Lysimachus
Lysimachus (in ancient Greek / born about 361 BC. AD , died in the Battle of Couroupdion in 281 , is a general Macedonian and one of the Diadochi of Alexander the Great. Satrap then king of Thrace from 304 , he is also king of Macedonia from 285 to 281.
Summary |
Biography
Diadochus and satrap
Born into a family Thessalian well regarded by Philip II , Lysimachus, who obtained naturalization Macedonian, has probably been brought to the court of Pella. He accompanied Alexander the Great in the conquest of the Empire Achaemenid and becomes the beginning of the reign, one of the bodyguards ( smatophylaques ), but his true date of the political rise in recent years of the reign. It is grown as a character: he is a close Callisthenes later philosophers and cynics.
When sharing of Babylon after the death of Alexander in 323 BC. BC , he received the Thracian , whose Chersonese which offers a strategic position on the Hellespont. He began a rapprochement with Antipater by marrying his daughter Nikaia. On the death of the regent of Macedonia , he supports his son Cassander. At the same time, he overcomes Seuthes III , King of Odrysae (Thracian tribe), with whom peace lasted until 313. He took the opportunity to extend its dominance over the Greek cities of the Hellespont , and there establish naval bases.
In 315 , he joined the coalition of Seleucus , Ptolemy and Cassander against Antigonus who intends to restore the benefit of Alexander's empire. An ultimatum that requires Antigone gave the Hellespont Phrygia to Lysimachus. But Antigone, who proclaimed himself liberator of the Greek cities, encourages the cities of the Euxine Western revolt. Lysimachus includes the cities one by one and pushes Antigone, yet he could not intervene in Greece along with its ally Cassandra. Lysimachus at the same time must also cope with the incursions of Dacians (the Dacians by the Romans) on the northern border. In 312 , he is forced to conclude a peace with Antigonus. In 309 he founded by synoecism Lysimacheia in Chersonese. He did settle with the inhabitants of the city of Cardia it is destroyed. By founding the new capital, Lysimachus demonstrates his ambition to control the Hellespont.
King of Thrace
The fight against Antigone
In 304 BC. AD , following the example of Antigone and other Diadochi , Lysimachus took the title of king ( emperor ) of Thrace. The same year he organized with Ptolemy and Cassander refuel Rhodes , besieged by Demetrius Poliorcetes. In 302 , he joined the coalition last Seleucus , Ptolemy and Cassander against Antigonus and Demetrius. Given the wealth of the kingdom of Antigonus and the importance of his army, it is necessary for the opponents of Antigone to the junction of their forces. Lysimachus, by his victorious campaigns, which controls a seasoned army a powerful phalanx. The allies therefore organize the defense of Greece against Demetrius to allow Lysimachus to attack the Asia Minor until the forces of Seleucus and Ptolemy. In spring 302, Lysimachus landed in Phrygia Hellespont , manages to avoid Antigone and receives the submission of the cities of Ionia , of Lydia , of Caria and Lycia , mainly Ephesus , Colophon and Sardis. The landing of Demetrius in Ephesus during the fall is 302 Lysimachus in difficulty. Indeed, the reinforcements sent by Cassander defeated, Lysimachus forcing him to retire in Bithynia in the winter of 302-301. But the junction with the army Seleucus returns the situation in favor of the coalition (blocked Coelesyria , Ptolemy could join forces). Antigonus was defeated and killed at the battle of Ipsos (Phrygia) in 301. Sharing arising from this victory, he received most of Asia Minor to the Taurus (the eastern part attributable to Seleucus). Lysimachus had renovated the cities of Ionia where Ephesus, the city of origin having silted. He held an expansion and consolidation and enlarged the city by transferring the inhabitants of Colophon. In 302 Lysimachus also took the campaign in Asia Minor to marry Amastris , niece of Darius III and widow of the tyrant of Heraclea of Pontus , and further expand its influence on the coasts of the Euxine.
The struggle for Macedonia
Following the victory of Ipsos , Lysimachus concluded at the expense of Seleucus , an alliance with Ptolemy who offered him in marriage his daughter Arsinoe II , aged 17, in 299 BC. AD , while the divorce from Amastris does not prevent him from keeping control over Heraclea. During the winter of 292 - 291 , Lysimachus was captured by the Dacians in a new campaign on the borders of Thrace. Demetrios , who just walk in Macedonia took the opportunity to invade Thrace, but the occupation was short-lived because it is facing a revolt in Greece. Lysimachus is released in the spring 291 and provides (or promised) one of his daughters in marriage to the king of the Dacians. In 288 , resumed the fight against Lysimachus and Demetrius seized the Macedonia with the help of Pyrrhus , king of Epirus , and he chased Demetrius and yet leaves the throne to his ally. In 285 , in a bid to reign in the Taurus to Macedonia, he defeated Pyrrhus and had himself proclaimed king of Macedonia. In 284 , Amastris Heraclea, his second wife is killed by her two son he is soon run.
It was then that serious disturbances broke out dynastic and end the reign of Lysimachus. Arsinoe II , his ambitious wife, succeeds in persuading the fact that his eldest son and heir apparent, Agathocles , conspires against him. He murdered in 282 , leaving the estate to young son he had Arsinoe. The killing raised the indignation. The provinces of Asia Minor , who incur heavy taxes, benefit to raise. At Pergamum , the governor of the city, Philtairos , delivers his fortress and his treasure to Seleucus. At the same time, Lysimachus strengthens its alliance with the Ptolemies in 282 by marrying his daughter Arsinoe I re to Ptolemy II , the newly proclaimed King of Egypt. Seleucus, worried by the alliance and the stranglehold on Lysimachus Macedonia happening in Asia Minor under the encouragement of Ptolemy Kraunos who fled Thrace since the death of Agathocles. Lysimachus was heavily defeated in 281 at the Battle of Couroupdion (in Lydia ) and it dies there, abandoned on the battlefield by his followers.
Genealogy
Around 321 , Lysimachus married Nikaia , the daughter of Antipater , of this union were born three children: Agathocles , Arsinoe I re (married to Ptolemy II ) and Eurydice. In 302 he married Amastris, niece of Darius III and widow of the tyrant of Heraclea of Pontus , to repudiate it in favor of Arsinoe II to 299 , which are born Telmessos Ptolemy , Lysimachus and Philip. The last two die at the hands of Ptolemy Kraunos in 281. The brutal death of Lysimachus and intricate matrimonial disputes raised by the murder of Agathocles did not permit him to found a dynasty, unlike Antigonids , the Ptolemies and Seleucids.
Sources
- Diodorus Siculus , Historical Library Bibliography
- (In) NGL Hammond and F. Walbank, A History of Macedonia, Vol. 3: 336-167 BC, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1988 ( ISBN 0198148151 ) ;
- Edward Will , Political History of Hellenistic World 323-30. AD, Seuil, coll. "Points History, Paris, 2003 ( ISBN 202060387X ) ;
- (In) HS Lund, Lysimachus. A Study in Early Hellenistic Kingship, London, Routledge, 1992.
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