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Polyperchon

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Polyperchon (sometimes written Polysperchon; Greek: Πολυπέρχων; b. between 390–380 BC[1][2] – d. after 304 BC,[3] possibly into 3rd century BC),[4] was a Macedonian Greek general who served both Philip II and Alexander the Great and then played an active role in the ensuing battles for control between Alexander's generals.

Early career

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Polyperchon was a son of Simmias from Tymphaia in Epirus. He served under Philip II and Alexander the Great, accompanying Alexander throughout his long journeys. After the Battle of Issus in 333, Polyperchon was given command of the Tymphaean battalion of the phalanx which he retained until 324.[5]

After his return to Babylon, Polyperchon (along with other veterans) was sent back to Macedon with Craterus, but had only reached Cilicia by the time of Alexander's death in 323.[6] Craterus was to replace Antipater as Macedonia's regent, but was of poor health.[6] Polyperchon was to succeed Craterus in case the latter wouldn't be able to govern.[6] Polyperchon and Craterus continued onto Greece.

As Craterus's second in command Polyperchon acted as governor of Macedon and helped Antipater to defeat the Greek rebellion in the Lamian War.[5] Polyperchon defeated the Thessalian cavalry of Menon, which was hitherto considered practically invincible.

Following the First War of the Diadochi, Polyperchon remained in Macedon while Antipater travelled to Asia Minor to assert his regency over the whole empire.

Regent

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Upon Antipater’s death in 319 BC, Polyperchon was appointed regent and supreme commander of the Macedonian Empire, bypassing Antipater's son Cassander, who was to have been his chief lieutenant. Cassander had expected to be named his father’s successor. Tensions between the two quickly escalated into a full-blown civil war, which spread among the other successors of Alexander. Polyperchon aligned himself with Eumenes against Cassander, Antigonus and Ptolemy.[7]

Although Polyperchon was initially successful in securing control of the Greek cities, whose freedom he proclaimed, he suffered a major setback at Megalopolis in 317 BC. A few months later, his fleet was destroyed by Antigonus, and Cassander seized control of Athens in 316. a few months later his fleet was destroyed by Antigonus, and Cassander secured control of Athens the following year. Shortly thereafter, Polyperchon was driven from Macedon by Cassander, who took control of the disabled King Philip Arrhidaeus and his wife Eurydice.

Polyperchon fled to Epirus, where he joined Alexander's mother Olympias, widow Roxana, and infant son Alexander IV. He formed an alliance with Olympias and King Aeacides of Epirus, and Olympias led an army into Macedon. She was initially successful, defeating and capturing the army of King Philip, whom she had murdered, but soon Cassander returned from the Peloponnesus and captured and murdered her in 316, taking Roxana and the boy king into his custody.

Regency in Exile

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After his defeat in the north, Polyperchon withdrew to the Peloponnesus, where he retained control over several strongholds, including Corinth and Sicyon. There, he formed an alliance with Antigonus, who had by then broken with his former allies. Polyperchon surrendered the regency to Antigonus and was entrusted with command in southern Greece. By 314 BC, his son Alexander had been appointed strategos (military governor) of the Peloponnese by Cassander as part of a formal agreement, that placed all of Cassander’s Peloponnesian holdings under Alexander’s command, including cities previously held by Cassander’s garrisons.[8] This allowed Alexander to exercise authority across nearly the entire peninsula. Polyperchon, now advanced in age, had likely stepped aside due to his unwillingness to subordinate himself to the much younger Cassander and had handed command to his son.[8]

However, Alexander’s assassination at Sicyon by a local named Alexion destabilized the arrangement. Cassander excluded Polyperchon from the peace settlement with Antigonus in 311 BC (as recorded in Antigonus’s letter to the people of Scepsis). When war again broke out between Antigonus and the others, Antigonus sent Heracles, the reputed illegitimate son of Alexander the Great by Barsine, to Polyperchon as a bargaining chip to use against Cassander. Polyperchon retaliated against Cassander by promoting Heracles as the rightful heir to the throne.

Reconciliation with Cassander

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Although Polyperchon initially supported Heracles as a challenger to Cassander’s rule, he soon changed course. Likely recognizing the diminishing prospects of restoring the Argead dynasty through Heracles and seeking to preserve his own power and holdings, Polyperchon murdered the boy in 309 BC. This act paved the way for a political settlement with Cassander, removing the primary obstacle that had prevented reconciliation between the two men.[8]

As part of the new agreement, Cassander agreed to formally recognize Polyperchon not only as strategos of the Peloponnese but also as a co-ruler with equal authority.[9] The treaty also restored to Polyperchon his Macedonian estates, which had likely been granted to him in an earlier settlement but forfeited after his rebellion.[10] This recognition effectively marked the end of Polyperchon’s decades-long struggle for control in the post-Alexandrian world.

