Lysimachus

Lysimachus
Marble bust of Lysimachus. Naples, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli (Archaeological Museum), Italy
King of Thrace
Reign	306–281 BC
Predecessor	Alexander IV
Successor	Ptolemy Keraunos
King of Asia Minor
Reign	301–281 BC
Predecessor	Antigonus I Monophthalmus
Successor	Seleucus I Nicator
King of Macedon with Pyrrhus of Epirus
Reign	288–281 BC
Predecessor	Demetrius I Poliorcetes
Successor	Ptolemy Keraunos
Born	361 or 355 BC Crannon or Pella
Died	February 281 BC (aged 74 or 80) Corupedium, near Sardis
Burial	Lysimachia, Thrace
Consort	Nicaea Amastris Arsinoe
Issue Among others	Agathocles Ptolemy Alexander
Father	Agathocles

Lysimachus (Greek: Λυσίμαχος, Lysimachos; c. 360 BC – 281 BC) was a Macedonian officer and diadochus (i.e. "successor") of Alexander the Great, who became a basileus ("King") in 306 BC, ruling Thrace, Asia Minor and Macedon.

Lysimachus was born in 361 BC (or 355 BC), to a family of Thessalian Greek stock. He was the second son of Agathocles and his wife; there is some indication in the historical sources that this wife was perhaps named Arsinoe, and that Lysimachus' paternal grandfather may have been called Alcimachus. His father was a nobleman of high rank who was an intimate friend of Philip II of Macedon, who shared in Philip II’s councils and became a favourite in the Argead court. Lysimachus and his brothers grew up with the status of Macedonians; all these brothers enjoyed with Lysimachus prominent positions in Alexander’s circle and, like him, were educated at the Macedonian court in Pella.

He was probably appointed Somatophylax during the reign of Philip II. During Alexander's Persian campaigns, in 328 BC he was one of his immediate bodyguards. In 324 BC, in Susa, he was crowned in recognition for his actions in India. After Alexander’s death in 323 BC, he was appointed to the government of Thrace as strategos although he faced some difficulties from the Thracian Dynasty Seuthes.

In 315 BC, Lysimachus joined Cassander, Ptolemy I Soter and Seleucus I Nicator against Antigonus I Monophthalmus, who, however, diverted his attention by stirring up Thracian and Scythian tribes against him. However, he managed to consolidate his power in the east of his territories, suppressing a revolt of the cities on the Black Sea coast.

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