The Campaigns of Alexander: The Landmark Arrian, edited by James Romm, c. 2010, soft cover, $21.
Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Greta's Empire, Robin Waterfield, c. 2011
Various spellings of the players. I will go with the spellings in Robin Waterfield's book.
Just like his father, Alexander the Great -- the more I read of him, the less I want to call him "the Great." He was of the same cloth as Adolf Hitler.
Whatever.
Anyway, as I was saying, just like his father, Alexander the Great had seven bodybuards. In additional, he had an inner circle, not all of which were bodyguards. This group, of approximately a dozen would decide how to proceed after Alexander's sudden and unexpected death.
Alexander died in Babylon. He left no will, and no plans for succession.
Hereditary. There were three possibilities. When he died, his wife was in her third trimester; sex of the baby was unknown. A few months after Alexander died, his son was born, so from a hereditary point of view three possibilities:
- son by a Persian mistress, Barsine, Heracles; about four years old; a half-Macedonian; would have required a regent
- son by his wife, Rhoxane; newborn; a half-Macedonian; would have required a regent
- Alexander's half-brother, Arrhidaeus, renamed Philip III, some mental defect; would have required a regent
- Babylon: Perdiccas
- Cilicia: Craterus
- Macedon: Antipater
- his secretary: Eumenes of Caria
- finance officer: Harpalus
- Meleager: king's right-hand man
- Seleucus: for past seven years, commander of the crack infantry regiment, the Shield-bearers, 3,000
- Nearchus (joined Eumenes as a full Greek): the admiral of Alexander's Indian fleet, based in Babylon
- Olympias: brooking / exiled in Molossia
- Antipater -- by virtue of being the viceregal, second most powerful man after Alexander, but Alexander had just ordered him to be replaced by Craterus; Antipater would take Craterus' place in Cilicia;
- Craterus -- selected by Alexander to return to Macedon and become viceregal; but Craterus dithered in Cilicia; Craterus was to become viceroy in Europe and head of the League of Corinth; Cilicia was going to be the headquarters of Alexander's planned conquest of the western Mediterranean;
- Aristonous
- Hephaestion -- died a year earlier, 434 BC, so was not a player at the time of Alexander's death
- Leonnatus
- Lysimachus
- Pestron
- Perdiccas -- got "the ring" from Alexander on the latter's deathbed
- Pencestas
- Ptolemy
Two decision points
- approval of the Companions
- acclamation of the assembly (presumably the 15,000 or so soldiers in Babylon)
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Round 1
The First Conference of Babylon
The Companions
Immediately after his death, the "council" met in Babylon to discuss how to move forward. Although the bodyguards and inner circle was made of us less than two dozen men, about 50 men crowded in.
Two really important men were not in attendance. A third (Harpalus) had absconded with the equivalent of $3 billion.
The two men not in attendance:
- Antipater, held up in Macedonia
- Craterus, held up in Cilicia
One strong argument: need for a full-blooded Argead, in other words, a full-blooded Macedonian.
Ptolemy and Perdiccas appear to become two major antagonists. Would later come back to haunt Perdiccas. The latter misplayed his hand.
The way forward: Peithon made the suggestion which was agreed upon at the first conference:
- Perdiccas and Leonnatus (the two with the highest credentials) should act in Asia as regents for the boy king (Rhoxane's child, if a son)
- Antipater and Craterus: the guardians of the kingdom in Europe
- note: Ptolemy and several other top names left out
- cavalry demurred; later, fully committed to Rhoxane's unborn baby;
- infantry was furious -- felt throne should go to Arrhidaeus, Philip III; the infantry -- incredible allegiance to Macedon/Argead dynasty
- infantry (peasant farmers) vs cavalry (highest social group; seniors) [sound familiar? see 12 ranks of the Roman army]
- Meleager: had the overwhelming support that the feeble brother of Alexander be made king; Meleager, infantry, major role; changed Arrhidaeus' name to Philip III; dressed him up as king
- civil war about to break out between infantry and cavalry
- Leonnatus joins his cavalry outside of Babylon
- Perdiccus not sure if he would survive alone in Babylon, so he flees Babylon and joins Leonnatus outside Babylon
- Meleager, brief advantage:
- king's right-hand man
- he controlled Babylon
- had possession of Alexander's talismanic corpse (others say Arrhidaeus had the body)
- Leonnatus flight: kept civil war from starting but also ex facto siege of Babylon
- Meleager's situation untenable; needs to compromise
- compromise: two kings -- Arrhidaeus and Rhoxane's child, if a boy
- senior regent: Perdiccus with Meleager second-in-command
- protector of the kingdom, imperial exchequer, pferhaps the new Harpalus: Cragerus, a friend of Meleager's
- Perdiccus was simply buying time
- used the opportunity to kill mutineers; trampled by elephants; first time such an atrocity used by the Greeks
- Meleager killed while "resisting arrest"
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Intermission
Burial of Alexander's body at Memphis
In Macedonia culture, deciding the successor -- not much was more important than where the body of the most recent king/leader was buried.
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Round 2
Perdiccas strikes.
Body guards meet again without interference.
This time Perdiccas made regent, "Protector of the Kings."
Consequences
Unequal triumvirate of Perdiccas, Antipater,and Craterus.
- Perdiccas: all of Asia for himself
- Antipater and Craterus restricted to Europe
Then several pages in Waterfield of whom got what.
My interest (for now) lies with Egypt, Ptolemy, and Cleopatra.
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