Antipater


Antipater was a Macedonian general, regent and statesman under the successive kingships of Philip II of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. In the wake of the collapse of the Argead house, his son Cassander eventually ruled Macedonia as a king in his own right.
Probably active during the reign of Perdiccas III of Macedon, most of Antipater's political career was as one of Philip II's foremost Hetairoi. After Philip II's death, he helped Alexander secure the throne. When Alexander began his wars against the Persian Empire in 336 BC, Antipater remained behind to hold Macedon and Greece as regent. While Alexander was campaigning, Antipater crushed revolts, like that of King Agis III of Sparta, and managed Greek affairs. After the Death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, Antipater was reconfirmed in his position as viceroy of Europe in the Partition of Babylon.
Antipater then became engaged in the Lamian War, where he was defeated in 322 BC and besieged at Lamia. He eventually escaped with the help of Leonnatus, and later, with the help of Craterus, finally defeated the Greeks at the Battle of Crannon. When he was informed of the regent Perdiccas' royal ambitions, Antipater joined a coalition with Ptolemy and Antigonus to overthrow Perdiccas in the First War of the Diadochi.
After Perdiccas' death in 321/320 BC, Antipater was elected regent of all of Alexander the Great's Empire at the Partition of Triparadisus. He brought the two kings, Philip III Arrhidaeus and Alexander IV, back to Macedon, but died soon after in 319 BC. On his deathbed, Antipater chose an infantry officer named Polyperchon as his successor as regent instead of his son Cassander. Antipater's death and choice of successor initiated the Second War of the Diadochi, which would last 4 years and end with Cassander establishing control over Macedon, eventually founding the short-lived Antipatrid Dynasty.

Family background and early career

Family background

Antipater belonged to the Macedonian noble house of Iolaos, which may have been serving the Argead Kings of Macedon since as early as 432 BC. Antipater and his family may have been distant collateral relatives to the Argead dynasty. Born in around 400 BC to a Macedonian nobleman called Iolaos, Antipater was originally from the Macedonian city of Paliura; had a brother called Cassander; was the paternal uncle of Cassander's child Antigone and was the maternal great uncle of Berenice I of Egypt. Antipater had eleven children from various unknown wives. His daughters were:
His sons were:
Antipater probably served politically and militarily under King Perdiccas III of Macedon, Philip II's predecessor, arising to a position of renown before Philip assumed the throne in 359 BC. According to the Sudas, Antipater left a compilation of letters in 2 books and a history, called The Illyrian Deeds of Perdikkas. The Suas also suggest Antipater was a student of Aristotle, but this is unlikely since he was 15 years older with the relationship being one of a friend and a follower. Aristotle named him as executor-in-charge of his will, when he died in 322 BC.

Career under Philip II of Macedon

Through his service with Philip II, alongside Parmenion, Antipater became one of Philip's trusted advisors and a prominent Hetairoi, aiding in Philip's expansion of the Macedonian state. Antipater is known to have campaigned in Thrace against the Odrysian King Kersobleptes early in his career. In 342 BC, he was appointed by Philip to govern Macedon as his regent while the former left for three years of hard and successful campaigning against Thracian and Scythian tribes, which extended Macedonian rule as far as the Hellespont. In 342 BC, when the Athenians tried to assume control of the Euboean towns and expel the pro-Macedonian rulers, he sent Macedonian troops to stop them. In the late summer of the same year, Antipater went to Delphi, as Philip's representative in the Amphictyonic League, a religious organization to which Macedon had been admitted in 346 BC; he attended the Pythian Games on Philip II's behalf.File:Phillip II, king of Macedonia, Roman copy of Greek original, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen.jpg|thumb|278x278px|Bust depicting Philip II of Macedon, the father of Alexander the Great. Antipater was a right hand man to Philip II, often serving as regent when Philip was away on campaign.When Thrace again threatened Macedon's northern border in 340 BC, Antipater campaigned in the area and turned over the regency to a teenage Alexander the Great. After the triumphal Macedonian victory at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, Antipater was sent as ambassador to Athens to negotiate a peace treaty and return the bones of the Athenians who had fallen in the battle. Antipater is known to have had a long-standing friendship with the Athenian statesman Phocion; it may originate from this visit or earlier interactions.
Antipater started as a great friend to both the young Alexander and the boy's mother, Olympias, and aided Alexander in the struggle to secure his succession after Philip's death, in 336 BC. He joined Parmenion in advising Alexander the Great not to set out on his Asiatic expedition until he had provided by marriage for the succession to the throne.

