Alexander's Heirs

Alexander’s Heirs offers a narrative account of the approximately forty years following the death of Alexander the Great, during which his generals vied for control of his vast empire, and through their conflicts and politics ultimately created the Hellenistic Age.

• Offers an account of the power struggles between Alexander’s rival generals in the forty year period following his death
• Discusses how Alexander’s vast empire ultimately became the Hellenistic World
• Makes full use of primary and secondary sources
• Accessible to a broad audience of students, university scholars, and the educated general reader
• Explores important scholarly debates on the Diadochi

List of Abbreviations vii

Chronology ix

Preface xvii

Maps

Regions of Macedonia xix

Greece and Asia Minor xx

The Hellenistic world xxi

1 Introduction 1

2 The Death of a Conqueror 11

3 The Funeral Games Begin 47

4 The End of a Dynasty 83

Chronology from Spring 318 to Spring 315 116

5 “War, both the King and Father of All” 125

Chronology from 314 to 306 157

6 The End of the Diadochi 165

Chronology from 306 to 281 184

7 Epilogue: The New World 189

Bibliography 197

Index 215

“A reliable guide through the seemingly endless wars of the period has long been a desideratum for teachers and students. Anson (Univ. of Arkansas) addresses that need with this book… Summing Up: Essential. Belongs in all university libraries.” (Choice, 1 March 2015)

EDWARD M. ANSON is Professor of Anson History at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, USA. He is the author of Alexander the Great: Themes and Issues (2013) and Eumenes of Cardia: A Greek Among Macedonians (2004), and co-editor of After Alexander: The Time of the Diadochi (323–281 BC) (with V. Alonso Troncoso, 2013).

ALEXANDER’S
HEIRS
THE AGE OF THE SUCCESSORS

Alexander the Great is one of the most mercurial and transformational figures in world history. His empire was vast, stretching across the ancient world from Greece and Egypt to India. In the wake of his death, his generals – the Diadochi– once tenuously united, turned on one another, each in pursuit of what he believed was his rightful role as ruler.

In this narrative history, Edward M. Anson explores the period of time known as the Age of the Successors – the approximately forty years following the death of Alexander the Great. It is a story of ambition, power, and war, but at its core it is a story of transition – of how one man’s empire ultimately became the Hellenistic world.

“Alexander’s Heirs is a concise, but thoroughly documented, study of the formative years (323-281 BCE) of the Hellenistic age by an insightful and highly respected scholar. Students, teachers, and researchers will find it an indispensable and infallible guide to one of the most complex and exciting periods of ancient history.”
—Waldemar Heckel, University of Calgary, Canada