A Manual of Ancient History Part 21

SECOND PERIOD.

_History of the Macedonian monarchy, from the death of Alexander the Great to the battle of Ipsus, B. C. 323-301._

To enable the reader to take a general view, the history of the European events is resumed below, under the head of the history of Macedonia Proper.

SOURCES. Diodorus, lib. xviii-xx. is the great authority for this portion of history. He compiled mostly, for this period, from a contemporary historian, Hieronymus of Cardia. He is followed by Plutarch in the Lives of Eumenes, Demetrius, and Phocion; and by Justin, lib. xiii, etc. Of Arrian's history of Alexander's successors, nothing unfortunately remains but a few fragments in Photius.

# MANNERT, _History of Alexander's successors_. Nuremberg, 1787.

Composed with the usual judgment and learning of that author.

1. The very first measure adopted after the death of Alexander contained within itself the seeds of all the dire revolutions that afterwards ensued. Not only were the jealousy and ambition of the n.o.bles aroused, but even the interference of the army was exhibited in the most terrific manner. Although the idea of the supremacy of the royal family was cast off only by degrees, yet the dreadfully disturbed state in which that family stood, rendered its fall unavoidable.

State of the royal family at the death of Alexander. He left his wife Roxana pregnant, who at the end of three months brought into the world the rightful heir to the sceptre, Alexander; he left likewise an illegitimate son, Hercules; a b.a.s.t.a.r.d half-brother, Arrhidaeus; his mother, the haughty and cruel Olympias, and a sister, Cleopatra, both widows; the artful Eurydice, (daughter to Cyane, one of Philip's sisters,) subsequently married to the king, Arrhidaeus; and Thessalonica, Philip's daughter, afterwards united to Ca.s.sander of Macedonia.

2. The weak Arrhidaeus, under the name of Philip, and the infant Alexander were at last proclaimed kings, the _regency_ being placed in the hands of Perdiccas, Leonnatus, and Meleager; the last of whom was quickly cut off at the instigation of Perdiccas. Meanwhile Antipater, with whom Craterus had been joined as civil ruler, had the management of affairs in Europe.

3. The sequel of the history becomes naturally that of satraps, who fell out among themselves, all being ambitious to rule, and none willing to obey. Twenty-two years elapsed ere any ma.s.sy edifice arose out of the ruins of the Macedonian monarchy. In few periods of history are the revolutions of affairs so violent, in few periods, therefore, is it so difficult to unravel the maze of events. For this purpose the most convenient division of the history is into _three_ periods: the first extending to the death of Perdiccas, 321: the second to the death of Eumenes, 315: the third to the defeat and death of Antigonus at the battle of Ipsus, 301.

4. First grant of the provinces made by Perdiccas. The vanity of this man seems to have induced him to select the office of regent, in order that no separate province might fall to his share; he placed his whole reliance on having the command of the royal army, although it had already given so many proofs of its determination to command rather than to obey.

In this division Ptolemy son of Lagus received Egypt; Leonnatus, Mysia; Antigonus, Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphylia; Lysymachus, Macedonian Thrace; Antipater and Craterus remained in possession of Macedonia.--The foreigner, Eumenes, would hardly have received Cappadocia, although yet to be conquered, had Perdiccas been able to dispense with his services. The remaining provinces either did not come under the new division, or else their governors are unworthy of notice.

5. The first acts of Perdiccas's government showed how little dependence he could place on the obedience of men who hitherto had been his colleagues. The general insurrection among the mercenaries who had been settled by Alexander in Upper Asia, and now wished to return to their homes, was, no doubt, quelled by Python's destruction of the rebels; but it was not Python's fault that he did not make himself independent master of the scene of mutiny.

6. Still more refractory was the behaviour of Leonnatus and Antigonus, when they received orders to put Eumenes in possession of his province.

Antigonus was too haughty to obey; and Leonnatus preferred going over into Europe to marry Cleopatra; there, however, he almost immediately met with his death in the Lamian war. (See below, book iv. period iii.

parag. 2.) Perdiccas, therefore, was himself obliged to undertake the expedition with the royal army; he succeeded by the defeat of Ariarathes.

7. Ambitious views of Perdiccas, who, in order to ascend the throne by a marriage with Cleopatra, repudiates Nicaea, the daughter of Antipater.

Cleopatra actually came over to Asia; but Perdiccas, being obliged, at the request of the army, to marry Eurydice, Philip's niece, after the murder of her mother Cyane, to the king Arrhidaeus, found her a troublesome rival and opponent in the government.

8. Attempts of Perdiccas to overthrow Antigonus and Ptolemy, by accusing them before the army. Antigonus pa.s.ses over to Antipater in Macedonia; and gives rise to the league between Antipater, Craterus, and Ptolemy, against Perdiccas and Eumenes.

