Demetrius I of Macedon
Demetrius I Poliorcetes | |
---|---|
King of Macedonia | |
Reign | 294–288 BC |
Predecessor | Antipater I of Macedon |
Successor | Lysimachus and Pyrrhus of Epirus |
Hegemon of the Hellenic League | |
Reign | 304 BC |
Predecessor | Alexander the Great |
Successor | Antigonus III Doson |
Born | 337 BC |
Died | 283 BC (aged 53–54) |
Spouse |
|
Issue | |
House | Antigonid dynasty |
Father | Antigonus I Monophthalmus |
Mother | Stratonice |
Demetrius I (
In 307 BC, Demetrius successfully ousted Cassander's governor of Athens and after defeating Ptolemy I at the Battle of Salamis (306 BC) he gave his father the title of basileus ("king") over a land spanning from the Aegean Sea to the Middle East. He acquired the title Poliorcetes ("the besieger") after the unsuccessful siege of Rhodes in 305. While Antigonus I and Demetrius planned a revival of the Hellenic League with themselves as dual hegemons, a coalition of the diadochi; Cassander, Seleucus I, Ptolemy I, and Lysimachus defeated the two at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC, in which Antigonus I was killed and the Asian territory of his empire was lost. In 294, Demetrius managed to successfully seize control of Athens and establish himself as king of Macedon. He ruled until 288 when he was eventually driven out by Pyrrhus and Lysimachus and later surrendered to Seleucus I in Cilicia, dying there in 283.[1] After a long period of instability, Demetrius' son, Antigonus II Gonatas, managed to solidify the dynasty in the kingdom and establish its hegemony over much of Hellenistic Greece.[2]
Biography
Early career
Demetrius served with his father,
Demetrius was again present at the conclusive Battle of Gabiene. Directly after the battle, while Antigonus held the betrayed Eumenes, Demetrius was one of the few who implored his father to spare the Greek successor's life.
At the age of twenty-one he was left by his father to defend Syria against Ptolemy the son of Lagus. He was defeated at the Battle of Gaza, but soon partially repaired his loss by a victory in the neighbourhood of Myus.[3] In the spring of 310, he was soundly defeated when he tried to expel Seleucus I Nicator from Babylon; his father was defeated in the autumn. As a result of this Babylonian War, Antigonus lost almost two thirds of his empire: all eastern satrapies fell to Seleucus.
After several campaigns against Ptolemy on the coasts of
Demetrius sailed from Athens in the spring of 306 BC and in accordance with his father's orders he first went to Caria where he summoned the
In 304 BC, he returned a second time to Greece as liberator, and reinstated the
He also roused the jealousy of Alexander's Diadochi; Seleucus, Cassander and Lysimachus united to destroy him and his father. The hostile armies met at the Battle of Ipsus in Phrygia (301 BC). Antigonus was killed, and Demetrius, after sustaining severe losses, retired to Ephesus. This reversal of fortune stirred up many enemies against him—the Athenians refused even to admit him into their city. But he soon afterwards ravaged the territory of Lysimachus and effected a reconciliation with Seleucus, to whom he gave his daughter Stratonice in marriage. Athens was at this time oppressed by the tyranny of Lachares—a popular leader who made himself supreme in Athens in 296 BC—but Demetrius, after a protracted blockade, gained possession of the city (294 BC) and pardoned the inhabitants for their misconduct in 301 BC in a great display of mercy, a trait Demetrius highly valued in a ruler.[3]
After Athens' capitulation, Demetrius formed a new government which espoused a major dislocation of traditional democratic forms, which anti Macedonian democrats would have called oligarchy. The cyclical rotation of the secretaries of the Council and the election of archons by allotment, were both abolished. In 294/3 - 293/2 BC, two of the most prominent men in Athens were designated by the Macedonian king, Olympiordoros and Phillipides of Paiania. Their appointment by the King is implied by Plutarch who says that "he established the archons which were most acceptable to the Demos."[8]
King of Macedonia
In 294 BC, he established himself on the throne of Macedonia by murdering
After besieging Athens without success he passed into Asia and attacked some of the provinces of Lysimachus with varying success. Famine and pestilence destroyed the greater part of his army, and he solicited Seleucus' support and assistance. However, before he reached Syria hostilities broke out, and after he had gained some advantages over his son-in-law, Demetrius was totally forsaken by his troops on the field of battle and surrendered to Seleucus.
