, he lost the naval Battle of Chios in 201   BC and

16720-555: The Romans but was charged by Perseus with high treason . Perseus then attempted to form marriage alliances with Prusias II of Bithynia and Seleucus IV Philopator of the Seleucid Empire, along with renewed relations with Rhodes that greatly unsettled Eumenes   II. Although Eumenes   II attempted to undermine these diplomatic relationships, Perseus fostered an alliance with the Boeotian League , extended his authority into Illyria and Thrace , and in 174   BC, won

16910-690: The Scythians along the Danube and Macedonia's involvement in the Fourth Sacred War against Amphissa in 339   BC. Thebes ejected a Macedonian garrison from Nicaea (near Thermopylae) , leading Thebes to join Athens, Megara , Corinth, Achaea , and Euboea in a final confrontation against Macedonia at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338   BC. After the Macedonian victory at Chaeronea, Philip   II installed an oligarchy in Thebes, yet

17100-765: The Seleucids in the 191   BC Battle of Thermopylae as well as the Battle of Magnesia in 190   BC, forcing the Seleucids to pay a war indemnity , dismantle most of its navy, and abandon its claims to any territories north or west of the Taurus Mountains in the 188   BC Treaty of Apamea . With Rome's acceptance, Philip   V was able to capture some cities in central Greece in 191–189   BC that had been allied to Antiochus   III, while Rhodes and Eumenes II ( r.  197–159 BC ) of Pergamon gained territories in Asia Minor. Failing to please all sides in various territorial disputes,

17290-461: The Seleucids by divorcing Stratonice of Macedon . Although the Aetolians formed an alliance with the Achaean League as a result, Demetrius   II was able to invade Boeotia and capture it from the Aetolians by 236   BC. The Achaean League managed to capture Megalopolis in 235   BC, and by the end of Demetrius   II's reign most of the Peloponnese except Argos was taken from

17480-528: The Upper Macedonian aristocracy as well as the Illyrian princess Audata to ensure a marriage alliance. To establish an alliance with Larissa in Thessaly, he married the Thessalian noblewoman Philinna in 358   BC, who bore him a son who would later rule as Philip III Arrhidaeus ( r.  323–317 BC ). In 357   BC, he married Olympias to secure an alliance with Arybbas ,

17670-603: The behest of Larissa ended in two disastrous defeats by the Phocian general Onomarchus . Philip   II in turn defeated Onomarchus in 352   BC at the Battle of Crocus Field , which led to Philip   II's election as leader ( archon ) of the Thessalian League, provided him a seat on the Amphictyonic Council, and allowed for a marriage alliance with Pherae by wedding Nicesipolis , niece of

17860-506: The children from her first marriage to Philip . Their children were Arsinoe II , Philotera , and Ptolemy II. Their eldest child Arsinoe married Lysimachus, then her half-brother Ptolemy Keraunos, and finally her full brother Ptolemy II. In 285, Ptolemy made his son Ptolemy II his co-regent. His eldest legitimate son, Ptolemy Keraunos, fled to the court of Lysimachus. Ptolemy I died in January 282 aged 84 or 85. Shrewd and cautious, he had

18050-802: The city and treated the inhabitants cordially, unlike the Potidaeans, who had been enslaved. Philip II then involved Macedonia in the Third Sacred War (356–346   BC). It began when Phocis captured and plundered the temple of Apollo at Delphi instead of submitting unpaid fines, causing the Amphictyonic League to declare war on Phocis and a civil war among the members of the Thessalian League aligned with either Phocis or Thebes. Philip   II's initial campaign against Pherae in Thessaly in 353   BC at

18240-476: The city revolted. During Alexander's subsequent campaign of conquest , he overthrew the Achaemenid Empire and conquered territory that stretched as far as the Indus River . For a brief period, his Macedonian Empire was the most powerful in the world – the definitive Hellenistic state, inaugurating the transition to a new period of Ancient Greek civilization . Greek arts and literature flourished in

18430-408: The concepts of "successors" and "sons of successors" were innovated and perpetuated by historians writing contemporaneously or nearly so with the period. Not enough evidence survives to prove it conclusively, but enough survives to win acceptance for Droysen as the founding father of Hellenistic history. M. M. Austin localizes what he considers to be a problem with Grote's view. To Grote's assertion in

18620-541: The court of Lysimachus in Thrace, Pyrrhus was awarded the westernmost portions of the Macedonian kingdom. Demetrius had his nephew Alexander   V assassinated and was then proclaimed king of Macedonia, but his subjects protested against his aloof, Eastern-style autocracy . War broke out between Pyrrhus and Demetrius in 290   BC when Lanassa, wife of Pyrrhus , daughter of Agathocles of Syracuse , left him for Demetrius and offered him her dowry of Corcyra . The war dragged on until 288   BC, when Demetrius lost

18810-611: The death of Cassander and Lysimachus, following one another in fairly rapid succession, the Ptolemies and Seleucids controlled the vast majority of Alexander's former empire, with a much smaller segment controlled by the Antigonid dynasty until the 1st century. Under the rule of its first three monarchs Ptolemy I Soter , Ptolemy II Philadelphus , and Ptolemy III Euergetes , Ptolemaic Egypt reached its zenith of power and prestige in its first eighty years of existence, while heading off

