Antipater

Antipater
Coinage of Alexander the Great, Amphipolis mint, struck under Antipater for Philip III Arrhidaeus, circa 322–320 BC.[1]
Regent of Alexander's Empire
Reign	c. 321/320 – 319 BC
Successor	Polyperchon
Regent of Macedon and Greece
Reign	334 – 319 BC
Born	c. 400 BC
Died	spring 319 BC (aged c. 81)
Issue	Phila, Eurydice, Nicaea, Iollas, Cassander, Pleistarchus, Philip, Nicanor, Alexarchus, Perilaus
Greek	Ἀντίπατρος
Father	Iolaos of Macedon[2]

Antipater (/ænˈtɪpətər/; Ancient Greek: Ἀντίπατρος, romanized: Antipatros, lit. 'like the father'; c. 400 BC^[3] – 319 BC) was a Macedonian general and statesman under the successive kingships of Philip II of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. In the wake of the collapse of the Argead house, his son Cassander would eventually come to rule Macedonia as a king in his own right.^[4]

Antipater helped Alexander secure the throne upon the death of Philip II. When Alexander began his wars against the Persian Empire in 336 BC, Antipater, as a right-hand man of Philip II, remained behind to hold Macedon and Greece as regent. While Alexander was campaigning, Antipater crushed revolts, like that of King Agis III of Sparta, and managed Greek affairs. After the Death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, Antipater was reconfirmed in his position as viceroy of Europe in the Partition of Babylon.

Antipater then became engaged in the Lamian War, where he was defeated in 322 BC and besieged at Lamia. He eventually escaped with the help of Leonnatus, and later, with the help of Craterus, finally defeated the Greeks at the Battle of Crannon. When he was informed of the regent Perdiccas' royal ambitions, Antipater joined a coaliation with Ptolemy and Antigonus to overthrow Perdiccas in the First War of the Diadochi. After Perdiccas' death in 321/320 BC, Antipater was elected regent of all of Alexander the Great's Empire at the Partition of Triparadisus. He brought the two kings, Philip III Arrhidaeus and Alexander IV, back to Macedon, but died soon after in 319 BC. On his deathbed, he chose an infantry officer named Polyperchon as his successor as regent instead of his son Cassander. Antipater's death and choice of successor initiated a four year long power struggle (the Second War of the Diadochi).