Hail Caesar: The Diadochi

The Diadochi (Successors) were those among Alexander's generals who inherited his vast empire upon the conqueror's death in 323 BC. Ruthless ambition and intrigue soon led to the fragmentation of the empire and decades of bloody internecine warfare as these generals each declared themselves king in turn and fought to reunite the empire under their own rule. Two of the most prominent of these Successors were Ptolemy and Lysimachus. Styling himself as Ptolemy I Soter (Saviour), he took Egypt as his personal fiefdom, and founded the Ptolemaic dynasty which lasted until 27BC and the death of Cleopatra during the Roman Civil Wars. An ally of Pyrrhus in his the exiled prince's youth, Ptolemy aided him in taking back the throne of Epirus, with Pyrrhus marrying Ptolemy's stepdaughter Antiogone. A close friend of Alexander's father Philip II, Lysimachus inherited Thrace, later expanding his rule to cover both Macedon and Asia Minor. A sometime ally of both Ptolemy and Pyrrhus, dynastic intrigue led to conflict with the rival Successor king Seleucus. Clashing at the Battle of Corupedium in 281 BC, Lysimachus was defeated and killed, Reputedly his body was found several days after, still being protected from carrion birds by his faithful Molossian hound.