Antigonos IMonophthalmosALEXANDER MEEUS

Antigonos Monophthalmos (ca. 382–301 BCE),

a Macedonian nobleman, served the Macedo-

nian kings PHILIP II and ALEXANDER III, THEGREATas

general, and later became one of the main

contenders in the Wars of the Successors

(see SUCCESSORS, WARS OF). The nickname Mono-

phthalmos (“the One-Eyed”) was given him

after he lost an eye in battle at an unknown

time. Antigonos likely married Stratonike, his

only known wife, rather late in life, as their

oldest son, Demetrios, was not born until

336, their second son Philippos being born

not much later (Plut. Demetr. 2.1–2).

When Alexander crossed into Asia,

Antigonos commanded the allied Greek

infantry (334). In 333, he was appointed satrap

of Greater Phrygia; in this capacity, he played

a crucial role in consolidating Macedonian

rule in Asia Minor.

At Alexander’s death in 323, Antigonos

was confirmed in his office. He somehow

enraged the regent PERDIKKAS, SON OF ORONTES,

who summoned Antigonos to have him give

account of his actions (321). Distrusting

Perdikkas’ intentions (Diod. Sic. 18.23.3–4),

Antigonos fled to Europe, where he accused

Perdikkas in front of ANTIPATER and KRATEROS :

he claimed that the regent wanted to marry

Alexander’s sister Cleopatra and seize the

throne. Antipater and Krateros believed the

allegations and invaded Asia, with Antigonos

commanding a small fleet which operated in

Asia Minor and Cyprus (First War of the Suc-

cessors, 321–320). At the Triparadeisos confer-

ence after Perdikkas’ death (see TRIPARADEISOS,

TREATY OF), Antigonos was appointed general

of Asia and commissioned to reckon with the

remaining Perdikkans. As these failed to unite,

Antigonos could deal with them separately: he

first defeated EUMENES OF KARDIA and later

Perdikkas’ brother Alketas (319), but the for-

mer managed to escape with part of his troops.

Antigonos’ soldiers chased him down, and

together with his loyal supporters Eumenes

sought refuge in the stronghold of Nora.

In Europe, Antipater died in 319 and left

the regency to POLYPERCHON, passing over his

own son, CASSANDER, who convinced Ptolemy

(see PTOLEMY I SOTER) and Antigonos to fight

the new regent, which meant the start of the

Second War of the Successors (319–316).

Antigonos, ever more ambitious, wanted to

keep Polyperchon occupied in Europe in

order to acquire a free hand in Asia. In 318

Eumenes was released from Nora under

a truce, but his unwillingness to be subordinate

to Antigonos soon became apparent, and

the war between them began anew. The regent

Polyperchon morally supported Eumenes,

appointing him general of Asia instead of

Antigonos. Because of the enemy’s superior

numbers, Eumenes fled to Iran, where he was

joined by a large coalition of eastern satraps

fearing that Antigonos would deprive them

of their provinces. After some initial setbacks

in the Iranian campaign, Antigonos gained

an ambiguous victory over Eumenes at

Paraitakene, and he defeated him again at

Gabiene (in the winter of 317/6).

Antigonos now installed his friends in some

of the eastern provinces, and upon his arrival

in Persia he was greeted as king by the natives

(Diod. Sic. 19. 48.1). In Babylonia a conflict

with SELEUKOS I NIKATOR led the latter to flee to

Ptolemy, whom he convinced that Antigonos,

coveting universal rule, wanted to eliminate all

his rivals; they forged a coalition with

Cassander and LYSIMACHOS against Antigonos.

Presenting Antigonos with an ultimatum he

would never accept (in the spring of 315), the

coalition declared war against him (Third War

of the Successors, 315–311).

As control of the sea would be fundamental,

Antigonos commenced a large-scale ship-

building program. He also concluded an

alliance with Polyperchon, who was to fight

Cassander in Europe. In the summer of 315

Antigonos issued a declaration against

Cassander, accusing him of crimes against the

The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, First Edition. Edited by Roger S. Bagnall, Kai Brodersen, Craige B. Champion, Andrew Erskine,

and Sabine R. Huebner, print pages 459–461.

