Summer Solstice 321 BC Spring 319 BC
The entire empire will no longer have a center. Alexander the Great moved the throne from the city of Pella to Babylon, and now Babylon no longer has elements that are enough to define kingship: the royal army, the crowned king and the mummy of Alexander the Great. The latter two are now in Egypt, but are separated by the wide Nile River. Alexander the Great's army became more fragmented than ever. One part followed Eumenes in Anatolia, another part was in Egypt, while another part was mixed with new troops from Europe and was now marching with Antipater in Cilicia . No section had enough numbers to convene the traditional meeting to elect a new leader. Even if a quorum were assembled somewhere, who could propose a worthy leader to replace the fallen Perdiccas?
Like Babylon, Macedonia the royal city of Pella also lost its central figure. Not a single member of the Ajid royal family still lives there. Olympias fled to Epirus a long time ago, and Cleopatra, Cunane and Adea had already left here for Asia. The old man Antipater, the only commander who had been stationed at a fixed location for many years, had also joined the others and began to lead the army into action. His agent, Polyperchon, served as nominal commander at Pella, but Polyperchon was little more than a second-rate officer lacking the gravitas of Antipater, as future years would clearly prove.
The only true capital of the empire now is where the co-ruling kings reside, no matter where they are. For now, the imperial capital was a camp of exhausted, bloodstained, leaderless men in a desolate place on the east bank of the Nile opposite Memphis.
- Ptolemy , Pesson and Aridaeus (Egypt, summer 321 BC)
On the morning after the murder of Perdiccas, Ptolemy crossed the Nile and arrived at In the army that attacked him twice but failed. He was almost certainly in touch with his former fellow guard officer, Pesson, so he was able to ensure a friendly reception. Whether such contact existed before Perdiccas was killed, or whether they conspired to kill Perdiccas, is no longer known, but the two men did gain a lot from colluding with each other: Trust Lemy wanted to get rid of the invading troops, while Pesson, who had once wanted to win over the rebellious Greek soldiers, tried to seize more power. The murder of Perdiccas was a good first step toward achieving both goals.
Ptolemy brought provisions to the depleted army, as well as cremated skeletons of bodies fished out of the river. The skeletons were distributed to each soldier's friends and relatives, a humanitarian gesture aimed at winning the support of ordinary soldiers. Ptolemy was well aware that he had won support among Perdiccas's troops, who had refused to convict Perdiccas at the trial he had held days earlier. Still, they agreed to attack him, as no doubt many still resented him for stealing their monarch's body. In a carefully crafted, even-handed speech before the assembled troops, Ptolemy defended his separatist actions of the past two years and assured Perdiccas' loyalists that they would not Being purged. Perhaps he showed his sincerity by arranging a solemn and dignified burial for Perdiccas' body, although there is no record of the final whereabouts of the body or any mention of his lifeless body. The final whereabouts of the ominous signet ring worn on her finger.
Ptolemy's speech was a great success. The soldiers seemed to want to elect him to Perdiccas' former position as guardian of the co-king. But Ptolemy was determined to refuse. Instead, he nominated Person, the leader of the rebellion against Perdiccas, and Aridaeus, the former keeper of the body of Alexander the Great, to this position.The soldiers showed their support for the two men, if only temporarily. They realized that the decisions they made must be based on the development of events in Asia : Two powerful men, Antipater and the beloved Craterus, were marching here. It was reported that Craterus He was preparing for a battle with Perdiccas' Greek advisor Eumenes, a battle that Craterus was bound to win.
However, while Ptolemy was still conferring with the invading troops, news came that Craterus and Neoptolemus were both killed in that battle. A burst of shock and anger erupted from the army. It is outrageous that Eumenes, who was nothing more than a humble Greek, should defeat Alexander the Great's most revered general while serving the now-infamous Perdiccas. The army officers and soldiers demanded revenge. Eumenes and fifty other leaders of Perdiccas' government were sentenced to death in absentia, including Perdiccas's brother Alcetas. Perdiccas' sister Atalanta was immediately arrested and executed. Now, no one will do anything to repair the damaged barriers, nor will anyone make any efforts to reunite the empire. The war would continue until Eumenes and anyone who had aided Perdiccas had been killed.
After setting off his troops on their new expedition, Ptolemy crossed the river and returned to his mansion in Memphis, no doubt delighted to be back in such a less turbulent environment. The emotional turmoil he'd witnessed over the past three days was as confusing as it was reassuring. Initially, Perdiccas's army made two determined efforts to break through his Nile defenses. Then, Perdiccas was killed, and the soldiers even tried to make him their leader, almost handing him the power of regency, which was the cornerstone of control of the empire. Finally, the news of Craterus' death sent them into a murderous rage and sent them back to Asia to attack their former commander. This is too reminiscent of the tumultuous week in Babylon after the death of Alexander the Great, the last time Ptolemy fought alongside those rebellious veterans. It was obvious that Perdiccas had not completely tamed them over the years.
No one knows what will happen when this wild beast returns to Asia, but this uncertainty is no longer a problem that Ptolemy has to face. No doubt the imperial fabric would be torn apart by the collisions and conflicts that occurred there, but Egypt would remain aloof. Despite the best efforts of Perdiccas to attack, Ptolemy's Nile defenses held, ensuring that the Macedonian army would not attack again anytime soon. As the army left, no one noticed that they had not received the prize they wanted - the body of Alexander the Great. The two newly appointed commanders, Pesson and Aridaus, did not dare to ask Ptolemy to return it. Ptolemy thus established his declaration of independence. He now has his own empire - his own Egypt - and he has almost no desire for the rest of Alexander's empire , except for some well-trained Indian war elephants, which is what he has left from that army. The valuable resources that the army can freely plunder.
Ptolemy returned to his prosperous family. In this family, he had two women who were regarded as his treasures. One of them was Thaysis, a beautiful Athenian prostitute who had given birth to three children for him. Two children, the other is his newly married bride - Antipater's youngest daughter Eurydice . One of them brought him pleasure, the other gave him strength, but Ptolemy remained susceptible to a third impulse, that of love. At this time, he had already noticed his newlywed wife's niece and maid, who was also a widowed woman - Bereniki. Soon, he made the woman his mistress and eventually his wife.She gave birth to two heirs for Ptolemy-Ptolemy II and Arsinoe. The siblings eventually married according to the ancient Persian royal custom. Through the children born to him by Berenice, Ptolemy established a dynasty that ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries until his descendants Cleopatra VII-Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony 's mistress - was bitten to death by a poisonous viper.
2 The Royal Family (Egypt and the Road to the North, Autumn 321 BC)
What was the first sentence spoken by the son of Alexander the Great who had just learned to speak? Were these words spoken in Macedonian, or in the Bactrian language he had learned from his mother, Roxana, or in Greek, the lingua franca of the new ruling class established by his father? Did he know that at the age of two, he was speaking words that would shape a vast empire stretching from the Adriatic Sea to the shores of the Indus River? We cannot guess the answers to these questions, because none of the surviving records from that era contain a single word or thought about the boy. Although he is closer to the maelstrom of chaos than anyone else, we are not given any of his words or actions to judge his character. The young Alexander - now known as Alexander IV - remained shrouded in mystery even after his unexplored tomb was discovered in 1979.
How was young Alexander told that Perdiccas would no longer have charge of his guardianship, but that someone else he barely knew would take his place? How would his uncle and co-ruler Philip be told? Although Philip was confused, he must have realized that a coup had taken place. Were there attempts to win Philip's support for the new regime? Or does he simply have the function of empowering the other party, just like the signet ring once given to Perdiccas? An anecdote from Philip's later years shows that the monarch still had a partial understanding of the things around him. However, his behavior sometimes became erratic and violent, so his caregivers had to restrain him, at least once. Pesson and Aridaeus could only give him the illusion of governing on his behalf, ensuring, like Perdiccas, his symbolic approval of government actions.
Philip's new wife, however, was a different story. Adea—now also known as Eurydice—possessed a sound mind and youthful energy. She was determined not to be a puppet anymore. As the army left Egypt and headed north, Adea began to stand her ground. She realized that she now had the opportunity to gain supreme power. This was the opportunity that her mother, Kunane, had sacrificed her life to gain for her.
So far, Adea has spent several weeks in the royal army and has learned a lot about the new generation of soldiers created by Alexander the Great. She knew these soldiers valued money. Many of their comrades - those who had been retired from the army by Alexander the Great and now fought under Antipater again - had received generous bonuses in their farewell ceremonies, each receiving 1 talent. of silver. Others received no such benefit, although they claimed Alexander had promised recompense. Now the Egyptian expedition has frustrated their hopes of plundering, and even the standard salary they deserve has been owed. For these ruthless veterans, money means everything: they don't fight for a cause or their country, they fight because fighting is their way of life. Money is a measure of their bravery, a reward for their hard work, and a tie that connects them to their commanders. If funds were scarce, as Aditya knew, this bond could easily be broken.
As the army returned to Asia, Aditya began to make her voice heard in the camp.As the granddaughter of Philip II the Great, she was able to ensure that her voice was heard, and she harped on the subject of unpaid wages, a subject she knew would arouse the wrath of her listeners. She has some connection to the exiled faction of Perdiccas, who, like Attalus, have access to ready cash. Dissatisfaction began to brew around this female instigator, causing the new leaders of the central government , Pesson and Aridaeus, to issue a gag order against her. But Aditya had no intention of following. She knew that after her mother was killed and the mutiny almost started, these generals no longer dared to attack her without permission, and there was nothing they could do to stop her from speaking out.
Three Antipater and Antigonus (Tripara de Issus, late winter of 321 BC)
The army arrived at Tripara de Isus, but at this time Adea still insisted on own political rights. Pesson and Aridaeus spent some time with her, waiting for the arrival of the old Antipater and the one-eyed Antigonus - the two men were also rushing to join the army as it advanced northward. At last, as Antipater and his army came within easy reach, the trouble became unbearable. Aditya was no longer content with free speech and intended to fight for custody of the co-king, the only source of legitimate power. Adea asked, wasn't she more qualified to speak on behalf of her husband than Pesson and Aridaeus? However, they did not give her a proper reply. The situation gradually got out of control. Attalus, Perdiccas's brother-in-law, came to the scene with money and wanted to use the money to make the soldiers change sides. The whole army was brought to a boil by deliberate incitement. Acknowledging their inability to cope with the crisis, Persson and Aridaeus resigned, urging Antipater to take charge immediately.
After Antipater arrived, he found that the royal army, including silver shield soldiers, were in an angry atmosphere. This was the first time he had seen the drastic changes that had taken place in this army after its years in Asia, and it was not a pleasant sight. These soldiers have tasted the ultimate permission - the power to kill their own commander - and no longer seem to respect any authority except that of a determined woman. Although Antipater was the highest-ranking military officer in their country, his arrival did not seem to have much impact. Spurred on by the unbridled Aditya, they roared endlessly for the reward they claimed they deserved.
Antipater stood before the assembled army and attempted to grant their demands. He promised to take stock of the royal treasury and repay the debt, although he also admitted that his financial resources are currently stretched. The huge gold and silver treasures obtained by Alexander the Great during his conquests were still stored in the distant large city of Persis, and it would take some time to transfer these properties to the depleted western treasury. After the soldiers heard this, they were not appeased by him at all. Adea once again aroused the distrust of the soldiers, making them angry, and openly expressed opposition to Antipater, and expressed the hope that Attalus, Perdiccas's brother-in-law, would succeed him as commander. Eventually, the soldiers' anger turned into full-blown rebellion. They seized Antipater and threatened to have him buried under stones if he failed to pay his salary.
As before in Lamia, Antipater now needed an ally to help, and this time the rescue effort was led by his newfound young ally, the one-eyed Antigonus. Antigonus, having just returned from a campaign in Cyprus, encamped with Antipater's army across the river from the rebel camp. Looking from his camp, Antigonus could see that Antipater had been captured by the rebels across the river and was in danger. Considering the bravery of the royal army and the invincibility of the Silver Shields, Antigonus had no choice but to bluff and use cunning tactics, but this was also his strength. He was fully clothed, mounted a war horse, and, accompanied by several elite cavalry, strutted across the bridge connecting the two camps.
Summer Solstice 321 BC Spring 319 BC
The entire empire will no longer have a center. Alexander the Great moved the throne from the city of Pella to Babylon, and now Babylon no longer has elements that are enough to define kingship: the royal army, the crowned king and the mummy of Alexander the Great. The latter two are now in Egypt, but are separated by the wide Nile River. Alexander the Great's army became more fragmented than ever. One part followed Eumenes in Anatolia, another part was in Egypt, while another part was mixed with new troops from Europe and was now marching with Antipater in Cilicia . No section had enough numbers to convene the traditional meeting to elect a new leader. Even if a quorum were assembled somewhere, who could propose a worthy leader to replace the fallen Perdiccas?
Like Babylon, Macedonia the royal city of Pella also lost its central figure. Not a single member of the Ajid royal family still lives there. Olympias fled to Epirus a long time ago, and Cleopatra, Cunane and Adea had already left here for Asia. The old man Antipater, the only commander who had been stationed at a fixed location for many years, had also joined the others and began to lead the army into action. His agent, Polyperchon, served as nominal commander at Pella, but Polyperchon was little more than a second-rate officer lacking the gravitas of Antipater, as future years would clearly prove.
