Alexanders Heirs

by Edward M. Anson

  father-in-law Lysimachus, for aid (Just. 16.2.4). According to Plutarch, since

  Lysimachus was involved in a campaign in Thrace at the time, he forged a letter

  ostensibly from Ptolemy requesting that Pyrrhus halt his campaign and offering

  300 talents by way of compensation. The letter was immediately recognized to be

  a forgery, and while Pyrrhus was upset by it, the threat of involvement from

  Lysimachus caused him to end his campaign and instead broker a treaty between

  the two brothers (Plut. Pyrrh. 6.8–10).

  With the brothers reconciled, Demetrius arrived on the scene. At Dion,

  Alexander welcomed his now unneeded and unwanted rescuer. While the two

  pretended to be on friendly terms, they were in fact plotting against one another.

  Demetrius succeeded in murdering his host and proclaimed himself king of

  Macedonia (Plut. Demetr. 36; Pyrrh. 7.1; Just. 16.1.8–18; [Euseb. Chron.] FGrH

  260 F-3.6). As he prepared to address the Macedonian troops in the hope of

  securing their backing, they proclaimed him king and joined him in his march to

  the homeland. In Macedonia Demetrius was also well received (Plut. Demetr. 37; Pyrrh. 7.2; Just. 16.1.17–18). Antipater fled to Thrace, and Demetrius occupied the entire kingdom. Lysimachus provided no assistance to his son-in-law, having difficulties of his own. Dromichaetes, a king of the Getae, Thracian tribesmen living along the Danube, had briefly taken Lysimachus prisoner (Plut. Demetr. 39.5, 52.4; Just. 16.1.19; Paus. 1.9.6).12 Once in receipt of this news, Demetrius made a dash for Thrace, but soon discovered that Lysimachus had escaped and returned

  to Macedonia. Demetrius became king of Macedonia in the fall of 294.13 He was to

  rule for roughly six years ([Euseb. Chron.] FGrH 260 F-3.6). By becoming king

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  of Macedonia, Demetrius had reached the high-water mark in his independent

  career. In addition to Macedonia, he also gained control of Thessaly, in part through his foundation of Demetrias in 294/93, at the head of the Gulf of Pagasae (Str. 9.5.15; Cohen 1995: 111–12). This community was formed by the synoecism of a number

  of communities, formerly independent entities that were situated at the head of the Gulf of Pagasae, and was located so as to control the southern end of the Vale of Tempe, the great pass connecting Thessaly and Macedonia. Demetrius, also, stil

  retained his possessions and allies in southern Greece, including now Athens,

  Megara, Euboea, and sizable portions of the Peloponnesus. His fleet may have

  numbered 500 ships and his army 98,000 men (Plut. Demetr. 43.4).

  In a peculiar episode, Lanassa, the wife of Pyrrhus, in 291 offered herself in

  marriage to Demetrius. She was the daughter of Agathocles, the tyrant of Syracuse, and had brought Corcyra to the marriage as her dowry. The island had regained its independence from the Spartan adventurer Cleonymus probably in 302 (cf. Trog.

  Prol. 15; Liv. 10.2.14). Cassander had attempted to retake it after Demetrius had left Greece to join his father in Asia prior to the Battle of Ipsus, but the island had been both saved from the Macedonian and acquired by Agathocles (cf. Diod. 21.2;

  Meister 2008: 406). Since the marriage would mean Demetrius would acquire this

  valuable island astride the trade routes between Greece and Italy, and given

  Demetrius’ flagrant polygamy, he accepted the offer. Lanassa was moving from one

  polygamist to another. Pyrrhus also had a number of wives (Plut. Pyrrh. 9.1).

  Demetrius sailed to Corcyra, married his new wife, and acquired the island (Plut.

  Pyrrh. 10.8–9). While he had assembled quite a collection of possessions in the Greek peninsula, he had lost his possessions in Asia Minor and in Cyprus to

  Lysimachus and Ptolemy respectively (Plut. Demetr. 35.7). As with all of Alexander the Great’s Successors, and in this case with the son of a Diadoch, there was no

  sense of contentment in what one possessed, but always the goal of adding more.

  This lust sent Demetrius into Boeotia, where he enjoyed success, placing garrisons in the cities with the exception of Thebes, which remained under siege, the

  besieging force under the command of the historian Hieronymus (Plut. Demetr.

