Maintaining such a vast empire was not particularly wieldy, as Alexander's successors discovered in the decades after his death. The biggest problem was that Alexander had not designated an heir. As of summer 323 b. c.e., there were two claimants to the throne. One was Alexander's half brother Arrhidaios, also known as Philip III. The other was Roxana's unborn child. This turned out to be a son, who was named Alexander IV (Alexander III had already died). Together, Philip III and Alexander IV held power as Alexander the Great's heirs for thirteen years, with Antipater (the aged general who had been left in Mace-don to guard the home front during Alexander the Great's foreign conquests), serving as their regent.
Both Philip III and Alexander IV, however, were incapable of ruling the empire at the time of Alexander's death—especially Alexander IV, who was not even born yet, while Philip III was considered to be too "feeble-minded." With the two heirs' hold on the throne being so weak, those who had been in power under Alexander the Great started vying for greater control of Alexander's conquests. The first to do so was Perdiccas, the senior cavalry officer under Alexander the Great (Perdiccas held the same role under Alexander that Alexander had held under Philip II). At first, Perdiccas functioned as an able regulator, assigning administrators to the various lands and institutions of the empire. Antipater was named general of Europe, Antigonos "One-Eyed" was placed as satrap (governor) of northern Turkey, Ptolemy was placed in charge of Egypt, Lysimachus was placed in charge of Thrace, and Seleucus and Cas-sander (Antipater's son) were established as army generals.
The problem with all this, though, was that Perdiccas set himself up against the semi-established authority in the realm—Alexander's heirs and their official regent, Antipater. Defying their claims, Perdiccas tried to bring the various satraps, armies, and populations under his own authority, ultimately leading to the Civil War of 322-321 b. c.e., during which Perdiccas faced a double front against Alexander's heirs and their regent to the north and the Ptolemies in Egypt to the south. Perdiccas met Ptolemy's army in Egypt in 322-321, suffered a humiliating defeat at their hands, and was murdered by his own soldiers, who no longer cared for Perdiccas's leadership style.
Technically, this should have ended any rivalries for the crown, at least until Alexander IV grew up and the two heirs tried to kill each other for possession of it. But Antipater was quite old by this point (in his eighties). He died in 319 b. c.e., leaving in his place as regent Polyperchon, an old, loyal soldier of Alexander the Great's. Although in many respects this was a prudent choice, Antipater did pass over his own son Cassander, who was as ambitious as any of the other successors of Alexander. And so began the next phase of squabbling, now between Cassander and Polyperchon—and, through Polyperchon, Alexander's heirs. This conflict was mainly set in Greece, where Cassander, under the banner of "autonomous Greek poleis," garnered support from the Greeks. Cassander was victorious, and he maintained his position of authority in Greece and Macedon until his death in 297 b. c.e. His marriage to Thessa-lonike, daughter of Philip II, strengthened his claims to the throne.
But not enough. Although Cassander maintained control of the empire's European territories, the other successors kept a literal death grip on their own possessions. To the north, the main threat was Queen Olympias, Alexander's mother (but not the mother of Philip III). Seeing Cassander, Philip III, and Philip III's wife Euridike as threats to the inheritance of her own grandchild Alexander IV, in 317 b. c.e. she led an army from Greece into Macedon, where she killed Philip III and forced Euridike to commit suicide. In revenge, Cas-sander brought an army against Olympias's forces; Olympias took refuge in the city of Pydna in the north. After a year under siege, she surrendered, was put on trial, and was executed.
To the east, the main threat was Antigonos, who had seized control of all of
Alexander the Great's eastern possessions, even evicting Seleucus from Babylon, where he had been made satrap in 321 b. c.e. This was a point of concern for Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Cassander, who, in the winter of 316/315, delivered an ultimatum to Antigonos. Basically, they demanded that he relinquish a small portion of his lands to the three other territories (Egypt, Thrace, and Greece) and reinstate Seleucus, or else the three united would wage war upon him. Antigonos opted for war, and he made his first foray against Cassander with the assistance of Polyperchon. The war proceeded down through the Peloponnese, throughout the eastern Mediterranean, and into northern Egypt. It is a tribute to Antigonos that he held out so long against the combined forces of the other successors with only his son Demetrios as ally (Polyperchon was too old to be of much help).
Nevertheless, by 312 b. c.e., all the successors were in need of rest, and so peace was declared. This peace acknowledged Cassander as general of the European territories, Lysimachus as head of Thrace, Ptolemy as head of Egypt, and Antigonos as head of Asia, all until Alexander IV reached maturity around age sixteen. However, in 310, Alexander IV was killed in secret, probably through the machinations of Cassander (rather justifying his father's decision not to make him regent). As Diodorus relates the results of this (19, 105, 3-4), "Cassander, Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and even Antigonos were freed from the anticipated danger from the king. For, there no longer being anyone to inherit the realm, each of those remaining in power over nations or cities entertained hopes of kingship, and each one held his territory as if it were some spear-won kingdom."
Any notion of reuniting the empire died with Alexander IV. Various successors had themselves crowned kings of their territories shortly thereafter— Antigonos in 306, Ptolemy in 305, and Seleucus in Babylon in 304.
But the fighting continued. The problem now, as it had been twenty years previously, was Antigonos, who continually tried to expand the borders of his territories. This situation was not resolved until 301 b. c.e., when Antigonos and his son Demetrios faced the combined forces of the other successors at the Battle of Ipsos. Antigonos was killed in the battle, and Demetrios was driven from Asia by Seleucus. Armed with only a small fleet, Demetrios took to the seas, where he spent several years trying to restore his fortunes in Greece.
