Leosthenes
The disbanding of all the mercenaries lead to a tidal wave of now unemployed Greek mercenaries across Alexander's Empire. While he personally planned on hiring the vast majority of them himself, some crossed over the Aegean into Taenaron. The distance from Macedonia, added to Sparta's buffer between the two states, placed them outside Alexander's reach. This became a safe haven for mercenaries everywhere and in a very short time-frame, thousands of mercenaries were crowding around Taenaron, where they came under one central leader in 324, a captain named Leonsthenes, who had lived his entire life around Macedonians, and hated Alexander.
The war hawks in Athens lead by Hyperides were keen to notice that this man was an Athenian by birth. When the Exiles Decree was announced, they opened contact with Leonsthenes, in preparation for a possible outbreak of war.
Exiles Decree
When the Olympics of 324 came around, everybody crowded around in anticipation for the new decree Alexander was about to give through Nicanor. 20,000 of these people were Greek exiles. The exiles went ecstatic when Nicanor announced, " King Alexander thus addresses the exiles from the Greek cities. It is not we who have caused your flights, but we shall be the cause of your return." Alexander was giving the Greek exiles the freedom to return to their former homes.
Almost immediately, Demosthenes and the Athenian envoys entered negotiations with Nicanor to exempt Athens from the decree. Athens had expelled the Samoans from Samos, and were worried that they would have to allow them back and thus give up Samos with it. At the same time though, they also wanted to discuss another pressing matter, the return of Harpalus.
Harpalus had returned a few weeks earlier seeking religious protection with 2 ships and a modest sum of gold and silver, using some of it to bribe the harbor master and gain entry into Athens. Harpalus had been put under house arrest, with the money being moved to the treasury, at the advice of Demosthenes. Now Athens wanted to discuss the terms of extradition to Macedon.
The two sides, both having something they wanted from the other (Macedon Harpalus and Athens to be exempt from the exiles decree). The decision over whether Athens should worship Alexander as a god must have also been discussed, Demosthenes returned to Athens saying, "Let him be the son of Zeus, and of Poseidon too id he wants". At the cost of worshiping Alexander as a god, the Athenians had been granted a postponing of the decree for them, to be heard by Alexander for the final decision.
However, this was yet another betrayal by Demosthenes to the war hawk cause in the minds of Hyperides. Shortly thereafter, the bribery scandal erupted and Hyperides got his revenge.
Bribery Scandal
When Harpalus' money went missing from the treasury, the Athenians panicked. Alexander wanted the money back, and if they didn't give it to them, he would certainly not exempt them from the exiles decree and they could face even harsher retaliation. The fingers were pointed at Demosthenes, no doubt his recent moderation on his policies towards the Macedonians arousing suspicion.
Harpalus got his chance, and when Demosthenes went on trial, he lead the prosecution, using his fiery tongue and playing as the victim of a friendship gone wrong, to arouse support against Demosthenes. Demosthenes was fined, and unable to pay the fine unless he admitted to having stole the money (where else would he have gotten it from), he went into exile.
Partition of Babylon
The various satrapies of Alexander's empire began to be doled out by Perdiccas. As Antipater was already the regent in Macedonia for Alexander, he kept his position, becoming satrap of Macedon and Greece. According to Arrian, this also included Epirus and Illyria. Lysimachus, a former bodyguard of Alexander who had distinguished himself in India, was granted Thrace. Perdiccas recognized that although Lysimachus would probably not be satisfied with this satrapy, but since the area was far from secure from the Dacians to the north, he would be too busy to do anything about it.
In asia minor, Antigonus was allotted Lycia and Pamhylia, in addition to retaining his position as satrap of Greater Phyrigia. Hellespontine Phyrigia was given to Leonnatus, who had only recently been joint regent with Perdiccas, until events got him left out. Perdiccas must have assumed Lennatus would be satisfied with this province, despite its steep drop from his previous position.
For his part in mediating and striking a compromise during Meleager's attempted coup, the still untested Eumenes of Cardia was given Paphlagonia and Cappadocia. This came with problems of its own, as Cappadocia was a trouble province, not entirely subdued by Alexander. Persian resistance was still strong in the area, and to help out Eumenes, Perdiccas ordered Antigonus and Leonnatus to join Eumenes in destroying the Persian resistance. Menander was given Lydia, and Philotas was granted Cilicia. Philotas' son, Asander, was granted Caria.
Meanwhile, Ptolemy pressured Perdiccas into awarding him Egypt. It was clear Ptolemy wanted this prestigious satrapy, and his staying loyal to Perdiccas during Meleager's attempted coup left Perdiccas with little choice. Perdiccas granted the satrapy to Ptolemy along with a Greek named Cleomenes, presumably to watch over Ptolemy.
Peucestes was awarded with Persia, and Peithon was given Greater Media. Seleucus was given Babylon. Other less important figures were given satrapies as well, though this does not need to be discussed in detail (the list goes on and on).
Greece
When news of Alexander's death broke out in Greece, Athens the war fervor in Athens revived itself. Phocion found himself swarmed by the hordes of Athenians wanting war immediately. Soon, Demosthenes returned, re-uniting with his old friend, Hyperides. Aristotle saw the way the wind was blowing, and fled the city, not wanting Athens to sin against philosophy twice. However, cooler heads prevailed.
Demosthenes now advocated for a different approach than immediate war.[1] He urged that Athens consolidate, prepare, and reach out for support. The Macedonians, and most importantly Antipater must not know her true intentions. Hyperides, stunned again by Demosthenes seeming betrayal of the war hawk cause, reluctantly went along with it. Phocion seems to have as well went along with it, hoping it would amount to nothing.
With the money from Harpalus, Athens was in a great position to hire Leosthenes' experienced and battle hardened veteran mercenaries. Athens reached out to him and his men, and promise payment in exchange for his services when they were needed. Leonsthenes agreed, and prepared his men to be available when needed by Athens.
Meanwhile, Athens reached out to Sparta and Rhodes. Sparta had never been a part of Alexander's empire, and although it was a shadow of its former self, it still had it uses as an ally. Rhodes meanwhile offered a strategic maritime base, as well as ships for the Athenian navy. It was imperative Athens secured an alliance with both of these Greek cities. All the while, an alliance was worked out between the Athenians and the Anatolians, for future war with Macedon.
At the same time, Athens began construction of a navy that would amount to over 200 warships in time. All the while, Antipater was unaware of the growing threat to his control over Greece....
[1]Finally, the POD is reached!!!!