The death of Alexander the Great, which occurred, as was said, unexpectedly, in Babylon, was a great problem for his companions and in general, for those who were directly or indirectly involved in his projects, as well as for his family, not only by the question of who would inherit his great power and his immense domains but also the difficulties with Macedonia, Greece and even Asia, which Alexander had at the time of his death.
Although constitutionally there was a half-brother, Filipo Arrideo, Roxana, the Sogdian princess was pregnant, as well as Darío's daughter, Estatira, in addition to other heirs, more or less direct, who sought to seize power on Alexander's death and who little little by little they disappeared. This is a time of great complexity, not only because of the issues to be dealt with but also because of the large number of characters involved in it and because of the chronological problems that have arisen.
SituationatthedeathofAlexandertheGreat
On the death of Alexander the Great the question of succession to him was raised, not only among his most direct collaborators, but also among his relatives and direct heirs, who were as follows:
The direct heirs of Alejandro
Alexander Heracles
Son of Alexander the Great and Barsine, therefore with rights over Persia and Macedonia Assassinated around 309.
Cleopatra
Sister of Alexander the Great, daughter of Olympias and Philip. Ptolemy requested her in marriage, around the year 309, and she was murdered by Antigonus. At first, according to Olympias, she tried to reign in Macedonia, seeking the help of Leonatus, satrap of Hellespontic Phrygia, to whom she offered her hand, but he soon died, so the princess lost her chance. .
Philip III Arrideo (323-317)
Stepbrother of Alexander, son of Philina and Philip II, married to Eurydice, daughter of Kynane. He is murdered, and his wife is forced to commit suicide, by Olympias, in the year 317.
Statira
Persian wife of Alexander, daughter of Darius III Codomanus. She was probably poisoned by Roxana, she was jealous because she was also pregnant when Alejandro died, in complicity with Perdiccas, shortly after Alejandro died.
Kinane
Daughter of Philip II and Audata-Euridice, daughter or granddaughter of Bardilis, king of the Illyrians, widow of Amyntas IV, who, despite Antipater's prohibition, embarked for Asia in the company of her daughter Eurydice, who descended from Amyntas III by her father and Philip II by his mother. These princesses encouraged the ambitions of the Teménidas, separated from the throne by Philip II and Alexander. Taken prisoner by order of Perdiccas, Perdiccas's brother, Alcetas, had Kinane murdered, which caused the indignation of the Macedonians, an outrage that Perdiccas tried to alleviate by marrying Kinane's daughter, Eurydice, with Philip III Arridaeus, the brother of Perdiccas. Alexander the Great.
Olympia
Alexander's mother, murdered in Pydna by friends of his victims and more or less directly, by Cassander, in the year 316.
Roxana
Whose name means the luminous , wife of Alexander, daughter of the Bactrian or Sogdian chief Oxyartes and the posthumous son, Alexander IV Ecos , confined in Amphipolis, who were murdered by Cassander around 311-310 BC
Thessaloniki
Sister of Alexander the Great, daughter of Philip II and Nikesipolis of Feres, married to Cassander, son of Antipater, murdered by her son, also called Antipater, around the year 295.
The facts and The Diadocos
These characters, the heirs or successors of Alexander, were going to be during the following years, until the year 281, the protagonists of the two successive stages that have been called, the first, of the Diadocos , or heirs of Alexander and the second, that of the Epigones or descendants of the above.
The Babylonian Pacts (323) and the Lamiacan War (322-321)
At first, the chiliarch Pérdicas, to whom Alejandro had given his ring at the time of his death, and other components of Alejandro's General Staff, were in favor of waiting for the birth of Roxana's son, who would have Pérdicas and Leonato as guardians. entrusting the administration of Europe to Antipater and Craterus.
This was opposed by the enemies of Perdiccas, who were in favor of dividing the power of that future son of Alexander and Roxana with Philip III Arrideo, despite his diminished conditions, while Nearco supported Estatira, while others voted decidedly for Perdiccas. .
The crisis lasted six days ending the clashes with the so-called Babylon Accords , for which it was agreed that if the son Roxana had was male, he would reign together with his uncle Philip III Arrideo, being Craterus , with the title of prostatés of Empire, a kind of tutor to the king, given his inability to govern, leaving Antipater as governor of Macedonia and Greece , Seleucus under the command of Perdiccas, as chiliarch, head of the cavalry, Meleager , head of the infantry and Cassander , son of Antipater, as head of the hypaspistes, dividing the generals, almost all Macedonians, the most important satrapies in the following way.
- Ptolemy , Egypt
- Lisimaco , Thrace.
- Antigonus Monophthalmus , Great Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphylia (almost all of Asia Minor).
- Eumens of Cardia , Paphlagonia and Cappadocia, areas that had to be conquered.
- Leonato , Hellespontic Phrygian.
And others, such as Babylon, Susiana, Syria, Cilicia, etc., to less important characters. The stage of the Diadocos lasted, more or less, forty years, because the idea of a unitary Empire disappeared with Alexander. Already when he died, there was a rebellion of the Greek soldiers installed in the Bactrian colonies that was suffocated by the satrap of Media, and also in Greece, after the decree that surrounded the return of the exiles, in an episode that receives the name of Lamiacan War .
Exiled Demosthenes, the leader of the democratic faction in Athens was Hyperides, forming an alliance with Aetolia and later a confederation of autonomous cities and towns that replaced the Corinthian league.