  39; Polyaen. 4.7.11). The city final y fell and was garrisoned in 291/90 (Plut.

  Demetr. 39.9–40.8). During the siege of Thebes, Pyrrhus, while the new Macedonian king was thus occupied, had attempted to acquire Thessaly, but had been expelled

  by a returning Demetrius (Plut. Demetr. 40.1–2; Pyrrh. 7.3). The two former friends had no real falling out; this was just business. They were both rivals for the spoils that might be acquired through war.

  Demetrius now decided to preside over the Pythian Games for 290. With his

  own peculiar brand of piety, finding that the passes to Delphi were blocked by the Aetolians, he decided to conduct the games in Athens (Plut. Demetr. 40.8–9). At their conclusion he returned to Macedonia, and from there proceeded to invade

  Aetolia, Pyrrhus’ al y. He devastated the country before moving on to an invasion of Epirus itself (Plut. Demetr. 41.1–2). In an interesting turn of events, at the time when Demetrius was invading Epirus, Pyrrhus was marching to the defense of his

  allies in Aetolia and Boeotia. The two armies reached their respective goals without

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  ever being in contact with one another. Consequently, while Demetrius plundered

  Epirus, Pyrrhus confronted the former’s general, Pantauchus, in Boeotia. The king of Epirus was victorious, defeating Pantauchus and taking 5000 prisoners, and

  apparently killing a large number of others (Plut. Demetr. 41.1–3).

  While, with the exception of the setback described above, all appeared to be

  going well for Demetrius, a major crisis was brewing. Demetrius played the role of condottiero much too wel . He wore extravagant clothing, even “gold-embroidered shoes” (Plut. Demetr. 41.6). He lived in great splendor, and his extravagances in Athens would not have gone unnoticed by the people in Macedonia. He was also

  aloof in his treatment of his new subjects, treating them with disdain. Traditional y in Macedonia the king was not only approachable, but lived with a minimum

  of pomp (Anson 2013b: 22, 24–6). Demetrius was losing the support of his new-

  found kingdom. Moreover, he still harbored the ambition to recover all of his

  father’s former possessions in Asia (Plut. Demetr. 43.3; Just. 16.2.1). Demetrius appeared to view Macedonia only as a major resource for his invasion of Asia (Will 1984: 108). Even if this were not the case, there were a great many Macedonians

  who believed that it was. To further his Asian ambitions he patched up a peace

  with Pyrrhus and began to prepare for a triumphant return to Asia by preparing

  massive armaments (Plut. Demetr. 43.4–8). The Macedonians were to be the back-bone of this invading force, and the revenues of the nation were to bankroll much of it. These preparations and their apparent purpose were not lost on his already disaffected people. Moreover, as a result of these preparations, all those kings who now had a reason to fear the new Macedonian monarch joined in a new coalition.

  Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Lysimachus formed a league against him. Additional y, and

  despite his truce with Demetrius, Pyrrhus was persuaded to join the alliance. The new struggles began in the fall of 288 ([Euseb. Chron.] FGrH 260 F-3.4, 6; Wheatley 1997: 21–2). With Ptolemy sailing to Greece to undermine Demetrius’ hold

  there, both Pyrrhus and Lysimachus simultaneously invaded Macedonia. When

  Demetrius, who was in the south preparing for his incursion into Asia, heard

  of the invasion, he left his son Antigonus to protect his holdings in Greece, and proceeded north. He planned to attack Lysim
achus first, but his troops appeared

  far too sympathetic to the man from Thrace. Demetrius then turned his attention

  to Pyrrhus, figuring that as a foreigner that individual would have no chance of

  gaining the allegiance of Macedonians, an error many had earlier made with

  respect to the Cardian Eumenes. The troops willingly deserted to the Epirote, the Macedonians telling their soon-to-be-former monarch that they were tired of his

  wars and lifestyle. Pyrrhus entered the Macedonian camp and was acclaimed king

  by the Macedonians. When Lysimachus arrived on the scene and insisted on

  sharing in the spoils, he acquired part of Macedonia, but Pyrrhus kept the greater share (Paus. 1.10.2). The boundary was most likely the Axius river (Hammond

  and Walbank 1988: 230). Almost without striking a blow Pyrrhus and Lysimachus

  found themselves in possession of Macedonia (Plut. Demetr. 44; Pyrrh. 11.1–12.1; Just. 16.2.1–3; Paus. 1.10.2). When Antipater, Cassander’s son and Lysimachus’

  son-in-law, protested that by rights the throne was his (Just. 16.2.4–5), Lysimachus

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  killed him, thus ending Cassander’s line. Justin (16.2.4) also reports that Lysimachus imprisoned his own daughter Eurydice for supporting her husband Antipater in

  his complaints.