19000-672: The east. It included parts of the present day Balkans , Anatolia , the Levant , Egypt , Babylonia , and most of the former Achaemenid Empire, except for some lands the Achaemenids formerly held in Central Asia . The hetairoi ( Ancient Greek : ἑταῖροι ), or companion cavalry , added flexibility to the ancient Macedonian army . The hetairoi were a special cavalry unit composed of general officers without fixed rank, whom Alexander could assign where needed. They were typically from

19190-512: The empire together. After his death, war soon broke out again and the fragmentation of the empire began in earnest. Passing over his own son, Cassander , Antipater had declared Polyperchon his successor as Regent. A civil war soon broke out in Macedon and Greece between Polyperchon and Cassander, with the latter supported by Antigonus and Ptolemy. Polyperchon allied himself to Eumenes in Asia, but

19380-553: The extent to which his ideas were influenced by his adolescent years of captivity in Thebes as a political hostage during the Theban hegemony , especially after meeting with the general Epaminondas . The Macedonians, like the other Greeks, traditionally practiced monogamy , but Philip   II practiced polygamy and married seven wives with perhaps only one that did not involve the loyalty of his aristocratic subjects or new allies. His first marriages were to Phila of Elimeia of

19570-547: The fall of Thebes in 335 BC ( Anabasis 1.8.1–1.8.8 , a rare section of narrative explicitly attributed to Ptolemy by Arrian) shows several significant variations from the parallel account preserved in Diodorus Siculus ( 17.11–12 ), most notably in attributing a distinctly unheroic role in proceedings to Perdiccas. More recently, J. Roisman has argued that the case for Ptolemy's blackening of Perdiccas and others has been much exaggerated. Ptolemy personally sponsored

19760-544: The father of Alexander. However, the latter is unlikely and may be a myth fabricated to glorify the Ptolemaic Dynasty . Ptolemy was one of Alexander's most trusted companions and military officers. After the death of Alexander in 323 BC, Ptolemy retrieved his body as it was en route to be buried in Macedon, placing it in Memphis instead, where it was later moved to Alexandria in a new tomb . Afterwards he joined

19950-469: The following year recaptured Pydna and Potidaea, the latter of which he handed over to the Chalcidian League as promised in a treaty. In 356   BC, he took Crenides , refounding it as Philippi , while his general Parmenion defeated the Illyrian king Grabos II of the Grabaei . During the 355–354   BC siege of Methone, Philip   II lost his right eye to an arrow wound, but managed to capture

20140-462: The forces of the Chalcidian city of Olynthos , but with the aid of Teleutias , brother of the Spartan king Agesilaus II , the Macedonians forced Olynthos to surrender and dissolve their Chalcidian League in 379   BC. Alexander II ( r.  370–368 BC ), son of Eurydice   I and Amyntas   III, succeeded his father and immediately invaded Thessaly to wage war against

20330-560: The formation of the Achaean League in 251   BC pushed Macedonian forces out of much of the Peloponnese and at times incorporated Athens and Sparta. While the Seleucid Empire aligned with Antigonid Macedonia against Ptolemaic Egypt during the Syrian Wars , the Ptolemaic navy heavily disrupted Antigonus   II's efforts to control mainland Greece. With the aid of the Ptolemaic navy, the Athenian statesman Chremonides led

20520-456: The former Regent, received Hellespontine Phrygia. Antigonus was charged with the task of rooting out Perdiccas's former supporter, Eumenes. In effect, Antipater retained for himself control of Europe, while Antigonus, as leader of the largest army east of the Hellespont , held a similar position in Asia. Soon after the second partition, in 319 BC, Antipater died. Antipater had been one of the few remaining individuals with enough prestige to hold

20710-484: The governor of Thrace, was dissuaded from rebellion by use of diplomacy. Antipater deferred the punishment of Sparta to the League of Corinth headed by Alexander, who ultimately pardoned the Spartans on the condition that they submit fifty nobles as hostages. Antipater's hegemony was somewhat unpopular in Greece due to his practice (perhaps by order of Alexander) of exiling malcontents and garrisoning cities with Macedonian troops, yet in 330   BC, Alexander declared that

20900-572: The great mathematician Euclid . He found Euclid's seminal work, the Elements , too difficult to study, so he asked if there were an easier way to master it. According to Proclus , Euclid famously quipped: "Sire, there is no Royal Road to geometry ." Macedon Macedonia ( / ˌ m æ s ɪ ˈ d oʊ n i ə / MASS -ih- DOH -nee-ə ; Greek : Μακεδονία , romanized :  Makedonía ), also called Macedon ( / ˈ m æ s ɪ d ɒ n / MASS -ih-don ),

21090-572: The induction of Corinth into the Achaean League. Antigonus   II made peace with the Achaean League in 240   BC, ceding the territories that he had lost in Greece. Antigonus   II died in 239   BC and was succeeded by his son Demetrius II of Macedon ( r.  239–229 BC ). Seeking an alliance with Macedonia to defend against the Aetolians, the queen mother and regent of Epirus, Olympias II , offered her daughter Phthia of Macedon to Demetrius   II in marriage. Demetrius II accepted her proposal, but he damaged relations with

21280-484: The institution of the army, while a few municipalities within the Macedonian commonwealth enjoyed a high degree of autonomy and even had democratic governments with popular assemblies . The name Macedonia ( Greek : Μακεδονία , Makedonía ) comes from the ethnonym Μακεδόνες ( Makedónes ), which itself is derived from the ancient Greek adjective μακεδνός ( makednós ), meaning "tall, slim", also