© 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Published 2013 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

DOI: 10.1002/9781444338386.wbeah09024

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Argead house (see ARGEADS), and he proclaimed

the freedom of all Greek cities to prevent and

delegitimize his rivals’ use of garrisons. Ptol-

emy soon published a similar declaration

concerning the Greeks, so as to prevent

Antigonos alone from being seen as the cham-

pion of Greek freedom. Antigonos’ attempts to

break the coalition by separate negotiations

with Ptolemy (Ekregma 315) and Cassander

(Hellespont 313) failed, but his military

campaigns were mostly successful. In the early

winter of 311, however, his son DEMETRIOS I

POLIORKETES was defeated by Ptolemy and

Seleukos in the only major pitched battle of

the war, near Gaza. This allowed Seleukos to

return to Babylon (in the spring of 311), open-

ing a new front for Antigonos in the east.

Antigonos therefore concluded peace with

Cassander, Lysimachos, and Ptolemy to con-

centrate on the war against Seleukos. He was

recognized in his possession of the whole of

Asia, but in turn had to recognize his rivals in

their possession of the other parts of the empire,

thus resigning his European conquests.

While Antigonos was engaged in the east

(310–308), Ptolemy tried liberating certain

cities in Asia Minor from their Antigonid

garrisons, but Demetrios repelled the attacks.

In the meantime, Ptolemy planned to marry

Alexander’s sister Cleopatra; Antigonos could

not allow his rival to establish such a close con-

nection with the Argead house, and had her

killed (308). In 307 Demetrios liberated Athens

from Cassander’s yoke, and both he and his

father received extraordinary honors from the

Athenians (Diod. Sic. 20.46.2). Demetrios

moved to Cyprus in 306, where he defeated

Ptolemy at sea near Salamis. This victory

was the occasion for the Antigonids to officially

adopt the royal title. The subsequent invasion of

Egypt to get rid of Ptolemy was a complete

failure, though. From now on, Antigonos him-

self seems to have been less involved in actual

military operations. Demetrios’ long siege of

RHODES (305–304) was mostly an enormous

waste of means and energy, but the subsequent

campaigns in Greece against Cassander were

very successful, with the Antigonids reviving

the LEAGUEOFCORINTH. After a truce was refused,

Cassander allied himself with Lysimachos,

Ptolemy, and Seleukos. Lysimachos crossed

into Asia with his army as well as troops from

Cassander. Together with Seleukos, he met

Antigonos and Demetrios in battle near

IPSOS in Phrygia (301). It was a disastrous

defeat for the Antigonids: Antigonos lost his

life, and their empire collapsed almost

completely. The main reason for Antigonos’

failure seems to have been that he – like

Perdikkas – had made his grand ambitions

too clear, so that his rivals always were readily

convinced to join forces against him.

SEE ALSO: Antigonids; Successors, wars of.

REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS

Anson, E. M. (1988) “Antigonus, the satrap of

Phrygia.” Historia 37: 471–7.

Anson, E. M. (2004) Eumenes of Cardia: A Greek

among Macedonians. Leiden.

Billows, R. A. (1990) Antigonos the One-Eyed

and the creation of the Hellenistic state.

Berkeley.

Bosworth, A. B. (2002) The legacy of Alexander.

Politics, warfare, and propaganda under the

successors. Oxford.

Briant, P. (1973) Antigone le Borgne. Les debuts de sa

carriere et les problemes de l’assemblee

macedonienne. Paris.

Engel, R. (1978) Untersuchungen zum Machtaufstieg

des Antigonos I. Monophthalmos. Ein Beitrag zur

Geschichte der fruhen Diadochenzeit. Kallmunz.

Wehrli, C. (1968) Antigone et Demetrios. Geneva.

Wheatley, P. (2002) “Antigonus Monophthalmus

in Babylonia, 310–308 BC.” Journal of Near

Eastern Studies 61: 39–47.

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