The only true capital of the empire now is where the co-ruling kings reside, no matter where they are. For now, the imperial capital was a camp of exhausted, bloodstained, leaderless men in a desolate place on the east bank of the Nile opposite Memphis.
- Ptolemy , Pesson and Aridaeus (Egypt, summer 321 BC)
On the morning after the murder of Perdiccas, Ptolemy crossed the Nile and arrived at In the army that attacked him twice but failed. He was almost certainly in touch with his former fellow guard officer, Pesson, so he was able to ensure a friendly reception. Whether such contact existed before Perdiccas was killed, or whether they conspired to kill Perdiccas, is no longer known, but the two men did gain a lot from colluding with each other: Trust Lemy wanted to get rid of the invading troops, while Pesson, who had once wanted to win over the rebellious Greek soldiers, tried to seize more power. The murder of Perdiccas was a good first step toward achieving both goals.
Ptolemy brought provisions to the depleted army, as well as cremated skeletons of bodies fished out of the river. The skeletons were distributed to each soldier's friends and relatives, a humanitarian gesture aimed at winning the support of ordinary soldiers. Ptolemy was well aware that he had won support among Perdiccas's troops, who had refused to convict Perdiccas at the trial he had held days earlier. Still, they agreed to attack him, as no doubt many still resented him for stealing their monarch's body. In a carefully crafted, even-handed speech before the assembled troops, Ptolemy defended his separatist actions of the past two years and assured Perdiccas' loyalists that they would not Being purged. Perhaps he showed his sincerity by arranging a solemn and dignified burial for Perdiccas' body, although there is no record of the final whereabouts of the body or any mention of his lifeless body. The final whereabouts of the ominous signet ring worn on her finger.
Ptolemy's speech was a great success. The soldiers seemed to want to elect him to Perdiccas' former position as guardian of the co-king. But Ptolemy was determined to refuse. Instead, he nominated Person, the leader of the rebellion against Perdiccas, and Aridaeus, the former keeper of the body of Alexander the Great, to this position.The soldiers showed their support for the two men, if only temporarily. They realized that the decisions they made must be based on the development of events in Asia : Two powerful men, Antipater and the beloved Craterus, were marching here. It was reported that Craterus He was preparing for a battle with Perdiccas' Greek advisor Eumenes, a battle that Craterus was bound to win.
However, while Ptolemy was still conferring with the invading troops, news came that Craterus and Neoptolemus were both killed in that battle. A burst of shock and anger erupted from the army. It is outrageous that Eumenes, who was nothing more than a humble Greek, should defeat Alexander the Great's most revered general while serving the now-infamous Perdiccas. The army officers and soldiers demanded revenge. Eumenes and fifty other leaders of Perdiccas' government were sentenced to death in absentia, including Perdiccas's brother Alcetas. Perdiccas' sister Atalanta was immediately arrested and executed. Now, no one will do anything to repair the damaged barriers, nor will anyone make any efforts to reunite the empire. The war would continue until Eumenes and anyone who had aided Perdiccas had been killed.
After setting off his troops on their new expedition, Ptolemy crossed the river and returned to his mansion in Memphis, no doubt delighted to be back in such a less turbulent environment. The emotional turmoil he'd witnessed over the past three days was as confusing as it was reassuring. Initially, Perdiccas's army made two determined efforts to break through his Nile defenses. Then, Perdiccas was killed, and the soldiers even tried to make him their leader, almost handing him the power of regency, which was the cornerstone of control of the empire. Finally, the news of Craterus' death sent them into a murderous rage and sent them back to Asia to attack their former commander. This is too reminiscent of the tumultuous week in Babylon after the death of Alexander the Great, the last time Ptolemy fought alongside those rebellious veterans. It was obvious that Perdiccas had not completely tamed them over the years.
No one knows what will happen when this wild beast returns to Asia, but this uncertainty is no longer a problem that Ptolemy has to face. No doubt the imperial fabric would be torn apart by the collisions and conflicts that occurred there, but Egypt would remain aloof. Despite the best efforts of Perdiccas to attack, Ptolemy's Nile defenses held, ensuring that the Macedonian army would not attack again anytime soon. As the army left, no one noticed that they had not received the prize they wanted - the body of Alexander the Great. The two newly appointed commanders, Pesson and Aridaus, did not dare to ask Ptolemy to return it. Ptolemy thus established his declaration of independence. He now has his own empire - his own Egypt - and he has almost no desire for the rest of Alexander's empire , except for some well-trained Indian war elephants, which is what he has left from that army. The valuable resources that the army can freely plunder.
Ptolemy returned to his prosperous family. In this family, he had two women who were regarded as his treasures. One of them was Thaysis, a beautiful Athenian prostitute who had given birth to three children for him. Two children, the other is his newly married bride - Antipater's youngest daughter Eurydice . One of them brought him pleasure, the other gave him strength, but Ptolemy remained susceptible to a third impulse, that of love. At this time, he had already noticed his newlywed wife's niece and maid, who was also a widowed woman - Bereniki. Soon, he made the woman his mistress and eventually his wife.She gave birth to two heirs for Ptolemy-Ptolemy II and Arsinoe. The siblings eventually married according to the ancient Persian royal custom. Through the children born to him by Berenice, Ptolemy established a dynasty that ruled Egypt for nearly three centuries until his descendants Cleopatra VII-Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony 's mistress - was bitten to death by a poisonous viper.
2 The Royal Family (Egypt and the Road to the North, Autumn 321 BC)
What was the first sentence spoken by the son of Alexander the Great who had just learned to speak? Were these words spoken in Macedonian, or in the Bactrian language he had learned from his mother, Roxana, or in Greek, the lingua franca of the new ruling class established by his father? Did he know that at the age of two, he was speaking words that would shape a vast empire stretching from the Adriatic Sea to the shores of the Indus River? We cannot guess the answers to these questions, because none of the surviving records from that era contain a single word or thought about the boy. Although he is closer to the maelstrom of chaos than anyone else, we are not given any of his words or actions to judge his character. The young Alexander - now known as Alexander IV - remained shrouded in mystery even after his unexplored tomb was discovered in 1979.
How was young Alexander told that Perdiccas would no longer have charge of his guardianship, but that someone else he barely knew would take his place? How would his uncle and co-ruler Philip be told? Although Philip was confused, he must have realized that a coup had taken place. Were there attempts to win Philip's support for the new regime? Or does he simply have the function of empowering the other party, just like the signet ring once given to Perdiccas? An anecdote from Philip's later years shows that the monarch still had a partial understanding of the things around him. However, his behavior sometimes became erratic and violent, so his caregivers had to restrain him, at least once. Pesson and Aridaeus could only give him the illusion of governing on his behalf, ensuring, like Perdiccas, his symbolic approval of government actions.
Philip's new wife, however, was a different story. Adea—now also known as Eurydice—possessed a sound mind and youthful energy. She was determined not to be a puppet anymore. As the army left Egypt and headed north, Adea began to stand her ground. She realized that she now had the opportunity to gain supreme power. This was the opportunity that her mother, Kunane, had sacrificed her life to gain for her.
So far, Adea has spent several weeks in the royal army and has learned a lot about the new generation of soldiers created by Alexander the Great. She knew these soldiers valued money. Many of their comrades - those who had been retired from the army by Alexander the Great and now fought under Antipater again - had received generous bonuses in their farewell ceremonies, each receiving 1 talent. of silver. Others received no such benefit, although they claimed Alexander had promised recompense. Now the Egyptian expedition has frustrated their hopes of plundering, and even the standard salary they deserve has been owed. For these ruthless veterans, money means everything: they don't fight for a cause or their country, they fight because fighting is their way of life. Money is a measure of their bravery, a reward for their hard work, and a tie that connects them to their commanders. If funds were scarce, as Aditya knew, this bond could easily be broken.
As the army returned to Asia, Aditya began to make her voice heard in the camp.As the granddaughter of Philip II the Great, she was able to ensure that her voice was heard, and she harped on the subject of unpaid wages, a subject she knew would arouse the wrath of her listeners. She has some connection to the exiled faction of Perdiccas, who, like Attalus, have access to ready cash. Dissatisfaction began to brew around this female instigator, causing the new leaders of the central government , Pesson and Aridaeus, to issue a gag order against her. But Aditya had no intention of following. She knew that after her mother was killed and the mutiny almost started, these generals no longer dared to attack her without permission, and there was nothing they could do to stop her from speaking out.
Three Antipater and Antigonus (Tripara de Issus, late winter of 321 BC)
The army arrived at Tripara de Isus, but at this time Adea still insisted on own political rights. Pesson and Aridaeus spent some time with her, waiting for the arrival of the old Antipater and the one-eyed Antigonus - the two men were also rushing to join the army as it advanced northward. At last, as Antipater and his army came within easy reach, the trouble became unbearable. Aditya was no longer content with free speech and intended to fight for custody of the co-king, the only source of legitimate power. Adea asked, wasn't she more qualified to speak on behalf of her husband than Pesson and Aridaeus? However, they did not give her a proper reply. The situation gradually got out of control. Attalus, Perdiccas's brother-in-law, came to the scene with money and wanted to use the money to make the soldiers change sides. The whole army was brought to a boil by deliberate incitement. Acknowledging their inability to cope with the crisis, Persson and Aridaeus resigned, urging Antipater to take charge immediately.
After Antipater arrived, he found that the royal army, including silver shield soldiers, were in an angry atmosphere. This was the first time he had seen the drastic changes that had taken place in this army after its years in Asia, and it was not a pleasant sight. These soldiers have tasted the ultimate permission - the power to kill their own commander - and no longer seem to respect any authority except that of a determined woman. Although Antipater was the highest-ranking military officer in their country, his arrival did not seem to have much impact. Spurred on by the unbridled Aditya, they roared endlessly for the reward they claimed they deserved.
Antipater stood before the assembled army and attempted to grant their demands. He promised to take stock of the royal treasury and repay the debt, although he also admitted that his financial resources are currently stretched. The huge gold and silver treasures obtained by Alexander the Great during his conquests were still stored in the distant large city of Persis, and it would take some time to transfer these properties to the depleted western treasury. After the soldiers heard this, they were not appeased by him at all. Adea once again aroused the distrust of the soldiers, making them angry, and openly expressed opposition to Antipater, and expressed the hope that Attalus, Perdiccas's brother-in-law, would succeed him as commander. Eventually, the soldiers' anger turned into full-blown rebellion. They seized Antipater and threatened to have him buried under stones if he failed to pay his salary.
As before in Lamia, Antipater now needed an ally to help, and this time the rescue effort was led by his newfound young ally, the one-eyed Antigonus. Antigonus, having just returned from a campaign in Cyprus, encamped with Antipater's army across the river from the rebel camp. Looking from his camp, Antigonus could see that Antipater had been captured by the rebels across the river and was in danger. Considering the bravery of the royal army and the invincibility of the Silver Shields, Antigonus had no choice but to bluff and use cunning tactics, but this was also his strength. He was fully clothed, mounted a war horse, and, accompanied by several elite cavalry, strutted across the bridge connecting the two camps.
The royal army has not seen Antigonus for more than ten years. The rebels were so awed by the sudden arrival of the armored one-eyed man that they stepped out of the way, giving Antigonus a space to address them. As he passed the imprisoned Antipater, he signaled the old man in some way to prepare to escape. Then he stood before the soldiers and delivered a long speech on behalf of Antipater, which was long and complicated until he suddenly found the right moment. Finally, he saw that the soldiers guarding Antipater were becoming distracted. So, at the same time as the signal was given, his cavalry captured Antipater from the rebels, rushed him across the bridge, and carried him to safety.
Antigonus and Seleucus were nearly killed in the ensuing melee, as the soldiers discovered that they had been deceived. The two of them eventually managed to escape unharmed. Antipater now returned to his loyal troops and set out to restore order. He summoned the leaders of the rebellion to the river and intimidated them into following his orders. Perhaps he also pointed out the folly of following a teenage woman, even if she happened to be the queen of the Macedonians.
Adea nearly staged a coup that gave her control of the king and the army. If she had more soldiers around her, she might be able to surpass Eumenes, who defeated Craterus and Neoptolemus, and defeat three top commanders in one day - Antipater, Antonius Tycho and Seleucus. Although Adea has admired Antipater as a senior politician under her grandfather Philip II since she was a child, her contest with the old Antipater is still full of passion and courage, which is her good thing. Zhan's mother instilled it in her. Now she was reduced to being a patron again - this time her protector was Antigonus, for he was now the guardian of the co-king - and the pain was understandable.
As in Babylon three years earlier, a new order had to be established amid the havoc caused by the mutiny. Antipater rewarded his friends, expelled his enemies, and consolidated his control over the country by enfeoffing governors. The officers who defected to him from the camp of Perdiccas—Peclitus, the admiral of the Hellespont fleet, Antigenes, the commander of the Silver Shields, assisted in getting rid of Perdiccas and set up The Seleucids whom Tipate had rescued from the mob were appointed governors for the first time, while the existing positions of other allies were once again consolidated. As Antipater's son-in-law, Ptolemy returned to Egypt and was now able to do whatever he wanted. North Africa was awarded to Ptolemy as "the land he won with his spear" in recognition of his defense against the invasion of Perdiccas. The rule of Cappadocia belongs to a man named Nicanor, who may be Antipater's biological son. And Eumenes, the former governor of Cappadocia, was now branded an outlaw and a traitor, and was not allowed to retain power there or anywhere else.
