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A son of Antipater and a contemporary of Alexander the Great, Cassander was one of the Diadochi who warred over Alexander's empire following the latter's death in 323 BC. Cassander later seized power by having Alexander's son and heir Alexander IV murdered.[1] While governing Macedonia from 317 BC until 297 BC, Cassander focused on strengthening the northern borders and economic development, while founding or restoring several cities (including Thessalonica, Cassandreia, and Thebes); however, his ruthlessness in dealing with political enemies complicates assessments of his rule.[2][3][4]

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Early History

Cassander left Alexander's court either shortly before or after the king's death in June of 323 BC, playing no part in the immediate power struggles over the empire.[5] Cassander returned to Macedonia, and assisted his father's governance, he was later assigned by Antipater to Antigonus as his chiliarch from 321 to 320, probably to monitor the latter's activities.[6][7][8]


*Heading will be changed from Later History to Rule of Macedonia*

As Antipater grew close to death in 319 BC, he transferred the regency of Macedon not to Cassander, but to Polyperchon, possibly so as not to alarm the other Diadochi through an apparent move towards dynastic ambition, but perhaps also because of Cassander's own ambitions.[9] Cassander rejected his father's decision, and immediately went to seek the support of Antigonus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus as his allies. Waging war on Polyperchon, Cassander destroyed his fleet, put Athens under the control of Demetrius of Phaleron, and declared himself Regent in 317 BC. After Olympias’ successful move against Philip III later in the year, Cassander besieged her in Pydna. When the city fell in the spring of 316, Olympias was killed, and Cassander had Alexander IV and Roxana confined at Amphipolis.[4] That year, Cassander associated himself with the Argead dynasty by marrying Alexander's half-sister, Thessalonike, and overseeing the burial of Phillip III and Eurydice in the royal cemetery at Aegae; he further cemented his authority by founding Thessalonica, Cassandreia, and rebuilding Thebes.[4] From 314-310, Cassander campaigned to the west and north, for a time extending Macedonian power as far as Apollonia and Epidamus, but was driven out by local rulers like Glaucius; his rule in Macedonia remained firm as he resettled defeated enemies in the tradition of Phillip II and fostered trade in the regions around his new cities. [4]

 
Locations of Thessaloniki and Cassandreia in modern Greece.

Cassander had Alexander IV and Roxana secretly poisoned in either 310 BC or the following year.[10] By 309 BC, Polyperchon had began to claim that Heracles was the true heir to the Macedonian inheritance, at which point Cassander bribed Polyperchon to kill the boy, promising him an alliance and the return of his Macedonian estates.[11][12] After this, Cassander's position in Greece and Macedonia was reasonably secure, and he proclaimed himself king in 305 BC.[13] Diodorus Siculus relates that Cassander, Ptolemy, and Lysimachus declared their kingships in response to the assumption of royal title by Antigonus, following his victory over Ptolemy at Salamis in 306.[14]

In 307–304 BC Cassander fought the so-called Four–Years' War against Athens.[15]




Legacy

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Cassander is remembered amongst the Diadochi for his hostility to Alexander's memory.[16] Arrian later reported that he could not pass a statue of Alexander without feeling faint.[17] Cassander has been perceived to be ambitious and unscrupulous, and even members of his own family were estranged from him.[18] However, historians like John D. Grainger argue this characterization owes much to stories spread by his rivals.[19]

Cassander was responsible for the deaths of more Argeads than other Diadochi, (Alexander IV, Roxana, and Alexander's supposed illegitimate son Heracles, as well as allowing Olympias to be killed by a Macedonian assembly), he was not the only one willing to kill Alexander's relatives: Polyperchon and Antigonus were just as willing to do the same when it benefitted them.[20][21] From numismatic evidence, Evan Pitt argues that Cassander's actions until 311 BC were motivated more by self-preservation and maintenance of his own power rather than royal ambition and rivalry to Alexander the Great.[22] Cassander's decision to restore Thebes, which had been destroyed by Alexander, was perceived at the time to be a snub to the deceased king, though it also had the realpolitik effect of providing a power base for Cassander in Boeotia.[23][24]

 
Coin of Cassander minted after 310 BCE, displaying Alexander or Cassander wearing the lion pelt cloak and bearing the inscription "King Cassander" in Greek on the reverse.