21470-681: The latter of which was placed under the control of Ptolemy's stepson Magas . Ptolemy also commanded the construction of the Library of Alexandria and of the Lighthouse of Alexandria , one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World . Ptolemy I may have married Thaïs , his mistress during the life of Alexander; he is known to have married the Persian noblewoman Artakama on Alexander's orders. He later married Eurydice , daughter of

21660-573: The leading military state of the Balkans. He had acquired his expertise fighting for Thebes and Greek freedom under his patron, Epaminondas . When Alexander was a teenager, Philip was planning a military solution to the contention with the Persian Empire . In the opening campaign against Byzantium he made Alexander "regent" ( kurios ) in his absence. Alexander used every opportunity to further his father's victories, expecting that he would be

21850-456: The loss of 2,000 men. This failure was a fatal blow to Perdiccas' reputation, and he was murdered in his tent by two of his subordinates. Ptolemy immediately crossed the Nile, to provide supplies to what had the day before been an enemy army. Ptolemy was offered the regency in place of Perdiccas, but he declined. Ptolemy was consistent in his policy of securing a power base, while never succumbing to

22040-751: The name of a people related to the Dorians ( Herodotus ), and possibly descriptive of Ancient Macedonians . It is most likely cognate with the adjective μακρός ( makrós ), meaning "long" or "tall" in Ancient Greek . The name is believed to have originally meant either "highlanders", "the tall ones", or "high grown men". Linguist Robert S. P. Beekes claims that both terms are of Pre-Greek substrate origin and cannot be explained in terms of Indo-European morphology, however Filip De Decker rejects Beekesʼ arguments as insufficient. The Classical Greek historians Herodotus and Thucydides reported

22230-420: The new conquered lands and advances in philosophy , engineering , and science spread across the empire and beyond. Of particular importance were the contributions of Aristotle , tutor to Alexander, whose writings became a keystone of Western philosophy . After Alexander's death in 323   BC, the ensuing wars of the Diadochi , and the partitioning of Alexander's short-lived empire, Macedonia remained

22420-533: The news of Alexander's death had inspired a revolt in Greece, known as the Lamian War . Athens and other cities joined, ultimately besieging Antipater in the fortress of Lamia . Antipater was relieved by a force sent by Leonnatus , who was killed in action, but the war did not come to an end until Craterus's arrival with a fleet to defeat the Athenians at the Battle of Crannon on September 5, 322 BC. For

22610-543: The next hundred years, the question of the ownership of southern Syria (i.e., Judea) produced recurring warfare between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties. Henceforth, Ptolemy seems to have involved himself as little as possible in the rivalries between Asia Minor and Greece ; he lost what he held in Greece, but reconquered Cyprus in 295/294. Cyrenaica , after a series of rebellions, was finally subjugated in about 300 and placed under his stepson Magas . While Alexander

22800-557: The nobility; many were related to Alexander. A parallel flexible structure in the Achaemenid army facilitated combined units. Staff meetings to adjust command structure were nearly a daily event in Alexander's army. They created an ongoing expectation among the hetairoi of receiving an important and powerful command, if only for a short term. At the moment of Alexander's death, all possibilities were suddenly suspended. The hetairoi vanished with Alexander, to be replaced instantaneously by

22990-461: The northeast, Illyrians to the northwest, and Paeonians to the north, while the lands of Thessaly to the south and Epirus to the west were inhabited by Greeks with similar cultures to that of the Macedonians. A year after Darius I of Persia ( r.  522–486 BC ) launched an invasion into Europe against the Scythians , Paeonians , Thracians , and several Greek city-states of

23180-603: The other siding with the infant son of Alexander and Roxana, Alexander   IV ( r.  323–309 BC ). Except for the Euboeans and Boeotians, the Greeks also immediately rose up in a rebellion against Antipater known as the Lamian War (323–322   BC). When Antipater was defeated at the 323   BC Battle of Thermopylae , he fled to Lamia where he was besieged by the Athenian commander Leosthenes . A Macedonian army led by Leonnatus rescued Antipater by lifting

23370-407: The outcome of the 321   BC Partition of Triparadisus in Syria where the victorious coalition settled the issue of a new regency and territorial rights. Antipater was appointed as regent over the two kings. Before Antipater died in 319   BC, he named the staunch Argead loyalist Polyperchon as his successor, passing over his own son Cassander and ignoring the right of the king to choose

23560-414: The parts of the Empire in the partition of Babylon . Ptolemy received Egypt; Laomedon received Syria and Phoenicia ; Philotas took Cilicia ; Peithon took Media ; Antigonus received Phrygia , Lycia and Pamphylia ; Asander received Caria ; Menander received Lydia ; Lysimachus received Thrace ; Leonnatus received Hellespontine Phrygia ; and Neoptolemus had Armenia . Macedon and

23750-488: The petty kings of Cyprus. When Antigonus I , master of Asia in 315, showed expansionist ambitions, Ptolemy joined the coalition against him, and on the outbreak of war, evacuated Syria. In Cyprus, he fought the partisans of Antigonus, and re-conquered the island (313). A revolt in Cyrene was crushed the same year. In 312, Ptolemy and Seleucus , the fugitive satrap of Babylonia, both invaded Syria, and defeated Demetrius I ,

