First War of the Diadochi
| Wars of the Diadochi | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||
|
Seleucus † Cassander Perdiccas † Ptolemy Soter Ptolemy Keraunos Peithon Antigenes † Lysimachus Eumenes † Antipater |
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| Strength | |||||
|
300,000 infantry 80,000 cavalry |
200,000 infantry 20,000 cavalry 9,000 chariots 500 elephants |
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300,000 infantry
200,000 infantry
20,000 cavalry
9,000 chariots
The Wars of the Diadochi or Wars of Alexander's Successors, (Greek: Πόλεμοι των Διαδόχων, Polemoi ton Diadochon) were a series of conflicts fought between Alexander the Great's generals over the rule of his vast empire, after his death. They occurred between 322 and 275 BC.
When Alexander the Great died (June 10, 323 BC), he left behind a huge empire that was in essence composed of many independent territories. Alexander's empire stretched from his homeland of Macedon itself, along with the Greek city-states that his father had subdued, to Bactria and parts of India in the east. It included Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia.
Without a chosen successor, there was almost immediately a dispute among his generals as to whom his successor should be. Meleager and the infantry supported the candidacy of Alexander's half-brother, Arrhidaeus, while Perdiccas, the leading cavalry commander, supported waiting until the birth of Alexander's unborn child by Roxana. A compromise was arranged – Arrhidaeus (as Philip III) should become king, and should rule jointly with Roxana's child, assuming that it was a boy (as it was, becoming Alexander IV). Perdiccas himself would become regent of the entire empire, and Meleager his lieutenant. Soon, however, Perdiccas had Meleager and the other infantry leaders murdered, and assumed full control.
The other cavalry generals who had supported Perdiccas were rewarded in the partition of Babylon by becoming satraps of the various parts of the empire. Ptolemy received Egypt; Laomedon received Syria and Phoenicia; Philotas took Cilicia; Peithon took Media; Antigonus received Phrygia, Lycia and Pamphylia; Asander received Caria; Menander received Lydia; Lysimachus received Thrace; Leonnatus received Hellespontine Phrygia; and Neoptolemus had Armenia. Macedon and the rest of Greece were to be under the joint rule of Antipater, who had governed them for Alexander, and Craterus, Alexander's most able lieutenant, while Alexander's old secretary, Eumenes of Cardia, was to receive Cappadocia and Paphlagonia.
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