Cassander

Cassander
stater of Cassander. The reverse depicts a lion and an inscription in Ancient Greek reading "ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΚΑΣΣΑΝΔΡΟΥ", King Cassander.
King of Macedonia
Reign	305 – 297 BC
Predecessor	Alexander IV
Successor	Philip IV

Died	297 BC
Consort	Thessalonike of Macedon
Issue	Philip Alexander Antipater
House	Antipatrid dynasty
Father	Antipater

Cassander (Greek: Κάσσανδρος Ἀντιπάτρου, Kassandros son of Antipatros; ca. 350 BC – 297 BC), was king of the Kingdom of Macedon from 305 BC until 297 BC, son of Antipater, and founder of the Antipatrid dynasty. He was the namesake of his paternal uncle, Cassander.

Early history

In his youth, Cassander was taught by the philosopher Aristotle at the Lyceum in Macedonia. He was educated alongside Alexander the Great in a group that included Hephaestion, Ptolemy and Lysimachus.^[1] His family were distant collateral relatives to the Argead dynasty.^[2]

Cassander is first recorded as arriving at Alexander the Great’s court in Babylon in 323 BC, where he had been sent by his father, Antipater, most likely to help uphold Antipater’s regency in Macedon, although a later contemporary who was hostile to the Antipatrids suggested that Cassander had journeyed to the court to poison the King.^[3]

Whatever the truth of this suggestion, Cassander stood out amongst the diadochi in his hostility to Alexander's memory.^[3] As Cassander and the other diadochi struggled for power, Alexander IV, Roxana, and Alexander’s supposed illegitimate son Heracles were all executed on Cassander's orders, and a guarantee to Olympias to spare her life was not respected.^[4] Cassander's decision to restore Thebes, which had been destroyed under Alexander, was perceived at the time to be a snub to the deceased King.^[5] It was later even said that he could not pass a statue of Alexander without feeling faint. Cassander has been perceived to be ambitious and unscrupulous, and even members of his own family were estranged from him.^[6]

Later history

Kingdom of Cassander

Other diadochi

Kingdom of Seleucus

Kingdom of Lysimachus

Kingdom of Ptolemy

Epirus

Other

Carthage

Rome

Greek colonies

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.^[7] 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 two years later, Olympias was killed, and Cassander had Alexander IV and Roxanne confined at Amphipolis.

Cassander associated himself with the Argead dynasty by marrying Alexander’s half-sister, Thessalonica, and he had Alexander IV and Roxanne poisoned in either 310 BC or the following year. By 309 BC, Polyperchon began to claim that Heracles was the true heir to the Macedonian inheritance, at which point Cassander bribed him to have the boy killed.^[8] After this, Cassander’s position in Greece and Macedonia was reasonably secure, and proclaimed himself King in 305 BC.^[9] After the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, in which Antigonus was killed, he was undisputed in his control of Macedonia; however, he had little time to savour the fact, dying of dropsy in 297 BC.

Cassander’s dynasty did not live much beyond his death, with his son Philip dying of natural causes, and his other sons Alexander and Antipater becoming involved in a destructive dynastic struggle along with their mother. When Alexander was ousted as joint king by his brother, Demetrius I took up Alexander's appeal for aid and ousted Antipater II, killed Alexander V and established the Antigonid dynasty. The remaining Antipatrids, such as Antipater Etesias, were unable to re-establish the Antipatrids on the throne.

Of more 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.

Cassander as a fictional character

Mary Renault refers to Cassander in the Alexander Trilogy by his Greek name, Kassandros, and depicts him highly negatively. In Funeral Games, he is the villain of the piece.
In the Oliver Stone film Alexander, he is portrayed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

Notes

↑ Heckel, Who’s who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander’s empire, p. 153
↑ Ptolemaic Dynasty - Affiliated Lines: The Antipatrids
1 2 Fox, Robin Lane. Alexander the Great. p. 469, 2004 Ed.
↑ Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. p. 38, 2007 Ed.
↑ Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. pp. 40-41, 2007 Ed.
↑ Fox, Robin Lane. Alexander the Great, p. 475, 2004 Ed.
↑ Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. pp. 35-36, 2007 Ed.
↑ Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. p. 44, 2007 Ed.
↑ Green, Peter. Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age. p. 163, 2007 Ed.

References

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca chapters xviii, xix, xx
Green, Peter, Alexander the Great and the Hellenistic Age, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2007. ISBN 9780297852940
Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Demetrius", 18, 31; "Phocion", 31
Franca Landucci Gattinoni: L'arte del potere. Vita e opere di Cassandro di Macedonia. Stuttgart 2003. ISBN 3-515-08381-2

External links

A genealogical tree of Cassander

Cassander Antipatrid dynasty Born: ca. 350 BC Died: 297 BC
Preceded by Polyperchon	Regent of Macedon 317–305 BC	Succeeded by Assumed Kingship
Preceded by Alexander IV	King of Macedon 305–297 BC	Succeeded by Philip IV