23940-467: The possible role of Alexander   III "the Great" and his mother Olympias in the assassination of Philip   II, noting the latter's choice to exclude Alexander from his planned invasion of Asia, choosing instead for him to act as regent of Greece and deputy hegemon of the League of Corinth, and the potential bearing of another male heir between Philip   II and his new wife, Cleopatra Eurydice. Alexander   III ( r.  336–323 BC )

24130-507: The previous. Each published an assortment of papers read at the symposium. The 2010 symposium, entitled "The Time of the Diadochi (323-281 BC)," held at the University of A Coruña , Spain, represents the current concepts and investigations. The term Diadochi as an adjective is being extended beyond its original use, such as " Diadochi Chronicle ," which is nowhere identified as such, or Diadochi kingdoms, "the kingdoms that emerged," even past

24320-466: The reign of Philip   II, a Macedonian navy. Unlike the other diadochi successor states , the imperial cult fostered by Alexander was never adopted in Macedonia, yet Macedonian rulers nevertheless assumed roles as high priests of the kingdom and leading patrons of domestic and international cults of the Hellenistic religion . The authority of Macedonian kings was theoretically limited by

24510-475: The reign of four different monarchs: Orestes , son of Archelaus   I; Aeropus   II , uncle, regent , and murderer of Orestes; Pausanias , son of Aeropus   II; and Amyntas   II , who was married to the youngest daughter of Archelaus   I. Very little is known about this turbulent period; it came to an end when Amyntas   III ( r.  393–370 BC ), son of Arrhidaeus and grandson of Amyntas   I, killed Pausanias and claimed

24700-790: The rest of Greece were to be jointly ruled by Antipater and Craterus , while Alexander's former secretary, Eumenes of Cardia , was to receive Cappadocia and Paphlagonia . Alexander's arrangements in the east were left intact. Taxiles and Porus governed over their kingdoms in India; Alexander's father-in-law Oxyartes governed Gandara ; Sibyrtius governed Arachosia and Gedrosia ; Stasanor governed Aria and Drangiana ; Philip governed Bactria and Sogdia ; Phrataphernes governed Parthia and Hyrcania ; Peucestas governed Persis ; Tlepolemus had charge over Carmania ; Atropates governed northern Media; Archon got Babylonia ; and Arcesilaus governed northern Mesopotamia . Meanwhile,

24890-512: The royal cemetery of Aigai. Pyrrhus pursued Antigonus   II in the Peloponnese, yet Antigonus   II was ultimately able to recapture Macedonia. Pyrrhus was killed while besieging Argos in 272   BC, allowing Antigonus   II to reclaim the rest of Greece. He then restored the Argead dynastic graves at Aigai and annexed the Kingdom of Paeonia . The Aetolian League hampered Antigonus   II's control over central Greece , and

25080-443: The royal family, King Alexander   IV and the queen mother Roxana. The conflict that followed lasted until the winter of 312/311   BC, when a new peace settlement recognized Cassander as general of Europe, Antigonus as "first in Asia", Ptolemy as general of Egypt, and Lysimachus as general of Thrace. Cassander had Alexander   IV and Roxana put to death in the winter of 311/310   BC, and between 306 and 305   BC

25270-425: The royal household could return to Macedonia. Antipater was an adviser to King Philip II , Alexander's father, a role he continued under Alexander. When Alexander left Macedon to conquer Persia in 334 BC, Antipater was named Regent of Macedon and General of Greece in Alexander's absence. In 323 BC, Craterus was ordered by Alexander to march his veterans back to Macedon and assume Antipater's position while Antipater

25460-574: The second generation of Diadochi rulers. In an 1843 work, "History of the Epigoni" ( Geschichte der Epigonen ) he details the kingdoms of the Epigoni, 280-239 BC. The only precise date is the first, the date of Alexander's death, June, 323 BC. It has never been in question. Grote uses Droysen's terminology but gives him no credit for it. Instead he attacks Droysen's concept of Alexander planting Hellenism in eastern colonies: "Plutarch states that Alexander founded more than seventy new cities in Asia. So large

25650-533: The siege. Antipater defeated the rebellion, yet his death in 319   BC left a power vacuum wherein the two proclaimed kings of Macedonia became pawns in a power struggle between the diadochi , the former generals of Alexander's army. A council of the army convened in Babylon immediately after Alexander's death, naming Philip   III as king and the chiliarch Perdiccas as his regent. Antipater, Antigonus Monophthalmus , Craterus , and Ptolemy formed

25840-486: The son of Antigonus, in the Battle of Gaza . Again he occupied Syria, and again—after only a few months, when Demetrius had won a battle over his general, and Antigonus entered Syria in force—he evacuated it. In 311, a peace was concluded between the combatants. Soon after this, the surviving 13-year-old king, Alexander IV, was murdered in Macedonia on the orders of Cassander, leaving the satrap of Egypt absolutely his own master. The peace did not last long, early in 310 he

26030-430: The southwest, Illyria to the northwest, Paeonia to the north, Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south. Before the 4th century BC, Macedonia was a small kingdom outside of the area dominated by the great city-states of Athens , Sparta and Thebes , and briefly subordinate to Achaemenid Persia . During the reign of the Argead king Philip   II (359–336 BC), Macedonia subdued mainland Greece and

26220-448: The substantive forms being from the o-grade, *dok-. Some important English reflexes are dogma, "a received teaching," decent, "fit to be received," paradox, "against that which is received." The prefix dia- changes the meaning slightly to add a social expectation to the received. The diadochos , being a successor in command or any other office, expects to receive that office. It was exactly this expectation that contributed to strife in

