The other kings - Lysimachus in Thrace, Pyrrhus in Epirus, Ptolemy in Egypt, and, of course, Seleucus - promptly joined forces against Demetrius who, although his kingdom was far smaller than theirs, now controlled the lands which provided the armies upon which they all depended. They struck hard and first. In 288 Lysimachus invaded Macedonia from the east, Pyrrhus from the west; and Ptolemy sent his fleet into the Aegean (Plut. Demetr. 44).
What happened next reveals that Demetrius was merely a general, no ruler of a nation. Without any obvious reason for why this should be so, Demetrius’ army, apparently even in Demetrius’ estimation, stood ready to go over to Lysi-machus’ side if Demetrius should try to lead it against him. Lysimachus was an old brother-in-arms of the great Alexander’s so Demetrius opted to lead his army instead against Pyrrhus for whom the Macedonian army ought to have had less sympathy. Demetrius miscalculated. His army mutinied and went over to Pyrrhus anyway (Plut. Demetr. 44). As a ruler Demetrius had failed; after so many years of constant warfare he simply could not make the transition to governing and to winning the long-term loyalty of his subjects. Plutarch writes of his remoteness from his people, his love of elaborate ceremony, and general vanity (Demetr. 41-42).
So he lost most of his kingdom once again. Lysimachus and Pyrrhus split Macedonia between them, and Athens revolted from Demetrius and allied itself with Pyrrhus. Pyrrhus and Demetrius made a treaty whereby Demetrius apparently agreed to forgo Macedonia and Athens (with the exception of the strongly garrisoned Peiraeus) while Pyrrhus recognized Demetrius as ruler of Thessaly and whatever else was left of his kingdom in Greece (Plut. Demetr. 46 and Pyrrh. 12.
Demetrius, unbowed by it all, began his planned invasion of Asia in 287 with some 11,000 troops anyway. Fortunately for him, Lysimachus’ rule in Asia Minor - as the reaction to Demetrius’ invasion showed - rested on shaky foundations. Miletus, Sardis, and other cities promptly took his side, and some of Lysimachus’ officers deserted with their troops to him. But in 286 Demetrius avoided battle against Lysimachus’ son, Agathocles, and marched eastwards through Greater Phrygia into Cappadocia. He planned to pass through Armenia into Media and to gain control of the Upper Satrapies, but he had not reckoned with the difficulty of the passage. He lost a large number of troops crossing the River Lycus and even more when disease broke out in his camp. He turned southwards and entered Cilicia, then in Seleucus’ possession, and attempted to negotiate with that monarch (Plut. Demetr. 46-47).
When the negotiations failed, Seleucus blocked the passes from Cilicia into Syria and, although he had a large army with him, refused to fight. Unlike Darius III in a similar situation half a century earlier (see chap. 19), Seleucus would not give Demetrius the opportunity to win a battle, for Seleucus understood that time was working against his opponent. Demetrius’ troops were beginning to desert. Even when Demetrius forced his way through the Amanic Gate into Syria, Seleucus would not be lured into a fight. As the two armies stood opposite each other, Seleucus rode out before his troops, dismounted, removed his helmet so that Demetrius’ troops could see who he was, and exhorted them to desert to him. They did so (Plut. Demetr. 48-49).
Demetrius attempted to escape, but soon gave up. He surrendered to Seleu-cus who gave him a palace in Apameia and allowed him to live there in the manner to which he was accustomed. Seleucus spurned the pleas of Demetrius’ son to release his prisoner; but he also ignored Lysimachus’ demands to kill him. Demetrius took to drink and died some three years later in 283 (Plut. Demetr. 50-52).
In Greece, meanwhile, Demetrius’ son Antigonus - surnamed “Gonatas” (the epithet is unclear) - inherited what remained of his father’s possessions. He had already lost Thessaly with the exception of the heavily fortified Deme-trias to Pyrrhus (Plut. Pyrrh. 12; Demetr. 53). However, the news of Demetrius’ imprisonment by Seleucus brought Antigonus a reprieve. Pyrrhus’ and Lysima-chus’ alliance had as its sole basis their common fear of Demetrius, but once Seleucus had rendered Demetrius harmless, Lysimachus’ dominance in Europe made Pyrrhus seek an alliance with Antigonus (Phoenicides, Fr. 1 Kassel-Austin). As Pyrrhus had expected, with Demetrius out of the way, Lysimachus moved to take all Macedonia. In 284 Lysimachus marched against Pyrrhus
World History