  Demetrius, as once before, found himself on the run, first fleeing to Cassandreia.

  Here his wife Phila, in grief for the disaster that had befallen her husband, committed suicide (Plut. Demetr. 45.1). The former king of Macedonia now prepared to gather what remained of his forces and allies and reestablish himself in Greece.

  His holdings there also had diminished, but were centered on Corinth and

  Athens, which for the moment were still loyal. But in the world of Greek city-state politics, when your patron was weak, you sought a new patron. The ever-fickle

  Athenians revolted against their newest deity. They reestablished the full democ-

  racy, once again naming years after the eponymous archon instead of the elected

  priest of the savior gods, Antigonus and Demetrius (Plut. Demetr. 46.2; cf. Plut.

  Demetr. 10.4). Athenian inscriptions place this event in the late spring of 287

  (in particular, the Decree in Honor of Callias [Shear 1978; 2–4]; Habicht 1979:

  45–60).14 For Demetrius the bad news had traveled fast. Gathering his forces from the Peloponnesus, Demetrius marched to Athens and placed the city under siege.

  This operation occurred sometime in May, since the grain harvest was underway

  (Shear 1978: 2, line 26). The Athenians, in need of a new protector, appealed

  to Pyrrhus, who was dilatory in his response (Plut. Pyrrh. 12.6–8). The new government in Athens sent Crates the philosopher to negotiate with the former

  king of Macedonia. He advised Demetrius to return to Asia, and the ever-change-

  able commander decided to follow his advice (Plut. Demetr. 46.1–3). Such is the explanation for this strange turn of events in Plutarch, but an Athenian inscription implies that there was a third party to this agreement and peace, Ptolemy of Egypt.

  In the decree honoring Callias, an Athenian exile in the service of Ptolemy (Habicht 1997: 86), the Egyptian ruler is thanked both for sending a force of mercenaries to assist the Athenians during the siege and for negotiating the peace, which acknowledged the return of democracy and an alliance between the Egyptian dynast and

  Demetrius, and the departure of Demetrius which followed (Shear 1978: 2–3, lines

  11–42). Nor did Demetrius leave empty-handed, for the Piraeus, Museum Hil ,

  Salamis, Eleusis, Phyle, Panactum, and Sunion all remained garrisoned by forces

  loyal to him ( IG II2 682; Hammond and Walbank 1988: 231). Leaving his holdings in Greece in the care of his son Antigonus, with 11,000 troops, his cavalry, and his still potent fleet, Demetrius sailed to Miletus in Caria, intent on wresting this area and Lydia from Lysimachus. In Miletus he was met by Phila’s sister, Eurydice, who was accompanied by one of her daughters by Ptolemy, Ptolemais. She had lost

  favor in the eyes of her husband Ptolemy, who had become infatuated with his new

  wife, Berenice, the daughter of an obscure Macedonian nobleman (Paus. 1.6.8).

  Ptolemais had, as noted earlier, been betrothed to Demetrius. Now, with the

  blessing of her mother and father, the marriage took place (Plut. Demetr. 46.1–5).

  Ptolemy, the adroit politician, had now gained all he could reasonably expect from the alliance against Demetrius. He was in complete control of Cyprus, and by

  virtual default was now the new patron of the Nesiotic League (Hammond and

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  Walbank 1988: 228 n. 2, 232). To occupy Demetrius in the struggle for Asia

  Minor would allow Ptolemy to maintain his hold on the regions under his

  authority without fear of interference from that quarter. Moreover, Lysimachus

  and Seleucus were now the Egyptian dynast’s chief rivals. Let them be kept busy

  with the irrepressible Demetrius. For Demetrius, the alliance with Ptolemy meant

  he could proceed against Lysimachus without fear of attack from the powerful

  Ptolemaic fleet.