The one-eyed Antigonus had become Antipater's chief ally and most talented general over the past year, and so received two rewarding appointments under the new order: not only as guardian of the king, but also as guardian of the king. And he was given the position of commander-in-chief of all Asia. He was ordered to arrest Eumenes, Alcetas and other members of the Perdiccas who were sentenced to death. He was also assigned 8,500 veterans, plus cavalry and war elephants . He also gained a new junior officer - Antipater's son Cassander - as his deputy. It's partly an honor, but it's also an implicit surveillance. Antigonus would have great power in his new role, and Antipater wanted a reliable pair of eyes to keep an eye on his one-eyed companion.
The bond between Antigonus and Antipater was cemented through marriage in the traditional Macedonian pattern. Since Craterus had died in battle, Antipater had another daughter of marriageable age. His twice-widowed eldest daughter Phila - now the mother of her son by Craterus - was still of fertile age.She could have been Antigonus's best partner, but instead she was married to Demetrius, the one-eyed Antigonus son who was less than a weakling and sensual. This was a terrible mess of a mandarin duck. Completely mismatched personalities. When Demetrius complained to Antigonus that he was marrying a noble lady who was more than ten years older than him and had noble sentiments, his father reprimanded him by quoting a line from the works of Euripides. In his tragedy The Phoenician Women, the exiled Polynices explains how he resigned himself to a life of poverty in order to bide his time before trying to regain the throne: “For profit, a man You must humble yourself and become a slave.” Antigonus quoted this line to Demetrius—whom he no doubt hoped would one day ascend the throne—but he changed one word of the line. : "For profit, one must be willing to be humble and sacrifice one's life for marriage."
The problem of the rebellious royal army and their demands for payment of wages remained. Under the command of Antigonus, the Silver Shields were sent to Susa, the richest old capital of Persia, and were ordered to transfer the funds there to the fortress of Gendar in Cilicia. This move brought a double benefit to the new leadership: funds would be easier to obtain, and they would also be freed from the troubles of Alexander the Great's most unruly veterans - the Silver Shields. The remaining members of the rebel army were assigned to follow the one-eyed Antigonus and the two kings to help launch the war against Eumenes. They need to stay busy all the time, and now they have a new enemy to fight.
's second blueprint for the post-Alexandrian era is complete, as if Perdiccas's reign had been nothing more than a bad false start. But the issue that brought the old agreement to naught—the relationship of Asian territories to European territories—lives on in the new solution. The two major groups of the empire were once again in a fatal balance. Antipater controlled one group, while Antigonus controlled the king and royal army in the other group. The ultimate question raised by Alexander's conquests was once again avoided: was the new empire a European country that controlled an Asian territory several times larger than the mainland; or was the empire essentially an Asian country, a new incarnation of the Persian Empire ? Is Europe nothing more than a tiny appendage? In the absence of clear answers, the empire-builders Antipater and Antigonus in Tripara de Issus designed a structure that spanned the Hellespont . After more than twenty years of war, their descendants still debate this issue at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC.
There were further developments before the leaders left Tripara de Issus. Perdiccas did not have time to destroy his documents before he was killed in Egypt, and Antipater now had control over the documents, which he may have obtained from Pesson and Aridaeus. Among them he found a letter sent from Athens, written by Demades, one of his two most trusted political agents. Antipater discovered in this document that Demades was actually plotting against him, and used a mean joke to incite Perdiccas to invade Europe: "Our city-state only relies on an old, rotten tree." The rope holds it together." Antipater was not amused by the jest at his advanced age, nor was his irascible son Cassander. If Antipater lived long enough, when he returned to his homeland, he would go to Demades to settle the account.
IV Eumenes (Cappadocia, Spring 320 BC)
Eumenes was now the loneliest man in the empire. News came from Egypt that Perdiccas had been murdered and that the royal army had sentenced him to death. Later, further news came from Triparadeissus that the one-eyed Antigonus had been given a powerful army and ordered to pursue him. And Eumenes' so-called allies - former officers under Perdiccas - have refused to cooperate with him.The main resister was Perdiccas's brother Alcetas, who refused to provide aid to Eumenes even when Perdiccas personally issued orders. Eumenes has been branded as a rebel by the royal army and despised by those who share his illegal status. At this time, he can no longer hope to get help from any party. He and his troops - the fine Cappadocian cavalry he had personally trained and the Macedonian infantry he had won in battle - were left to rely on their own strength.
A winding road brought Eumenes, a Greek from Chesoniskadia, to an isolated place in western Asia. Eumenes, who was promoted from a humble position by the father of Alexander the Great and served as royal scribe, did not seem destined to become a commander-in-chief. Alexander the Great only promoted him to a cavalry commander in the Indian Peninsula at the end of his Asiatic campaign; even at that time, Alexander the Great rarely let him go into battle. But the changes of the times forced Eumenes to continuously adapt and learn how to fight on the battlefield instead of burying his head in documents; and he also succeeded in learning. Eumenes won the battle on behalf of Perdiccas, although Perdiccas ultimately lost the war against Ptolemy. The opposing results of their battle turned Eumenes into an advisor to the bereaved commander, a former great minister of the empire who now had his head chopped off.
Just two years ago, Eumenes had tried to mediate the conflict in Babylon, claiming that he could gain everyone's trust because he was not interested in politics. It is ridiculous now that he thinks about it. He has always been on the same side as the Ajid family - his mentors and benefactors since childhood. The well-being of the Ajid family was what he fought for, and he supported Perdiccas as its defender. He almost made Perdiccas a member of the royal family of the Agids, but the regent's decision to marry Cleopatra came too late.
Eumenes still believed that Cleopatra and her mother Olympias would become his patrons, and that he himself would become their defender. But now the question of who has the authority to represent the Al-Ajid royal family has become incredibly complicated and tormenting. The two co-kings were now in the hands of Eumenes' enemies, who presented themselves as defenders of the royal family. To them, Eumenes was nothing more than a pretender who used the king to gain power; to Eumenes, these men were kidnappers, who had kidnapped the king from his rightful guardians.
Now Eumenes could not withdraw from this struggle even if he wanted to. Because he had killed Craterus, this sin would follow him everywhere, so war was inevitable. Eumenes had no choice but to fight, hoping to fight Antigonus to the death, and whenever the decisive battle came, it would only be on flat ground favorable to his cavalry. But what could Eumenes gain from victory? Because he was of Greek origin, he was naturally not eligible for the throne, and there was currently no commander who could make him an adviser, so Eumenes knew that his prospects would be bleak for a long time. Had the young Alexander survived long enough to exercise power and rule himself, Eumenes might have become Alexander's closest adviser, a position for which he was best suited. But it will still take more than ten years to achieve this goal. If a person has no legal position and is declared an enemy of the country, how can he persist for so long even if he has a powerful army?
This was the strange position in which Eumenes found himself in the turmoil of civil war. In that war, he alone achieved a major battlefield victory. However, in the end, he lost the country, career and commander he could fight for. His cavalry was more than capable of defeating any challenger, but what he might win was no one's guess.
Fearing that his soldiers would panic about the danger ahead, Eumenes summoned them together and told them the truth about Perdiccas' death and their current illegal status. He didn't know exactly how his men would react, but he allowed them the freedom to resign their commissions. Perhaps he also mentions the mutiny at Tripara de Issus and the poignant details of Antipater's financial straits. In any case, no one chose to accept his offer to leave the army. His soldiers urged him to lead them into battle with the royal army as quickly as possible, and vowed to tear the enemy's decrees to pieces with the tips of their spears.
That was all Eumenes needed to hear. He immediately broke camp and led his army to move westward, waiting for the enemy's arrival. If he cannot fight for anything else, he will fight for his own survival: if he surrenders or flees, he has no chance of survival.
Five Propaganda War (All Over the Empire)
Now that the elder Antipater and his son Cassander have joined the struggle for power, questions about the death of Alexander the Great have begun to resurface. Did Alexander the Great die of poisoning? If so, were Antipater and his sons implicated, perhaps with the help of Antipater's Greek friend Aristotle ? These rumors circulating throughout the Greek world cast a pall over the new de facto leader of the empire. Antipater's enemies began to exploit these rumors, and Antipater attempted to win the hearts and minds of Greek audiences through forged or leaked documents.
By this time throughout the Greek world, people had read the memoirs of Onesikritas , a Greek captain who served in Alexander the Great's fleet. The memoir claimed that Alexander attended a dinner party on the night he fell ill and was poisoned by a guest, but the author declined to name the perpetrators for fear of reprisal, the book said. Oneisikritus implies that the murderers are still at large and able to exact revenge, which is a way of indirectly blaming the generals who came into power after that, which in the Greek world basically meant that that person was Antioch. Pat.
Shortly thereafter - although the date of publication is still disputed - an anonymous Greek treatise appeared, which directly disclosed the unnamed name of Onesikritus. The original version of the treatise - sometimes called The Last Days and Testament of Alexander - has been lost, but a later Latin translation survives as the Book of the Dead. The book claims that Antipater, who had been summoned by Alexander the Great and was convinced that his death was imminent, gave the poison hidden in the hollowed-out mule's hoof to his son Cassander, who was in Babylon with his brother Iris. Iolaus met, and together they poisoned Alexander the Great at a banquet hosted by Medes, Iolaus's male lover. Then, the treatise solemnly lists the names of the guests who attended this fatal dinner, and exonerates seven others, including Perdiccas, Eumenes, and Ptolemy. This amounts to charging more than a dozen named guests with being co-conspirators. This treatise describes how Alexander drank the poisoned wine Iolaus poured for him, felt a sting, screamed loudly, and returned to his palace as the anxious conspirators dispersed. in the room. In the final act of treachery, when Alexander the Great asked Iolaus for a feather to induce vomiting, Iolaus handed him a feather dipped in poison.
This document is almost certainly a propaganda weapon used by a general seeking power, but which general? Since Antipater was accused of murdering Alexander the Great and Perdiccas and Eumenes were cleared of suspicion, at first glance it appears to be the work of Perdiccas or his allies. But Ptolemy was as much an enemy of Perdiccas as Antipater, and Ptolemy is exonerated in this treatise. Perhaps there are layers of material accumulated here, as successive forgers added new elements to the work.Whatever its purpose, The Last Days and Testament of Alexander shows that the charge of regicide was used with increasing frequency in the Macedonian power struggle, and was used primarily to weaken Antipater the Elder.
Perhaps in response to these accusations of poisoning and regicide, someone also published the final part of the Royal Journal, a serious, day-by-day account of eyewitness accounts of Alexander the Great's illness and death. Although the original manuscript has been lost now, it still existed in the second century AD, and both Arrian and Plutarch interpreted it after reading it. The Royal Journal describes Alexander's illness as a gradual onset of fever and coma, and makes it clear that the illness did not begin with a sudden twinge as claimed in Alexander's Last Days and Testament. Perhaps Antipater published or fabricated these journals himself in an attempt to dispel the rumors that hung over his family. In this hall of mirrors world of forged, synthesized and anonymous documents, there can be no finality.
Meanwhile, Ptolemy was engaged in another kind of propaganda in Egypt: to highlight his own role in the history of Alexander the Great's Asiatic conquests and to obscure the role of Perdiccas. Perdiccas may have been dead by the time Ptolemy began writing this history, but neither his supporters nor his memory were dead. To conceal the trauma Perdiccas suffered at the Battle of Gaugamela, or to attribute the outbreak of the Battle of Thebes to Perdiccas's lack of military discipline, or, and this is most important, to attribute the outbreak of the Battle of Thebes to Perdiccas' lack of military discipline. The complete erasure of the transfer of the signet ring, which was the most favored symbol of Alexander the Great, would have brought many benefits to Ptolemy. As one of the few witnesses present, perhaps Ptolemy wished he could put the moment completely behind him. It was Ptolemy who was responsible for the downfall of Perdiccas, and it would have been to Ptolemy's disservice had Perdiccas been the king's legitimate, hand-picked successor.
Many others—those who colluded with each other to murder him, inherited his power, or participated in the hunt for his associates—also wanted to stigmatize Perdiccas. Any or all of them may have distorted or exaggerated the image of Perdiccas that survives in ancient texts. We can find that in these documents, condemnations of Perdiccas's arrogance, domineering and cruelty abound, and the portrayal of his image sometimes even verges on slander. Diodorus even used the word "slayer" to describe Perdiccas, but for a soldier who made a living by killing enemies, this was a strange sarcasm. But when a leader fails, the qualities that made him a leader suddenly become flaws. Perdiccas's arrogance and stubbornness are no more obvious than those of Alexander the Great, but are obviously much toned down. Unlike the unfortunate Perdiccas, however, Alexander was almost undefeated.
VI Cleopatra, Eumenes and Antipater (Sardis, Spring 320 BC)
For two years Cleopatra, the sister of Alexander the Great, had been in Asia, in Sardis. The Governor's Mansion observed the progress of the war. Perhaps she longed to return to her native Macedonia or Epirus, where her mother Olympias cared for her two young children. However, if this is the case, it means that she has admitted failure and accepted a life of being humble and even precarious. Her only chance now to restore her royal lineage and protect her mother and children is to marry a powerful general and give birth to a new heir to the throne. But if she returns to Europe, she will never find such a groom. She came to Asia just to get married, so when she was in Asia, she was like a princess in a fairy tale waiting for the knight to rescue her on a high tower.
