Military leader and regent of Macedonia and Greece (334-322 b. c.e.)
Born: 397 b. c.e.; place unknown
Died: 319 b. c.e.; Macedonia
Category: Military; government and politics
Life Antipater (an-TIHP-uht-ur) was one of the most able generals of Philip II of Macedonia and Alexander the Great. In 346 b. c.e., he helped negotiate the Peace of Philocrates between Philip and Athens, and in 338 b. c.e. with Alexander, then heir to the Macedonian throne, he returned the bones of the Athenian dead from the Battle of Chaeronea.
Alexander appointed him “regent” of Greece and Macedonia and acting hegemon of the League of Corinth when he left for Persia in 334 b. c.e. As regent, Antipater kept Macedonia united and Greece passive, apart from the war of Agis III of Sparta (331-330 b. c.e.), which he ended with league assistance. In 323 b. c.e., Alexander’s death caused a widespread revolt of the Greek states, led by Athens (the Lamian War). Although hard-pressed at first, Antipater ended it in 322 b. c.e. and imposed an oligarchy on Athens. The final years of his life were set against the struggles of Alexander’s generals for power. Antipater sided with a group against the Macedonian general Perdiccas, on whose death in 321 b. c.e., Antipater’s possession of Macedonia and Greece was confirmed, and he became regent for the young Alexander IV and Philip III. His death in 319 b. c.e. led to further struggles.
Influence Antipater kept Greece free from revolt and the Macedonian kingdom secure while Alexander was in Persia and further east and also provided him with reinforcements when demanded.
Further Reading
Errington, M. A History of Macedonia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.
Gunther, Martin. “Antipater After the Lamian War.” Classical Quarterly 55, no. 1 (2005): 301-305.
Heckel, W. The Marshals of Alexander’s Empire. London: Routledge,
1992.
Ian Worthington
See also: Alexander the Great; Alexander the Great’s Empire; Chaeronea, Battle of; Hellenistic Greece; Philip II of Macedonia.