Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c47g7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T06:49:32.880Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

4 - The formation of the Hellenistic kingdoms

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

By
Édouard Will
Edited by
F. W. Walbank ,
A. E. Astin ,
M. W. Frederiksen  and
R. M. Ogilvie
F. W. Walbank
Affiliation:
University of Liverpool
A. E. Astin
Affiliation:
Queen's University Belfast
Get access

Summary

THE ADVENTURES OF DEMETRIUS POLIORCETES (301–286)

Having narrowly escaped from the massacre of Ipsus, Demetrius Poliorcetes had hurled himself at Ephesus: Asia might be lost, but he had to keep control of the sea. At sea, the position of Antigonus' son remained solid. The confederation of the Nesiotes remained, for the moment, loyal to him and Cyprus was still firmly in his grasp, as were a number of coastal towns in Asia, from Asia Minor (though here Lysimachus rapidly established his power, which made the inhabitants long for the days of Antigonus) to Phoenicia (Tyre, Sidon). In European Greece, where Pyrrhus of Epirus, from exile, was for a time Demetrius' representative, the recently restored League of Corinth soon fell apart and Demetrius found himself restricted to a certain number of seaboard towns, chief of which was Corinth. To his great disappointment, Athens gave him notice: the servility of the Athenians had enabled them to tolerate many extravagances on Demetrius' part and even many sacrileges (such as the installation of his harem in the Parthenon and his scandalously irregular initiation at Eleusis), but the bill was heavy. Freed from the costly encumbrance of Demetrius' protection, the Athenians, under the semi-tyrannical government of Lachares, lost no time in renewing their ties with Cassander, whose eviction had been the occasion for wild rejoicing in 307. Happily for Demetrius, he still had his fleet (the Athenians even returned to him the squadron posted in their waters) and was indisputably master of the sea.

Keywords

Alexander's empireAntigonid dynastyDemetrius PoliorcetesEuropean Greek citiesGonatasPtolemaic dynastySeleucid dynastyLysimachus' kingdomHellenistic kingdoms
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Ancient History , pp. 101 - 117
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreades, A. ‘L'administration financière du roi Lysimaque’, Mélanges Thomas (1930).Google Scholar
Aymard, A. ‘Du nouveau sur la chronologie des Séleucides’, Revue des études anciennes 57 (1955) = Études d'histoire ancienne, : (A 2).Google Scholar
Bagnall, R. S. The Administration of the Ptolemaic Possessions outside Egypt. Leiden, 1976.
Bengtson, H. Die Strategic in der hellenistischen Zeit. Ein Beitrag zum antiken Staatsrecht (Münch. Beitr. Papyr. 26, 32, 36). Ed. 2 Munich, 1964–7.
Bingen, J. ‘Le trésor monétaire Thorikos 1969’, in Mussche, H. F. and others, Thorikos 1969: Rapport préliminaire sur la sixième campagne de fouilles, Brussels, 1973.Google Scholar
Briant, P. Antigone le Borgne. Les débuts de sa carrière et les problémes de l'assemblée macédonienne. Paris, 1973.
Chambers, M. ‘The first regnal year of Antigonus Gonatas’, American Journal of Philology 75 (1954).Google Scholar
De Sanctis, G. ‘Lacare’, Rivista di filologia e d' istruzione classica 6 (1928) = Scritti Minori (Rome, 1966).Google Scholar
De Sanctis, G. ‘Atene dopo Ipso e un papiro fiorentino’, Rivista di filologia e d' istruzione classica 14 (1936).Google Scholar
Errington, R. M. ‘The nature of the Macedonian state under the monarchy’, Chiron 8 (1978).Google Scholar
Ferguson, W. S. Hellenistic Athens. An historical essay. London, 1911 (repr. 1974).
Flacelière, R. Les Aitoliens à Delphes. Contribution à l'histoire de la Grèce centrale au IIIe siècle av. J.-C Paris, 1937.
Fortina, M. Cassandro, re di Macedonia. Turin, 1965.
Geyer, F. ‘Lysimachos’, Pauly, , Wissowa, and others, Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertums-Wissenschaft XIV.I (1928).Google Scholar
Glotz, G., Cohen, R. and Roussel, P. Histoire grecque iv.i: Alexandre et le démembrement de son empire. Paris, 1945.
Granier, F. Die makedonische Heeresversammlung: ein Beitrag zum antiken Staatsrecht Munich, 1931.
Habicht, Chr. Untersuchungen zur politischen Geschichte Athens im 3. Jahrhundert (Vestigia 30). Munich, 1979. (Review by Heinen, H. , Göttingische gelehrte Anzeigen 233 (1981)).
Heinen, H. Untersuchungen zur hellenistischen Geschichte des 3. Jahrhunderts v. Chr. Zur Geschichte der Zeit des Ptolemaios Keraunos und zum Chremonideischen Krieg (Historia Einzelschr. 20). Wiesbaden, 1972.
Klaffenbach, G. ‘Polyeuktos (6)’, Pauly, , Wissowa, and others, Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertums-Wissenschaft XXI.2 (1952).Google Scholar
Laidlaw, W. A. A History of Delos Oxford, 1933.
Lévèque, P. Pjrrhos. Paris, 1957.
Longega, G. Arsinoe II (Universitá degli Studi di Padova. Pubblicazioni dell'Istituto di storia antica 6). Rome, 1968.
Manni, E. Demetrio Poliorcete. Rome, 1951.
Merker, I. M. ‘The Ptolemaic officials and the League of the Islanders’, Historia 19 (1970).Google Scholar
Mihailov, G. ‘La Thraceaux IVe et Hie siecles av. notre ère’, Athenaeum 39 (1961).Google Scholar
Nachtergael, G. Les Galates en Grèce et les Sôtéria de Delphes. Recherches d'histoire et d'épigraphie hellénistiques (Acad. royale de Belgique. Mémoires de la Classe des Lettres2 LXIII.I). Brussels, 1977.
Nenci, G. Pirro, Aspirazioni egemoniche ed equilibrio mediterraneo. Turin, 1953.
Pélékidis, Chr. ‘L'archonte athénien Polyeuktos (247/6)’, Bulletin de correspondance hellénique 85 (1961).Google Scholar
Ritter, H. W. Diadem und Königsherrschaft. Munich, 1965.
Sachs, A. J. and Wiseman, D. J. ‘A Babylonian king-list of the Hellenistic period’, Iraq 16 (1954).Google Scholar
Saitta, G. ‘Lisimaco di Tracia’, Kokalos 1 (1955).Google Scholar
Seibert, J. ‘Philokles, Sohn des Apollodoros, König der Sidonier’, Historia 19 (1970).Google Scholar
Seibert, J. Historische Beiträge zu den dynastischen Verbindungen in hellenistischer Zeit (Historia Einzelschr. 10). Wiesbaden, 1967.
Shear, T. L. Jr Kallias of Sphettos and the Revolt of Athens in 28 B.C. (Hesperia. Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens Suppl. 17). Princeton, 1978.
Tarn, W. W. Antigonos Gonatas Oxford, 1913.
Thompson, M. ‘The mints of Lysimachus’, Robinson Essays (1968).Google Scholar
Volkmann, H. ‘Ptolemaios’, Pauly, , Wissowa, and others, Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertums-Wissenschaft XXIII.2 (1959).Google Scholar
Wehrli, C. Antigone et Démétrios. Geneva, 1969.
Will, Ed. Histoire politique du monde hellénistique. 2 vols. Nancy, 1967 (II); 1979 (I, ed. 2); 1982 (II, ed. 2).

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×