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The Fourth Diadoch War (307-301) was the
final stage of the struggle between Antigonus and his fellow successors
(Diadochi) for control of the inheritance of Alexander the Great. By the end of
308 Cassander had
eliminated the main threats to his position in Greece and Macedonia.
Polyperchon had been
bought off by an appointment as general of the Peloponnese. An Egyptian
expedition of 308 had ended in failure. That expedition had been launched
during a rare period of alliance between Ptolemy and Antigonus. When it failed,
Antigonus needed to find a new way to disrupt Cassander’s efforts to
consolidate his position in Greece.
Antigonus decided to take advantage of his public commitment to the liberty of
the Greek cities. For ten years Athens had been ruled by a dictator who had
been installed by Cassander. In 307 Antigonus sent his son Demetrius to Athens
to depose Cassander’s regime, and restore the democracy. Demetrius was
welcomed in Athens as a divine liberator, and settled down for a period of
dedicated debauchery in the city. This ended in 306 when open war broke out
between Antigonus and Ptolemy.
Demetrius was sent to conquer Cyprus. He began with a major siege of Salamis,
failing to take the city by siege, but winning the battle of Salamis, a naval
battle close to the city. Cyprus fell, and was to be an important base for
Demetrius even after the fall of his father in 301.
In the aftermath of the triumph on Cyprus, Antigonus was acclaimed as king
(basileus). Antigonus was claiming Alexander’s legacy, and by right of
conquest, or at least of military achievement. He was not claiming to be king
of any particular area – when his grandson Antigonus Gonatas became king
of Macedonia it would be as
Antigonus II, despite
Antigonus I never actually having control of Macedonia. Demetrius was also
given the same title at this stage. Once Antigonus had taken this step, his
rivals soon followed.
Ptolemy waited until he had seen off an attempted invasion by Antigonus that
followed the victory on Cyprus, although the title only made sense to his Greek
and Macedonian subjects. Seleucus, Cassander and Lysimachus each took the same
step over the next year or so, although with differing levels of enthusiasm.
From Cyprus Antigonus turned his attention to Rhodes. Rhodes was one of the few
Greek states to remain independent throughout this period, and was a powerful
naval force. In 305 BC Demetrius was dispatched to Rhodes with orders to
capture the city. The defences of Rhodes were formidable, and despite his best
efforts Demetrius was unable to take the city. Ptolemy was able to keep the
city supplied by sea, which suggests that his fleet was not as badly damaged at
Salamis as is sometimes supposed. While Demetrius was occupied on Rhodes,
Cassander was recovering his position in Greece and was now beginning to
threaten Athens. In 304 Antigonus was forced to negotiate a compromise peace
with Rhodes. The Rhodians agreed to support Antigonus as allies against anyone
but Ptolemy. This freed Demetrius to return to Greece. Once in Greece he was
soon able to restore the situation. Cassander was still unpopular and Demetrius
had yet to loose the goodwill he had generated in 307. By 302 Cassander had
been pushed out of much of central Greece. Demetrius was able to form a new
league of Greek cities, based at Corinth. This league was to be used as a
weapon against Cassander. Demetrius was inevitably elected as general of the
league’s army, and launched an attack on Cassander’s position that
forced him to sue for peace. Antigonus refused the offer of peace. He was now
confident that he was on the brink of a total victory. Demetrius was to advance
on Macedonia from the south, while he attacked from the east. Cassander would
be crushed between the two armies. This grand plan was never carried out. After
the rejection of his peace offer, Cassander turned to Ptolemy, Seleucus and
Lysimachus and was able to form a firm alliance against Antigonus. Lysimachus
would lead his and Cassander’s armies east into Asia Minor. Seleucus made
peace with Chandragupta in return for 500 war elephants. He would bring this
army west, join with Ptolemy and the combined allied armies would overwhelm
Antigonus, and hopefully Demetrius. The plan worked almost perfectly. Faced
with an invasion of Asia Minor, Antigonus summoned Demetrius from Greece.
Lysimachus was able to delay the battle until Seleucus arrived. The only
disappointment was that Ptolemy did not appear, instead preferring to conquer
Coele-Syria instead. At the battle of Ipsus in 301 in Phrygia, Antigonus was
defeated. He was killed in the battle, his army was crushed and Demetrius only
just managed to escape. The death of Antigonus removed the last figure whose
consistent aim was to reunite Alexander’s empire. The victors of Ipsus
were happy to establish their own limited kingdoms, although all but Ptolemy
would have happily taken a change of greater glory if it came that way.
Demetrius may have aimed at reclaiming all of his father’s lands, but his
later adventures lacked any unity of purpose. The first half of the struggle
between the successors had been between unifiers and separatists. The second
half would be a battle to define the shape of the successor states.
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