page_title: History of Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
section_title: Hellenistic era
hierarchical_section_title: History of Macedonia (ancient kingdom) / Hellenistic era
caption_attribution_description: English: Antigonos III Doson. 229-221 BC. AR Tetradrachm (31mm, 17.05 g, 12h). Amphipolis mint(?). Struck circa 227-225 BC. Wreathed head of Poseidon right / Apollo seated left on prow left, holding bow; monogram below.
context_page_description: The kingdom of Macedonia was an ancient state in what is now the Macedonian region of northern Greece, founded in the mid-7th century BC during the period of Archaic Greece and lasting until the mid-2nd century BC. Led first by the Argead dynasty of kings, Macedonia became a vassal state of the Achaemenid Empire of ancient Persia during the reigns of Amyntas I of Macedon and his son Alexander I of Macedon. The period of Achaemenid Macedonia came to an end in roughly 479 BC with the ultimate Greek victory against the second Persian invasion of Greece led by Xerxes I and the withdrawal of Persian forces from the European mainland.
  During the age of Classical Greece, Perdiccas II of Macedon became directly involved in the Peloponnesian War between Classical Athens and Sparta, shifting his alliance from one city-state to another while attempting to retain Macedonian control over the Chalcidice peninsula. His reign was also marked by conflict and temporary alliances with the Thracian ruler Sitalces of the Odrysian Kingdom. He eventually made peace with Athens, which formed an alliance with Macedonia that carried over into the reign of Archelaus I of Macedon.
context_section_description: The beginning of Hellenistic Greece was defined by the struggle between the Antipatrid dynasty, led first by Cassander (r. 305 – 297 BC), son of Antipater, and the Antigonid dynasty, led by Antigonus I Monophthalmus (r. 306 – 301 BC) and his son, the future king Demetrius I of Macedon (r. 294 – 288 BC). While Cassander was besieging Athens in 303 BC, Demetrius invaded Boeotia in order to sever Cassander's path of retreat back to Macedonia, although Cassander managed to hastily abandon the siege and march back to Macedonia. While Antigonus and Demetrius attempted to recreate Philip II's Hellenic league with themselves as dual hegemons, a revived coalition of Cassander, Ptolemy I Soter (r. 305 – 283 BC) of Egypt's Ptolemaic dynasty, Seleucus I Nicator (r. 305 – 281 BC) of the Seleucid Empire, and Lysimachus (r. 306 – 281 BC), King of Thrace decisively defeated the Antigonids at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, killing Antigonus and forcing Demetrius into flight.
  Cassander died in 297 BC and his sickly son Philip IV of Macedon died the same year, being succeeded by Cassander's other sons Alexander V of Macedon (r. 297 – 294 BC) and Antipater II of Macedon (r. 297 – 294 BC), with their mother Thessalonike of Macedon acting as regent. While Demetrius fought against the Antipatrid forces in Greece, Antipater II killed his own mother and regent to obtain power. His desperate brother Alexander V then requested aid from Pyrrhus of Epirus (r. 297 – 272 BC), who had fought alongside Demetrius at the Battle of Ipsus, yet spent time as a hostage in Egypt as stipulated in an alliance treaty between Demetrius and Ptolemy I. In exchange for defeating the forces of Antipater II and forcing him to flee to the court of Lysimachus in Thrace, Pyrrhus was awarded the westernmost portions of the Macedonian kingdom. Demetrius marched north and invited his nephew Alexander V into his camp for a banquet on friendly pretenses, yet had him assassinated as he attempted to leave. Demetrius was then proclaimed king in Macedonia, yet his subjects became increasingly concerned by his conduct as a seemingly aloof monarch and Eastern-style autocrat.
  War broke out between Pyrrhus and Demetrius in 290 BC when Lanassa, wife of Pyrrhus, daughter of Agathocles of Syracuse, left him for Demetrius and offered him her dowry of Corcyra. The war dragged on until 288 BC, when Demetrius lost the support of the Macedonians and fled the country. Macedonia was then divided between Pyrrhus and Lysimachus, the former taking western Macedonia and the latter eastern Macedonia.
  By 286 BC, Lysimachus was able to expel Pyrrhus and his forces from Macedonia altogether, yet in 282 BC, a new war erupted between Lysimachus and Seleucus I. The conflict came to a head at the Battle of Corupedion where Lysimachus was killed, allowing Seleucus I to claim both Thrace and Macedonia. In yet another reversal of fortunes, Seleucus I was then assassinated in 281 BC by his officer Ptolemy Keraunos, son of Ptolemy I and grandson of Antipater, who was then proclaimed king of Macedonia. There was little respite from the political chaos in Macedonia, though, since Ptolemy Keraunos was killed in battle in 279 BC by Celtic invaders in the Gallic invasion of Greece. The Macedonian army proclaimed the general Sosthenes of Macedon as king, although he apparently refused the title. After defeating the Gallic ruler Bolgios and driving out the raiding party of Brennus, Sosthenes died and left a chaotic situation in Macedonia. The Gallic warbands ravaged Macedonia until the arrival of Antigonus Gonatas, son of Demetrius, who defeated them in Thrace at the Battle of Lysimachia in 277 BC. He was then proclaimed king Antigonus II of Macedon (r. 277 – 274 BC, 272 – 239 BC).
  Beginning in 280 BC, Pyrrhus embarked on a campaign in Magna Graecia (i.e. southern Italy) against the Roman Republic known as the Pyrrhic War, followed by his invasion of Sicily. Ptolemy Keraunos had secured his position on the Macedonian throne by gifting Pyrrhus five-thousand soldiers and twenty war elephants for this endeavor. Pyrrhus r
caption: A tetradrachm minted during the reign of Antigonus III Doson (r. 229 – 221 BC), possibly at Amphipolis, bearing the portrait image of Poseidon on the obverse and a scene on the reverse depicting Apollo sitting on the prow of a ship
exif: {}