26410-524: The support of the Macedonians and fled the country. Macedonia was then divided between Pyrrhus and Lysimachus, the former taking western Macedonia and the latter eastern Macedonia. By 286   BC, Lysimachus had expelled Pyrrhus and his forces from Macedonia. In 282   BC, a new war erupted between Seleucus   I and Lysimachus; the latter was killed in the Battle of Corupedion , allowing Seleucus   I to take control of Thrace and Macedonia. In two dramatic reversals of fortune, Seleucus   I

26600-538: The surrender of Philip   III and Eurydice's army, allowing Olympias to execute the king and force his queen to commit suicide. Olympias then had Nicanor and dozens of other Macedonian nobles killed, but by the spring of 316   BC, Cassander had defeated her forces, captured her, and placed her on trial for murder before sentencing her to death. Cassander married Philip II's daughter Thessalonike and briefly extended Macedonian control into Illyria as far as Epidamnos (modern Durrës , Albania). By 313   BC, it

26790-405: The temptation of risking all to succeed Alexander. In the long wars that followed between the different Diadochi , Ptolemy's first goal was to hold Egypt securely, and his second was to secure control in the outlying areas: Cyrenaica and Cyprus , as well as Syria , including the province of Judea . His first occupation of Syria was in 318, and he established at the same time a protectorate over

26980-421: The term was used to refer to the second generation of Diadochi rulers. Without a clear successor, Alexander's generals quickly began to dispute the rule of his empire. The two contenders were Alexander's half-brother Arrhidaeus and his unborn child with Roxana . Meleager and the infantry supported Arrhidaeus while Perdiccas and the cavalry supported waiting until the birth of Roxana's child. A compromise

27170-510: The three men formed the top ruling group of the empire. The Somatophylakes were the seven bodyguards of Alexander. Satraps (Old Persian: xšaθrapāwn ) were the governors of the provinces in the Hellenistic empires. Originally the Epigoni (/ɪˈpɪɡənaɪ/; from Ancient Greek: Ἐπίγονοι "offspring") were the sons of the Argive heroes who had fought in the first Theban war. In the 19th century

27360-579: The throne by burying their predecessor. Probably because he wanted to pre-empt Perdiccas , the imperial regent, from staking his claim in this way, Ptolemy took great pains in acquiring the body of Alexander the Great. On his deathbed , Alexander wished to be buried at the Temple of Zeus Ammon in the Siwa Oasis of ancient Libya instead of the royal tombs of Aigai in Macedon. However, his successors including Perdiccas attempted to bury his body in Macedon instead. In late 322 or early 321 BC, Alexander's body

27550-461: The tide turned, and Cassander was victorious, capturing and killing Olympias, and attaining control of Macedon, the boy king, and his mother. The Wars of the Diadochi were a series of conflicts, fought between 322 and 275 BC, over the rule of Alexander's empire after his death. In 310 BC Cassander secretly murdered Alexander IV and Roxana. The Battle of Ipsus at the end of the Fourth War of

27740-651: The time being. In 215 BC, at the height of the Second Punic War with the Carthaginian Empire , Roman authorities intercepted a ship off the Calabrian coast holding a Macedonian envoy and a Carthaginian ambassador in possession of a treaty composed by Hannibal declaring an alliance with Philip   V. The treaty stipulated that Carthage had the sole right to negotiate the terms of Rome's hypothetical surrender and promised mutual aid if

27930-399: The tyrant Jason of Pherae . Philip II had some early involvement with the Achaemenid Empire, especially by supporting satraps and mercenaries who rebelled against the central authority of the Achaemenid king. The satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia Artabazos II , who was in rebellion against Artaxerxes III , was able to take refuge as an exile at the Macedonian court from 352 to 342 BC. He

28120-437: The use of Diadochi but his criticism of Johann Gustav Droysen gives him away. Droysen, "the modern inventor of Hellenistic history," not only defined " Hellenistic period " ( hellenistische ... Zeit ), but in a further study of the "successors of Alexander" ( nachfolger Alexanders ) dated 1836, after Grote had begun work on his history, but ten years before publication of the first volume, divided it into two periods, "the age of

28310-436: The wedding altogether and exiled Alexander's advisors Ptolemy , Nearchus , and Harpalus . To reconcile with Olympias, Philip   II had their daughter Cleopatra marry Olympias' brother (and Cleopatra's uncle) Alexander   I of Epirus, but Philip   II was assassinated by his bodyguard, Pausanias of Orestis , during their wedding feast and succeeded by Alexander in 336   BC. Modern scholars have argued over

28500-502: The wedding feast infuriated Philip   II's son Alexander, a veteran of the Battle of Chaeronea, and his mother Olympias. They fled together to Epirus before Alexander was recalled to Pella by Philip   II. When Philip   II arranged a marriage between his son Arrhidaeus and Ada of Caria , daughter of Pixodarus , the Persian satrap of Caria , Alexander intervened and proposed to marry Ada instead. Philip   II then cancelled

28690-676: Was a Hellenistic kingdom known for its capital Alexandria, which became a center of Greek culture . Ptolemaic rule ended with the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC. Ptolemy himself wrote an eyewitness history of Alexander's campaigns (now lost). In the second century AD, Ptolemy's history was used by Arrian of Nicomedia as one of his two main primary sources (alongside the history of Aristobulus of Cassandreia ) for his own extant Anabasis of Alexander, and hence large parts of Ptolemy's history can be assumed to survive in paraphrase or précis in Arrian's work. Arrian cites Ptolemy by name on only

