Babylonian War
| Babylonian War | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Wars of the Diadochi | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Antigonid dynasty | Seleucid Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Antigonus I Monophthalmus Demetrius Poliorcetes |
Seleucus I Nicator | ||||||||
The Babylonian War was a conflict fought between 311–309 BC between the Diadochi kings Antigonus I Monophthalmus and Seleucus I Nicator, ending in a victory for the latter. The conflict ended any possibility of restoration of the empire of Alexander the Great, a result confirmed in the Battle of Ipsus. It also marked the infancy of the Seleucid Empire by giving Seleucus control over the eastern satrapies of Alexander's former empire.
After the death of Alexander the Great on 11 June 323 BC, his empire disintegrated. Officers who were trying to save it were defeated during the First War of the Diadochi. During the Second War of the Diadochi, the power of Antigonus I Monophthalmus, who had created a state of his own in Anatolia and Syria, was growing; this caused alarm among the other generals, but in the Third War of the Diadochi, Antigonus managed to keep Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt and Cassander of Macedon in check. In December 311, the warring parties concluded the Peace of the Dynasts, and recognized each other. The only ruler who was excluded was Seleucus I Nicator. Antigonus had expelled Seleucus, satrap of Babylonia, in 316, but Ptolemy had given him an army, which he now used to return to his satrapy.
Seleucus, reinforced with Macedonian veterans from Harran, reached his former capital Babylon in the second half of May 311. He was soon recognized as the new ruler. Only the fortress remained occupied by a garrison loyal to Antigonus. Seleucus now built a dam in the Euphrates and created an artificial lake; in August, he suddenly broke the dam, and a flood wave destroyed the walls of the fortress.
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