WI: Antagonids win Babylonian War?

The Babylonian War was between the forces of Antigonus I and Seleucus over the satrapy of Babylonia. The war was won by Seleucus and India, Afghanistan and Pakistan (under the Mauryan Emperor) gave him a force of war elephants. With which the Seleucid Empire expanded to absorb Iran and parts of Afghanistan, making it the most powerful Empire since Alexander. It also ended any hope of Alexanders Empire being restored.

What if however the Antagonids won, capturing and executing Seleucus? Would that give Alexander's Empire a chance of restoration? Was it just to far gone?
 

Magical123

Banned
Wouldn't the antigonids have to put down revolts in Greece as well, might they be overextending themselves in a victory scenario?
 
It's not really Alexander's empire if the Antigonids win, it's Antigonos' (and ultimately, Demetrios').

The royal heir is in Kassandros' hands by this point, and Kassandros probably isn't going to let him go free. Even if he does, Antigonos has little to no intention of giving supreme command of Asia up to a child. Antigonos was at war for himself. Seleukos' death shores Antigonos' situation nicely, but by the Babylon war Seleukos has already done a lot of damage to the East and replaced Antigonos' satraps with his own loyalists. Better to nip Seleukos in the bud than wait till Babylon, when the coalition against Antigonos was already rapidly growing.

Edit: loving the number of Hellenic WIs these days!
 
I think if Seleucus were executed, the Seleucid satrapies would have all fought amongst each other in a massive plethora of wars - a mini-Diadochi War, if you will. The Maurya Empire would probably conquer a few more satrapies from the Seleucids, but I think OTL was just about the maximum Indian expansion to the West. A possibility of a Persian revival exists, but that's up in the air, and a restored native Persian empire would likely be much weaker than the Achaemenids.

Antigonus would have conquered the western Seleucid satrapies, with Babylon in his hands, as well as the Levant - territory as far east as Media, probably. Such an "Antigonid Empire" would not come close at all to a restored Alexandrian Empire.
 
Top