Cleopatra's time was running out. By the time she reaches 35, her fertility—an important advantage in her bid for inheritance—will decline rapidly.To make matters worse, she knew that her rival in fertility, Adea, had been married to King Philip for over a year and could announce that she was pregnant at any time. If this happened, Cleopatra's value on the marriage market would also plummet. If the child born to two royal members is male, he will undoubtedly become the new heir to the throne. Even Cleopatra, the biological sister of Alexander the Great, could not defeat such a powerful combination of Ajid blood unless she also married a member of the Ajid royal family, but there was no such person at this time. Marry her. After the deaths of Leonatos and Perdiccas, the suitable candidates she had been eyeing, there were only a few generals who met the qualifications.
The rise of the old Antipater brought danger to Cleopatra. Her mother's old rival, who had no affection for her branch of the Ajid royal family, could now do great harm to it. Antipater played the marriage game much more successfully than she did: his daughter married Ptolemy and Antigonus' son Demetrius, cutting off Cleopatra from these two potential candidates. possibility. The whole empire seemed at once to be in Antipater's pocket: it was within his power to block the path of Sardis and prevent the suitors from approaching Cleopatra; or he could even force Cleopatra. Petra married her own son, Cassander—but the idea of marrying the man who was thought to have poisoned her brother was undoubtedly unsettling.
As Cleopatra pondered her bleak future, a detachment of cavalry, commanded by a majestic general, arrived at the gates of Sardis. However, this man was not the knight in dazzling armor she expected, but her brother's former scribe Eumenes.
This development was certainly embarrassing for Cleopatra. Eumenes was a close friend and loyal servant of her family, and, by a twist of fate, had become the commander of a powerful army. He always supported Cleopatra and her marital ambitions. But Eumenes was now merely a criminal, sentenced to death for his service to the regime of Perdiccas. Not only could Cleopatra not marry him—he was, after all, a Greek and therefore different from her—it might have been a crime to even entertain him. As Antipater continued to advance towards Sardis, Cleopatra could not allow herself to be on the wrong side of the civil war.
Eumenes was eager to talk to Cleopatra. For the past few months, he had been plundering the provinces of western Anatolia, struggling to survive in enemy lands, but he came to Sardis in search of something more valuable than booty - legal sex. Cleopatra's existence was enough to counter the superiority occupied by the two great enemies Antipater and the one-eyed Antigonus. Although they controlled the king and claimed to be merely stewards of the royal family, it only took a wave of Cleopatra's hand to prove that this claim was nothing more than a lie. If she becomes an ally of Eumenes, combining her moral authority with Eumenes' military might, then both of them can still defeat their enemies. They had many reasons to join forces: both were excluded from power because of their second-rate status, Cleopatra was a woman, and Eumenes was a Greek. Both could achieve something only by being attached to a regent or king. Maybe, until one of them succeeds, both can rely on each other.
Eumenes showed off his cavalry in front of the city of Sardis like a knight, trying to impress the princess in the city. Considering that the last time Eumenes visited here, Cleopatra rejected Perdiccas because the outcome of the war was unresolved, so this time Eumenes wanted to show that he was sure of victory. In fact, he wanted to fight the royal army on the plains outside Sardis, and his soldiers seemed to be inspired by Cleopatra's eyes. She was the person closest to Alexander the Great in blood, and the late king's character and even appearance seemed to have regained life in her.When Justin wrote an abstract for the history book written by Trogus: "People admired the greatness and excellence of Alexander the Great so much that even the traces he left on women can be seen. The blessing of his holy name."
However, although Cleopatra approved Eumenes's visit, she was not willing to become his supporter. She is aware of her responsibility to the country and does not want to exacerbate the country's turmoil by taking sides. She asked Eumenes to leave Sardis and seek battle far from the place where she solemnly appeared. Eumenes bade farewell to the princess, and in obedience to her request, led his army to evacuate Sardis.
Soon after, the old man Antipater also came to Sardis and visited Cleopatra in person. Antipater also learned of her interview with Eumenes, which greatly displeased him. He could guess what kind of tricks the princess was playing. First, she was flirting with Perdiccas, and now she was flirting with Perdiccas's advisor. Perhaps before that, he also knew that she had also been flirting with Lieutenant Colonel Annatus flirts with each other. With his authority already challenged—he was nearly killed by another princess, Adea—Antipater could no longer allow Cleopatra to flirt with his enemy. He rebuked Cleopatra for ignoring royal interests. He had served the royal family loyally for sixty years, but now it seemed to him that the royal family was being torn apart by a group of nosy, lawless women.
Cleopatra certainly ignored it. She was too proud to restrain herself in front of a man who obeyed the orders of her father and brother. In a now-lost speech that the medieval Photius called "more than one would expect from a woman," Cleopatra fired back at Antipater without reservation. Perhaps Cleopatra, like her mother, believed this man was responsible for Alexander's death, and now she accused him to his face. Antipater calmed her down in some way, and the two parties finally parted amicably. The supreme commander of the empire and the supreme royal family of the empire still need each other. Cleopatra was unwilling to be blamed for civil strife, and Antipater learned from the unfortunate precedent of Perdiccas that a soldier would pay for the death of an Acid princess. High price.
Antipater continued to prepare for battle with Eumenes. But Cleopatra in the tower remained where she was, once again bereft of friends, widowed, and alone.
VII Ptolemy (Syria and Jerusalem, summer 320 BC)
Seeing his former comrades busy with internal fighting, Ptolemy sat firmly in Egypt and once again chose to pursue his own interests. His new dominions were vast, greatly expanded by the annexation of Cyprus and Cyrene, and there was a fine land to the east of his dominions, where few Macedonian troops were stationed, and which seemed to be the site of his completion. The perfect direction for a miniature empire. The Pharaohs before him had long coveted Syria and Palestine, and often occupied that land. Its wealthy provinces had excellent harbors and provided a valuable buffer against invasion from the east. Ptolemy was temporarily protected from foreign invasion. Although his father-in-law Antipater was still his ally, he could not maintain this alliance forever - especially since Ptolemy planned to let Eurydice's bridesmaid Bael Nikki becomes her own queen, but in a move that threatens to bring shame to the old man's daughter.
To the north of Ptolemy's coveted land was the small walled city of Jerusalem, home to a group of monotheists whom the Greeks would soon call "Jews." Although the Macedonians had traveled through their territory and may have even entered the Holy City, Alexander the Great and his generals almost never paid any attention to these Jews.No Alexandrian historian mentioned the Jews or Jerusalem, and a later writer, the Romanized Jew Josephus, took this omission as a sign of malice. In fact, among the Greek writers before Alexander the Great, no one except Theophrastus, a student of Aristotle, knew of the existence of the Jews, and Theophrastus seemed to have only encountered It’s just the Jewish expatriates living in Egypt.
However, Ptolemy knew enough about the Jews to use their own religious customs against them. He learned that the Jewish calendar is a week of seven days, and there is a Sabbath every week. On this day, all labor, including armed fighting, is prohibited. Therefore, Ptolemy planned to march into the city of Jerusalem on a Sabbath day. The Jews, because they adhered to their ancient laws, did not raise troops to resist. In this way, Ptolemy won a bloodless victory and added new territories to his territory. Ptolemy's new capital, Alexandria, began to fill with Jewish captives and immigrants, and it soon became the most important Jewish center outside Jerusalem.
The Jews were exploited because of their devout observance of the Law of Moses. They were eventually conquered by a general under Alexander the Great and entered the stage of European history.
Eight Eumenes, Antigonus and Antipater (Anatolia, late winter of 320 BC)
There is a legend circulating in the ancient world. When Alexander the Great was alive, one day, a captured pirate were brought before him to be punished. Alexander the Great was outraged by the man's plunder and asked what right he had to cause trouble at sea. The pirate replied: "The same rights you have when you are making trouble in the world. Just because I only rely on a small boat, I am called a bandit; but you have a huge fleet, so you are called a bandit." Known as a ruler." This anecdote may be apocryphal, but it illustrates an important point. Even when Alexander the Great was still alive, it was difficult to distinguish between good and bad political purposes for his military campaigns. Cynics might see it as a predatory attack sweeping the globe. Now that he is dead, the piratical side of the Macedonian army has become more prominent.
The three generals wandering Asia Minor at this time - the outlaw Eumenes and his pursuers Antipater and the one-eyed Antigonus - all knew that the upcoming war would depend on one factor: the strength of the generals. Depends on the loyalty of the troops, which in turn depends on the loot. The soldiers who fought with Alexander the Great already had piles of booty. They seized their share of the wealth from the Persians and transported this wealth across Asia in huge trains. But their hoards of wealth never seem to satisfy them. They have no family, ignore the well-being of the country, and have no idea what the Ajid royal family wants from them. Only money becomes the reason for their existence. They will fight for generals who can provide them with food and pay, and they will fight against generals who cannot provide them with rewards.
One-eyed Antigonus had the upper hand in this new type of warfare because, as commander-in-chief of the Asiatic territories, he had the authority to draw funds from the treasury. His written orders, signed by the obedient King Philip, could open rapidly filling treasuries such as Genda's, which was guarded by an iron-walled silver shield. With such wealth, he could try to buy a victory against Eumenes without having to win a victory directly on the battlefield, where he would have to face Eumenes' well-trained men. of cavalry. This force had already defeated Alexander the Great's best field general, Craterus, and trampled him under his iron hooves.
In his opinion, Eumenes was indeed short of money, but as a desperado, he could steal property from the rich. Asia Minor was dotted with wealthy estates and towns that were also home to slaves who might have been trafficked.In Alexander's time, armies could only plunder enemy territory. But to Eumenes, the whole empire was enemy territory, for it was the empire that had sentenced him to death. He began to raise a considerable war chest by allowing his men to seize Anatolian estates and then redeem them from their owners at exorbitant prices. This tactic had the dual benefit of not only gaining him money, but also humiliating Antipater and Antigonus, who were in charge of Asia and were unable or unwilling to prevent the extortion. The people of Anatolia would feel that Antipater and Antigonus—not Eumenes—were responsible. As Eumenes continued to plunder the pockets of his enemies, the outlaw's reputation grew.
The one-eyed Antigonus attempted to fight fire with fire by placing a price on Eumenes' life. One day, when Eumenes returned to the camp, he found that his soldiers were studying some leaflets: the leaflets stated that Antigonus would offer a reward of 100 talents for Eumenes' head. Unless Eumenes can take steps to retaliate, this reward will test everyone's loyalty to him. The cunning Greek quickly gathered his soldiers and stood before them to make a speech. He thanked the soldiers for sticking to their oath of allegiance - of course no one had time for treachery - and "revealed" that his distribution of the leaflets was just a test, which his soldiers passed admirably. test. He analyzed that it was impossible for Antigonus to distribute these leaflets, because any general who attempted to provide a bounty might be counterattacked. Perhaps some of Eumenes' audience accepted this logic, while others admired the wisdom of his scheme, but all of his men must have been convinced by the recent successful attack that they Fortune's best hope lay in keeping Eumenes safe, not killing him. They voted on the spot to vigorously strengthen measures to maintain the safety of the commander-in-chief, and to equip him with a guard officer selected from among a thousand elites.
In order to fight back against Antigonus, Eumenes moved to Cerana, the Cyclops' empty capital in Phrygia, and spent the winter sacking his province. Although Antigonus did not directly challenge him, Antipater and his experienced soldiers launched several raids against him. The rivalry in Phrygia between Eumenes and Antipater, sworn enemies who predated Alexander the Great's expedition, is well known thanks to Ari's discovery in a medieval palimpsest. Two precious pages from "After the Death of Alexander" written by Ann. Thanks to digital imaging technology, the erased text has just awakened from a millennium-long slumber. But it also provides a painful glimpse into how much we have suffered with the loss of this work.
Eumenes began to continue to expand the scale of his attacks and retreat, and launched attacks from multiple directions at the same time, so that Antipater had no way to suppress it. Eumenes had his officers use siege weapons to make the attack easier. In a short time they had plundered some 800 talents of wealth from the hapless Phrygians, and distributed the spoils among the delighted rank and file. As his men grew richer, Eumenes' status also rose, while Antipater looked more and more like a paper tiger. Arrian wrote : “Antipater and his army watched helplessly as [Phrygia] was taken, their fields burned, and their goods sold as plunder. Antipater was thought to have Te was merely a bystander to their misadventures."
However, Eumenes's strategy could not always succeed. His enemies would eventually corner him or deprive him of his troops' loyalty by cutting off his supplies and preventing him from pillaging.Eumenes had noticed the dissatisfaction among his troops; a legion of three thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry had withdrawn from Cerana and continued its march forward. Their camp was already a few meters away from Eumenes. There is some distance. Eumenes borrowed a signature tactic from Alexander the Great and sent an elite force in pursuit through the night. The deserters were completely caught off guard and were taken prisoner without resistance. Eumenes executed the rebellious leaders and then reintegrated the troops into the army, dividing the soldiers into more reliable units and winning over them with favors. With Antipater and Antigonus hot on his heels, he could not afford to lose these experienced veterans.
