ANTIPATER'S DYNASTY: Alexander the Great's Regent

Book number: 91226 Product format: Hardback Author: JOHN GRAINGER

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Bibliophile price £9.00
Published price £25


Antipater was a key figure in the rise of Macedon under Philip II and instrumental in the succession of Alexander III (the Great). Alexander entrusted Antipater with ruling Macedon in his long absence and he defeated the Spartans in 331 BC. After Alexander?s death he crushed a Greek uprising and became regent of the co-kings, Alexander?s mentally impaired half-brother Philip III Arrhideus and infant son Alexander IV. He brokered a settlement between the contending Successors but died in 319 BC, having first appointed Polyperchon to succeed as regent in preference to his own sons. Antipater?s eldest son Cassander later became regent of Macedon but eventually had Alexander IV killed and made himself king. Three of his sons in turn briefly succeeded him but could not retain the throne. The northern kingdom of Macedonia ruled over most of Greece in the 4th century BC following the military expansion led by Philip II, "the Great", and Antipater was Philip's right-hand man during the conquest. After Philip's murder, which Antipater may have witnessed, he became the trusted deputy of Philip's son Alexander the Great, whose bid to inherit his father's throne was accompanied by chicanery and skulduggery in which Antipater played an active role, even acquiescing in the execution of his own son-in-law. His contemporary and fellow-influencer Parmenion had to suffer a similar test of loyalty. The earliest explicit mention of Antipater is in 346, when he was probably around 50 years old, and he remained at the top for another 30 years. Well educated and a friend of Aristotle, he spoke classical Greek fluently enough to address the assembly in Athens. On seizing the throne, Alexander moved with speed to suppress rebellious states in Thrace and Illyria, leaving Antipater in charge of the Macedonian army, and although the subsequent Theban revolt was reported to have come as a surprise, Antipater had been keeping Alexander informed about trouble brewing. Historians are divided on whether Antipater actually took part in the siege and capture of the city. Grainger's detailed account of Antipater's role in Alexander's conquests is both readable and scholarly, and the final chapters discuss his legacy. Although Antipater did not nominate his son Kassander to be his successor as regent, Kassander eventually did become King of Macedon and Antipater's three daughters exercised political influence through their husbands, including Euridike, who married Ptolemy I of Egypt, and Phila, noted for her intelligence, who kept her own court and bodyguard when she was married for the third time to Demetrios, later himself King of Macedon. 271pp.

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ISBN 9781526730886

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