— Ch. 1 · The Wars Of The Diadochi —
Hellenistic Greece.
~6 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
In 323 BC, the death of Alexander the Great triggered a violent scramble for power among his former generals. These men, known as the Diadochi, fought armed contests to carve up an empire stretching from Europe to North Africa. The wars lasted until 275 BC and witnessed the fall of both the Argead and Antipatrid dynasties of Macedonia. A new dynasty emerged in their place, the Antigonid dynasty, which would rule Macedon for centuries.
Cassander, son of Alexander's leading general Antipater, made himself master of most of Greece after years of warfare. He founded a new capital at Thessaloniki and generally acted as a constructive ruler. His power was soon challenged by Antigonus, the ruler of Anatolia. Antigonus promised Greek cities that he would restore their freedom if they supported him. This promise led to successful revolts against Cassander's local rulers.
In 307 BC, Antigonus's son Demetrius captured Athens and restored its democratic system. But the victory was short-lived. In 301 BC, a coalition of Cassander and other Hellenistic kings defeated Antigonus at the Battle of Ipsus. This battle ended his challenge to the existing order. After Cassander died in 298 BC, Demetrius seized the Macedonian throne again. He gained control of most of Greece before being defeated by a second coalition of Greek rulers in 285 BC.
Macedonian Dynastic Struggles
The struggle for the Macedonian throne continued long after the initial wars of the Diadochi. Lysimachus of Thrace took mastery of Greece after defeating Demetrius in 285 BC. Yet Lysimachus was in turn defeated and killed in 280 BC. The Macedonian throne then passed to Demetrius's son, Antigonus II. He also defeated an invasion of the Greek lands by the Gauls who were living in the Balkans at this time.
Antigonus II ruled until his death in 239 BC. His family retained the Macedonian throne until it was abolished by the Romans in 146 BC. Their control over the Greek city states remained intermittent throughout these decades. Other rulers, particularly the Ptolemies, subsidized anti-Macedonian parties in Greece to undermine the Antigonids' power. Antigonus placed a garrison at Corinth, the strategic centre of Greece, but many states retained substantial independence.
In 267 BC, Ptolemy II persuaded the Greek cities to revolt against Antigonus. This conflict became known as the Chremonidean War after the Athenian leader Chremonides. The cities were eventually defeated and Athens lost her independence and her democratic institutions. The Aetolian League was restricted to the Peloponnese but gained control of Thebes in 245 BC. In 255 BC, Antigonus defeated the Ptolemaic fleet at Cos and brought the Aegean islands under his rule.