Eumenes' greatest hope was to join forces with those who had been deprived of power like himself - the other leaders of the former Perdiccas regime. Each of them controlled his own army: Perdiccas's brother Alcetas still had a considerable number of troops, while Perdiccas's brother-in-law Attalus might have made some money from the funds he had misappropriated. Pay enough money. Eumenes contacted these two well-born Macedonians and two other members of Perdiccas' party, Palemon and Docmus, and all four gathered in nearby Pisidia. Eumenes's strategic proposals are preserved in palimpsests that are still readable today. Eumenes believed that if the five armies were integrated into one, then they could control Western Asia for a long time, live off the territory they occupied, and embarrass their enemies at the same time. Antipater and Antigonus would be despised for their own weaknesses, and defections from their armies would increase. Eventually, the two men would negotiate a peace agreement with Perdiccas's followers, in which the followers would be pardoned and regain the rights they had gained in the Babylonian Accords. Position. It is worth noting that Eumenes did not envision a final victory, but a restoration of unity and a return to the status quo ante. Perhaps he is not beyond sin. The Macedonians, who condemned him only in anger, may eventually relent: they may well stop fighting Eumenes once they see that he has no intention of fighting back.
Eumenes ended his appeal with a respectful note, saying that anyone with a better plan should come forward with their idea. Humility was Eumenes' best hope for success, for he spoke to people who did not like, trust or respect him. Alcetas had refused to aid Eumenes, even though Perdiccas had given him orders to do so. If Alcetas was resentful at that time because Eumenes was a Greek who was too smart and had too much influence on his brother Perdiccas, then now Eumenes has won great honors on the battlefield. It made him even more jealous. The same jealousy also tormented Attalus, Palemon and Docmus. They all came from warrior families with noble blood, so they did not like to be in the shadow of a foreign upstart.
Who will command this joint force has become a focus of debate. Alcetas wanted to make himself the commander-in-chief of this force, and especially wanted to control the native Macedonians in the infantry under Eumenes, who were the strong veterans left behind by Alexander the Great. But Eumenes was unwilling to budge. In Eumenes' view, he was no longer a slave to the Greek and Macedonian warrior elites who were committed to the court, but a talented senior general. He could accept being ranked behind people like Perdiccas, but he would never allow people like Alcetas or Attalus to be ranked above him. These people were his subordinates not long ago, at least Perdiccas and even Alexander the Great himself wanted to make them his subordinates.
In the end, the differences of opinion regarding the rank of Eumenes were not reconciled, and the five-party talks ended without any results. The alliance that could have saved all Perdiccas's henchmen failed to form.All will face their enemies in their own way, but Eumenes will have to face them alone.
Nine Antigonus, Cassander, Antipater and the Kings (Anatolia, late winter 320 BC)
Meanwhile, further north in Anatolia, disagreements and defections also After tormenting the enemies of Eumenes, they were now the new guardians of the co-king. Despite controlling the treasury, Antipater the Elder and Antigonus the One-Eyed were unable to suppress the message sent by Eumenes' plunder: that plunder was rewarded. As Eumenes had foreseen in his advice to Arcetas and the others, Antigonus found that some of his own troops had noticed the message and had taken refuge in the mountains. That winter, a force of three thousand foot soldiers broke away from Antipater's army. Their commander was Hosias, a sympathizer of Perdiccas's partisans. They occupied the highlands of Cappadocia, a safe zone from which they could plunder the surrounding areas. Antigonus was worried that these soldiers would join the army of Alcetas or Eumenes, but he could not make the loyal troops against him feel ill-will by massacre.
In the past two years of civil war, Antigonus has gradually mastered the essence of covert activities, and the current crisis requires him to do so. He sent a high-ranking officer named Leonidas to the rebels and asked him to gain their trust by pretending to join the rebel ranks. Leonidas was warmly welcomed by the rebels and elected as commander-in-chief. He led the soldiers down from the high ground into an open plain. According to prior arrangements, Antigonus's cavalry was already waiting there. Antigonus launched an attack on the plains, easily capturing the rebel leaders and forcing them to swear an oath that they would leave Asia with their followers and never return. Although it was a pity to lose so many soldiers, it was better than having them join the army of Perdiccas's henchmen.
An even worse problem for Antigonus was the brewing dispute between him and the elder Antipater. This rift was caused by Antipater's son Cassander. The young man appointed Antigonus's deputy distrusted Antigonus from the start and went straight to his Phrygian father to complain. Antipater believed his son's concerns and summoned Antigonus to Phrygia in an attempt to change the balance of power that had been reached at Triparade Issus. Antigonus was at that time appointed guardian of the king, and was given leadership of the group of aggressive veterans left behind by Alexander the Great. But now Antipater wanted to take away these two symbols of power and bring them under his jurisdiction from then on. In exchange, Antipater handed over the European recruits under his command to Antigonus, and the exchange of troops ensured that the original royal troops would remain with the king. Antipater also made it clear that his immediate plans had changed. He would return to Europe, allowing Antigonus to continue his campaign against Eumenes without his aid. After months of tangles with the cunning Greek during the winter, the old soldier-statesman was finally ready to make his way home.
Antipater gathered the royal family members and marched to the Hellespont with his son Cassander. Since his first arrival in Asia, it had brought him only hardship and humiliation, and he was destined to suffer the last humiliation on the shores of Asia. As his troops marched through Anatolia, King Philip's young wife Adea began to remind the soldiers that their due reward had been long delayed. The royal troops mutinied again. Antipater had no choice but to appease the soldiers by pretending that money was waiting for them on the shores of the Hellespont. After luring the soldiers to the crossing point, Antipater crossed the strait with the king and several senior generals in the dead of night. The helpless army had no choice but to follow them back to Europe the next day, where Antipater was able to maintain good control over the troops and their queen.
The co-kings and the armies fighting under Alexander the Great left Asia forever. How do their compatriots view these unruly veterans who have returned from afar, how do they view the strange Bactrian women and the mixed-race children they gave birth to, and how do they view those who are slowly moving forward in the queue. A weird war machine called an elephant? None of this was recorded by any ancient writer. In fact, no other ancient historian seems to have pointed out the significance of this crossing except Arrian, who regarded it as the end point of "After the Death of Alexander".
This was indeed the end, the end of an extraordinary, continent-spanning experiment in monarchy. Alexander the Great started the experiment, and Perdiccas, despite his own incompetence, tried to keep it going. In the end, Antipater unilaterally decided to end the experiment, send the Ajid royal family back home, and separate the royal family from Bactria and Babylon, returning to the foothills of the Balkans. Asia may still be part of the Macedonian Empire, but it will never again be the center of the empire as Alexander the Great once dreamed and planned.
The legacy of that dream is engraved on the skin color and appearance of Alexander the Great's young son. If young Alexander is lucky enough to live another ten years, he will become the first king born in Asia to rule European territory. . But given the tumultuous first four years of his life, it could have been a long and perilous decade.
Ten Antigonus and Eumenes (Anatolia, Spring 319 BC)
With Antipater's departure and the end of winter, the one-eyed Antigonus and Eumenes prepared for the war in Asia A showdown. It was a duel between two resourceful and reputable men who had been friends at the court of Philip II, but who had become opposed to each other due to political unforeseen circumstances. They both claimed to be fighting under the banner of the Ajid royal family, and both commanded armies composed mostly of Macedonians. They had never hurt each other before, and there was no ideological gap between them. However, now that Eumenes has been declared a public enemy of the country, Antigonus, as the commander-in-chief of the Asian territories, has received the task of completely annihilating Eumenes.
However, Eumenes was not so easily destroyed. His Cappadocia cavalry exceeded Antigonus's cavalry in numbers, and also surpassed them in proficiency and combat experience. Antigonus would never make the mistake that Craterus had made, at least not without demoralizing him, and he would not confront this cavalry head-on. Fortunately, he had enough funds to complete this nerf. The bribe he offered succeeded in convincing Apollonides, a cavalry officer under Eumenes, to defect. Apollonides promised Antigonus through a secret letter that he would sneak away from Eumenes and take a whole team of horses with him.
Eumenes, unaware of the impending betrayal, confidently sought battle with Antigonus at a place called Auchinea. He was stationed in an open field with an unobstructed view of One-Eyed Antigonus, which was a signal that he was willing to fight with him. Heralds traveled freely between the two armies, conveying messages from one general to the other in preparation for the ensuing deadly battle.
Antigonus used this interval to play a demoralizing trick on his former friend. [28] When Eumenes' herald arrived at Antigonus's camp, he instructed a soldier to run up to him panting and shout: "Our allies have arrived!" The herald who witnessed this scene The soldier promptly reported to Eumenes and told him that Antigonus's troops had received reinforcements. The next day, Antigonus advanced his infantry phalanx in twice the usual line, as if he had indeed received new reinforcements.This sight greatly frustrates the confidence of the Eumenes infantry. They did not realize that the depth of their formation was twice that of the enemy, giving them an advantage. Instead, they felt that they had lost their numerical advantage.
It turns out that these two cunning strategies aimed at neutralizing Eumenes's cavalry strength had a miraculous effect against Eumenes. The Battle of Ochenia, of which no detailed records survive, quickly turned into a rout. Antigonus massacred some eight thousand soldiers under Eumenes' command and captured the baggage train carrying the spoils and treasures of Eumenes' army. Eumenes became a hero in the eyes of the soldiers precisely because of those trophies, so this tragic defeat was undoubtedly a huge psychological blow to him.
But Eumenes did not recover from the fall. He fled the battle with a portion of his troops that neither fled nor surrendered, including most of his fleet-footed cavalry. After managing to capture and execute Apollonides, Eumenes returned to Auchenia again, this time evading Antigonus who was pursuing him in the direction of his escape. He decided that he would hold funerals for his fallen soldiers, a privilege usually afforded by formal recognition of defeat. Since there were not many trees in Auchennia, Eumenes had to order to collect the door panels of nearby houses as lumber and build two huge pyres, one for the cremation of officers and the other for the cremation of soldiers. After the cremation, Eumenes ordered a mound to be built over the ashes of the fallen. When Antigonus arrived with his army, the tomb had been completed and Eumenes had disappeared. Although Eumenes lost the battle, he regained his dignity and deprived Antigonus of his right as victor to set the conditions for the return of the fallen.
Eumenes also planned to rush to Armenia and recruit a brand new army there. However, Antigonus soon caught up with him. Eumenes had no choice but to use his prearranged plan and risk his life to survive. On the border of Cappadocia there is a fortress called Nola, which is located on an impregnable cliff with a circumference of only about 400 yards. The fortress contains enough grain, grass, salt and firewood to last a small force for several years, enough to defend it against all invading enemies. Eumenes disbanded the troops that followed him, retaining only 600 soldiers, and then entered the fortress and could not get out. The fortress was like a safe island in the enemy's vast ocean. Here Eumenes could wait for the political winds to change, or for his potential allies Alcetas and other generals to come to his aid. Although the prospect of being isolated from the world and trapped in a mountain fortress for a long time is worrying, it is still better than defeat.
The one-eyed Antigonus came to Nora and found that Eumenes had safely stayed there. He planned to surround the fortress with a double wall, ditches, and outposts, possibly for many years. However, Antigonus decided to try negotiation before pursuing this costly alternative. He sent his nephew into the fortress as a hostage to ensure Eumenes' personal safety and persuaded Eumenes to come out to negotiate.
The two commanders had not seen each other for fifteen years, since the early days of Alexander the Great's expedition. However, they discovered that it was not difficult to put the conflict aside and restore the old bonds of friendship. They embraced each other and exchanged cordial greetings, while the young soldiers newly recruited under Antigonus wanted to catch a glimpse of this famous person - he was the victor who defeated Craterus and the secretary who rose to the rank of general. Official, now he has become a desperado. The soldiers were so close to them that Antigonus feared for Eumenes' safety, and he threw his arms around his old friend to protect him from excessive enthusiasm—and perhaps hostility— —Possible harm caused by the crowd.
The negotiations between the two commanders showed that their dispute was completely controlled by others.Eumenes did not admit that he had committed treason at all. Instead, he demanded that he be fully reinstated as governor of Cappadocia, even though this meant joining the regime that had officially stated that he wanted to kill him. He did not even mention the death sentence passed in Egypt, as if it were an obvious mistake. Antigonus himself did not reject Eumenes' proposal, which shows that he also had doubts about the current hostilities. He offered to submit the request to Antipater for adjudication, and sent an envoy to Macedonia to this end. Eumenes also sent one of his close friends and compatriots as an envoy to plead his case. The man he sent was none other than Hieronymus of Cadia, who had great insight into the power struggle in the post-Alexandrian era. The memoirs he wrote later, although now lost, have become the basis for most of the existing documents. historical data.
When these envoys left for Europe, Eumenes and Antigonus chose to say goodbye as friends, and then resumed the enmity that they had been entrusted with. Antigonus finally completed the high wall blockade of Nora to prevent the besieged army from rushing out from the inside or reinforcements from the outside. Subsequently, after ensuring that the blockade against Eumenes was safe, Antigonus led his army westward to pursue the remaining members of Perdiccas. The men were still gathered in Pisidia, where Antigonus prepared to lead his new recruits on an arduous march, hoping to reach there before the enemy suspected his arrival.
