Also in 312 Ptolemy sent Seleucus with a small force back into his old satrapy of Babylon. Seleucus had built up a loyal base there during his time as satrap and easily regained control. When Nicanor, who commanded troops loyal to Antigonus in Media, opposed this, Seleucus defeated him in a surprise attack. Nicanor’s army deserted to Seleucus who succeeded in bringing Media, the Susiane, and some neighboring satrapies (possibly Aria [cf. Diod. XIX 92,4 with 48,2] and the Persis [see Diod. l. c.]) under his control (Diod. XIX 90-92). Seleucus had laid the foundation for the greatest of the Hellenistic states, the so-called Seleucid Kingdom.
In 311 Cassander, Ptolemy, and Antigonus made a peace treaty, whereby Cassander received Europe, Ptolemy Egypt, and Antigonus Asia (Diod. XIX 105,1). The absence of Seleucus is glaring, and Diodorus probably omitted a
Critical piece of information. Either Seleucus participated in the treaty directly or he and Antigonus had a separate arrangement. Although the treaty envisaged a division of the empire, technically it still existed under the rule of the young Alexander IV who at the age of twelve was now close to attaining his majority. Should he have lived that long, he might have threatened the arrangements which the Diadochi had just made for themselves. Cassander, deciding that this particular charade had gone on long enough, had Alexander IV and his mother Rhoxane murdered (Diod. XIX 105,2).
Despite the peace treaty, the Diadochi continued to maneuver for advantage against each other. Between 310 and 308 matters rarely flared into open warfare, and the most notable episode of those years in the west involved the ex-regent Polyperchon who in 310 came out of retirement to produce a seventeen-year-old boy, called Heracles, whom he presented as an illegitimate son of Alexander’s. Cassander through various promises won over the old ex-regent, whose political perspicacity had never been great, and induced him to murder the hapless youth (Diod. XX 20 and 28).
In the east, however, Seleucus’ power was growing. A campaign against Bactria is attested (Just. XV 4, 11), and Seleucus eventually controlled the Sogdiane as well as all territory up to the River Indus (App. Syr. 55). He even crossed the Indus and waged war against Chandragupta Maurya (Sandrocottus in Greek) (App. Syr. 55; Just. XV 4,12), so he must have attempted to reconquer those regions too which Alexander had held east of the Indus. A few years before the Battle of Ipsus (in 301), however, he made peace with Chandragupta Maurya (App. l. c.) from whom he received 500 war-elephants (Plut. Alex. 62; Strab. XV 2,9, p. 724 - mentioning Seleucus’ cession of some land west of the Indus as well). A bare half-sentence in Diodorus (XX 53,4 - for the year 307) gives just a hint at his activities in these years: “Seleucus, who had recently gained control of the upper satrapies. . .” Diodorus’ zeal to abridge may have caused the loss of his source’s material on perhaps the historically most significant events of these years.
In 307 war broke out again in earnest. Antigonus sent his son Demetrius with a fleet against Athens. Demetrius succeeded in taking Cassander’s garrison in the Peiraeus by storm and soon captured Athens. With his fleet Demetrius then sailed for Cyprus, then under Ptolemy’s control, and routed Ptolemy’s commander there. He took the city of Salamis on Cyprus by siege and did his nickname “Pol-iorcetes” or “Besieger of Cities” credit. Ptolemy sailed with a fleet of 140 quin-queremes and quadriremes (triremes, by now, were mostly outmoded) but Demetrius appears to have had more at his disposal though the number is unclear. The result was a complete victory for Demetrius (Diod. XX 45-52).
Politically, the Diadochi all took a major step forward in 307 or thereabouts: Antigonus took the title “King” and set the diadem upon his head, and he allowed his son Demetrius to do the same. Thereupon Ptolemy, Cassander, Seleucus, as well as Lysimachus (the ruler of Thrace, a minor Diadochus up until now, but his day would come) all took the title of king (Diod. XX 53). Ptolemy had hitherto displayed the image of Alexander on his coins (see
Box 20.3) but now coins appeared bearing his own image with the proud inscription “of King Ptolemy” (see Figure 20.1, bottom right).
In the next year, Antigonus by land and Demetrius by sea attempted a full-scale invasion of Egypt, but Ptolemy had long since fortified the approaches heavily. Antigonus made little headway, and Demetrius found no unguarded landing place for his fleet. In the end Antigonus was forced to retreat with nothing to show for his efforts (Diod. XX 73-76). Yet Antigonus was nothing if not determined, and in 305 he sent Demetrius against Rhodes. Despite its small size, Rhodes was an important naval power (see Box 23.2) and at the time allied with Ptolemy. Demetrius used all possible means to take the city by siege, but had not done so after about a year. A treaty was arranged whereby the Rhodians became allies of Antigonus except when Antigonus was fighting against Ptolemy (Diod. XX 81-88 and 91-100). The Rhodians, thankful to have survived the siege, erected the storied Colossus of Rhodes in commemoration (Pliny, NH XXXIV 17).
Free of the siege of Rhodes, Demetrius, still in 304, undertook a major campaign against Cassander. He landed on Euboea, seized the strategic site of Chalcis, and won over the Boeotian League (Diod. XX 100). In 303 he proceeded to the Peloponnese and took various cities there including the strategic site of Corinth (Diod. XX 102-103). Cassander appeared unable to stop Demetrius and appealed for help to Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus, the King of Thrace. In 302 Lysimachus invaded Asia Minor while Cassander marched southwards into Thessaly where Demetrius too arrived (Diod. XX 106-110). At first Antigonus was confident in his ability to repel Lysimachus, but when he learned that Seleucus was marching from the east with a great army, he ordered Demetrius to return to Asia. Demetrius hastily came to terms with Cassander and went to join his father (Diod. XX 111). Seleucus soon arrived in Cappadocia with an army of 20,000 infantry, 12,000 cavalry, and 480 elephants (Diod. XX 113). The last two numbers are particularly impressive: Seleucus had grown mighty indeed.
World History
