Antigonus I Monophthalmus Antigonus I Monophthalmus ( , " Antigonus the One - eyed " , 382 – 301 BC ) , son of Philip from Elimeia , was a Macedonian nobleman , general , and satrap under Alexander the Great . During his early life he served under Philip II , and he was a major figure in the Wars of the Diadochi after Alexander ' s death , declaring himself king in 306 BC and establishing the Antigonid dynasty . Biography . Career . Antigonus was appointed governor of Greater Phrygia in 333 BC . He was primarily responsible for defending Alexander ' s lines of supply and communication during the latter ' s extended campaign against the Achaemenid Persian Empire . Following Alexander ' s victory at Issus , the Persian mercenary commander Memnon of Rhodes ordered a counter - attack into Asia Minor in an attempt to sever Alexander ' s lines of supply and communication ; however , Antigonus defeated the Persian forces in three separate battles . As part of the division of the provinces after Alexander ' s death in 323 BC , Antigonus also received Pamphylia and Lycia from Perdiccas , regent of the empire , at the Partition of Babylon . He incurred the enmity of Perdiccas , the regent , by refusing to assist Eumenes to obtain possession of the provinces allotted to him , Paphlagonia and Cappadocia . Leonnatus had left with his army for Greece , leaving Antigonus alone to deal with Cappadocia , a task he apparently couldn ' t complete without additional aid . Perdiccas seems to have viewed this as a direct affront to his authority and went up with the royal army himself to conquer the area . From there Perdiccas turned west towards Phrygia in order to humble Antigonus , who escaped with his son Demetrius to Greece , where he obtained the favour of Antipater , regent of Macedonia ( 321 BC ) , and Craterus . With the death of Perdiccas in 321 BC , a new attempt at division of the empire took place at Triparadisus and Antigonus found himself entrusted with the command of the war against Eumenes , who had joined Perdiccas against the coalition of Antipater , Antigonus , Ptolemy , Craterus , and the other generals . Eumenes was defeated and forced to retire to the fortress of Nora ( ) in Cappadocia , and a new army that was marching to his relief was routed by Antigonus . When Antipater died in 319 BC , he gave the regentship to Polyperchon , excluding Cassander , his son . Antigonus and the other dynasts refused to recognize Polyperchon , since it would undermine their own ambitions . He entered into negotiations with Eumenes , but Eumenes had already been swayed by Polyperchon , who also gave him authority over anyone within the empire . Effecting his escape from Nora , he raised an army and built a fleet in Cilicia and Phoenicia , and soon after formed a coalition with the satraps of the eastern provinces . Antigonus fought against Eumenes in two great battles at Paraitacene in 317 BC and Gabiene in 316 BC . Both were inconclusive , however . Yet in the aftermath of the second battle , Antigonus managed to capture the family and riches of the Silvershields , an elite regiment within Eumenes ' army , who in turn handed over Eumenes to Antigonus in return for their release . After some deliberation , Antigonus had Eumenes executed . As a result , Antigonus now was in possession of the empire ' s Asian territories , his authority stretching from the eastern satrapies to Syria and Asia Minor in the west . He seized the treasures at Susa and entered Babylon . The governor of the city , Seleucus fled to Ptolemy and entered into a league with him , Lysimachus and Cassander ( 315 BC ) against Antigonus . In 314 BC Antigonus invaded Phoenicia , under Ptolemy ' s control , and besieged Tyre for more than a year . His son Demetrius was defeated at the Battle of Gaza by Ptolemy in 312 BC , and after the battle , Seleucus made his way back to Babylonia . Seleucus return to Babylon let him build up a base of his own , and he soon established control of the eastern satrapies . The Babylonian War began between Antigonus and Seleucus , where Seleucus defeated both Demetrius and Antigonus , and secured Babylonia . After the war had been carried on with varying success from 315 to 311 , peace was concluded , by which the government of Asia Minor and Syria was provisionally secured to Antigonus . This agreement was soon violated on the pretext that garrisons had been placed in some of the free Greek cities by Antigonus , and Ptolemy and Cassander renewed hostilities against him . Demetrius Poliorcetes , the son of Antigonus , wrested part of Greece from Cassander . At first Ptolemy made a successful descent upon Asia Minor and on several of the islands of the Archipelago , but he was at length totally defeated by Demetrius at the naval Battle of Salamis . Demetrius conquered Cyprus in 306 BC . Following the victory Antigonus assumed the title king and bestowed the same upon his son , a declaration that he now was independent from the empire . The other dynasts , Cassander , Ptolemy , Lysimachus and Seleucus , soon followed . He now prepared a large army and a formidable fleet , the command of which he gave to Demetrius , and hastened to attack Ptolemy in his own dominions . His invasion of Egypt , however , proved a failure ; he was unable to penetrate Ptolemy ' s defences and was obliged to retire , yet inflicting high losses on Ptolemy . Demetrius in 305 BC attempted the reduction of Rhodes , which had refused to assist Antigonus against Egypt . The siege of Rhodes lasted a year and ended in 304 BC when Demetrius , meeting with obstinate resistance , was obliged to make a peace treaty upon the terms that the Rhodians would build ships for Antigonus and aid him against any enemy except for Ptolemy , on whom they bestowed the title Soter ( savior ) for his aid during the lengthy siege . The dynasts unite against Antigonus . The most powerful dynasts of the empire , now kings in their own right , Cassander , Seleucus , Ptolemy and Lysimachus , responded to Antigonus ' s successes by allying with each other , often through marriage . Antigonus soon found himself at war with all four , largely because his territory shared borders with each of them . Once he had Cassander in a bad position , having gained the support of the Greeks and defeating him repeatedly , he demanded from Cassander the unconditional submission of Macedonia . Seleucus , Lysimachus and Ptolemy responded by joining forces and attacking him . Lysimachus invaded Asia Minor from Thrace , crossing the Hellespont . He had soon secured most of the Ionian cities , and Seleucus was on his way marching through Mesopotamia and Cappadocia . Antigonus was obliged to recall Demetrius from Greece , where his son had recently had a sterile encounter with Cassander in Thessaly ; the two men , and their army , then moved against Lysimachus . However , the army of father and son was defeated by the united forces of Seleucus and Lysimachus at the decisive Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC . Antigonus himself died in the battle after being struck by a javelin , in the eighty - first year of his life . Prior to Ipsus , he had never before lost a battle . With his death , any plans the court of Antigonus may have had of reuniting Alexander ' s empire came to an end . Antigonus ' s kingdom was divided up , with most ending up in the hands of new kingdoms under Lysimachus and Seleucus . The victors largely followed Antigonus ' s precedent and had themselves named as kings , but they did not claim power over the erstwhile empire of Alexander nor each other . Instead , these kings established a troubled ( and in the end failed ) " modus vivendi " with each other , and accepted their kingdoms as separate realms . Meanwhile , Antigonus ' s surviving son Demetrius took control of Macedon in 294 BC ; Antigonus ' s descendants held this possession , off and on , until it was conquered by the Roman Republic at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC . Monophthalmus in historical fiction . Mary Renault , in " Funeral Games " , translates the sobriquet into English : " One Eye . " In the 2004 Oliver Stone film " Alexander , " Antigonus is played by Ian Beattie .