Eumenes, who had not surrendered despite the heavy defeat, returned to his fortress and could not hold on. After marching some 20,000 miles with Alexander the Great and eventually helping him conquer three continents, and after being made an adviser to Perdiccas, who was considered to have the power to rule the entire known world, Eumenes now had less than a piece of land. 4 acres of rocky cliffs to call your own. However, he does not need to worry about enemy attacks in an isolated place for the time being, and he has sufficient reserves of food, grass and fuel. Although Eumenes was abandoned by his former allies, demonized by the royal army, and suffered a crushing defeat at Ochenia, he still managed to survive. He and his six hundred loyalists began to camp here for a long time, waiting for the next roll of fate.
She could have been Antigonus's best partner, but instead she was married to Demetrius, the one-eyed Antigonus son who was less than a weakling and sensual. This was a terrible mess of a mandarin duck. Completely mismatched personalities. When Demetrius complained to Antigonus that he was marrying a noble lady who was more than ten years older than him and had noble sentiments, his father reprimanded him by quoting a line from the works of Euripides. In his tragedy The Phoenician Women, the exiled Polynices explains how he resigned himself to a life of poverty in order to bide his time before trying to regain the throne: “For profit, a man You must humble yourself and become a slave.” Antigonus quoted this line to Demetrius—whom he no doubt hoped would one day ascend the throne—but he changed one word of the line. : "For profit, one must be willing to be humble and sacrifice one's life for marriage."The problem of the rebellious royal army and their demands for payment of wages remained. Under the command of Antigonus, the Silver Shields were sent to Susa, the richest old capital of Persia, and were ordered to transfer the funds there to the fortress of Gendar in Cilicia. This move brought a double benefit to the new leadership: funds would be easier to obtain, and they would also be freed from the troubles of Alexander the Great's most unruly veterans - the Silver Shields. The remaining members of the rebel army were assigned to follow the one-eyed Antigonus and the two kings to help launch the war against Eumenes. They need to stay busy all the time, and now they have a new enemy to fight.
's second blueprint for the post-Alexandrian era is complete, as if Perdiccas's reign had been nothing more than a bad false start. But the issue that brought the old agreement to naught—the relationship of Asian territories to European territories—lives on in the new solution. The two major groups of the empire were once again in a fatal balance. Antipater controlled one group, while Antigonus controlled the king and royal army in the other group. The ultimate question raised by Alexander's conquests was once again avoided: was the new empire a European country that controlled an Asian territory several times larger than the mainland; or was the empire essentially an Asian country, a new incarnation of the Persian Empire ? Is Europe nothing more than a tiny appendage? In the absence of clear answers, the empire-builders Antipater and Antigonus in Tripara de Issus designed a structure that spanned the Hellespont . After more than twenty years of war, their descendants still debate this issue at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC.
There were further developments before the leaders left Tripara de Issus. Perdiccas did not have time to destroy his documents before he was killed in Egypt, and Antipater now had control over the documents, which he may have obtained from Pesson and Aridaeus. Among them he found a letter sent from Athens, written by Demades, one of his two most trusted political agents. Antipater discovered in this document that Demades was actually plotting against him, and used a mean joke to incite Perdiccas to invade Europe: "Our city-state only relies on an old, rotten tree." The rope holds it together." Antipater was not amused by the jest at his advanced age, nor was his irascible son Cassander. If Antipater lived long enough, when he returned to his homeland, he would go to Demades to settle the account.
IV Eumenes (Cappadocia, Spring 320 BC)
Eumenes was now the loneliest man in the empire. News came from Egypt that Perdiccas had been murdered and that the royal army had sentenced him to death. Later, further news came from Triparadeissus that the one-eyed Antigonus had been given a powerful army and ordered to pursue him. And Eumenes' so-called allies - former officers under Perdiccas - have refused to cooperate with him.The main resister was Perdiccas's brother Alcetas, who refused to provide aid to Eumenes even when Perdiccas personally issued orders. Eumenes has been branded as a rebel by the royal army and despised by those who share his illegal status. At this time, he can no longer hope to get help from any party. He and his troops - the fine Cappadocian cavalry he had personally trained and the Macedonian infantry he had won in battle - were left to rely on their own strength.
A winding road brought Eumenes, a Greek from Chesoniskadia, to an isolated place in western Asia. Eumenes, who was promoted from a humble position by the father of Alexander the Great and served as royal scribe, did not seem destined to become a commander-in-chief. Alexander the Great only promoted him to a cavalry commander in the Indian Peninsula at the end of his Asiatic campaign; even at that time, Alexander the Great rarely let him go into battle. But the changes of the times forced Eumenes to continuously adapt and learn how to fight on the battlefield instead of burying his head in documents; and he also succeeded in learning. Eumenes won the battle on behalf of Perdiccas, although Perdiccas ultimately lost the war against Ptolemy. The opposing results of their battle turned Eumenes into an advisor to the bereaved commander, a former great minister of the empire who now had his head chopped off.
Just two years ago, Eumenes had tried to mediate the conflict in Babylon, claiming that he could gain everyone's trust because he was not interested in politics. It is ridiculous now that he thinks about it. He has always been on the same side as the Ajid family - his mentors and benefactors since childhood. The well-being of the Ajid family was what he fought for, and he supported Perdiccas as its defender. He almost made Perdiccas a member of the royal family of the Agids, but the regent's decision to marry Cleopatra came too late.
Eumenes still believed that Cleopatra and her mother Olympias would become his patrons, and that he himself would become their defender. But now the question of who has the authority to represent the Al-Ajid royal family has become incredibly complicated and tormenting. The two co-kings were now in the hands of Eumenes' enemies, who presented themselves as defenders of the royal family. To them, Eumenes was nothing more than a pretender who used the king to gain power; to Eumenes, these men were kidnappers, who had kidnapped the king from his rightful guardians.
Now Eumenes could not withdraw from this struggle even if he wanted to. Because he had killed Craterus, this sin would follow him everywhere, so war was inevitable. Eumenes had no choice but to fight, hoping to fight Antigonus to the death, and whenever the decisive battle came, it would only be on flat ground favorable to his cavalry. But what could Eumenes gain from victory? Because he was of Greek origin, he was naturally not eligible for the throne, and there was currently no commander who could make him an adviser, so Eumenes knew that his prospects would be bleak for a long time. Had the young Alexander survived long enough to exercise power and rule himself, Eumenes might have become Alexander's closest adviser, a position for which he was best suited. But it will still take more than ten years to achieve this goal. If a person has no legal position and is declared an enemy of the country, how can he persist for so long even if he has a powerful army?
This was the strange position in which Eumenes found himself in the turmoil of civil war. In that war, he alone achieved a major battlefield victory. However, in the end, he lost the country, career and commander he could fight for. His cavalry was more than capable of defeating any challenger, but what he might win was no one's guess.
Fearing that his soldiers would panic about the danger ahead, Eumenes summoned them together and told them the truth about Perdiccas' death and their current illegal status. He didn't know exactly how his men would react, but he allowed them the freedom to resign their commissions. Perhaps he also mentions the mutiny at Tripara de Issus and the poignant details of Antipater's financial straits. In any case, no one chose to accept his offer to leave the army. His soldiers urged him to lead them into battle with the royal army as quickly as possible, and vowed to tear the enemy's decrees to pieces with the tips of their spears.
That was all Eumenes needed to hear. He immediately broke camp and led his army to move westward, waiting for the enemy's arrival. If he cannot fight for anything else, he will fight for his own survival: if he surrenders or flees, he has no chance of survival.
Five Propaganda War (All Over the Empire)
Now that the elder Antipater and his son Cassander have joined the struggle for power, questions about the death of Alexander the Great have begun to resurface. Did Alexander the Great die of poisoning? If so, were Antipater and his sons implicated, perhaps with the help of Antipater's Greek friend Aristotle ? These rumors circulating throughout the Greek world cast a pall over the new de facto leader of the empire. Antipater's enemies began to exploit these rumors, and Antipater attempted to win the hearts and minds of Greek audiences through forged or leaked documents.
By this time throughout the Greek world, people had read the memoirs of Onesikritas , a Greek captain who served in Alexander the Great's fleet. The memoir claimed that Alexander attended a dinner party on the night he fell ill and was poisoned by a guest, but the author declined to name the perpetrators for fear of reprisal, the book said. Oneisikritus implies that the murderers are still at large and able to exact revenge, which is a way of indirectly blaming the generals who came into power after that, which in the Greek world basically meant that that person was Antioch. Pat.
Shortly thereafter - although the date of publication is still disputed - an anonymous Greek treatise appeared, which directly disclosed the unnamed name of Onesikritus. The original version of the treatise - sometimes called The Last Days and Testament of Alexander - has been lost, but a later Latin translation survives as the Book of the Dead. The book claims that Antipater, who had been summoned by Alexander the Great and was convinced that his death was imminent, gave the poison hidden in the hollowed-out mule's hoof to his son Cassander, who was in Babylon with his brother Iris. Iolaus met, and together they poisoned Alexander the Great at a banquet hosted by Medes, Iolaus's male lover. Then, the treatise solemnly lists the names of the guests who attended this fatal dinner, and exonerates seven others, including Perdiccas, Eumenes, and Ptolemy. This amounts to charging more than a dozen named guests with being co-conspirators. This treatise describes how Alexander drank the poisoned wine Iolaus poured for him, felt a sting, screamed loudly, and returned to his palace as the anxious conspirators dispersed. in the room. In the final act of treachery, when Alexander the Great asked Iolaus for a feather to induce vomiting, Iolaus handed him a feather dipped in poison.
This document is almost certainly a propaganda weapon used by a general seeking power, but which general? Since Antipater was accused of murdering Alexander the Great and Perdiccas and Eumenes were cleared of suspicion, at first glance it appears to be the work of Perdiccas or his allies. But Ptolemy was as much an enemy of Perdiccas as Antipater, and Ptolemy is exonerated in this treatise. Perhaps there are layers of material accumulated here, as successive forgers added new elements to the work.Whatever its purpose, The Last Days and Testament of Alexander shows that the charge of regicide was used with increasing frequency in the Macedonian power struggle, and was used primarily to weaken Antipater the Elder.
Perhaps in response to these accusations of poisoning and regicide, someone also published the final part of the Royal Journal, a serious, day-by-day account of eyewitness accounts of Alexander the Great's illness and death. Although the original manuscript has been lost now, it still existed in the second century AD, and both Arrian and Plutarch interpreted it after reading it. The Royal Journal describes Alexander's illness as a gradual onset of fever and coma, and makes it clear that the illness did not begin with a sudden twinge as claimed in Alexander's Last Days and Testament. Perhaps Antipater published or fabricated these journals himself in an attempt to dispel the rumors that hung over his family. In this hall of mirrors world of forged, synthesized and anonymous documents, there can be no finality.
Meanwhile, Ptolemy was engaged in another kind of propaganda in Egypt: to highlight his own role in the history of Alexander the Great's Asiatic conquests and to obscure the role of Perdiccas. Perdiccas may have been dead by the time Ptolemy began writing this history, but neither his supporters nor his memory were dead. To conceal the trauma Perdiccas suffered at the Battle of Gaugamela, or to attribute the outbreak of the Battle of Thebes to Perdiccas's lack of military discipline, or, and this is most important, to attribute the outbreak of the Battle of Thebes to Perdiccas' lack of military discipline. The complete erasure of the transfer of the signet ring, which was the most favored symbol of Alexander the Great, would have brought many benefits to Ptolemy. As one of the few witnesses present, perhaps Ptolemy wished he could put the moment completely behind him. It was Ptolemy who was responsible for the downfall of Perdiccas, and it would have been to Ptolemy's disservice had Perdiccas been the king's legitimate, hand-picked successor.
Many others—those who colluded with each other to murder him, inherited his power, or participated in the hunt for his associates—also wanted to stigmatize Perdiccas. Any or all of them may have distorted or exaggerated the image of Perdiccas that survives in ancient texts. We can find that in these documents, condemnations of Perdiccas's arrogance, domineering and cruelty abound, and the portrayal of his image sometimes even verges on slander. Diodorus even used the word "slayer" to describe Perdiccas, but for a soldier who made a living by killing enemies, this was a strange sarcasm. But when a leader fails, the qualities that made him a leader suddenly become flaws. Perdiccas's arrogance and stubbornness are no more obvious than those of Alexander the Great, but are obviously much toned down. Unlike the unfortunate Perdiccas, however, Alexander was almost undefeated.
VI Cleopatra, Eumenes and Antipater (Sardis, Spring 320 BC)
For two years Cleopatra, the sister of Alexander the Great, had been in Asia, in Sardis. The Governor's Mansion observed the progress of the war. Perhaps she longed to return to her native Macedonia or Epirus, where her mother Olympias cared for her two young children. However, if this is the case, it means that she has admitted failure and accepted a life of being humble and even precarious. Her only chance now to restore her royal lineage and protect her mother and children is to marry a powerful general and give birth to a new heir to the throne. But if she returns to Europe, she will never find such a groom. She came to Asia just to get married, so when she was in Asia, she was like a princess in a fairy tale waiting for the knight to rescue her on a high tower.
Cleopatra's time was running out. By the time she reaches 35, her fertility—an important advantage in her bid for inheritance—will decline rapidly.To make matters worse, she knew that her rival in fertility, Adea, had been married to King Philip for over a year and could announce that she was pregnant at any time. If this happened, Cleopatra's value on the marriage market would also plummet. If the child born to two royal members is male, he will undoubtedly become the new heir to the throne. Even Cleopatra, the biological sister of Alexander the Great, could not defeat such a powerful combination of Ajid blood unless she also married a member of the Ajid royal family, but there was no such person at this time. Marry her. After the deaths of Leonatos and Perdiccas, the suitable candidates she had been eyeing, there were only a few generals who met the qualifications.
