Alexander’s Greatest Successor

Alexander’s Greatest Successor

  • Lysimachus

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Pyrrhus of Epirus

    Votes: 8 8.6%
  • Ptolemy I Soter

    Votes: 22 23.7%
  • Ptolemy IV Philopator

    Votes: 4 4.3%
  • Seleucus I Nicator

    Votes: 34 36.6%
  • Antiochus III the Great

    Votes: 3 3.2%
  • Philip V of Macedon

    Votes: 2 2.2%
  • Antigonus I Monophthalmus

    Votes: 13 14.0%
  • Demetrius I of Macedon

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Mithridates VI of Pontus

    Votes: 7 7.5%

  • Total voters
    93
The thing about the Ptolemaic Empire though, was it essentially survived on life support after Panion. It only survived because the Romans propped it up as a bulwark against the Seleucids and handled the Seleucids for the Ptolemies. Really ever since the death of Ptolemy IV, the Ptolemaic Empire survived solely because Rome wanted it to survive.



Who would you say of the group acts the most like Alexander?
 
Who would you say of the group acts the most like Alexander?

Acted the most like Alexander...hmmm...they all had some of his qualities. Demetrius certainly had his megalomania, Antigonus probably had his command skill, Cassander had his ruthlessness...most of them had his willingness to charge straight into the thick of the fighting. They all had his drive. And (save for Ptolemy) they all had dreams of uniting his empire.

Nobody I think possessed all his qualities though. They all wished to emulate him (hence them all copying his hairstyle on coins).
 
Seleucus Nicator was the greatest of Alexander's successors. Went from powerless and exiled after the Second War of the Diadochi to the long and successful ruler of the vast majority of Alexander's empire, and came within an inch of adding reuniting all the empire except Egypt. Cunning general, cunning ruler. Actually understood that he ruled easterners in the east, and that in order to stay in power he needed to rule them.

Antigonus Monophthalmus is number two; ultimately he failed so it's hard to put him above Seleucus when Seleucus is the one that won. But Antigonus was such a ridiculously towering figure from 316-301, it's impossible for me to put anyone else close to him.

Ptolemy was too limited in his ambitions to top the list; that was probably a smart thing, but still, he gets penalized. Doesn't get points for the longevity of his dynasty.

If I was rating purely on generalship, Eumenes might get an argument from me. Antigonus or Seleucus might still beat him, but I'd have to consider Eumenes.

Who would you say of the group acts the most like Alexander?

Demetrius, hands down.
 
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Ptolemy of course. He embodied sophrosune to the best. He demonstrate all of the Macedonian virtues of trust an loyalty, he was bold and clever as well as generous. "If it is not the part of the King to take a jest, neither is it to make one" He had a love of wisdom and was pious to the Greek and Egyptian gods. He pushed the boundaries and transformed Egypt into the Intellectual, Cultural, Religious and Imperial Center of the Med Sea for quite some time!

Ptolemy was so loved that the poet Theokritos sang this of him:

With Zeus begin, sweet sisters, and end with Zeus when ye would sing the sovereign of the skies: but first among mankind rank Ptolemy; first, last, and midmost; being past compare. Did not the son of Lagos accomplish whatever his mind could dream up, dreams which no man hath had before? Zeus doth esteem him among the blessed immortals; in the sire’s courts his mansion stands. And near him Alexander sits and smiles, the turbaned Persian’s dread.
 
Seleucus Nicator was the greatest of Alexander's successors. Went from powerless and exiled after the Second War of the Diadochi to the long and successful ruler of the vast majority of Alexander's empire, and came within an inch of adding reuniting all the empire except Egypt. Cunning general, cunning ruler. Actually understood that he ruled easterners in the east, and that in order to stay in power he needed to rule them.

This man, for the reasons Monopolist gave.
 
Seleucus Nicator was the greatest of Alexander's successors. Went from powerless and exiled after the Second War of the Diadochi to the long and successful ruler of the vast majority of Alexander's empire, and came within an inch of adding reuniting all the empire except Egypt. Cunning general, cunning ruler. Actually understood that he ruled easterners in the east, and that in order to stay in power he needed to rule them.

Which may not have happened if he had not been sheltered by Ptolemy in the first place. Which is funny in that he was also killed by a Ptolemy.
 
I wish there was an option for Eumenes.

Or a POD having Antigonus die of a horse accident enroute to Perdiccas' embassy - so that he's unable to rally the likes of Ptolemy, Craterus and Antipater against Perdiccas' "tyranny". This would buy time for Perdiccas' faction to rebound, especially with Eumenes around.
 
Ptolemy, Seleucus, and Pyrrhus all are about even in my books (despite massive differences in success) but Pyrrhus is in last place of the three so he gets my vote.
 
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