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The word Diadochi means "successors" in Greek. Specifically, the Diadochi were the rival successors to Alexander the Great, and the Wars of the Diadochi followed Alexander's death. This was the beginning of the so-called Hellenistic period of Greek history.1 Death of Alexander, 323 BC
When Alexander the Great died ( June 10, 323 BC), he left behind a huge empire which was composed of many essentially independent territories. Alexander's empire stretched from his homeland of Macedon itself, along with the Greek city-states that his father had subdued, to Bactria and some parts of India in the east, including Anatolia, the Levant, Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia.
Upon Alexander's death, there was almost immediately a dispute among his generals as to who his successor should be. Meleager and the infantry supported the candidacy of Alexander's half-brother, Arrhidaeus, while PerdiccasFor the minor kings of this name, see Perdiccas I, Perdiccas II, and Perdiccas III. Perdiccas (d. May-June 320 BC) was one of Alexander the Great's generals, son of Orontes, a descendant of the independent princes of the province of Orestis. Perdiccas dis, the leading cavalry commander, supported waiting until the birth of Alexander's unborn child by Roxane. A compromise was arranged - Arrhidaeus (as Philip III) should become King, and should rule jointly with Roxane's child, assuming that it was a boy (as it was, becoming Alexander IVAlexander IV of Macedon (lived 323 309 BC; titular King of Macedon, 323 309 BC), the posthumous son of Alexander the Great by his wife Roxana, a princess of Bactria, was born in 323 BC, a few months after his father's death and was immediately declared Ki). Perdiccas himself would become Regent of the entire Empire, and Meleager his lieutenant. Soon, however, Perdiccas had Meleager and the other infantry leaders murdered, and assumed full control.
The other cavalry generals who had supported Perdiccas were rewarded by becoming satrapSatrap ( Greek satrapes from Old Persian xSarap(van i. protector of the land/country"). In the ancient Persian Achaemenid and Sassanid empires, the name given to the governors of the provinces. By the earlier Greek authors ( Herodotus, Thucydides and oftes of the various parts of the Empire. PtolemyPtolemy I of Egypt, British Museum, London Ptolemy I ( 367 283 BC; reigned 305 283), founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, son of Lagus, a Macedonian nobleman of Eordaea, was one of Alexander the Great's most trusted generals, and among the seven "body-guards received Egypt; Laomedon got SyriaThe Syrian Arab Republic is a country in Southwest Asia, bordering (from south to north) on Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. The border with Israel is subject to dispute, pending the resolution of outstanding conflicts over possession of the Gola and PhoeniciaPlease see the article's for more information. Phoenicia was an ancient civilization with its heartland along the coastal plain of what is now Lebanon and Syria. Phoenician civilization was an enterprising maritime trading culture that spread right across; Philotas took CiliciaIn ancient geography, Cilicia ("Ki-LIK-ya") formed a district on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), north of Cyprus. Cilicia extended along the Aegean coast east from Pamphylia, to Mount Amanus (Giaour Dagh), which separated it from Syr; Peithon took Media; Antigonus got Phrygia, Lycia, and Pamphylia; Asander got Caria; Menander got Lydia; Lysimachus got Thrace; and Leonnatus received Hellespontine Phrygia . Macedon and Greece were to be under the joint rule of Antipater, who had ruled it for Alexander, and Craterus, Alexander's most able lieutenant, while Alexander's old secretary, Eumenes of Cardia, a Greek, was to receive Cappadocia and Paphlagonia.
In the east, Perdiccas largely left Alexander's arrangements intact - Taxiles and Porus ruled over their kingdoms in India; Alexander's father-in-law Oxyartes ruled Gandara; Sibyrtius ruled Arachosia and Gedrosia; Stasanor ruled Aria and Drangiana ; Philip ruled Bactria and Sogdiana; Phrataphernes ruled Parthia and Hyrcania; Peucestas governed Persis; Tlepolemus had charge over Carmania ; Atropates governed northern Media; Archon got Babylonia; and Arcesilas ruled northern Mesopotamia.