The rise of the old Antipater brought danger to Cleopatra. Her mother's old rival, who had no affection for her branch of the Ajid royal family, could now do great harm to it. Antipater played the marriage game much more successfully than she did: his daughter married Ptolemy and Antigonus' son Demetrius, cutting off Cleopatra from these two potential candidates. possibility. The whole empire seemed at once to be in Antipater's pocket: it was within his power to block the path of Sardis and prevent the suitors from approaching Cleopatra; or he could even force Cleopatra. Petra married her own son, Cassander—but the idea of marrying the man who was thought to have poisoned her brother was undoubtedly unsettling.
As Cleopatra pondered her bleak future, a detachment of cavalry, commanded by a majestic general, arrived at the gates of Sardis. However, this man was not the knight in dazzling armor she expected, but her brother's former scribe Eumenes.
This development was certainly embarrassing for Cleopatra. Eumenes was a close friend and loyal servant of her family, and, by a twist of fate, had become the commander of a powerful army. He always supported Cleopatra and her marital ambitions. But Eumenes was now merely a criminal, sentenced to death for his service to the regime of Perdiccas. Not only could Cleopatra not marry him—he was, after all, a Greek and therefore different from her—it might have been a crime to even entertain him. As Antipater continued to advance towards Sardis, Cleopatra could not allow herself to be on the wrong side of the civil war.
Eumenes was eager to talk to Cleopatra. For the past few months, he had been plundering the provinces of western Anatolia, struggling to survive in enemy lands, but he came to Sardis in search of something more valuable than booty - legal sex. Cleopatra's existence was enough to counter the superiority occupied by the two great enemies Antipater and the one-eyed Antigonus. Although they controlled the king and claimed to be merely stewards of the royal family, it only took a wave of Cleopatra's hand to prove that this claim was nothing more than a lie. If she becomes an ally of Eumenes, combining her moral authority with Eumenes' military might, then both of them can still defeat their enemies. They had many reasons to join forces: both were excluded from power because of their second-rate status, Cleopatra was a woman, and Eumenes was a Greek. Both could achieve something only by being attached to a regent or king. Maybe, until one of them succeeds, both can rely on each other.
Eumenes showed off his cavalry in front of the city of Sardis like a knight, trying to impress the princess in the city. Considering that the last time Eumenes visited here, Cleopatra rejected Perdiccas because the outcome of the war was unresolved, so this time Eumenes wanted to show that he was sure of victory. In fact, he wanted to fight the royal army on the plains outside Sardis, and his soldiers seemed to be inspired by Cleopatra's eyes. She was the person closest to Alexander the Great in blood, and the late king's character and even appearance seemed to have regained life in her.When Justin wrote an abstract for the history book written by Trogus: "People admired the greatness and excellence of Alexander the Great so much that even the traces he left on women can be seen. The blessing of his holy name."
However, although Cleopatra approved Eumenes's visit, she was not willing to become his supporter. She is aware of her responsibility to the country and does not want to exacerbate the country's turmoil by taking sides. She asked Eumenes to leave Sardis and seek battle far from the place where she solemnly appeared. Eumenes bade farewell to the princess, and in obedience to her request, led his army to evacuate Sardis.
Soon after, the old man Antipater also came to Sardis and visited Cleopatra in person. Antipater also learned of her interview with Eumenes, which greatly displeased him. He could guess what kind of tricks the princess was playing. First, she was flirting with Perdiccas, and now she was flirting with Perdiccas's advisor. Perhaps before that, he also knew that she had also been flirting with Lieutenant Colonel Annatus flirts with each other. With his authority already challenged—he was nearly killed by another princess, Adea—Antipater could no longer allow Cleopatra to flirt with his enemy. He rebuked Cleopatra for ignoring royal interests. He had served the royal family loyally for sixty years, but now it seemed to him that the royal family was being torn apart by a group of nosy, lawless women.
Cleopatra certainly ignored it. She was too proud to restrain herself in front of a man who obeyed the orders of her father and brother. In a now-lost speech that the medieval Photius called "more than one would expect from a woman," Cleopatra fired back at Antipater without reservation. Perhaps Cleopatra, like her mother, believed this man was responsible for Alexander's death, and now she accused him to his face. Antipater calmed her down in some way, and the two parties finally parted amicably. The supreme commander of the empire and the supreme royal family of the empire still need each other. Cleopatra was unwilling to be blamed for civil strife, and Antipater learned from the unfortunate precedent of Perdiccas that a soldier would pay for the death of an Acid princess. High price.
Antipater continued to prepare for battle with Eumenes. But Cleopatra in the tower remained where she was, once again bereft of friends, widowed, and alone.
VII Ptolemy (Syria and Jerusalem, summer 320 BC)
Seeing his former comrades busy with internal fighting, Ptolemy sat firmly in Egypt and once again chose to pursue his own interests. His new dominions were vast, greatly expanded by the annexation of Cyprus and Cyrene, and there was a fine land to the east of his dominions, where few Macedonian troops were stationed, and which seemed to be the site of his completion. The perfect direction for a miniature empire. The Pharaohs before him had long coveted Syria and Palestine, and often occupied that land. Its wealthy provinces had excellent harbors and provided a valuable buffer against invasion from the east. Ptolemy was temporarily protected from foreign invasion. Although his father-in-law Antipater was still his ally, he could not maintain this alliance forever - especially since Ptolemy planned to let Eurydice's bridesmaid Bael Nikki becomes her own queen, but in a move that threatens to bring shame to the old man's daughter.
To the north of Ptolemy's coveted land was the small walled city of Jerusalem, home to a group of monotheists whom the Greeks would soon call "Jews." Although the Macedonians had traveled through their territory and may have even entered the Holy City, Alexander the Great and his generals almost never paid any attention to these Jews.No Alexandrian historian mentioned the Jews or Jerusalem, and a later writer, the Romanized Jew Josephus, took this omission as a sign of malice. In fact, among the Greek writers before Alexander the Great, no one except Theophrastus, a student of Aristotle, knew of the existence of the Jews, and Theophrastus seemed to have only encountered It’s just the Jewish expatriates living in Egypt.
However, Ptolemy knew enough about the Jews to use their own religious customs against them. He learned that the Jewish calendar is a week of seven days, and there is a Sabbath every week. On this day, all labor, including armed fighting, is prohibited. Therefore, Ptolemy planned to march into the city of Jerusalem on a Sabbath day. The Jews, because they adhered to their ancient laws, did not raise troops to resist. In this way, Ptolemy won a bloodless victory and added new territories to his territory. Ptolemy's new capital, Alexandria, began to fill with Jewish captives and immigrants, and it soon became the most important Jewish center outside Jerusalem.
The Jews were exploited because of their devout observance of the Law of Moses. They were eventually conquered by a general under Alexander the Great and entered the stage of European history.
Eight Eumenes, Antigonus and Antipater (Anatolia, late winter of 320 BC)
There is a legend circulating in the ancient world. When Alexander the Great was alive, one day, a captured pirate were brought before him to be punished. Alexander the Great was outraged by the man's plunder and asked what right he had to cause trouble at sea. The pirate replied: "The same rights you have when you are making trouble in the world. Just because I only rely on a small boat, I am called a bandit; but you have a huge fleet, so you are called a bandit." Known as a ruler." This anecdote may be apocryphal, but it illustrates an important point. Even when Alexander the Great was still alive, it was difficult to distinguish between good and bad political purposes for his military campaigns. Cynics might see it as a predatory attack sweeping the globe. Now that he is dead, the piratical side of the Macedonian army has become more prominent.
The three generals wandering Asia Minor at this time - the outlaw Eumenes and his pursuers Antipater and the one-eyed Antigonus - all knew that the upcoming war would depend on one factor: the strength of the generals. Depends on the loyalty of the troops, which in turn depends on the loot. The soldiers who fought with Alexander the Great already had piles of booty. They seized their share of the wealth from the Persians and transported this wealth across Asia in huge trains. But their hoards of wealth never seem to satisfy them. They have no family, ignore the well-being of the country, and have no idea what the Ajid royal family wants from them. Only money becomes the reason for their existence. They will fight for generals who can provide them with food and pay, and they will fight against generals who cannot provide them with rewards.
One-eyed Antigonus had the upper hand in this new type of warfare because, as commander-in-chief of the Asiatic territories, he had the authority to draw funds from the treasury. His written orders, signed by the obedient King Philip, could open rapidly filling treasuries such as Genda's, which was guarded by an iron-walled silver shield. With such wealth, he could try to buy a victory against Eumenes without having to win a victory directly on the battlefield, where he would have to face Eumenes' well-trained men. of cavalry. This force had already defeated Alexander the Great's best field general, Craterus, and trampled him under his iron hooves.
In his opinion, Eumenes was indeed short of money, but as a desperado, he could steal property from the rich. Asia Minor was dotted with wealthy estates and towns that were also home to slaves who might have been trafficked.In Alexander's time, armies could only plunder enemy territory. But to Eumenes, the whole empire was enemy territory, for it was the empire that had sentenced him to death. He began to raise a considerable war chest by allowing his men to seize Anatolian estates and then redeem them from their owners at exorbitant prices. This tactic had the dual benefit of not only gaining him money, but also humiliating Antipater and Antigonus, who were in charge of Asia and were unable or unwilling to prevent the extortion. The people of Anatolia would feel that Antipater and Antigonus—not Eumenes—were responsible. As Eumenes continued to plunder the pockets of his enemies, the outlaw's reputation grew.
The one-eyed Antigonus attempted to fight fire with fire by placing a price on Eumenes' life. One day, when Eumenes returned to the camp, he found that his soldiers were studying some leaflets: the leaflets stated that Antigonus would offer a reward of 100 talents for Eumenes' head. Unless Eumenes can take steps to retaliate, this reward will test everyone's loyalty to him. The cunning Greek quickly gathered his soldiers and stood before them to make a speech. He thanked the soldiers for sticking to their oath of allegiance - of course no one had time for treachery - and "revealed" that his distribution of the leaflets was just a test, which his soldiers passed admirably. test. He analyzed that it was impossible for Antigonus to distribute these leaflets, because any general who attempted to provide a bounty might be counterattacked. Perhaps some of Eumenes' audience accepted this logic, while others admired the wisdom of his scheme, but all of his men must have been convinced by the recent successful attack that they Fortune's best hope lay in keeping Eumenes safe, not killing him. They voted on the spot to vigorously strengthen measures to maintain the safety of the commander-in-chief, and to equip him with a guard officer selected from among a thousand elites.
In order to fight back against Antigonus, Eumenes moved to Cerana, the Cyclops' empty capital in Phrygia, and spent the winter sacking his province. Although Antigonus did not directly challenge him, Antipater and his experienced soldiers launched several raids against him. The rivalry in Phrygia between Eumenes and Antipater, sworn enemies who predated Alexander the Great's expedition, is well known thanks to Ari's discovery in a medieval palimpsest. Two precious pages from "After the Death of Alexander" written by Ann. Thanks to digital imaging technology, the erased text has just awakened from a millennium-long slumber. But it also provides a painful glimpse into how much we have suffered with the loss of this work.
Eumenes began to continue to expand the scale of his attacks and retreat, and launched attacks from multiple directions at the same time, so that Antipater had no way to suppress it. Eumenes had his officers use siege weapons to make the attack easier. In a short time they had plundered some 800 talents of wealth from the hapless Phrygians, and distributed the spoils among the delighted rank and file. As his men grew richer, Eumenes' status also rose, while Antipater looked more and more like a paper tiger. Arrian wrote : “Antipater and his army watched helplessly as [Phrygia] was taken, their fields burned, and their goods sold as plunder. Antipater was thought to have Te was merely a bystander to their misadventures."
However, Eumenes's strategy could not always succeed. His enemies would eventually corner him or deprive him of his troops' loyalty by cutting off his supplies and preventing him from pillaging.Eumenes had noticed the dissatisfaction among his troops; a legion of three thousand infantry and five hundred cavalry had withdrawn from Cerana and continued its march forward. Their camp was already a few meters away from Eumenes. There is some distance. Eumenes borrowed a signature tactic from Alexander the Great and sent an elite force in pursuit through the night. The deserters were completely caught off guard and were taken prisoner without resistance. Eumenes executed the rebellious leaders and then reintegrated the troops into the army, dividing the soldiers into more reliable units and winning over them with favors. With Antipater and Antigonus hot on his heels, he could not afford to lose these experienced veterans.
Eumenes' greatest hope was to join forces with those who had been deprived of power like himself - the other leaders of the former Perdiccas regime. Each of them controlled his own army: Perdiccas's brother Alcetas still had a considerable number of troops, while Perdiccas's brother-in-law Attalus might have made some money from the funds he had misappropriated. Pay enough money. Eumenes contacted these two well-born Macedonians and two other members of Perdiccas' party, Palemon and Docmus, and all four gathered in nearby Pisidia. Eumenes's strategic proposals are preserved in palimpsests that are still readable today. Eumenes believed that if the five armies were integrated into one, then they could control Western Asia for a long time, live off the territory they occupied, and embarrass their enemies at the same time. Antipater and Antigonus would be despised for their own weaknesses, and defections from their armies would increase. Eventually, the two men would negotiate a peace agreement with Perdiccas's followers, in which the followers would be pardoned and regain the rights they had gained in the Babylonian Accords. Position. It is worth noting that Eumenes did not envision a final victory, but a restoration of unity and a return to the status quo ante. Perhaps he is not beyond sin. The Macedonians, who condemned him only in anger, may eventually relent: they may well stop fighting Eumenes once they see that he has no intention of fighting back.
