Antigonid Dynasty

The Antigonid Dynasty was the last to oversee Macedonia before Rome made the region a province under Roman control.

Date: 306 to 168 b. c.e.

Category: Cities and civilizations Locale: Macedonia

Summary After the death of Alexander the Great, his lieutenants proceeded to civil war and a division of the Macedonian Empire. A provincial governor, Antigonus I Monophthalmos, the “One-Eyed,” acquired Asia Minor and, calling himself king, established the Antigonid (an-TIHG-uh-nihd) Dynasty in 306 b. c.e. He soon perished in battle against a coalition of his enemies. However, his son, Demetrius I Poliorcetes, “Besieger of Cities,” survived, only to win and lose Macedonia.

Renewing the dynasty’s fortune, Antigonus II Gonatas became king of Macedonia in 276 b. c.e. and, from Pella, created a secure foundation for the rule of his successors. Although Demetrius II quarreled with Aetolia, Antig-onus III Doson established a broad Hellenic alliance and, as its leader, encouraged cooperation between Greece and Macedonia. Yet Philip V drew that alliance into a dangerous struggle by supporting Hannibal of Carthage against Rome in the Second Punic War (218-201 b. c.e.).

Significance After defeating the Carthaginian general, the Romans vanquished Philip at Cynoscephalae in 197 b. c.e. and his son Perseus at Pydna in 168 b. c.e. After abolishing the Antigonid monarchy, Rome established four independent Macedonian republics. Years later, when adventurers claiming descent from Perseus aroused revolt, Rome intervened and reorganized Macedonia as a Roman province.

Further Reading

Billows, Richard A. Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.

Erskine, Andrew, ed. A Companion to the Hellenistic World. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2003.

Gabbert, Janice J. Antigonus II Gonatas: A Political Biography. New York: Routledge, 1997.

O’Neil, James L. “The Ethnic Origins of the Friends of the Antigonid Kings of Macedon.” Classical Quarterly 53, no. 2 (2003): 510-522.

Denvy A. Bowman

See also: Alexander the Great; Alexander the Great’s Empire; Cynosceph-alae, Battle of; Demetrius Poliorcetes; Hellenistic Greece; Philip V.