Cassander

Cassander
stater of Cassander. The reverse depicts a lion and an inscription in Ancient Greek reading "ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΚΑΣΣΑΝΔΡΟΥ", King Cassander.
King of Macedonia
Reign	305 – 297 BC
Predecessor	Alexander IV
Successor	Philip IV
Died	297 BC
Consort	Thessalonike of Macedon
Issue	Philip Alexander Antipater
House	Antipatrid dynasty
Father	Antipater

Cassander (Greek: Κάσσανδρος Ἀντιπάτρου, Kassandros son of Antipatros; ca. 350 BC – 297 BC), was king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon from 305 BC until 297 BC, and de facto ruler of much of Greece from 317 BC until his death.

Eldest son of Antipater and a contemporary of Alexander the Great, Cassander was one of the diadochi who warred over Alexander’s empire following the latter’s death in 323 BC. In governing Macedonia from 317 BC until 297 BC, Cassander restored peace and prosperity to the kingdom, while founding or restoring numerous Greek cities (including Thessalonica, Cassandreia, and Thebes); however, his ruthlessness in dealing with political enemies complicates assessments of his rule.

In his youth, Cassander was taught by the philosopher Aristotle at the Lyceum in Macedonia. He was educated alongside Alexander the Great in a group that included Hephaestion, Ptolemy and Lysimachus. His family were distant collateral relatives to the Argead dynasty.

Cassander is first recorded as arriving at Alexander the Great’s court in Babylon in 323 BC, where he had been sent by his father, Antipater, most likely to help uphold Antipater’s regency in Macedon, although a later contemporary who was hostile to the Antipatrids suggested that Cassander had journeyed to the court to poison the King.

Whatever the truth of this suggestion, Cassander stood out amongst the diadochi in his hostility to Alexander's memory. As Cassander and the other diadochi struggled for power, Alexander IV, Roxana, and Alexander’s supposed illegitimate son Heracles were all executed on Cassander's orders, and a guarantee to Olympias to spare her life was not respected. Cassander's decision to restore Thebes, which had been destroyed under Alexander, was perceived at the time to be a snub to the deceased King. It was later even said that he could not pass a statue of Alexander without feeling faint. Cassander has been perceived to be ambitious and unscrupulous, and even members of his own family were estranged from him.