His son
Family
Demetrius was married five times:
- His first wife was Phila daughter of Regent Antipater by whom he had two children: Stratonice of Syria and Antigonus II Gonatas.
- His second wife was Eurydice of Athens, by whom he is said to have had a son called Corrhabus.[9]
- His third wife was Egypt, probably in an honourable captivity.[10]
- His fourth wife was Lanassa, the former wife of his brother-in-law Pyrrhus of Epirus.
- His fifth wife was Ptolemais, daughter of Ptolemy I Soter and Eurydice of Egypt, by whom he had a son called Demetrius the Fair.
He also had a relationship with a celebrated courtesan called Lamia of Athens, by whom he had a daughter called Phila.
Literary references
Plutarch
Plutarch wrote a biography of Demetrius, in which he is paired with Mark Antony.
Hegel
Others
Plutarch's account of Demetrius' departure from Macedonia in 288 BC inspired
Demetrius is the main character of the opera Demetrio a Rodi (Turin, 1789) with libretto[14] by Giandomenico Boggio and Giuseppe Banti. The music is set by Gaetano Pugnani (1731-1798).
Demetrius appears (under the Greek form of his name, Demetrios) in L. Sprague de Camp's historical novel, The Bronze God of Rhodes, which largely concerns itself with his siege of Rhodes.
Alfred Duggan's novel Elephants and Castles provides a lively fictionalised account of his life.
See also
References
- ^ "Demetrius I Poliorcetes | Macedonian Conqueror, Military Strategist | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ISBN 978-1-4051-7936-2.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Demetrius s.v. Demetrius I". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 982. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the
- ^ Plutarch, Life of Demetrius, 14.1-2.
- ^ Walter M. Ellis, Ptolemy of Egypt, Routledge, London, 1994, p. 15.
- ^ a b Plutarch, Life of Demetrius
- ^ Prado Museum: "Retrato en bronce de un Diádoco"
- ISBN 0-87661-517-5.
- ^ Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. 16 April 1867. p. 120. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ Plutarch, "Demetrius", 53
- ^ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Lectures on the History of Philosophy, volume 2, Plato and the Platonists, p. 125, translated by E. S. Haldane and Frances H. Simson, Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press, 1995.
- Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers, Book V.
- ^ Kenneth Scott, "The Deification of Demetrius Poliorcetes: Part I", The American Journal of Philology, 49:2 (1928), pp. 137–166. See, in particular, p. 148.
- ^ Demetrio a Rodi: festa per musica da rappresentarsi nel Regio teatro di Torino per le nozze delle LL. AA. RR. Vittorio Emanuele, 48p. Published by Presso O. Derossi, 1789.
Sources
Ancient sources
- Plutarch, Life of Demetrius
- Diodorus Siculus, Library of History, books 19–21
- Polyaenus, Stratagems, 4.7
- Justin, Epitome of Trogus, books 15–16
- Athenaeus, Deipnosophists, 6.252–255
Modern works
- Pat Wheatley, Charlotte Dunn : Demetrius the Besieger. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2020, ISBN 978-0-19-883604-9.
- R. M. Errington, A History of the Hellenistic World, pp. 33–58. Blackwell Publishing (2008). ISBN 978-0-631-23388-6.
- Demetrius I at Livius.org Archived 2015-07-09 at the Wayback Machine
- ISBN 0-520-20880-3.s]