Antipater, overwhelmed by the situation, had to take refuge, waiting for help from the satrap of Phrygia, in lamia. United Antipater and Crátero faced the allies in the battle of Cranon (in Thessaly), after which Athens, defeated, had to accept the harsh conditions that the end of democracy meant, leaving the Greek cities subject to Macedonia.
After these events, the first confrontation between the Diadocos arose, which after the death of Perdicas and Craterus, led to a new peace conference. The so-called Triparadisos Pact .
The Pact of Triparadisos (321)
This meeting took place in Triparadisos, in northern Syria, and apparently the regency of the kings continued to be maintained, since Roxana had given birth to a son, whom she named after her father, Alexander, and remained in the power to Filipo Arrideo, granting Antipater the position of epimeletes autocrator , a position that carried with it the material direction of Alexander's Empire, since he was kept as governor of Greece and Macedonia and custodian of the kings. In return, Antigonus and Cassander would be the heads of the armies, while Ptolemy and Lysimachus were in charge of their respective territorial governments, Egypt and Thrace respectively, while Seleucus obtained the satrapy of Babylon.
Two years later, the death of Antipater reactivated the struggles, in the course of which King Philip Arrideo and his wife Eurydice were assassinated in the year 317, by order of Olympias, since they had taken the side of Cassander, leading a coup d'état. , revoking Poliperconte's appointment and appointing Casandro Strategos from Europe and Antigono Strategos from Asia.
A year later, in 316, Cassander, son of Antipater, assassinated Queen Olympias, Alexander's mother, whom the previous murders had made unpopular, although he did not dare to do the same with Alexander's son, limiting himself to keep him locked up, in the hope that the Macedonians would forget him, and took Tasalonica as his wife. The same year Eumenes, general in chief appointed by Poliperconte, Antipater's successor, died fighting Antigonus, who aspired to monopolize power. Cassander, Ptolemy, Lysimachus and Seleucus allied against him.
The War of the Diadocos (315 – 301)
After the armed intervention of Ptolemy in Greece, the son of Antigonus, Demetrius I Poliorcetes (that is, destroyer of cities), conquered Athens, carrying out extensive reform work there.
It will be at this time, particularly difficult, when they are killed in the year 310, Roxana and her son Alexander who had taken refuge in Amphipolis, thus disappearing other direct heirs of Alexander the Great.
The new monarchies (306 – 305)
After the triumph of Demetrius Poliorcetes in Cyprus, in the year 306, all the contenders were taking the title of kings. Thus, Antigonus took the title of king of Macedonia, associating his son to the throne, with the intention of forming a dynasty. So did Ptolemy in Egypt, Cassander, Lysimachus and Seleucus.
The Battle of Ipso (301)
After new clashes, Seleucus and Lysimachus defeated Antigonus, already an 81-year-old man, allied with Demetrius, in Ipso (in Phrygia), Antigonus himself perish in battle, his son Demetrius Poliorcetes managing to escape. From these events, no one revived the old project of rebuilding Alexander's Empire, forming four main kingdoms:
- Thrace and Asia Minor for Lysimachus.
- Macedonia and Greece for Cassander.
- Egypt for Ptolemy.
- East Asia for Seleucus.
From Ipso to Curupedio (301-281)
After Ipso, the situation evolved until it ended with a reversal of the alliances. Before the agreements established between Ptolemy and Lysimachus, Seleucus, closed on both sides, sought the support of Demetrius, to whom he made concessions, although the agreement would soon be broken and when Cassander died (year 29817), Demetrius occupied Macedonia, but fought by the other Diadocos, fell prisoner of Seleucus and died in the year 283.
It would be Ptolemy, married to a daughter of Antipater, Euridice, the one who most influenced the final fall of Lysimachus, who was defeated and died in the year 281 in Curupedio (in Lydia, near Sardis, in the valley of the river Hermon), which concludes the War of the Diadochi . Seleucus took some time to organize the new administration of Asia Minor and in August of the year 281 he went to Thrace, being assassinated by his protégé Ptolemy Cerauno, who aspired to the throne of Macedonia. With the death of Seleucus, the last of the Diadochi becomes extinct.
From this battle of Curupedion (281 BC) the definitive Hellenistic states resulted, which remained until they gradually fell into the power of Rome.
Division of the Empire of Alexander the Great
Alexander's Empire in the East was divided at his death into a series of parts that we can summarize in the following six:
1. The major monarchies
Seleucids, Ptolemies and Antigonids
2. Minor monarchies
a. Hellenistic kingdoms of Asia Minor: Pontus, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, Pergamon, and Galatia (some of these formed later).
b. Greco-Bactrian kingdoms or Hellenistic kingdoms of the East: Bactrian, Sogdian and Drangian.
c. Greco-Indian Kingdom
3. Independently of Alexander's Empire, a number of cities in northern Asia Minor maintained their hegemony. They are the City-States of Pontus Euxine and the Kingdom of the Bosphorus:
a. The helepontic group, especially Sesto, Abydos and Lámpsaco.
b. The Propontis group, whose head was Cyzicus.
c. The Thracian, Byzantium, and Chalcedonian Bosporus group.
d. The group of the meridonal.oriental coast of the Euxine Pontus, in which the great commercial cities of Heracleia, Amiso and Sinope stood out.
and. The group of the south-western coast of the Euxine Pontus, including Apollonia, Calatis, Odessa, Tomi and Istro.
F. The group of the north coast of the Euxine Pontus and the Crimea that comprised Olbia, Panticapeus and the Chersonesus.
4. The islands:Cyprus and Rhodes
5. The independent Ionian cities:Ephesus, Miletus, Priene, Smyrma.
6. Phoenician cities