The Second War Of The Diadochi
Victory was far from assured for the anti-Perdiccans. Eumenes was still in central Asia Minor with a sizable force, and Alcetas was entrenched in Pisidia. Moreover, Attalus was in Tyre with a thousands of troops, and a large fleet. Adding to this, Aristonous had command of Cyprus with a fleet of his own. If united, the Perdiccans could prove unstoppable.
Eumenes wrote to the other Perdiccans, urging co-operation. In response to this, as well in response to the imminent invasion of Phoenicia that was to come from Ptolemy soon, Attalus took his men, fleet, and the treasury at Tyre, with him to Cyprus, setting up a formidable stronghold for the Perdiccans with Aristonous. There, with a sizable fleet of their own, they would be a massive thorn in Antigonus' side, and would be hard to dislodge.
The failure of Alcetas and Eumenes to unite, would spell doom for the Perdiccans in Asia Minor. Alcetas felt he should be in overall command, despite Perdiccas instructing his brother to remain under Eumenes' command.
This gave Antigonus the ability to deal with the two disunited camps separately. He chose to go after Eumenes first, hoping his problems winning over the troops could put a quick end to the Greek's chances. Eumenes however had gone through great pains to win over his senior officers loyalty, even auctioning off land to them. Despite the immense bounty on his head, Eumenes suffered surprisingly little defections.
Antigonus' persistence however, finally payed off. Shortly before drawing for battle, one of Eumenes cavalry commanders defected, completely throwing off his plans, on which he relied heavily on the cavalry to carry out, even picking the terrain specifically for them. It was an easy victory for Antigonus, and Eumenes fled, dismissing most of his men and entrenched himself with his most loyal officers and companion cavalry in the impregnable fortress of Nora. Antigonus left a small force to besiege it, and moved south to confront Alcetas.
Attalus and Aristonous had not been quiet during this time. They had been raiding the Cilician and Anatolian coast, and even managed to get a few thousand reinforcements to Alcetas. Alcetas waited for Antigonus in a valley Antigonus needed to pass, near Cretopolis in Pisidia. Antigonus inflicted a slight defeat on him, but he was able to pull back to the coast, where Attalus and Aristonous were there to evacuate him and his men to Cyprus.
All the while, Ptolemy had taken advantage of the chaos to invade the coastal Phoenician and Palestinian cities. His goals, as mentioned earlier, was to create a buffer for Egypt, but Phoenicia also provided him with the experience needed to build a navy to protect Egypt via the sea. Despite this being a blatant violation of the agreement at Triparadeisus, the others took little notice.
Eurydice however, was getting on Ptolemy's last nerve. She had been attempting to get in the way of Ptolemy's plans since the day she arrived, and was trying to assert authority with Phillip III as her weapon. It wouldn't be long before Ptolemy lost his patience.
Polyperchon's Chance
By the summer of 319, Antigonus was in a powerful position, despite the continued problems with the Perdiccans on Cyprus. His army swelled to over 50,000 and with the ability to draw from the vast treasuries, he could easily afford this large force.
The Perdiccans too, could afford to pay their forces on Cyprus. As mentioned, Attalus had taken the 800 talents with him in his move to Cyprus. Antigonus was building a fleet however, and it seemed a matter of time before he had one large enough to rival that of the Perdiccans.
Antigonus was now attempting to eliminate his rivals in Asia Minor. Arrhidaeus got wind of this, and attempted and failed to rescue Eumenes from Nora. This was just what Antigonus needed as a reason to invade however, and before long, Arrhidaeus was firmly pinned down in Cius, now turning his attention to Cleitus in Lydia. Cleitus garrisoned his most important towns, and joined the club of Perdiccans on Cyprus.
In contrast to the others, Polyperchon fled east. It didn't take much for him to realize his days were numbered as long as he stayed in Cappadocia. Antigonus was concluding negotiations with Eumenes. In 318, the two cut a deal, with Eumenes having his satrapy back along with additional territories, in exchange for an oath of allegiance to Antigonus. This had effectively made Polyperchon redundant in Antigonus' Asia Minor, hence why he fled.
Polyperchon's flight east was a godsend for the Perdiccans on Cyprus. Antigonus would be sidelined by Polyperchon in the east, buying them precious time, as his plans for Cyprus were delayed. Moreover, his popularity with the troops due to his time with Craterus, as well as his cunning diplomatic skills, would make him a formidable opponent.
Antigonus left Asander and the majority of his forces in Asia Minor, while he traveled east with Eumenes to go after Polyperchon. Polyperchon had used his diplomatic skills to gain access to the vast treasuries in the east, using them to hire and raise a considerable army.
Meanwhile, Peithon, who had failed in knocking out Peucestes in their own civil war in the east, was in Babylon with Seleucus. Polyperchon bypassed them, instead recruiting Peucestes (who commanded 18,000 men and 114 elephants) and Antigenes (who commanded 3,000 veterans), expanding his army.
This caused Antigonus to pause, spending late 318-317 gathering up a large force of 28,000 heavy infantry, 10,000 light infantry, and 10,000 cavalry, totaling up to 48,000 men. Also with him were 64 elephants.