9. Commencement and termination of the first war. Perdiccas himself marches against Egypt, leaving his friend Eumenes to command in Asia Minor: meanwhile Antipater and Craterus fall upon Asia; the former advances towards Syria against Perdiccas; the latter is defeated and slain by Eumenes. Before the arrival, however, of Antipater, Perdiccas, after repeated and vain attempts to cross the Nile, falls a victim to the insurrection of his own troops.--Thus three of the princ.i.p.al personages, Perdiccas, Craterus, Leonnatus, were already removed from the theatre of action; and the victorious Eumenes, now master of Asia Minor, had to maintain, unaided, the struggle against the confederates.

10. Second period, from the death of Perdiccas to that of Eumenes.--Python and Arrhidaeus quickly resigning the regency, it is a.s.sumed by Antipater.--New division of the provinces at Trisparadisus in Syria. Seleucus receives Babylon; Antigonus is promised, besides his former possessions, all those of the outlawed Eumenes.

11. War of Antigonus with Eumenes. The latter, defeated by treachery, shuts himself up in the mountain fastness of Nora, there to await more favourable times; and Antigonus remains master of all Asia Minor: in the mean time Ptolemy ventures to take possession of Syria and Phoenicia.

12. Death of the regent Antipater, in the same year, (320;) he bequeaths the regency to his friend, the aged Polysperchon, to the exclusion of his own son Ca.s.sander. Antigonus now begins to unfold his ambitious plans; he endeavours vainly to win over Eumenes, who deceives him in the negotiations, and seizes the opportunity of leaving his mountain fastness.

13. Eumenes's plan to strengthen himself in Upper Asia; as he is on the way he receives tidings of his being appointed generalissimo of the royal troops. What better man could Polysperchon have selected for the office than he who in his conduct towards Antigonus exhibited so striking an example of attachment to the royal house?

14. Exertions of Eumenes to maintain himself in Lower Asia, ineffectual, the naval victory won by Antigonus over the royal fleet, commanded by c.l.i.tus, depriving him of the empire of the sea. He bursts into Upper Asia; where, in the spring, he unites with the satraps, who had taken arms against the powerful Seleucus of Babylon.

15. Antigonus following up the royal general, Upper Asia becomes the theatre of war. Victorious as was at first the stand made by Eumenes, neither valour nor talent were of any avail against the insubordination of the royal troops, and the jealousy of the other commanders. Attacked in winter quarters by Antigonus, he was, after the battle, delivered into the hands of his enemy by the mutinous Argyraspidae, who had lost their baggage: he was put to death, and in him the king's family lost its only loyal supporter.

16. Great changes had also taken place in the royal family. Her enemy Antipater having deceased, Olympias, invited by Polysperchon, who wished to strengthen himself against Ca.s.sander, had returned from Epirus, and put to death Arrhidaeus together with his wife, Eurydice: in the year following she was besieged in Pydna by Ca.s.sander, and being obliged to surrender, was in her turn executed; meanwhile Ca.s.sander held Roxana and the young king in his own power.

17. Third period, from the death of Eumenes to that of Antigonus.--The rout of Eumenes seemed to have established for ever the power of Antigonus in Asia; still animated with the fire of youth, though full of years, he saw himself revived in his son Demetrius, fond of boisterous revelry, but gallant and talented.--Even Seleucus thought it time to consult his safety by flying from Babylon into Egypt.

18. Changes introduced by Antigonus into the upper provinces; return to Asia Minor, where his presence seemed indispensable, by reason of the aggrandizement of Ptolemy in Syria and Phoenicia, of the Macedonian Ca.s.sander in Europe, of Lysimachus in Mysia, and the Carian Ca.s.sander in Asia Minor.--He repossesses himself of Phoenicia, a country of the first importance for the construction of a fleet.

Siege of Tyre, 314-313: it lasts fourteen months; a proof that the city was certainly not razed by Alexander.

19. The fugitive Seleucus forms a league against Antigonus and Demetrius, between Ptolemy, the two Ca.s.sanders, and Lysimachus. But Antigonus frustrates their combination, himself driving out the Carian Ca.s.sander, and his son marching against Ptolemy.

Victory won by Ptolemy over Demetrius at Gaza, 312; after which Seleucus marches back to Babylon, and, although subsequently followed up by Demetrius, permanently maintains his footing in Upper Asia.--On the other hand, Ptolemy, at the first approach of Antigonus with the main body, surrenders back Syria and Phoenicia, 312.

20. A general peace concluded between Antigonus and his enemies, Seleucus only excepted, from whom Upper Asia is to be again wrested. The first article, that each should retain what he had, demonstrates pretty evidently that the treaty was dictated solely by Antigonus; the second, that the Greek cities should be free, was pregnant with the seeds of a new war, ready to burst forth at every favourable opportunity; the third, that the young Alexander should be raised to the throne upon attaining his majority, was probably the death warrant of the hapless prince, who, that same year, together with his mother, was murdered by Ca.s.sander.--Shortly after, at the instigation of Antigonus, Cleopatra was put to death, in order that Ptolemy might be thwarted in his object, which depended on a matrimonial connection with that princess.

