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| b. The Wars of the Diadochi |
| 322–315 |
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| After Perdiccas became regent for Philip III Arrhidaeus, the other generals—Antigonus, Antipater, Craterus, and Ptolemy—formed a coalition against him. Perdiccas's general Eumenes defeated and killed Craterus in Asia Minor, but Perdiccas was himself assassinated while campaigning against Ptolemy in Egypt (320). At Triparadeisus in northern Syria, Antigonus, Ptolemy, and Antipater agreed that the latter should be regent. Antigonus then defeated and besieged Eumenes in Cappadocia. Antipater died (319) leaving Polyperchon as regent. This was unacceptable to Antigonus, to Ptolemy, and to Antipater's son Cassander. After negotiating his release, Eumenes promptly accepted Polyperchon's offer to oppose Antigonus in Asia. Meanwhile Cassander seized Piraeus and left Demetrius of Phaleron in command of Athens (317). He then drove Polyperchon from Macedon, executed Olympias, who had earlier killed Philip Arrhidaeus, and imprisoned Roxana and her son Alexander IV, both of whom he put to death in 310. Antigonus pursued Eumenes into central Iran and, after the indecisive Battle at Paraetacene, surprised him as he was wintering in Gabiene and executed him (316). Antigonus then drove Seleucus from Babylon to Egypt, where he sought refuge with Ptolemy and where the two, together with Cassander and Lysimachus, who ruled Thrace, formed a coalition against Antigonus. | 1 |
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| 315–307 |
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| Antigonus, after besieging and capturing Tyre (314–313), took Syria from Ptolemy. Fighting went on in the Aegean, the Peloponnese, and Asia Minor (313–312). Demetrius, Antigonus' son, was defeated at Gaza (312), and Seleucus recaptured Babylon (311). Cassander consolidated his position in Macedon. Antigonus sent Demetrius to Athens, whence he expelled Demetrius of Phaleron (307). | 2 |
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| 306 |
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| Demetrius won a great naval victory over Ptolemy at Salamis in Cyprus after which both ANTIGONUS I MONOPHTHALMOS (“one-eyed”) and Demetrius I Poliorcetes (“besieger”) took the title of king. Ptolemy assumed the royal title in 304, followed immediately by Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Cassander. Alexander's empire was thus officially dissolved. Demetrius failed to reduce Rhodes by a year's siege (305–304) but relieved Athens from the Four Years' War waged by Cassander (307–304). He then revived the Hellenic League of Philip II (302). In 302 Lysimachus, Seleucus, Ptolemy, and Cassander formed an alliance against Antigonus and Demetrius. | 3 |
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| 301 |
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| BATTLE OF IPSUS (in Phrygia). The armies of Lysimachus and Seleucus, but not Ptolemy, defeated and killed the eighty-one-year-old Antigonus. Demetrius escaped and continued hostilities, dominating the Aegean with his fleet. Of Antigonus's possessions, Seleucus received Syria and Lysimachus central Asia Minor. Cassander kept Macedon, and his brother Pleistarchus was allotted Cilicia. Ptolemy seized Coele-Syria from Seleucus. | 4 |
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| 299 |
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| Aided by Seleucus, Demetrius expelled Pleistarchus from Cilicia. Cassander died in 298 and his two young sons, Antipater and Alexander V, ruled jointly in Macedon but soon quarreled. | 5 |
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| 295–294 |
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| Demetrius besieged and recovered Athens. He then killed Alexander V, expelled his brother, and ruled Macedon (294). He conquered northeastern and central Greece except for Aetolia. | 6 |
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| 288 |
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| A coalition was formed against Demetrius, and Lysimachus and King Pyrrhus of Epirus drove him from Macedon. Demetrius then attempted to campaign in Asia Minor but was eventually captured by Seleucus in Cilicia (286). | 7 |
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| 283 |
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| Demetrius died in captivity, leaving a son, Antigonus, in Greece. | 8 |
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| 281 |
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| Lysimachus, who ruled Macedon, Thrace, and Asia Minor, was defeated and killed at the Battle of Corupedium in Lydia by Seleucus, who became master of Asia Minor. When he tried to seize Macedon, however, he was treacherously assassinated by the disinherited son of Ptolemy, Ptolemy Ceraunus, who then ruled Macedon until he was killed opposing the Celtic invasion in 279. | 9 |
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| 279 |
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| The Celts ravaged Macedon, defeated the Greeks at Thermopylae, and were turned back at Delphi. Celtic rule was then established in Thrace, lasting until 210. In central Asia Minor the Celtic kingdom of Galatia was established. | 10 |
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| 277–276 |
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| Meanwhile Demetrius's son, Antigonus Gonatas, recovered Macedon from the Celts and established the Antigonid dynasty which lasted until 168. | 11 |
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