Cassander

In his youth, Cassander was taught by the philosopher Aristotle at the Lyceum in Macedonia. He was educated alongside Alexander the Great in a group that included Hephaestion, Ptolemy and Lysimachus.Heckel, Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander's empire, p. 153 His family were distant collateral relatives to the Argead dynasty.[http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/affilates/aff_ptolemies.htm Ptolemaic Dynasty - Affiliated Lines: The Antipatrids] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716100716/http://www.tyndalehouse.com/egypt/ptolemies/affilates/aff_ptolemies.htm |date=July 16, 2011 }}

Cassander is first recorded as arriving at Alexander the Great's court in Babylon in 323 BC, where he had been sent by his father, Antipater, most likely to help uphold Antipater's regency in Macedon, although a later contemporary who was hostile to the Antipatrids suggested that Cassander had journeyed to the court to poison the King.Fox, Robin Lane. Alexander the Great. p. 469, 2004 Ed. Cassander left Alexander's court either shortly before or after the king's death in June of 323 BC, playing no part in the immediate power struggles over the empire.{{Cite book |last=Grainger |first=John D. |title=Antipater's dynasty |date=2019 |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |isbn=978-1-5267-3089-3 |location=Barnsley |pages=70, 73}} Cassander returned to Macedonia and assisted his father's governance, he was later assigned by Antipater to Antigonus as his chiliarch from 321 to 320, probably to monitor the latter's activities.{{Cite book |last=Grainger |first=John D. |title=Antipater's dynasty |date=2019 |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |isbn=978-1-5267-3089-3 |location=Barnsley |pages=111–117, 123}}{{Cite book |last=Diodorus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=d8SbDwAAQBAJ |title=The library, books 16-20dPhilip II, Alexander the Great, and the successors |date=2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-875988-1 |editor-last=Waterfield |editor-first=Robin |series=Oxford world's classics |location=Oxford |chapter=18.39.7}}{{Cite book |last=Billows |first=Richard A. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1525/9780520919044 |title=Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State |date=1990-12-31 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-91904-4 |pages=72–73|doi=10.1525/9780520919044 }}

[[File:Diadochi LA.svg|thumb|right|300px|

{{legend|#50A249|Kingdom of Cassander}}

Other diadochi

{{legend|#C3B933|Kingdom of Seleucus}}

{{legend|#C38833|Kingdom of Lysimachus}}

{{legend|#787CAD|Kingdom of Ptolemy}}

{{legend|#AF3662|Epirus}}

Other

{{legend|#A361BD|Carthage}}

{{legend|#70A9BE|Roman Republic}}

{{legend|#85AB54|Greek colonies}}

]]

As Antipater grew close to death in 319 BC, he transferred the regency of Macedon not to Cassander, but to Polyperchon, possibly so as not to alarm the other Diadochi through an apparent move towards dynastic ambition, but perhaps also because of Cassander's own ambitions.Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. pp. 35-36, 2007 Ed. Cassander rejected his father's decision, and immediately went to seek the support of Antigonus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus as his allies. Waging war on Polyperchon, Cassander destroyed his fleet, put Athens under the control of Demetrius of Phaleron, and declared himself Regent in 317 BC. After Olympias’ successful move against Philip III later in the year, Cassander besieged her in Pydna. When the city fell in the spring of 316, Olympias was killed, and Cassander had Alexander IV and Roxana confined at Amphipolis.

That year, Cassander associated himself with the Argead dynasty by marrying Alexander's half-sister, Thessalonike, and overseeing the burial of Phillip III and Eurydice in the royal cemetery at Aegae; he further cemented his authority by founding Thessalonica, Cassandreia, and rebuilding Thebes. From 314 to 310, Cassander campaigned to the west and north, for a time extending Macedonian power as far as Apollonia and Epidamus, but was driven out by local rulers like Glaucius; his rule in Macedonia remained firm as he resettled defeated enemies in the tradition of Phillip II and fostered trade in the regions around his new cities.{{Cite book |last=Diodorus |first=Siculus |title=The library. Books 16-20 : Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the successors |date=2019 |translator=Robin Waterfield |isbn=978-0-19-875988-1 |edition=Oxford world's classics paperback |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |chapter=20.53 |oclc=1082183474}} Cassander had Alexander IV and Roxana secretly poisoned in either 310 BC or the following year.{{Cite book |title=A companion to ancient Macedonia |date=2010 |editor=Joseph Roisman |editor2=Ian Worthington |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |isbn=978-1-4443-2751-9 |location=Chichester, West Sussex, U.K. |pages=216 |chapter=Alexander’s Successors to 221 BC |oclc=676972389}}

By 309 BC, Polyperchon had begun to claim that Heracles of Macedon was the true heir to the Macedonian inheritance, at which point Cassander bribed Polyperchon to kill the boy, promising him an alliance and the return of his Macedonian estates.Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. p. 44, 2007 Ed.{{Cite book |last=Diodorus |first=Siculus |publisher=Oxford University Press |title=The library. Books 16-20 : Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the successors |date=2019 |translator=Robin Waterfield |isbn=978-0-19-875988-1 |edition=Oxford world's classics paperback |location=Oxford |chapter=20.28 |oclc=1082183474}} After this, Cassander's position in Greece and Macedonia was reasonably secure, and he proclaimed himself king in 305 BC.Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. p. 163, 2007 Ed. Diodorus Siculus relates that Cassander, Ptolemy, and Lysimachus declared their kingships in response to the assumption of royal title by Antigonus, following his victory over Ptolemy at Salamis in 306.

