Diadochi
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2008
Diadochi [Gr.,=successors], the Macedonian generals and administrators who succeeded Alexander the Great . Alexander's empire, the largest that the world had known to that time, was quickly built. At his death in 323 BC it disintegrated even more quickly. Alexander's more important followers, later known as the Diadochi, sought to increase their personal power in a bloody scramble. Chief among them were Antipater , Perdiccas , Eumenes , Craterus, Antigonus ( Antigonus I ), Ptolemy ( Ptolemy I ), Seleucus ( Seleucus I ), and Lysimachus .
The first struggle was over the regency; theoretically Alexander's feeble-minded brother, Philip, and also Alexander's posthumous son by Roxana had the real claim to the inheritance. Perdiccas had the regency (323-322), in effect if not in name, to which Antipater also had claim. Eumenes supported Perdiccas, while Antigonus, Ptolemy, and Craterus supported Antipater. In 321, battle was joined; the allies of Antipater won, although Craterus was killed. On the death (319) of Antipater the struggle was on again. There were shifting alliances, but in general the chief figure was Antigonus, who, with the help of his son, Demetrius Poliorcetes ( Demetrius I of Macedon), attempted to rebuild Alexander's empire. He failed. Antigonus and Demetrius were finally defeated in the battle of Ipsus (301 BC). The Diadochi had been declaring themselves kings, Antigonus first and then the others.
The contest was carried on to the next generation, with Demetrius fighting successfully against Cassander , the son of Antipater, and it was pursued even further with the wars between the Seleucidae and the Ptolemies. Commonly, however, the period of the Diadochi is said to end with the victory of Seleucus I over Lysimachus at the battle of Corupedion in 281, fixing the boundaries of the Hellenistic world for the next century. This left the descendants of Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Antigonus as the chief claimants to power in the Hellenistic age, and the empire of Alexander was irrevocably split.
Author not available, DIADOCHI.,
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition 2008
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press
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Seleucus I
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... Alexander the Great, he played a leading part in the wars of the Diadochi . In the new partition of the empire in 312 BC he received ... Corupedion in Lydia in 281, an event that marked the end of the Diadochi. Seleucus was murdered before he could achieve his ambition ...
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Ptolemy I
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... Lagus. He was one of the leading generals of Alexander the Great, and after Alexander's death (323 BC) he joined the other Diadochi in dividing and quarreling over the empire. Ptolemy received Egypt and managed to keep control of it in the midst of incessant ...
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Roxana
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... 327) to consolidate his power in Persia. She and Alexander's posthumous son, Alexander IV, were, after Alexander's death, embroiled in the wars of the Diadochi and were imprisoned by Cassander at Amphipolis in Macedonia. They were later killed.
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Cassander
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Antigonus I
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