28880-467: Was a descendant of Alexander I of Macedon and thus a member of the Argead dynasty , claiming ultimate descent from Heracles . Ostensibly, Ptolemy's father was Lagus , a Macedonian nobleman from Eordaea , but many ancient sources claim that he was actually an illegitimate son of Philip II of Macedon . If true, this would have made Ptolemy the half-brother of Alexander the Great . It is probable that this

29070-570: Was able to put down Arrhabaeus's revolt. Brasidas died in 422 BC, the year Athens and Sparta struck an accord, the Peace of Nicias , that freed Macedonia from its obligations as an Athenian ally. Following the 418   BC Battle of Mantinea , the victorious Spartans formed an alliance with Argos , a military pact Perdiccas   II was keen to join given the threat of Spartan allies remaining in Chalcidice. When Argos suddenly switched sides as

29260-538: Was accompanied in exile by his family and by his mercenary general Memnon of Rhodes . Barsine , daughter of Artabazos, and future wife of Alexander the Great, grew up at the Macedonian court. After campaigning against the Thracian ruler Cersobleptes , in 349   BC, Philip   II began his war against the Chalcidian League, which had been reestablished in 375   BC following a temporary disbandment. Despite an Athenian intervention by Charidemus , Olynthos

29450-464: Was again forced to flee the Battle of Gaugamela in 331   BC. The Persian king was later captured and executed by his own satrap of Bactria and kinsman, Bessus , in 330   BC. The Macedonian king subsequently hunted down and executed Bessus in what is now Afghanistan , securing the region of Sogdia in the process. At the 326   BC Battle of the Hydaspes (modern-day Punjab ), when

29640-467: Was alive, Ptolemy had three children with his mistress Thaïs , who may also have been his wife: Lagus; Leontiscus; and Eirene, who was given in marriage to Eunostos of Soloi in Cyprus. During the Susa weddings , Ptolemy married Persian noblewoman Artakama , as ordered by Alexander the Great. Around 322 BC , he married Eurydice , daughter of Antipater , regent of Macedonia. They had five children before she

29830-460: Was already multinational. Alexander was acquiring dominion over state after state. His presence on the battlefield seemed to ensure immediate victory. When Alexander the Great died on June 10, 323 BC, he left behind a huge empire which comprised many essentially independent territories. Alexander's empire stretched from his homeland of Macedon itself, along with the Greek city-states that his father had subdued, to Bactria and parts of India in

30020-569: Was also able to make peace with the Illyrians who had threatened his borders . Philip II spent his initial years radically transforming the Macedonian army . A reform of its organization, equipment, and training, including the introduction of the Macedonian phalanx armed with long pikes (i.e. the sarissa ), proved immediately successful when tested against his Illyrian and Paeonian enemies. Confusing accounts in ancient sources have led modern scholars to debate how much Philip   II's royal predecessors may have contributed to these reforms and

30210-495: Was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece , which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece . The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal Argead dynasty , which was followed by the Antipatrid and Antigonid dynasties. Home to the ancient Macedonians , the earliest kingdom was centered on the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula , and bordered by Epirus to

30400-689: Was an infantry and naval commander under Alexander during his conquest of the Achaemenid Empire . After the revolt of his army at Opis on the Tigris in 324, Alexander ordered Craterus to command the veterans as they returned home to Macedonia . Antipater , commander of Alexander's forces in Greece and regent of the Macedonian throne in Alexander's absence, would lead a force of fresh troops back to Persia to join Alexander while Craterus would become regent in his place. When Craterus arrived at Cilicia in 323 BC, news reached him of Alexander's death. Though his distance from Babylon prevented him from participating in

30590-435: Was arranged, with Arrhidaeus being crowned as Philip III. If Roxana's child was a son, they would rule jointly. Perdiccas was named Regent and Meleager as his lieutenant. Eventually, Roxana did give birth to Alexander's son, Alexander IV . However, Perdiccas had Meleager and the other infantry leaders murdered and assumed full control. Perdiccas, summoned a council of the great men of Alexander's court to appoint satraps for

30780-631: Was assassinated by his brother-in-law Ptolemy of Aloros , the latter acted as an overbearing regent for Perdiccas   III ( r.  368–359 BC ), younger brother of Alexander   II, who eventually had Ptolemy executed when reaching the age of majority in 365   BC. The remainder of Perdiccas III's reign was marked by political stability and financial recovery. However, an Athenian invasion led by Timotheus , son of Conon , managed to capture Methone and Pydna, and an Illyrian invasion led by Bardylis succeeded in killing Perdiccas   III and 4,000 Macedonian troops in battle. Philip II

30970-400: Was assassinated in 281   BC by his officer Ptolemy Keraunos , son of Ptolemy   I and grandson of Antipater, who was then proclaimed king of Macedonia before being killed in battle in 279   BC by Celtic invaders in the Gallic invasion of Greece . The Macedonian army proclaimed the general Sosthenes of Macedon as king, although he apparently refused the title. After defeating