Like the other Diodochoi, Cassander participated in the appropriation of regal iconography which linked him to Alexander the Great.[22] Other Diadochi depicted themselves and Alexander on their coins in profile with varying attributes, such as elephant-hide headdresses or horns; Cassander followed Alexander's own precedent and had himself or the dead king wearing a lion-skin cloak stamped on one side of his coins.[25][26] These royal iconographies established by Alexander and continued by his immediate successors set patterns for royal coinage which were influential and enduring across the Mediterranean and West Asia.[27] Also of lasting significance was Cassander's refoundation of Therma into Thessalonica, naming the city after his wife. Cassander also founded Cassandreia upon the ruins of Potidaea, as well as the city of Antipatreia in the Aspros Valley.[28]

References

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  1. ^ "Cassander". Encyclopedia Britannica. 2014.
  2. ^ Beckett, Universal Biography, Vol. 1, p. 688
  3. ^ Smith, Mahlon H. "Cassander". Into His Own: Perspective on the World of Jesus. American Theological Library Association. Retrieved 13 June 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d "Alexander's Successors to 221 BC". A companion to ancient Macedonia. Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K. 2010. pp. 214–215. ISBN 978-1-4443-2751-9. OCLC 676972389.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ^ Grainger, John D. (2019). Antipater's dynasty. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. pp. 70, 73. ISBN 978-1-5267-3089-3.
  6. ^ Grainger, John D. (2019). Antipater's dynasty. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military. pp. 111–117, 123. ISBN 978-1-5267-3089-3.
  7. ^ Diodorus (2019). "18.39.7". In Waterfield, Robin (ed.). The library, books 16-20dPhilip II, Alexander the Great, and the successors. Oxford world's classics. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-875988-1.
  8. ^ Billows, Richard A. (1990-12-31). Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State. University of California Press. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-0-520-91904-4.
  9. ^ Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. pp. 35-36, 2007 Ed.
  10. ^ "Alexander's Successors to 221 BC". A companion to ancient Macedonia. Joseph Roisman, Ian Worthington. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K. 2010. p. 216. ISBN 978-1-4443-2751-9. OCLC 676972389.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  11. ^ Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. p. 44, 2007 Ed.
  12. ^ Diodorus, Siculus (2019). "20.28". The library. Books 16-20 : Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the successors. Robin Waterfield (Oxford world's classics paperback ed.). Oxford. ISBN 0-19-875988-6. OCLC 1082183474.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  13. ^ Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. p. 163, 2007 Ed.
  14. ^ Diodorus, Siculus (2019). "20.53". The library. Books 16-20 : Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the successors. Robin Waterfield (Oxford world's classics paperback ed.). Oxford. ISBN 0-19-875988-6. OCLC 1082183474.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  15. ^ Seibert, Diadochen, pp. 141–142; Habicht, Pausanias, pp. 78–80.
  16. ^ Fox, Robin Lane. Alexander the Great. p. 469, 2004 Ed.
  17. ^ Arrian. (2019). "7.23.22". Anabasis of Alexander Or, the History of the Wars and Conquests of Alexander the Great. Forgotten Books. ISBN 978-0-243-71825-2. OCLC 1152271824.
  18. ^ Fox, Robin Lane. Alexander the Great, p. 475, 2004 Ed.
  19. ^ Grainger, John D. (2019). Antipater's dynasty : Alexander the Great's regent and his successors. Yorkshire. p. 138. ISBN 1-5267-3088-X. OCLC 1041510654.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  20. ^ Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. p. 38, 2007 Ed.
  21. ^ Grainger, John D. (2019). Antipater's dynasty : Alexander the Great's regent and his successors. Yorkshire. pp. 179–181. ISBN 1-5267-3088-X. OCLC 1041510654.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  22. ^ a b Pitt, Evan (2019). "An Ill-defined Rule: Cassander's Consolidation of Power". Karanos: Bulletin of Ancient Macedonian Studies. 2 (2): 33–42.
  23. ^ Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. pp. 40-41, 2007 Ed.
  24. ^ Grainger, John D. (2019). Antipater's dynasty : Alexander the Great's regent and his successors. Yorkshire. p. 156. ISBN 1-5267-3088-X. OCLC 1041510654.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  25. ^ Alonso Troncoso, Víctor (2013). "The Diodochi and the Zoology of Kingship: The Elephants". In Troncoso, Víctor Alonso, and Anson, Edward M. (ed.). After Alexander: the time of the Diadochi (323-281 bc). Oxford, UK ; Oakville, CT: Oxbow Books. pp. 357–363. ISBN 978-1-84217-512-5.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list (link)
  26. ^ Sheedy, Kenneth Alan (2007). "Magically back to life: some thoughts on ancient coins and the study of Hellenistic royal portraits". Alexander and the Hellenistic kingdoms: coins, image and the creation of identity the Westmoreland collection [exhibition, Museum of Ancient cultures, Macquarie university, opened on the 23rd of November 2007 at the start of the Second Biennal conference of the Numismatic association of Australia... to the 21 November 2008]. Ancient coins in Australian collections. Vol. 1. Australian centre for ancient numismatic studies. Numismatic association of Australia. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-0-646-48150-0.
  27. ^ Lawton, Carol C. (1996). "Hellenistic Coin Portraits". www2.lawrence.edu. Retrieved 2023-06-01.
  28. ^ Grainger, John D. (2019). Antipater's dynasty : Alexander the Great's regent and his successors. Yorkshire. pp. 156–157. ISBN 1-5267-3088-X. OCLC 1041510654.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
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