WI: Seleukos defeated by Nikanor and Euagoras

[SunKing105]

In 311 BCE, Seleukos, traveling from Egypt with 1,000 soldiers originally and 2,000 more from colonies and Makedonian veterans joining his cause, entered Babylon and was accepted as the new ruler. Of course, Nikanor and Evagoras, the satraps of Media and Aria respectively, intervened with 17,000 soldiers, but Seleukos ambushed them near the Tigris with only 3,400 men.

What if Seleukos hadn’t successfully pulled off the ambush and been defeated. Could Antigonos keep control of the east? Could he defeat the other Diadokhoi? Could he even reunify Alexander’s Empire? How will Antigonos deal with Chandragupta? So many questions...

 

[SunKing105]

Bump

 

[Major Major]

Antigonos will dominate the era. Without Seleukos taking over the eastern satrapies, he will have more resources, and be able to take out Kassandros and Lysimachos, leaving him in control of most of the former Alexandrine kingdom. Ptolemaios may be left alone; after the failure of Perdikkas's campaign One-Eye may not want to go there again. How well Demetrios holds the kingdom together after his father's death will be another matter; there will be the Galatians coming in and the Parthians and Chandragupta at the other end of the kingdom.

 

[formion]

Antigonos never cared much about the Upper Satrapies. I guess he would let the satraps of the Iranian plateau to basically run their fiefdoms as semi-independent states as long as they pay tribute/taxes. With no Seleucus in the picture, Antigonos would have more treasure and more men. I don't think he will bother with Chandragupta at all. On the other hand, I don't find feasible that the Indians can conquer Bactria or anything more than in OTL. Even the local satraps utilizing both Iranians and Macedonians may check Chandragupta's advance in the Upper Satrapies.

I don't see Ptolemy holding against the might of an almost reunited empire. The Diadochi were basically warlords, not the established dynasties of the later Hellenistic era. All Antigonos needs, is an underling of Ptolemy to despair and kill or capture the willy Lagid. Antigonos has everything: treasure, land, men and prestige - after all he was a major Macedonian aristocrat, the peer or Antipatros and Parmenion. When it seems that his victory is inevitable, both Macedonians and mercenaries will flock to his side.

Thus, I think the result would be a reunited Alexandrian (Antigonid) empire. Demetrios would do something stupid to destabilize it, but his son Antigonos Gonatas already exists. Gonatas was capable, conservative in his ambition and a capable administrator. He would be the very best to consolidate the empire.

 

[Major Major]

Antigonos never cared much about the Upper Satrapies. I guess he would let the satraps of the Iranian plateau to basically run their fiefdoms as semi-independent states as long as they pay tribute/taxes. With no Seleucus in the picture, Antigonos would have more treasure and more men. I don't think he will bother with Chandragupta at all. On the other hand, I don't find feasible that the Indians can conquer Bactria or anything more than in OTL. Even the local satraps utilizing both Iranians and Macedonians may check Chandragupta's advance in the Upper Satrapies.

I don't think he had the time to spare to care about the Upper Satrapies (which in OTL were soon under the rule of Seleukos). I think you're right about the limits on Chandragupta's expansion; he's not likely to get more than the Indus valley.

I don't see Ptolemy holding against the might of an almost reunited empire. The Diadochi were basically warlords, not the established dynasties of the later Hellenistic era. All Antigonos needs, is an underling of Ptolemy to despair and kill or capture the willy Lagid. Antigonos has everything: treasure, land, men and prestige - after all he was a major Macedonian aristocrat, the peer or Antipatros and Parmenion. When it seems that his victory is inevitable, both Macedonians and mercenaries will flock to his side.

And an underling comes to mind: Ptolemaios Kerauos, the Satrap's oldest son. In OTL he was exiled because Ptolemaios preferred his second son, Ptolemaios Philadelphios. Without a Lysimachid court for him to be exiled to, he can make trouble in Egypt, even perhaps committing patricide (and fratricide, but that goes with the other) and throwing the satrapy into chaos, wherein Demetrios can intervene on his father's behalf.

Thus, I think the result would be a reunited Alexandrian (Antigonid) empire. Demetrios would do something stupid to destabilize it, but his son Antigonos Gonatas already exists. Gonatas was capable, conservative in his ambition and a capable administrator. He would be the very best to consolidate the empire.

The problem being Demetrios's indulgence in hugeness.

 

[formion]

Keraunos would be a prime example of an opportunist. It will depend though the time period. If it is in the 311-306 period. he would have been a kid. If it is lets say during the 290s then quite probably.

I don't think he had the time to spare to care about the Upper Satrapies (which in OTL were soon under the rule of Seleukos).

True. It is more of a hunch of mine, since he only had the Upper Satrapies for a few years. I base this hunch due to the importance he placed to Kelenai in Phrygia as a powerbase and his choice of Antigonea as a capital (close to Antioch). Also, a lot of macedonian colonies in northern Syria seem to have been established by Antigonos rather than Seleucus. It seems to me that he prefered to build a powerbase in Asia Minor and North Syria rather than Mesopotamia that would allow him a quick and easy power projection to the Iranian Plateau. However as you mentioned he had the satrapies only for a few years so we can only do projections.

The problem being Demetrios's indulgence in hugeness.

Quite so. He was basically a hedonistic Pyrrhus. He would die either in a campaign or by drinking. However, there is one good thing about the Antigonids: they were the dynasty with the best family relationships among the Diadochi. Monophthalmus, Demetrios, Gonatas seemed to really love their parents and their children. Nothing like the rest of the Diadochi. These relationships have so much promise in an era of backstabbing. That's why they constitute such a great What If in my opinion.