31160-568: Was assaulted along with Apollonia by Macedonian forces. When the Macedonians captured Lissus in 212   BC, the Roman Senate responded by inciting the Aetolian League, Sparta, Elis , Messenia , and Attalus I ( r.  241–197 BC ) of Pergamon to wage war against Philip   V, keeping him occupied and away from Italy. The Aetolian League concluded a peace agreement with Philip   V in 206   BC, and

31350-453: Was at the wedding banquet when Attalus , Cleopatra's uncle, made a remark that seemed inappropriate to him. He asked the Macedonians to pray for an "heir to the kingship" ( diadochon tes basileias ). Rising to his feet Alexander shouted, using the royal "we," "Do we seem like bastards ( nothoi ) to you, evil-minded man?" and threw a cup at him. The inebriated Philip, rising to his feet and drawing his sword to defend Attalus, promptly fell. Making

31540-454: Was blockaded at Bargylia by the Rhodian and Pergamene navies. While Philip V was busy fighting Rome's Greek allies, Rome viewed this as an opportunity to punish this former ally of Hannibal with a war that they hoped would supply a victory and require few resources. The Roman Senate demanded that Philip   V cease hostilities against neighboring Greek powers and defer to an international arbitration committee for settling grievances. When

31730-479: Was captured by Philip   II in 348   BC, and its inhabitants were sold into slavery , including some Athenian citizens . The Athenians, especially in a series of speeches by Demosthenes known as the Olynthiacs , were unsuccessful in persuading their allies to counterattack and in 346   BC concluded a treaty with Macedonia known as the Peace of Philocrates . The treaty stipulated that Athens would relinquish claims to Macedonian coastal territories,

31920-504: Was delayed by negotiations with the Spartan king Nabis , who had meanwhile captured Argos, yet Roman forces evacuated Greece in 194   BC. Encouraged by the Aetolian League and their calls to liberate Greece from the Romans, the Seleucid king Antiochus   III landed with his army at Demetrias , Thessaly, in 192   BC, and was elected strategos by the Aetolians. Macedonia, the Achaean League, and other Greek city-states maintained their alliance with Rome. The Romans defeated

32110-461: Was driven from Macedonia by Cassander, and fled to Epirus with the infant king Alexander IV and his mother Roxana . In Epirus he joined forces with Olympias , Alexander's mother, and together they invaded Macedon again. They were met by an army commanded by King Philip Arrhidaeus and his wife Eurydice , which immediately defected, leaving the king and Eurydice to Olympias's not so tender mercies, and they were killed (317 BC). Soon after, though,

32300-411: Was faced with some internal revolts and had to fend off an invasion of Illyrians led by Sirras of Lynkestis, he was able to project Macedonian power into Thessaly where he sent military aid to his allies. Although he retained Aigai as a ceremonial and religious center, Archelaus   I moved the capital of the kingdom north to Pella , which was then positioned by a lake with a river connecting it to

32490-446: Was finally struck in 255   BC. In 251 BC, Aratus of Sicyon led a rebellion against Antigonus   II, and in 250   BC, Ptolemy   II declared his support for the self-proclaimed King Alexander of Corinth . Although Alexander died in 246   BC and Antigonus was able to score a naval victory against the Ptolemies at Andros , the Macedonians lost the Acrocorinth to the forces of Aratus in 243   BC, followed by

32680-417: Was forced to retreat to Macedonia when Demetrius invaded Boeotia to his rear, attempting to sever his path of retreat. While Antigonus and Demetrius attempted to recreate Philip   II's Hellenic league with themselves as dual hegemons, a revived coalition of Cassander, Ptolemy I Soter ( r.  305–283 BC ) of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty , Seleucus I Nicator ( r.  305–281 BC ) of

32870-401: Was his most dangerous rival. Ptolemy executed Cleomenes for spying on behalf of Perdiccas; this removed the chief check on his authority, and allowed Ptolemy to obtain the huge sum that Cleomenes had accumulated. In 321 BC, Perdiccas attempted to invade Egypt, only to fall at the hands of his own men. Ptolemy's decision to defend the Nile against Perdiccas ended in fiasco for Perdiccas, with

33060-424: Was immediately proclaimed king by an assembly of the army and leading aristocrats, chief among them being Antipater and Parmenion. By the end of his reign and military career in 323   BC, Alexander would rule over an empire consisting of mainland Greece , Asia Minor , the Levant , ancient Egypt , Mesopotamia , Persia , and much of Central and South Asia (i.e. modern Pakistan ). Among his first acts

33250-421: Was in Syria, on its way to Macedon, when it was captured by Ptolemy I. He brought Alexander's remains back to Egypt, interring them at Memphis , but they were later moved to Alexandria where a tomb was constructed for them. Shortly after this event, Ptolemy openly joined the coalition against Perdiccas. Perdiccas appears to have suspected Ptolemy of aiming for the throne himself, and may have decided that Ptolemy

33440-556: Was informed that his ally Nicocles of Paphos was planning to defect to Antigonus; he sent some agents, who together with his brother Menelaus , who was still on Cyprus with an army, dealt with the situation, they surrounded Nicocles palace and forced him to commit suicide. In 309 Ptolemy personally commanded a fleet which detached the coastal towns of Phaselis , Xanthos , Kaunos , Iasos and Myndus in Lycia and Caria from Antigonus, then crossed into Greece, where he took possession of Corinth , Sicyon and Megara (308 BC). In 306,

