Elliott, Simon: Demetrius the Besieger and the Wars of Alexander the Great's Successors

Among the many dazzling figures who emerged during the wars of Alexander the Greats successors, Demetrius Poliorcetes shines brighter than all the rest. The son of Antigonus Monophthalmuswho would later become renowned for his mastery of siege warfaregrew up believing he might one day inherit Alexanders entire empire, given the magnitude of his fathers early successes. He was a true celebrity in his day; he fought alongside his father in the Second War of the Diadochi against the cunning Eumenes, and later in the Third and Fourth Wars of the Diadochi against various Hellenistic adversaries. He was often blamed for Antigonuss death at the Battle of Ipsus (301 BC)since Demetriuss victorious cavalry pursued the enemy off the battlefield, leaving his father to his fateyet he later successfully seized the Macedonian throne and became the first king of the Antigonid dynasty. Unfortunately, Demetriuss reign was short-lived; he was defeated by the combined forces of Pyrrhus of Epirus and his allies in the eastern Mediterranean. Eventually, he fled with his remaining army to Syria, where his troops abandoned him; he died in 283 BC while held captive by Seleucus. Nevertheless, he founded the Antigonid dynasty, which ruled Macedonia until the last king, Perseus, was defeated by the Romans at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC. This biography of the most flamboyant of the Diadochi tells the story of the forty-year-long "funeral games" following Alexanders death from a fresh perspective: it sheds light not only on the deeds of Demetrius but also on his extraordinary life and the era in which the political balance of power within Alexanders vast empire constantly shiftedsometimes to our protagonists advantage, at other times to his detriment.