Kings of Macedon

Argead	Caranus Coenus Tyrimmas Perdiccas I Argaeus I Philip I Aeropus I Alcetas I Amyntas I Alexander I Alcetas II Perdiccas II Archelaus I Craterus Orestes / Aeropus II Archelaus II Amyntas II Pausanias Argaeus II Amyntas III Alexander II Perdiccas III Amyntas IV Philip II Alexander III (Alexander the Great) Philip III Alexander IV

Regents	Ptolemy of Aloros Perdiccas Peithon and Arrhidaeus Antipater Polyperchon Cassander

Antipatrid	Cassander Philip IV Alexander V Antipater II Antipater Etesias Sosthenes

Antigonid	Demetrius I Antigonus II Demetrius II Antigonus III Philip V Perseus Andriscus (Philip VI)

Non-dynastic	Lysimachus Pyrrhus Ptolemy Keraunos Meleager

Hellenistic rulers

Argeads	Philip II Alexander III the Great Philip III Arrhidaeus Alexander IV

Antigonids	Antigonus I Monophthalmus Demetrius I Poliorcetes Antigonus II Gonatas Demetrius II Aetolicus Antigonus III Doson Philip V Perseus Philip VI (pretender)

Ptolemies	Ptolemy I Soter Ptolemy II Philadelphus Ptolemy III Euergetes Ptolemy IV Philopator Ptolemy V Epiphanes Cleopatra I Syra (regent) Ptolemy VI Philometor Ptolemy VII Neos Philopator Cleopatra II Philometor Soter Ptolemy VIII Physcon Cleopatra III Ptolemy IX Lathyros Ptolemy X Alexander Berenice III Ptolemy XI Alexander Ptolemy XII Auletes Cleopatra VI Tryphaena Berenice IV Epiphanea Ptolemy XIII Ptolemy XIV Cleopatra VII Philopator Ptolemy XV Caesarion

Seleucids	Seleucus I Nicator Antiochus I Soter Antiochus II Theos Seleucus II Callinicus Seleucus III Ceraunus Antiochus III the Great Seleucus IV Philopator Antiochus IV Epiphanes Antiochus V Eupator Demetrius I Soter Alexander I Balas Demetrius II Nicator Antiochus VI Dionysus Diodotus Tryphon Antiochus VII Sidetes Alexander II Zabinas Seleucus V Philometor Antiochus VIII Grypus Antiochus IX Cyzicenus Seleucus VI Epiphanes Antiochus X Eusebes Antiochus XI Epiphanes Demetrius III Eucaerus Philip I Philadelphus Antiochus XII Dionysus Antiochus XIII Asiaticus Philip II Philoromaeus

Lysimachids	Lysimachus

Antipatrids	Cassander Philip IV Alexander V Antipater II Antipater Etesias Sosthenes

Attalids	Philetaerus Eumenes I Attalus I Eumenes II Attalus II Attalus III Eumenes III

Greco-Bactrians	Diodotus I Diodotus II Euthydemus I Demetrius I Euthydemus II Antimachus I Pantaleon Agathocles Demetrius II Eucratides I Plato Eucratides II Heliocles I

Indo-Greeks	Demetrius I Antimachus I Pantaleon Agathocles Apollodotus I Demetrius II Antimachus II Menander I Zoilos I Agathokleia Lysias Strato I Antialcidas Heliokles II Polyxenios Demetrius III Philoxenus Diomedes Amyntas Epander Theophilos Peukolaos Thraso Nicias Menander II Artemidoros Hermaeus Archebios Telephos Apollodotus II Hippostratos Dionysios Zoilos II Apollophanes Strato II

Kings of Bithynia	Boteiras Bas Zipoetes I Nicomedes I Zipoetes II Etazeta (regent) Ziaelas Prusias I Prusias II Nicomedes II Nicomedes III Nicomedes IV Socrates Chrestus

Kings of Pontus	Mithridates I Ctistes Ariobarzanes Mithridates II Mithridates III Pharnaces I Mithridates IV Philopator Philadephos Mithridates V Euergetes Mithridates VI Eupator Pharnaces II Darius Arsaces Polemon I Pythodorida Polemon II

Kings of Commagene	Ptolemaeus Sames II Mithridates I Antiochus I Mithridates II Antiochus II Mithridates III Antiochus III Antiochus IV

Kings of Cappadocia	Ariarathes I Ariarathes II Ariamnes II Ariarathes III Ariarathes IV Ariarathes V Orophernes Ariarathes VI Ariarathes VII Ariarathes VIII Ariarathes IX Ariobarzanes I Ariobarzanes II Ariobarzanes III Ariarathes X Archelaus

Kings of the Cimmerian Bosporus	Mithridates I Pharnaces Asander with Dynamis Mithridates II Asander with Dynamis Scribonius’ attempted rule with Dynamis Dynamis with Polemon Polemon with Pythodorida Aspurgus Mithridates III with Gepaepyris Mithridates III Cotys I

The division of Alexander's empire

Authority control	WorldCat VIAF: 88881779 LCCN: n83131116 GND: 118560476 SUDOC: 075994062

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