Antigonus' march to Susa, now with Seleucus and Peithon under his command, was pretty straightforward. Against the advice of Eumenes, he forced a crossing of the fast flowing Coprates river. 10,000 of them had crossed before Polyperchon arrived on the scene, surprising and overwhelming them. 4,000 were captured, with hundreds more killed. Antigonus had lost a large amount of men, and not wanting to let his men bake in the heat, and not wanting to force a crossing again, retired to the cool of Ecbatana, arriving in August.
Antigonus had made a risky move which would turn out to be a mistake. Ecbatana was far too north to prevent Polyperchon from moving back west. Once again, Eumenes had protested the move, but Antigonus was desperate, and had little choice.
Seleucus was now isolated in Susa, and Polyperchon and his ilk could threaten Babylon and Syria. Polyperchon and Antigenes recognized the opportunity, and desired to move back west. Peucestes protested this heavily, not wanting to leave behind his eastern satrapy. After a bitter argument, Peucestes finally back down, and the coalition marched west.
As the approached Susa, Seleucus was in dire straits, and new remaining there would be a death sentence. With his men on the verge of lynching him, he fled west, past Babylon and towards Syria and Asia Minor with his most trusted men.
Meanwhile, things were looking ominous for the Antigonid cause in Asia Minor. Cleitus, with the help of the others on Cyprus had freed Arrhidaeus from Cius. Nicanor had arrived on the scene with a sizable fleet, but was defeated by Cleitus off of Byzantium.[1] Badly mauled, he retired back to port.
Now Alcetas landed in Cilicia with his 15,000 men that he had escaped to Cyprus with earlier. Asander was in a tough spot. Cleitus and Arrhidaeus were in Hellespontine Phrygia with 7,000 men, and now Alcetas was in Cilicia with 15,000. Asander was still confident , with 35,000 men under his control, he outnumbered both of them combined. Then Seleucus arrived and the situation became far more urgent.
By the time Antigonus had left Media, Polyperchon was in Babylon. Leaving Peithon with a small force to retake Persis, he marched west, crossing the satrapies and storming into Babylon, which at this point had been abandoned by the coalition forces, for Syria. The goal had been for Polyperchon and Alcetas to unite, but Asander got to Alcetas in Cilicia first.
Leaving 8,000 men to hold off Cleitus and Arrhidaeus, Asander marched to meet Alcetas with 27,000 men. Alcetas was waiting for him at the Cilician gates, where a momentous battle ensued. The battle of The Cilician Gates, Asander would emerge the victor, the 5,000 remaining troops of Alcetas' force surrendering to him. Alcetas fled, and soon committed suicide, with Asander's forces restored to 25,000. Cleitus and Arrhidaeus had already hopped on their fleet in an attempt to rendezvous with Alcetas, but upon hearing of his total defeat, landed in Cyprus instead. The Perdiccans still remained a thorn in the Antigonid side.
Antigonus' Triumph
With this setback, Polyperchon's coalition decided to meet Antigonus in battle on the flat plains of Syria. They were afraid Asander would come from behind and surround them, so forced a battle with Antigonus. Here, over 90,000 soldiers and almost 200 elephants would clash in a grand fashion.
Antigonus deployed Demetrius with large amounts of light cavalry on the left wing. On the right wing he placed Eumenes with his heavy cavalry. In the middle and the right, he placed his elephants, with his infantry in the core. Polyperchon by contrast had a much more orthodox and balanced formation.
Demetrius' light cavalry were routed on the left, but not before Cassander was killed in the engagement. The elephants in the center proved ineffective and were withdrawn, allowing for a bloody phalanx battle to ensue. Antigenes crack veterans broke through Antigonus' phalanx, but opened up a hole between themselves and the left wing. Eumenes took advantage of this, and according to his later accounts[2], "...crashed into their left flank, sending them into disorder."
Polyperchon's War Elephants
Both sides disengaged and regrouped. Before they could join battle and regroup however, Antigonus had played his trump card. He had sent a troop of cavalry around in the chaos of battle to seize Polyperchon's baggage train. Trying to downplay the situation like Alexander famously did at Guagamela, Polyperchon's men didn't buy it, and refused to fight. Night was falling, and it was too late for Polyperchon to retake the baggage train. Peucestes, who had been in contact with Antigonus, convinced Antigenes to arrest Polyperchon, and hand him over to Antigonus. Polyperchon's men flocked over to Antigonus. Soon, Antigonus had Polyperchon and many of his officers executed. Antigenes was killed as well, and his veteran regiment dispersed. Peithon, who had remained in the east, was placed back in Media, and Peucestes was reinstated in Persis. Seleucus as well, was permitted to retain Babylon. Antigonus must have expected the three men would be excellent counters to each other's ambitions. Now, in 316, it seemed like a balance of power had finally been reached. Wishful thinking this was!
[1] The Greek fleet had retired.
[2] You guessed it, Eumenes writes an account of the wars of the diadochi afterwards!