Eumenes ended his appeal with a respectful note, saying that anyone with a better plan should come forward with their idea. Humility was Eumenes' best hope for success, for he spoke to people who did not like, trust or respect him. Alcetas had refused to aid Eumenes, even though Perdiccas had given him orders to do so. If Alcetas was resentful at that time because Eumenes was a Greek who was too smart and had too much influence on his brother Perdiccas, then now Eumenes has won great honors on the battlefield. It made him even more jealous. The same jealousy also tormented Attalus, Palemon and Docmus. They all came from warrior families with noble blood, so they did not like to be in the shadow of a foreign upstart.
Who will command this joint force has become a focus of debate. Alcetas wanted to make himself the commander-in-chief of this force, and especially wanted to control the native Macedonians in the infantry under Eumenes, who were the strong veterans left behind by Alexander the Great. But Eumenes was unwilling to budge. In Eumenes' view, he was no longer a slave to the Greek and Macedonian warrior elites who were committed to the court, but a talented senior general. He could accept being ranked behind people like Perdiccas, but he would never allow people like Alcetas or Attalus to be ranked above him. These people were his subordinates not long ago, at least Perdiccas and even Alexander the Great himself wanted to make them his subordinates.
In the end, the differences of opinion regarding the rank of Eumenes were not reconciled, and the five-party talks ended without any results. The alliance that could have saved all Perdiccas's henchmen failed to form.All will face their enemies in their own way, but Eumenes will have to face them alone.
Nine Antigonus, Cassander, Antipater and the Kings (Anatolia, late winter 320 BC)
Meanwhile, further north in Anatolia, disagreements and defections also After tormenting the enemies of Eumenes, they were now the new guardians of the co-king. Despite controlling the treasury, Antipater the Elder and Antigonus the One-Eyed were unable to suppress the message sent by Eumenes' plunder: that plunder was rewarded. As Eumenes had foreseen in his advice to Arcetas and the others, Antigonus found that some of his own troops had noticed the message and had taken refuge in the mountains. That winter, a force of three thousand foot soldiers broke away from Antipater's army. Their commander was Hosias, a sympathizer of Perdiccas's partisans. They occupied the highlands of Cappadocia, a safe zone from which they could plunder the surrounding areas. Antigonus was worried that these soldiers would join the army of Alcetas or Eumenes, but he could not make the loyal troops against him feel ill-will by massacre.
In the past two years of civil war, Antigonus has gradually mastered the essence of covert activities, and the current crisis requires him to do so. He sent a high-ranking officer named Leonidas to the rebels and asked him to gain their trust by pretending to join the rebel ranks. Leonidas was warmly welcomed by the rebels and elected as commander-in-chief. He led the soldiers down from the high ground into an open plain. According to prior arrangements, Antigonus's cavalry was already waiting there. Antigonus launched an attack on the plains, easily capturing the rebel leaders and forcing them to swear an oath that they would leave Asia with their followers and never return. Although it was a pity to lose so many soldiers, it was better than having them join the army of Perdiccas's henchmen.
An even worse problem for Antigonus was the brewing dispute between him and the elder Antipater. This rift was caused by Antipater's son Cassander. The young man appointed Antigonus's deputy distrusted Antigonus from the start and went straight to his Phrygian father to complain. Antipater believed his son's concerns and summoned Antigonus to Phrygia in an attempt to change the balance of power that had been reached at Triparade Issus. Antigonus was at that time appointed guardian of the king, and was given leadership of the group of aggressive veterans left behind by Alexander the Great. But now Antipater wanted to take away these two symbols of power and bring them under his jurisdiction from then on. In exchange, Antipater handed over the European recruits under his command to Antigonus, and the exchange of troops ensured that the original royal troops would remain with the king. Antipater also made it clear that his immediate plans had changed. He would return to Europe, allowing Antigonus to continue his campaign against Eumenes without his aid. After months of tangles with the cunning Greek during the winter, the old soldier-statesman was finally ready to make his way home.
Antipater gathered the royal family members and marched to the Hellespont with his son Cassander. Since his first arrival in Asia, it had brought him only hardship and humiliation, and he was destined to suffer the last humiliation on the shores of Asia. As his troops marched through Anatolia, King Philip's young wife Adea began to remind the soldiers that their due reward had been long delayed. The royal troops mutinied again. Antipater had no choice but to appease the soldiers by pretending that money was waiting for them on the shores of the Hellespont. After luring the soldiers to the crossing point, Antipater crossed the strait with the king and several senior generals in the dead of night. The helpless army had no choice but to follow them back to Europe the next day, where Antipater was able to maintain good control over the troops and their queen.
The co-kings and the armies fighting under Alexander the Great left Asia forever. How do their compatriots view these unruly veterans who have returned from afar, how do they view the strange Bactrian women and the mixed-race children they gave birth to, and how do they view those who are slowly moving forward in the queue. A weird war machine called an elephant? None of this was recorded by any ancient writer. In fact, no other ancient historian seems to have pointed out the significance of this crossing except Arrian, who regarded it as the end point of "After the Death of Alexander".
This was indeed the end, the end of an extraordinary, continent-spanning experiment in monarchy. Alexander the Great started the experiment, and Perdiccas, despite his own incompetence, tried to keep it going. In the end, Antipater unilaterally decided to end the experiment, send the Ajid royal family back home, and separate the royal family from Bactria and Babylon, returning to the foothills of the Balkans. Asia may still be part of the Macedonian Empire, but it will never again be the center of the empire as Alexander the Great once dreamed and planned.
The legacy of that dream is engraved on the skin color and appearance of Alexander the Great's young son. If young Alexander is lucky enough to live another ten years, he will become the first king born in Asia to rule European territory. . But given the tumultuous first four years of his life, it could have been a long and perilous decade.
Ten Antigonus and Eumenes (Anatolia, Spring 319 BC)
With Antipater's departure and the end of winter, the one-eyed Antigonus and Eumenes prepared for the war in Asia A showdown. It was a duel between two resourceful and reputable men who had been friends at the court of Philip II, but who had become opposed to each other due to political unforeseen circumstances. They both claimed to be fighting under the banner of the Ajid royal family, and both commanded armies composed mostly of Macedonians. They had never hurt each other before, and there was no ideological gap between them. However, now that Eumenes has been declared a public enemy of the country, Antigonus, as the commander-in-chief of the Asian territories, has received the task of completely annihilating Eumenes.
However, Eumenes was not so easily destroyed. His Cappadocia cavalry exceeded Antigonus's cavalry in numbers, and also surpassed them in proficiency and combat experience. Antigonus would never make the mistake that Craterus had made, at least not without demoralizing him, and he would not confront this cavalry head-on. Fortunately, he had enough funds to complete this nerf. The bribe he offered succeeded in convincing Apollonides, a cavalry officer under Eumenes, to defect. Apollonides promised Antigonus through a secret letter that he would sneak away from Eumenes and take a whole team of horses with him.
Eumenes, unaware of the impending betrayal, confidently sought battle with Antigonus at a place called Auchinea. He was stationed in an open field with an unobstructed view of One-Eyed Antigonus, which was a signal that he was willing to fight with him. Heralds traveled freely between the two armies, conveying messages from one general to the other in preparation for the ensuing deadly battle.
Antigonus used this interval to play a demoralizing trick on his former friend. [28] When Eumenes' herald arrived at Antigonus's camp, he instructed a soldier to run up to him panting and shout: "Our allies have arrived!" The herald who witnessed this scene The soldier promptly reported to Eumenes and told him that Antigonus's troops had received reinforcements. The next day, Antigonus advanced his infantry phalanx in twice the usual line, as if he had indeed received new reinforcements.This sight greatly frustrates the confidence of the Eumenes infantry. They did not realize that the depth of their formation was twice that of the enemy, giving them an advantage. Instead, they felt that they had lost their numerical advantage.
It turns out that these two cunning strategies aimed at neutralizing Eumenes's cavalry strength had a miraculous effect against Eumenes. The Battle of Ochenia, of which no detailed records survive, quickly turned into a rout. Antigonus massacred some eight thousand soldiers under Eumenes' command and captured the baggage train carrying the spoils and treasures of Eumenes' army. Eumenes became a hero in the eyes of the soldiers precisely because of those trophies, so this tragic defeat was undoubtedly a huge psychological blow to him.
But Eumenes did not recover from the fall. He fled the battle with a portion of his troops that neither fled nor surrendered, including most of his fleet-footed cavalry. After managing to capture and execute Apollonides, Eumenes returned to Auchenia again, this time evading Antigonus who was pursuing him in the direction of his escape. He decided that he would hold funerals for his fallen soldiers, a privilege usually afforded by formal recognition of defeat. Since there were not many trees in Auchennia, Eumenes had to order to collect the door panels of nearby houses as lumber and build two huge pyres, one for the cremation of officers and the other for the cremation of soldiers. After the cremation, Eumenes ordered a mound to be built over the ashes of the fallen. When Antigonus arrived with his army, the tomb had been completed and Eumenes had disappeared. Although Eumenes lost the battle, he regained his dignity and deprived Antigonus of his right as victor to set the conditions for the return of the fallen.
Eumenes also planned to rush to Armenia and recruit a brand new army there. However, Antigonus soon caught up with him. Eumenes had no choice but to use his prearranged plan and risk his life to survive. On the border of Cappadocia there is a fortress called Nola, which is located on an impregnable cliff with a circumference of only about 400 yards. The fortress contains enough grain, grass, salt and firewood to last a small force for several years, enough to defend it against all invading enemies. Eumenes disbanded the troops that followed him, retaining only 600 soldiers, and then entered the fortress and could not get out. The fortress was like a safe island in the enemy's vast ocean. Here Eumenes could wait for the political winds to change, or for his potential allies Alcetas and other generals to come to his aid. Although the prospect of being isolated from the world and trapped in a mountain fortress for a long time is worrying, it is still better than defeat.
The one-eyed Antigonus came to Nora and found that Eumenes had safely stayed there. He planned to surround the fortress with a double wall, ditches, and outposts, possibly for many years. However, Antigonus decided to try negotiation before pursuing this costly alternative. He sent his nephew into the fortress as a hostage to ensure Eumenes' personal safety and persuaded Eumenes to come out to negotiate.
The two commanders had not seen each other for fifteen years, since the early days of Alexander the Great's expedition. However, they discovered that it was not difficult to put the conflict aside and restore the old bonds of friendship. They embraced each other and exchanged cordial greetings, while the young soldiers newly recruited under Antigonus wanted to catch a glimpse of this famous person - he was the victor who defeated Craterus and the secretary who rose to the rank of general. Official, now he has become a desperado. The soldiers were so close to them that Antigonus feared for Eumenes' safety, and he threw his arms around his old friend to protect him from excessive enthusiasm—and perhaps hostility— —Possible harm caused by the crowd.
The negotiations between the two commanders showed that their dispute was completely controlled by others.Eumenes did not admit that he had committed treason at all. Instead, he demanded that he be fully reinstated as governor of Cappadocia, even though this meant joining the regime that had officially stated that he wanted to kill him. He did not even mention the death sentence passed in Egypt, as if it were an obvious mistake. Antigonus himself did not reject Eumenes' proposal, which shows that he also had doubts about the current hostilities. He offered to submit the request to Antipater for adjudication, and sent an envoy to Macedonia to this end. Eumenes also sent one of his close friends and compatriots as an envoy to plead his case. The man he sent was none other than Hieronymus of Cadia, who had great insight into the power struggle in the post-Alexandrian era. The memoirs he wrote later, although now lost, have become the basis for most of the existing documents. historical data.
When these envoys left for Europe, Eumenes and Antigonus chose to say goodbye as friends, and then resumed the enmity that they had been entrusted with. Antigonus finally completed the high wall blockade of Nora to prevent the besieged army from rushing out from the inside or reinforcements from the outside. Subsequently, after ensuring that the blockade against Eumenes was safe, Antigonus led his army westward to pursue the remaining members of Perdiccas. The men were still gathered in Pisidia, where Antigonus prepared to lead his new recruits on an arduous march, hoping to reach there before the enemy suspected his arrival.
Eumenes, who had not surrendered despite the heavy defeat, returned to his fortress and could not hold on. After marching some 20,000 miles with Alexander the Great and eventually helping him conquer three continents, and after being made an adviser to Perdiccas, who was considered to have the power to rule the entire known world, Eumenes now had less than a piece of land. 4 acres of rocky cliffs to call your own. However, he does not need to worry about enemy attacks in an isolated place for the time being, and he has sufficient reserves of food, grass and fuel. Although Eumenes was abandoned by his former allies, demonized by the royal army, and suffered a crushing defeat at Ochenia, he still managed to survive. He and his six hundred loyalists began to camp here for a long time, waiting for the next roll of fate.