Career under Alexander the Great

Regent of Macedon and Greece

On the Alexander's departure eastward in 334 BC, Antipater was left regent in Macedonia and made "general of Europe", positions he held until 323/2 BC. The European front was to prove initially quite agitated, and Antipater also had to send reinforcements to the king, as he did while the king was at Gordium in the winter of 334–333 BC.
The Persian fleet under Memnon of Rhodes and Pharnabazus was apparently a considerable danger for Antipater, bringing war in the Aegean Sea and threatening war in Europe. Luckily for the regent, Memnon died during the siege of Mytilene on the isle of Lesbos and the remaining fleet dispersed in 333 BC, after Alexander's victory at the Battle of Issus. More dangerous enemies were nearer home; tribes in Thrace rebelled in 332 BC, led by Memnon of Thrace, the Macedonian governor of the region, followed shortly by the revolt of Agis III, king of Sparta. The Spartans, who were not members of the League of Corinth and had not participated in Alexander's expedition, saw in the Asian campaign the long-awaited chance to take back control over the Peloponnese after the disastrous defeats at the Battle of Leuctra and Battle of Mantinea. The Persians generously funded Sparta's ambitions, making possible the formation of an army 20,000 strong. After assuming virtual control of Crete, Agis tried to build an anti-Macedonian front. While Athens remained neutral, the Achaeans, Arcadians and Elis became his allies, with the important exception of Megalopolis, the staunchly anti-Spartan capital of Arcadia. In 331 BC Agis started to besiege the city with his entire army, forcing Antipater to act.

Spartan rebellion of King Agis III

So as not to have two enemies simultaneously, Antipater pardoned Memnon and even let him keep his office in Thrace, while great sums of money were sent to him by Alexander. This helped to create, with Thessalian help and many mercenaries, a force double that of Agis, which Antipater in person led south in 330 BC to confront the Spartans. In the spring of that year, the two armies clashed in the Battle of Megalopolis. Agis fell with many of his best soldiers, but not without inflicting heavy losses on the Macedonians. Utterly defeated, the Spartans sued for peace; the latter's answer was to negotiate directly with the League of Corinth, but the Spartan emissaries preferred to treat directly with Alexander, who imposed on Sparta's allies a penalty of 120 talents and the entrance of Sparta in the league.
File:Megalopolis theater 370 BCE.jpg|thumb|240x240px|Image of a theater in Megalopolis. Alexander' the Great's response to Antipater's victory over Agis III at the Battle of Megalopolis was to proclaim that "while we have been conquering Darius here, there has been a battle of mice in Arcadia".
Alexander appears to have been quite jealous of Antipater's victory; according to Plutarch, the king wrote in a letter to his viceroy: "It seems, my friends that while we have been conquering Darius here, there has been a battle of mice in Arcadia". Antipater was disliked for supporting oligarchs and tyrants in Greece, but he also worked with the League of Corinth, built by Philip. In addition, his previously close relationship with the ambitious Olympias greatly deteriorated. Whether from jealousy or from the necessity of guarding against the evil consequences of the dissension between Olympias and Antipater, in 324 BC, Alexander ordered the latter to lead fresh troops into Asia, while Craterus, in charge of discharged veterans returning home, was appointed to take over the regency in Macedon. When Alexander suddenly died in Babylon in 323 BC however, Antipater was able to forestall the transfer of power.
Some later historians, such as Justin in his Historia Philippicae et Totius Mundi Origines et Terrae Situs blamed Antipater for the death of Alexander, accusing him of murdering him through poison. However, this view is disputed by most historians and Alexander is believed to have died of natural causes.

Role in the Lamian and Diadochi Wars

The new regent, Perdiccas, left Antipater in control of Greece. Antipater faced wars with Athens, Aetolia, and Thessaly that made up the Lamian War, in which southern Greeks attempted to re-assert their political autonomy.