After Alexander

Ever since the death of his father, Alexander IV had technically been king of Macedon. However, that would abruptly end in 309 BCE, when both he and his mother Roxane were assassinated on the orders of Cassander. You might think that this pretty much extinguished any Argead claims, but there are still a few loose ends flapping about. On the podcast today, we recap a bit of the Argead family and th...

Seleucus, now decidedly province-less, flees to Egypt and holes up with Ptolemy. There, he gets himself appointed as commander in chief of Ptolemy’s fleet in the eastern Mediterranean, cooperating with Ptolemy's brother Menelaus who was appointed as commander to forces dispatched to Cyprus. With the Third War of the Diadochoi going on in the background and with a bit of a foray into Egypt’s si...

A short break from the main narrative here to dive into Indian history. At the time of Alexander the Great, there was no one united India, just a lot of squabbling kingdoms and states as in the majority of the world’s history. Although the north was dominated by the Nanda empire, there was no one state which had central control. However, after Alexander left again some in India started getting big...

Antipater’s regency would be as short as it was rich in foreshadowing. With the appointment of Antigonus to try and flush out the pro-Perdiccas outlaws in Anatolia led by Eumenes, the groundwork was set for an eventual showdown between the satraps, who are increasingly shouldering off the burdens of the state. After all, with the king a minor, who’s going to stop them? Sources for this episode: Gr...

With Perdiccas getting too close to power for the liking of several major figures, it should hardly be a surprise that the First War of the Successors is about to begin. However, the tensions which have been building will not erupt over some grand territorial dispute or even the threat of an unwanted kingship. Instead, we’re going to witness an ancient Greek version of a body-snatching… Sources fo...

When Alexander died, there was initially one king- Philip III, Alexander’s half-brother. By the end of the next year, there were two kings- after the birth of Alexander’s only certified, legitimate son. However, the seemingly peaceful transfer from one regnal name to another hides all sorts of jostling going on in the background. Not quite yet violent struggles, but trust me, we’ll get there… Sour...

Welcome to After Alexander, the show that takes you through the Seleucid story from 323 BCE to the end of the Hellenistic kingdoms near the end of the Roman Republic. Hope you enjoy the show!