WI Alexander the Great was succeeded by his illegitimate son?

I subscribe to the theory that Heracles of Macedon was Alexander's son.

Given that Roxana's child was not yet born at the time, and Heracles was a youth (18 IIRC), and we assume he is acknowledged as Alexander's...

What would happen?
 
I subscribe to the theory that Heracles of Macedon was Alexander's son.

Given that Roxana's child was not yet born at the time, and Heracles was a youth (18 IIRC), and we assume he is acknowledged as Alexander's...

What would happen?

OK first off there's like no evidence that Heracles is Alexander's son. No hint of his parentage is offered. Hell,after reading what Mary Renault said about him, it seems to me that Heracles' parentage was invented to create challenge to Cassander. However, giving him the benefit of the doubt, not much would change. I doubt that Philip III would be made a King/Co-king but besides that I can't see Heracles changing much. He and his brother would be puppets of the various Generals and would eventually be done away with by one of them. The best they could hope for would be to keep Macedon.
 
Frankly, it's either Roxana's son getting the throne asap, or the empire gets shattered like it did. The challenge is to keep a (mostly) stable regency until he becomes 17 or so and give him good education. But you need to kill/neutralise some key OTL players to do that.
 
What you need is someone who can't claim the entire thing for himself, but can act as a regent of sorts and is loyal to the Argead line. Eumenes of Cardia, the Greek among Macedonians l, would fit this role well.
 
What you need is someone who can't claim the entire thing for himself, but can act as a regent of sorts and is loyal to the Argead line. Eumenes of Cardia, the Greek among Macedonians l, would fit this role well.

Eumenes would never be accepted as Regent of the entire Empire. Look at how much trouble he had keeping his soldiers loyal. No the best thing to do would be to have Hephaistion survive his illness. That is one person we know would be loyal to Alexander and his bloodline unequivocally.
 
What if Alexander brought Herakles to court? When his father dies he marries one of his step-mothers and secures the whole or greater part of the Empire.
 
Eumenes would never be accepted as Regent of the entire Empire. Look at how much trouble he had keeping his soldiers loyal. No the best thing to do would be to have Hephaistion survive his illness. That is one person we know would be loyal to Alexander and his bloodline unequivocally.

If eumenes wins the civil war mainly by defeating Antigonos he's in a strong enough position to hold things together enough though hell have some trouble Crome peucestes or peithon( forget which one ). Remember he had the crucial support of Olympias, and if Heracles' word carries some weight in this TL his support of eumenes could also be crucial.
 
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