21. Even the execution of the articles must have given rise to hostilities; Ptolemy wishing to force Antigonus, and he, on his side, to compel Ca.s.sander, to withdraw the garrisons from the Grecian towns; a condition which neither party felt inclined to fulfil. Grecian freedom was now but a name; this, however, is not the only example history furnishes of political ideas making the greatest stir long after they have survived their own existence; for then they become excellent tools in the hands of artful designers.

Expedition of Demetrius to liberate Athens, 308. The day when he announced freedom to the Athenians, must have been the happiest of his life! Few portions of history present such a scope for the contemplation of human nature as the twofold sojourn of Demetrius at Athens.

22. The growing power of Ptolemy on the sea, and the capture of Cyprus, determines Antigonus to an open rupture: he commands his son to drive Ptolemy out of the island.

Naval victory of Demetrius off Cyprus, 307, perhaps the greatest and most b.l.o.o.d.y in history; nevertheless, as little decisive to the general question as are most naval battles. The a.s.sumption of the royal t.i.tle, first by the conqueror, afterwards by the conquered, and ultimately by all the rest, was but a mere form now that the royal family was extirpated.

23. The conquerors having failed in their project of subduing Egypt, made the wealthy republic of the Rhodians, as an ally of that country, the victim of their fury. But though in the renowned siege of their capital, Demetrius earned his t.i.tle of Poliorcetes, the n.o.ble defence of the Rhodians afforded an ill.u.s.trious example of the power of discipline in conjunction with well-guided patriotism. The invitation of the Athenians came seasonably to Demetrius; he raised the blockade and proceeded to complete the liberation of Greece, the necessity of which became every day more pressing.

24. Second sojourn of Demetrius in Greece. The expulsion of Ca.s.sander's garrisons from the Grecian cities, and more particularly from those in Peloponnesus; the appointment of Demetrius as generalissimo of Greece, for the conquest of Macedonia and Thrace; proved not only to Ca.s.sander, but also to the other princes, that their common interest loudly called upon them to resist the over-powerful Antigonus.

25. Third grand league of Ca.s.sander, Ptolemy, and Seleucus, against Antigonus and his son; brought about by Ca.s.sander. How easily, even after the violent irruption of Lysimachus into Asia Minor, might Antigonus have dispersed the gathering storms, had not his presumption led him to place an overweening reliance on his own good fortune!

26. Junction of Seleucus of Babylon and Lysimachus, in Phrygia.

Antigonus, to concentrate his forces, recalls his son, who had pushed on to the borders of Macedonia. The cautious Ptolemy, on the other hand, is afraid to invade Syria; and, in consequence of a false report, that Lysimachus had been defeated, retires full of alarm, into Egypt.

27. Great and decisive battle fought at Ipsus in Phrygia, in the spring of 301, which costs Antigonus his life, and annihilates his empire, as the two conquerors divide it between themselves, without taking any account of the absent confederates. Asia Minor, as far as mount Taurus, falls to the share of Lysimachus; and all the rest, with the exception of Cilicia, which is given to Plisthenes, Ca.s.sander's brother, is left to Seleucus.--Demetrius, by the help of his navy, escapes into Greece.

28. The almost unbroken series of wars which had raged from the time of Alexander, must have precluded the possibility of much being effected with respect to domestic organization. It appears to have been nearly, if not wholly, military. Yet were the numerous devastations in some measure compensated by the erection of new cities, in which these princes vied with one another, impelled partly by vanity to immortalize their names, partly by policy to support their dominion, most of the new settlements being military colonies. Nevertheless this was but a sorry reparation for the manifold oppressions to which the natives were exposed by the practice of quartering the army upon them. The spread of the language and civilization of the Greeks deprived them of all national distinction; their own languages sinking into mere provincial dialects. Alexander's monarchy affords a striking example of the little that can be expected from a forced amalgamation of races, when the price of that amalgamation is the obliteration of national character in the individuals.

HEYNE, _Opum regni Macedonici auctarum, attritarum et eversarum, causae probabiles; in Opusc._ t. iv. This collection contains several other treatises on Grecian and Macedonian history, which cannot be all separately enumerated.

THIRD PERIOD.

_History of the kingdoms and states which arose upon the dismemberment of the Macedonian Monarchy after the battle of Ipsus._

I. HISTORY OF THE SYRIAN EMPIRE UNDER THE SELEUCIDae, B. C. 312-64.

SOURCES. Neither for the history of the Syrian, nor for that of the Egyptian and Macedonian kingdoms, has any eminent writer been preserved. The fragments of the lost books of Diodorus, and, from the time that these kingdoms became allies of Rome, those of Polybius, several narratives of Livy, the Syriaca of Appian, and a few of Plutarch's Lives, are the princ.i.p.al authorities; too frequently we are obliged to rely upon the extracts of Justin. For the history of the Seleucidae, in consequence of the political connection between these princes and the Jews, the Antiquities of Josephus and the book of Maccabees become of importance. Besides these authorities, the many coins that have been preserved of these kings, afford much information respecting their genealogy and chronology.