  After his new marriage Demetrius spent some time recruiting additional troops

  and then proceeded to capture by assault or simple change of allegiance many of

  the Ionian cities. In Lydia, he captured Sardis and there were some desertions of Lysimachian commanders and troops, but these successes brought a response

  from Lysimachus. He sent his son Agathocles with a large force to confront the son of Antigonus, who, like Eumenes before him, fled towards the upper satrapies,

  planning on bringing these regions over to his side. It is unclear if this was an attempt to secure Seleucus’ assistance or to challenge that ruler’s authority in the east. And, like Antigonus against Eumenes, Agathocles followed in pursuit. Cut off from supplies, suffering from famine and disease, Demetrius’ army saw 8000

  deaths. The original plan of the flight now changed and Demetrius, with his sur-

  viving forces, turned back towards Cilicia but, with Agathocles blocking the

  Taurus passes, he wrote a long letter begging Seleucus for help. That commander

  ordered his subordinates in the region to supply Demetrius and his suffering army with needed supplies. Later, after consultation with his advisor Patrocles, Seleucus decided it would be to his advantage to take control of Demetrius rather than let him regain his strength. He therefore came to Cilicia with a large army. Demetrius withdrew into a number of strongholds in the Taurus mountains and begged his

  ex-son-in-law to be given some petty kingdom to govern. Seleucus refused.

  Demetrius and his remaining forces then burst forth from his refuges and, despite Seleucus’ attempt to guard the pathways into Syria, these were seized. The man

  that had risen so often from what would appear to be the abyss would not succeed

  this time. In the midst of this latest campaign, Demetrius suffered a severe illness that left him physical y weakened and his troops shaken. In a subsequent confrontation with Seleucus, that commander presented himself to Demetrius’ mercenaries, exhorting them to join him, which they enthusiastical y did (Plut. Demetr. 46.6–10).

  These events occurred during 286 and 285.

  Demetrius attempted to flee, but after an abortive suicide attempt ultimately

  surrendered to Seleucus (Plut. Demetr. 47–50). Seleucus had him conducted to Apameia (Diod. 21.20), the city he had founded and named after his wife, where

  under guard the once-famed “City-besieger” spent the rest of his life in dissipation, dying in 282, while in his fifty-fifth year, after an incarceration of three years (Plut.

  Demetr. 46–52; Just. 16.2.6; cf. Plut. Pyrrh. 12.9).
His funeral was as grand as his life. When his son Antigonus received the remains, which were housed in a golden

  urn, he took them with his entire fleet in a grand procession through the islands, where at each stop the dead dynast was honored with garlands. When the ashes

  arrived in Corinth, as the ship approached, the most celebrated flute player,

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  Xenophantus, accompanied the sound of the rowing with a solemn tune. After

  more garlands and honors, Demetrius’ urn was escorted to its final resting place in the city he founded and that bore his name, Demetrias on the Gulf of Pagasae

  (Plut. Demetr. 53.1–8). Certainly the most colorful of the contenders for power, his legacy to the future was his son Antigonus, who would establish the new ruling house of Macedonia, the Antigonid, which would rule that nation from 276 until

  its demise at the hands of the Romans in 168.

  When Demetrius departed for Asia, Pyrrhus launched an invasion of Thessaly,

  attempting to win over many of the cities there garrisoned with Demetrius’ forces (Plut. Pyrrh. 12.4). Since Demetrias is found shortly thereafter to be still in Antigonid hands, it is unknown how successful this invasion was. This operation

  was suggested by Lysimachus, showing that as long as Demetrius was at large,

  Lysimachus was interested in maintaining friendly relations with all the other

  dynasts. Indeed, when he heard of Demetrius’ capture, he offered Seleucus 2000

  talents to execute his rival. The latter took this to be a barbarous request and refused (Diod. 21.20; Plut. Demetr. 51). With the captivity of his former nemesis, Lysimachus was ready to seize Macedonia. In a surprise attack, he captured the Macedonian

  army’s supplies, then, in letters and in conferences with certain of his rival’s forces, he attacked his opponent as a foreigner to Macedonia. Apparently, the claim

  that resonated with the Macedonians was not so much that Pyrrhus was himself a

  foreigner but that he was pursuing the interests of his homeland Epirus and not

  those of Macedonia. Pyrrhus’ army deserted, and that commander was forced to

  flee with his allies and fellow Epirotes back to Epirus. Lysimachus was now, in 285, king of Macedonia in its entirety (Plut. Pyrrh. 12.10; Just. 16.3.2). The retreat of Pyrrhus brought about another of those shifts in alliance that so characterize this age. Demetrius’ son, Antigonus, and Pyrrhus now became allies (Paus. 1.10.2).