In 307–304 BC he fought the so-called Four–Years' War against Athens.Seibert, Diadochen, pp. 141–142; Habicht, Pausanias, pp. 78–80. In 304 BC, his rival Antigonus Monophthalmus sent his son Demetrius Poliorcetes to aid Athens against Cassander.Richard A. Billows, Antigonos the One-Eyed, p. 169. Demetrius succeeded in driving Cassander from central Greece and created a Hellenic League, the League of Corinth, against him.Richard A. Billows, Antigonos the One-Eyed, p. 169–173. In the winter of 303–302 BC, Cassander opened negotiations with Antigonus with a view to establish peace, but Antigonus refused.Richard A. Billows, Antigonos the One-Eyed, p. 174. At this Cassander turned to Lysimachus, Ptolemy, and Seleucus and convinced them to reform the coalition of 314–311 against Antigonus. In early 302 BC, Cassander sent one of his generals, Prepelaus, with an army from Macedon to join Lysimachus in an invasion of Antigonus's territory in Asia-Minor. Cassander himself marched with the main Macedonian field army into Thessaly to stop Demetrius from advancing into Macedon. Demetrius invaded Thessaly with a numerically superior force, Cassander stopped his advance by refusing to give battle and fortifying his positions.Richard A. Billows, Antigonos the One-Eyed, p. 175. Lysimachus and Prepalaus had been very successful in Asia-Minor and Seleucus was marching with an army to join them.Richard A. Billows, Antigonos the One-Eyed, pp. 175–176. In the spring of 302 BC, Antigonus marched with an army from Syria into Asia-Minor to confront his enemies; he confronted Lysimachus and drove him from Phrygia.Richard A. Billows, Antigonos the One-Eyed, pp. 176–178. Antigonus realizing that the war would probably have to be decided in a major battle in Asia-Minor recalled Demetrius from Thessaly.Richard A. Billows, Antigonos the One-Eyed, p. 179. With Demetrius gone Cassander sent part of his army with his brother, Pleistarchus, to join Prepalaus, Lysimachus and Seleucus in Asia-Minor. In 301 BC, the combined armies of Lysimachus, Seleucus, Prepalaus and Pleistarchus faced the combined armies of Antigonus and Demetrius at Ipsus. After the Battle of Ipsus in which Antigonus was killed, Cassander was undisputed in his control of Macedon; however, he had little time to savour the fact, dying of dropsy in 297 BC.{{Cite web |author=Pausanias |date=May 25, 2022 |title=Description of Greece |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0160%3Abook%3D9%3Achapter%3D7%3Asection%3D2 }}

Cassander's dynasty did not live much beyond his death, with his son Philip dying of natural causes, and his other sons Alexander and Antipater becoming involved in a destructive dynastic struggle along with their mother. When Alexander was ousted as joint king by his brother, Demetrius I took up Alexander's appeal for aid and ousted Antipater, killed Alexander V and established the Antigonid dynasty. The remaining Antipatrids, such as Antipater II Etesias, were unable to re-establish the Antipatrids on the throne.

File:Thessaloniki_and_Cassandreia.png and Cassandreia in modern Greece.]]

Cassander stood out amongst the Diadochi in his hostility to Alexander's memory. Arrian later reported that he could not pass a statue of Alexander without feeling faint.{{Cite book |last=Arrian. |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1152271824 |title=Anabasis of Alexander Or, the History of the Wars and Conquests of Alexander the Great. |date=2019 |publisher=Forgotten Books |isbn=978-0-243-71825-2 |chapter=7.23.22 |oclc=1152271824}} Cassander has been perceived to be ambitious and unscrupulous, and even members of his own family were estranged from him.Fox, Robin Lane. Alexander the Great, p. 475, 2004 Ed. However, historians like John D. Grainger argue this characterization owes much to stories spread by his rivals.{{Cite book |last=Grainger |first=John D. |title=Antipater's dynasty : Alexander the Great's regent and his successors |date=2019 |isbn=978-1-5267-3088-6 |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |location=Yorkshire |pages=138 |oclc=1041510654}}

