Antigonus Cyclops

Antigonus Cyclops (or Monopthalmos; so called from his having lost an eye) (382-301 B.C.), Macedonian king, son of Philip, was one of the generals of Alexander the Great. He was made governor of Greater Phrygia in 333, and in the division of the provinces after Alexander’s death (323) Pamphylia and Lycia were added to his command. He incurred the enmity of Perdiccas, the regent, by refusing to assist Eumenes (q.v.) to obtain possession of the provinces allotted to him. In danger of his life he escaped with his son Demetrius into Greece, where he obtained the favour of Antipater, regent of Macedonia (321); and when, soon after, on the death of Perdiccas, a new division took place, he was entrusted with the command of the war against Eumenes, who had joined Perdiccas against the coalition of Antipater, Antigonus, and the other generals. Eumenes was completely defeated, and obliged to retire to Nora in Cappadocia, and a new army that was marching to his relief was routed by Antigonus. Polyperchon succeeding Antipater (d. 319) in the regency, to the exclusion of Cassander, his son, Antigonus resolved to set himself up as lord of all Asia, and in conjunction with Cassander and Ptolemy of Egypt, refused to recognize Polyperchon. He entered into negotiations with Eumenes; but Eumenes remained faithful to the royal house. Effecting his escape from Nora, he raised an army, and formed a coalition with the satraps of the eastern provinces. He was at last delivered up to Antigonus through treachery in Persia and put to death (316). Antigonus again claimed authority over the whole of Asia, seized the treasures at Susa, and entered Babylonia, of which Seleucus was governor. Seleucus fled to Ptolemy, and entered into a league with him (315), together with Lysimachus and Cassander. After the war had been carried on with varying success from 315 to 311, peace was concluded, by which the government of Asia Minor and Syria was provisionally secured to Antigonus. This agreement was soon violated on the pretext that garrisons had been placed in some of the free Greek cities by Antigonus, and Ptolemy and Cassander renewed hostilities against him. Demetrius Poliorcetes, the son of Antigonus, wrested part of Greece from Cassander. At first Ptolemy had made a successful descent upon Asia Minor and on several of the islands of the Archipelago; but he was at length totally defeated by Demetrius in a naval engagement off Salamis, in Cyprus (306). On this victory Antigonus assumed the title of king, and bestowed the same upon his son, a declaration that he claimed to be the heir of Alexander. Antigonus now prepared a large army, and a formidable fleet, the command of which he gave to Demetrius, and hastened to attack Ptolemy in his own dominions. His invasion of Egypt, however, proved a failure; he was unable to penetrate the defences of Ptolemy, and was obliged to retire. Demetrius now attempted the reduction of Rhodes, which had refused to assist Antigonus against Egypt; but, meeting with obstinate resistance, he was obliged to make a treaty upon the best terms that he could (304). In 302, although Demetrius was again winning success after success in Greece, Antigonus was obliged to recall him to meet the confederacy that had been formed between Cassander, Seleucus and Lysimachus. A decisive battle was fought at Ipsus, in which Antigonus fell, in the eighty-first year of his age.

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