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Summary

This chapter discusses the crises Alexander faced leading up to his succession to his father, Philip II: his dispute with Attalus at Philip’s wedding to Cleopatra, its causes, significance and aftermath; and the Pixodarus affair. It then turns to the crisis of the succession itself: the circumstances of Philip’s assassination at the hands of Pausanias, Alexander’s movements at the time of it, and the steps by which he secured the throne himself and legitimated himself as Philip’s successor.

Summary

The very fact that from the crossing of the Hellespont to the descent into the plains of the Indus everything had depended on the person and the will of the Conqueror meant that on Alexander's death the first problem to arise was that of the succession. The rules of succession in Macedonia had never been very strictly defined. Alexander had a half-brother, Arrhidaeus, who could have made an acceptable successor. Until 321 the kings were to remain with Perdiccas, perhaps more in theory than in reality, on Craterus. Craterus, Antipater and Perdiccas formed a sort of triumvirate controlling Alexander's legacy. The death of Perdiccas enabled a new, strong personality to make and appearance, Antigonus Monophthalmus, was in turn to embody the unitary ideal. Antigonus' death on the battlefield of Ipsus marks the final passing of the idea of an empire reviving that of Alexander. That is by no means to say that Alexander's work was totally and finally ruined.

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2 - The Crises Leading up to Alexander’s Accession

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2 - The succession to Alexander

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2 - The Crises Leading up to Alexander’s Accession

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2 - The succession to Alexander

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