Later life

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In the spring of 308 BC, Ptolemy arrived in Greece and began to seize cities in the Peloponnese. In his absence, Polyperchon’s daughter-in-law, Cratesipolis, widow of his son Alexander, was commanding in the region, but she judged her position untenable and surrendered her fortresses. This left Polyperchon without any territorial base. However, a new agreement between Cassander and Ptolemy allowed Polyperchon an opportunity to re-enter the Peloponnese. According to Plutarch, he may have already regained control of the area around Patrae by the summer of 307 BC.[11][12] Over the following years, Polyperchon managed to reconquer much of the Peloponnese.[12]

Beloch asserts that by 304 BC, Polyperchon held sway over nearly the entire peninsula, with the exceptions of Corinth, Sicyon, and Sparta.[12] Diodorus Siculus explicitly mentions several cities under his control at this time, including Bura and Skyros in Achaea, and Orchomenos in Arcadia.[13] The loyalty of Argos and the cities of the Argolic Acte, namely Epidauros, Troezen, and Hermione, is uncertain, but Beloch interpreted Plutarch’s phrasing as evidence that at least a significant portion of these cities had come under Polyperchon’s control during this period.[12][14] He further argued that the pattern of reconquests between 307 and 304 BC indicates a deliberate and largely successful campaign to re-establish Polyperchon's authority across the Peloponnese.[12]

However, this resurgence proved to be short-lived. In 303 BC, Demetrius Poliorcetes launched a campaign in Greece and quickly reversed many of Polyperchon’s gains.[15] He captured Argos, Achaea, Elis, and most of Arcadia, leaving Polyperchon in control only of a few remaining cities, including Messenia and Mantineia.[14][15][16] After this point, he disappears from the historical record, but the lack of further reference is only because Diodorus Siculus's subsequent narrative is lost and no others cover this period in sufficient detail. A mention in Plutarch's Life of Pyrrhus 8.3 suggests that Polyperchon might have lived into the early 3rd century BC.[4] It is possible that Demetrius’ campaign against Messene in the year 295 was also directed against him.[15][17]

Diodorus had previously referred to Polyperchon as “almost the oldest among Alexander’s companions-in-arms” in 319 BC, suggesting he was already elderly at the time of his appointment as regent.[18] Polyperchon was likely in his eighties by 303 BC.[15]

Notes

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  1. ^ 390–380 BC according to Heckel, W., 'The Marshals of Alexander's Empire' (1992), p. 189
  2. ^ after 382 BC according to Billows, R., 'Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State' (1990), p. 172, n. 20
  3. ^ Heckel, W., 'The Marshals of Alexander's Empire' (1992), p. 204
  4. ^ a b Billows, R., 'Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State' (1990), p. 172, n. 20
  5. ^ a b Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Tony (2000). Who's Who in the Classical World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 315–316. ISBN 0192801074.
  6. ^ a b c Pitt, E. M.; Richardson, W. P. (May 2017). "Hostile inaction? Antipater, Craterus, and the Macedonian regency". The Classical Quarterly. 67 (1): 79–80. doi:10.1017/S0009838817000301. ISSN 0009-8388. S2CID 157417151.
  7. ^ Habicht 1998, pp. 75–77.
  8. ^ a b c Beloch, Julius (1912). Griechische Geschichte Volume IV, Part II. Strassburg K.J. Trübner. pp. 440–445.
  9. ^ Diodorus Siculus XX 28.2
  10. ^ Beloch, Julius (1912). Griechische Geschichte Volume IV, Part II. Strassburg K.J. Trübner. p. 443.
  11. ^ Plutarch, Life of Demetrius 9.3
  12. ^ a b c d e Beloch, Julius (1912). Griechische Geschichte Volume IV, Part II. Strassburg K.J. Trübner. p. 444.
  13. ^ Diodorus XX 103.4–5
  14. ^ a b Plutarch, Life of Demetrius 25
  15. ^ a b c d Beloch, Julius (1912). Griechische Geschichte Volume IV, Part II. Strassburg K.J. Trübner. p. 445.
  16. ^ Diodorus XX.103
  17. ^ Plutarch, Life of Demetrius 33
  18. ^ Diodorus XVIII.48.4

References

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Preceded by Regent of Macedon
319–317 BC 		Succeeded by
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