33630-448: Was initiated by Ptolemy's theft of Alexander's body and its transfer to Egypt. Although Eumenes defeated the rebels in Asia Minor, in a battle at which Craterus was killed, it was all for nought, as Perdiccas himself was murdered by his own generals Peithon, Seleucus , and Antigenes during an invasion of Egypt. Ptolemy came to terms with Perdiccas's murderers, making Peithon and Arrhidaeus regents in his place, but soon these came to

33820-420: Was lenient toward Athens, wishing to utilize their navy in a planned invasion of the Achaemenid Empire. He was then chiefly responsible for the formation of the League of Corinth that included the major Greek city-states except Sparta. Despite the Kingdom of Macedonia's official exclusion from the league, in 337   BC, Philip   II was elected as the leader ( hegemon ) of its council ( synedrion ) and

34010-430: Was long considered an objective work, distinguished by its straightforward honesty and sobriety, but more recent work has called this assessment into question. R. M. Errington argued that Ptolemy's history was characterised by persistent bias and self-aggrandisement, and by systematic blackening of the reputation of Perdiccas , one of Ptolemy's chief dynastic rivals after Alexander's death. For example, Arrian's account of

34200-407: Was raised with care, being educated by select prominent philosophers. Philip is said to have wept for joy when Alexander performed a feat of which no one else was capable, taming the wild horse, Bucephalus , at his first attempt in front of a skeptical audience including the king. Amidst the cheering onlookers Philip swore that Macedonia was not large enough for Alexander. Philip built Macedonia into

34390-418: Was reported as the lowest aulic rank, under Philos, during the reign of Ptolemy V Epiphanes . Diadochi (Διάδοχοι) is an ancient Greek word that currently modern scholars use to refer primarily to persons acting a role that existed only for a limited time period and within a limited geographic range. As there are no modern equivalents, it has been necessary to reconstruct the role from the ancient sources. There

34580-541: Was repudiated: three sons– Ptolemy Ceraunus , king of Macedon from 281 BC to 279 BC ; his brother and successor Meleager , who ruled for two months in 279 BC; and a 'rebel in Cyprus' who was put to death by his half-brother Ptolemy II –as well as the daughters Ptolemais, who married Demetrius I of Macedon , and Lysandra , first married to Alexander V of Macedon and after to Lysimachus' son Agathocles . Ptolemy married once more to Berenice , Eurydice's cousin, who had come to Egypt as Eurydice's lady-in-waiting with

34770-536: Was retaken by the Illyrian king Glaucias of Taulantii . By 316   BC, Antigonus had taken the territory of Eumenes and managed to eject Seleucus Nicator from his Babylonian satrapy, leading Cassander, Ptolemy, and Lysimachus to issue a joint ultimatum to Antigonus in 315   BC for him to surrender various territories in Asia. Antigonus promptly allied with Polyperchon, now based in Corinth, and issued an ultimatum of his own to Cassander, charging him with murder for executing Olympias and demanding that he hand over

34960-409: Was returned to Macedonia and much of Chalcidice to Athens in a peace treaty brokered by Sitalces, who provided Athens with military aid in exchange for acquiring new Thracian allies. Perdiccas   II sided with Sparta in the Peloponnesian War (431–404 BC) between Athens and Sparta, and in 429 BC Athens retaliated by persuading Sitalces to invade Macedonia, but he was forced to retreat owing to

35150-401: Was situated along the Haliacmon and Axius rivers in Lower Macedonia , north of Mount Olympus . Historian Robert Malcolm Errington suggests that one of the earliest Argead kings established Aigai (modern Vergina ) as their capital in the mid-7th century   BC. Before the 4th century   BC, the kingdom covered a region corresponding roughly to the western and central parts of

35340-413: Was strongest there, and successfully held the frontier against him. Ptolemy led no further overseas expeditions against Antigonus. However, he did send great assistance to Rhodes when it was besieged by Demetrius (305/304) . The Rhodians granted divine honors to Ptolemy as a result of the lifting of the siege. When the coalition against Antigonus was renewed in 302, Ptolemy joined it, and invaded Syria

35530-400: Was that as the son of Philip, he would inherit Philip's throne. In 336 BC Philip was assassinated, and the 20-year-old Alexander "received the kingship" ( parelabe ten basileian ). In the same year Darius succeeded to the throne of Persia as Šâhe Šâhân , "King of Kings," which the Greeks understood as " Great King ." The role of the Macedonian basileus was changing fast. Alexander's army

35720-405: Was the burial of his father at Aigai. The members of the League of Corinth revolted at the news of Philip   II's death, but were soon quelled by military force alongside persuasive diplomacy, electing Alexander as hegemon of the league to carry out the planned invasion of Achaemenid Persia. In 335 BC, Alexander fought against the Thracian tribe of the Triballi at Haemus Mons and along

35910-411: Was to march to Persia with fresh troops. Alexander's death that year, however, prevented the order from being carried out. When Alexander's generals gathered at the Partition of Babylon to divide the empire between themselves, Antipater was confirmed as General of Greece while the roles of Regent of the Empire and Guardian of the Royal Family were given to Perdiccas and Craterus, respectively. Together,

36100-453: Was twenty-four years old when he acceded to the throne in 359   BC. Through the use of deft diplomacy, he was able to convince the Thracians under Berisades to cease their support of Pausanias , a pretender to the throne, and the Athenians to halt their support of another pretender . He achieved these by bribing the Thracians and their Paeonian allies and establishing a treaty with Athens that relinquished his claims to Amphipolis. He

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