Of the many vivid characters who shine in the wars of Alexander the Great’s successors, Demetrius Poliorketes’ light burns brighter than any other. Later famed for his siege prowess, the son of Antigonus Monopthalmus was raised knowing at some stage he could inherit Alexander’s entire empire, such was his father’s initial success. He was a true celebrity in his day, fighting with his father in the Second War of the Diadochi against the cunning Eumenes, and later against Hellenistic all-comers in the Third and Fourth Wars of the Diadochi. Often seen as the culprit when Antiochus died at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC (Demetrius’ victorious cavalry chasing their opponents off the field of battle, leaving his father to his fate), he later made a power play for the Macedonian throne, becoming its first Antigonid king. Sadly for Demetrius he didn’t enjoy his reign for long, being defeated by the combined forces of Pyrrhus of Epirus and his allies in the eastern Mediterranean. Then finally, with his last army, he fled to Syria where his troops deserted him and he died a captive of Seleucus in 283 BC. However, he did establish the Antigonid line which ruled Macedon until its final king, Perseus, was defeated by the Romans at the Battle of Pydna in 168 BC.In this brand new biography of the most glamorous of the diadochi, the story of the 40 year funeral games following the death of Alexander will be told from a fresh viewpoint, looking not only at the exploits of Demetrius himself but of his incredible life and times as the plates of political control across Alexander’s vast empire shifted time and again, sometimes in favour of our protagonist, and sometimes against.