His luck changed slightly for the better after Cassander's death in Macedon in 297 b. c.e. Nevertheless, he was only one of a number of claimants to the Macedonian throne, and the period from 297 to 277 in Macedon and Greece was one of extreme instability. This culminated in 279 with the Gaulish Invasions, when a host of Celts occupied Delphi and eventually established the territory of Galatia in Turkey. Stability was only restored under Antigonos Go-natos, son of Demetrios, who entered Greece in force, drove out the Gauls (see Image 9.25), and established himself as the savior of Greece and the King of Macedon in 276. From this point until 168, the European portions of Alexander's empire were ruled by the Antigonids, the dynasty named for Antigonos Gonatos. In a similar fashion, Asia was ruled by the Seleucids, the descendants of Seleucus, and Egypt was ruled by the Ptolemies.
Thus did the former possessions of Alexander the Great continue down into the second and first centuries b. c.e. The main powers were the Antigonids, Se-leucids, and Ptolemies, but there were also other, smaller powers at play, such as the semi-independent commercial republic of Rhodes, the Aetolian and Achaean Leagues in central Greece (see chapter 7), and the small kingdom of Pergamon in Turkey. All of these Hellenistic kingdoms, with the exception of Pergamon, would be overcome and undone by the Romans.
Problems between Greece and Rome began as early as 280 b. c.e., with the commencement of the Pyrrhic War. In 282, Rome had accepted an invitation to help the Greek cities in Italy fight off local hillsmen. Rome was successful, but the Greek city of Tarentum, resenting Roman interference, attacked the Roman forces. Pyrrhos, king of Epeiros in Greece, was the general for the Greeks. In 275, at the Battle of Beneventum, the Romans defeated Pyrrhos, and after this, they annexed the poleis of Magna Graecia. In general, though, relations between the Romans and the western Greeks were good, especially under the Greek king Hiero II of Syracuse (Sicily), who remained loyal to the Romans until his death in 215.
The next round of confrontations between Greece and Rome focused on Illyria, which technically was outside the Greek orbit but which nevertheless brought the Romans increasingly closer to Greece. These confrontations began over problems of Illyrian piracy in the eastern Mediterranean. Although the Romans had persuaded the Illyrian queen Teuta to restrain this piracy, Demetrios of Pharos, a local Greek dynast, blatantly defied her attempts. With Queen Teuta unable to control him, the Romans stepped in, deposed Demetrios, and established themselves in Illyria.
At the end of the third century b. c.e., Rome fought the First and Second Macedonian Wars with King Philip V of Macedon. The first of these (215-205) broke out when Philip, attempting to acquire territory in Roman-occupied Illyria, signed a treaty in 215 with King Hannibal of Carthage, who was then at war with Rome. This put the Romans at war on two fronts, to the south with Sicily and to the northeast with Greece. The First Macedonian War with Philip lasted until the Peace of Phoenice in 205 b. c.e., but hostilities resumed in 200 with a Roman attack on the borders of Macedon. Now, during the Second Macedonian War (200-197 b. c.e.), the Romans, armed with propaganda, portrayed themselves as the liberators of Greece. After Philip's defeat, Polybius, a Roman historian, relates that the Romans made the following proclamation at the Isthmian Games (18, 46, 5): "The Roman Senate and T. Quinctius, proconsul, having defeated King Philip and the Macedonians, leave free—without garrison, free of tribute, governed by their countries' laws—the Corinthians, Phokians, Lokrians, Euboians, Phthiotic Achaeans, Magnesians, Thessalians, and Perrhaebians."
Of course, the majority of these privileges were revoked as soon as the Romans perceived that the Greeks were actually trying to be autonomous, something that had not occurred since the Peloponnesian War. Thus came about, among other things, the Third Macedonian War, which was fought between Rome and Philip V's heir Perseus (r. 172-168). Rome was successful once again, and the Antigonid family was removed from the Macedonian throne. The first of the Hellenistic kingdoms had come to an end. In 148 b. c.e., Mace-don became a Roman province.
To the east, the Seleucids were having their own problems with Rome. Already in 192-188 b. c.e., the Romans had come into conflict with Seleucid king Antiochus III when he, attempting to liberate the Greeks (have you noticed this recurring theme?), fought on the side of the Aetolian League in alliance with Rome against Macedon. Between Rome, Pergamon (supported by Rome), and Egypt chipping away at them, the Seleucids continued to lose territory until, by 129 after the death of Antiochus VII, they were left with only a sliver of northern Syria, which was eventually conquered by Rome.
The last Hellenistic dynasty to fall was the Ptolemies of Egypt, whose power lasted until the Battle of Actium in 31 b. c.e. At this time, Queen Cleopatra VII ruled Egypt. She had attempted to bolster her authority in Egypt through a close alliance with Rome, first becoming the ally and lover of Julius Caesar (and bearing him a son), and then, after Caesar's assassination, becoming the wife of Marc Antony, Caesar's comrade. Unlike Rome's problems with the previous two Hellenistic kingdoms, the conflicts between Egypt and Rome had more to do with the political situation in Rome than with any power struggles between Egypt and its neighbors. After the death of Julius Caesar, Rome had split into two factions—those favoring Marc Antony and those favoring Octa-vian Caesar, Julius Caesar's formal heir. Cleopatra backed Marc Antony, fighting for him at the sea battle of Actium. In the end, however, Octavian's forces won. Marc Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide, Cleopatra's son by Julius Caesar was assassinated, the Ptolemaic line was extinguished, and the Roman Empire eventually annexed Egypt. The Hellenistic kingdoms, the final phase of ancient Greece, thus came to an end.
World History