Cassander was responsible for the deaths of more Argeads than other Diadochi, (Alexander IV, Roxana, and Alexander's supposed illegitimate son Heracles, as well as allowing Olympias to be killed by a Macedonian assembly), he was not the only one willing to kill Alexander's relatives: Polyperchon and Antigonus were just as willing to do the same when it benefitted them.Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. p. 38, 2007 Ed.{{Cite book |last=Grainger |first=John D.|publisher=Pen & Sword Military|title=Antipater's dynasty : Alexander the Great's regent and his successors |date=2019 |isbn=978-1-5267-3088-6 |location=Yorkshire |pages=179–181 |oclc=1041510654}} From numismatic evidence, Evan Pitt argues that Cassander's actions until 311 BC were motivated more by self-preservation and maintenance of his own power rather than royal ambition and rivalry to Alexander the Great.{{Cite journal |last=Pitt |first=Evan |date=2019 |title=An Ill-defined Rule: Cassander's Consolidation of Power |url=https://revistes.uab.cat/karanos/article/view/v2-pitt |journal=Karanos: Bulletin of Ancient Macedonian Studies |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=33–42|doi=10.5565/rev/karanos.26 |s2cid=214304820 |doi-access=free }} Cassander's decision to restore Thebes, which had been destroyed by Alexander, was perceived at the time to be a snub to the deceased king, though it also had the realpolitik effect of providing a power base for Cassander in Boeotia.Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. pp. 40-41, 2007 Ed.{{Cite book |last=Grainger |first=John D. |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |title=Antipater's dynasty : Alexander the Great's regent and his successors |date=2019 |isbn=978-1-5267-3088-6 |location=Yorkshire |pages=156 |oclc=1041510654}}

File:Kassander_king_of_Macedonia_kingdom_of_greece.jpg

Like the other Diodochoi, Cassander participated in the appropriation of regal iconography which linked him to Alexander the Great. Other Diadochi depicted themselves and Alexander on their coins in profile with varying attributes, such as elephant-hide headdresses or horns; Cassander followed Alexander's own precedent and had himself or the dead king wearing a lion-skin cloak stamped on one side of his coins.{{Cite book |last=Alonso Troncoso |first=Víctor |title=After Alexander: the time of the Diadochi (323-281 bc) |date=2013 |publisher=Oxbow Books |isbn=978-1-84217-512-5 |editor1=Troncoso, Víctor Alonso |editor2= Anson, Edward M. |location=Oxford, UK; Oakville, CT |pages=357–363 |chapter=The Diodochi and the Zoology of Kingship: The Elephants}}{{Cite book |last=Sheedy |first=Kenneth Alan |title=Alexander and the Hellenistic kingdoms: coins, image and the creation of identity the Westmoreland collection [exhibition, Museum of Ancient cultures, Macquarie university, opened on the 23rd of November 2007 at the start of the Second Biennal conference of the Numismatic association of Australia... to the 21 November 2008] |date=2007 |publisher=Numismatic association of Australia |others=Australian centre for ancient numismatic studies |isbn=978-0-646-48150-0 |series=Ancient coins in Australian collections |volume=1 |pages=15–16 |chapter=Magically back to life: some thoughts on ancient coins and the study of Hellenistic royal portraits}} These royal iconographies established by Alexander and continued by his immediate successors set patterns for royal coinage which were influential and enduring across the Mediterranean and West Asia.{{Cite web |last=Lawton |first=Carol C. |date=1996 |title=Hellenistic Coin Portraits |url=http://www2.lawrence.edu/dept/art/BUERGER/ESSAYS/HELLENIS.HTML |access-date=2023-06-01 |website=www2.lawrence.edu}} Also of lasting significance was Cassander's refoundation of Therma into Thessalonica, naming the city after his wife. Cassander also founded Cassandreia upon the ruins of Potidaea, as well as the city of Antipatreia in the Aspros Valley.{{Cite book |last=Grainger |first=John D. |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |title=Antipater's dynasty : Alexander the Great's regent and his successors |date=2019 |isbn=978-1-5267-3088-6 |location=Yorkshire |pages=156–157 |oclc=1041510654}}

{{reflist}}

• Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca chapters xviii, xix, xx
• Green, Peter, Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007. {{ISBN|9780297852940}}
• Richard A. Billows, Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State, University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California, 1990. {{ISBN|0-520-20880-3}}
• Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Demetrius", 18, 31; "Phocion", 31
• Franca Landucci Gattinoni: L'arte del potere. Vita e opere di Cassandro di Macedonia. Stuttgart 2003. {{ISBN|3-515-08381-2}}

• [http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jamesdow/s016/f020716.htm A genealogical tree of Cassander]

{{s-start}}

{{s-hou|Antipatrid dynasty||c. 355 BC||297 BC}}

{{s-bef|before=Polyperchon}}

{{s-ttl|title=Regent of Macedon|years=317–305 BC}}

{{s-aft|after=Assumed Kingship}}

{{s-bef|before=Alexander IV}}

{{s-ttl|title=King of Macedon|years=305–297 BC}}

{{s-aft|after=Philip IV}}

{{s-end}}

{{MacedonKings}}

{{Hellenistic rulers}}

{{Diadochi}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:350s BC births

Category:297 BC deaths

Category:4th-century BC Macedonian monarchs

Category:3rd-century BC Macedonian monarchs

Category:4th-century BC regents

Category:Ancient Macedonian generals

Category:Hellenistic generals

Category:Regents of Macedonia (ancient kingdom)

Category:Conspirators against Alexander the Great

Category:Ancient Thessalonica

Category:Deaths from edema

Category:Hellenistic-era monarchs

Category:Antipatrid dynasty