Manju Gupta
Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great’s Empire, Robin Waterfield, Oxford University Press, Pp 173, $ 18.95
THIS book tells the story of the great forgotten wars of history. It took more or less 40 years after the death of Alexander the Great for his successors to finish carving up his vast empire. Though volumes have been written about the conquests and exploits of Alexander the Great, upon his death, he left an empire stretching from Europe to India. In fact he left things in a mess with no guaranteed successor, no administration in place suitable for such an enormous empire and huge untamed areas both bordering and within his ‘empire’. His successors were warlords who were uncultured, while Alexander himself was said to have slept with a copy of Homer’s Iliad under his pillow; along with a knife.
After Alexander, a new world emerged from the dust and haze of battle – a world with distinct territories, each ruled by its own king but with a common culture. The result was Roman dominion over the entire Greek world, ranging from the Mediterranean to Afghanistan. When Alexander died in June 323 BC at Babylon when he was just 33 years of age, what occurred was one of the great yet virtually forgotten periods of war. His death triggered 40 bloody years of world-changing events. These were years filled with high adventure, intrigue, passion, assassinations, dynastic marriages, treachery, shifting of alliances, wars, and slaughter on battlefields. Hopes for primacy fired up Alexander’s senior generals and they managed at first to consolidate the vast assembly of territories within 40 years that they and their successors had carved up. Each of the successors (as historians have termed the generals and senior administrators) had a different relationship to Alexander, to the various contingents of troops and to each other.
When Alexander lay dying, he gave his signet ring to Perdiccas, as though to assign him the responsibility of whatever would happen next. Alexander had left behind his pregnant wife Rhoxane before going on his adventurous journey to the East. She gave birth to a baby boy after her husband’s death. The baby, who came to be known as Alexander IV, was declared successor to the throne while Perdiccas assumed the regency of the infant.
The author identifies the power, support and policy of the lead players, concisely profiling their past achievements, current positions and future possibilities. Perediccas, Creterus, Antipater, Antigonus, Leonnatus, Seleucus, Ptolemy and their colleagues were all graduates of a remarkable school of military and political experience and as Meleager quickly learned, what a wrongly played hand meant.
Politics, warfare and culture are brilliantly captured in this fascinating account, fully supported by maps, genealogies and mini-biographies of key players.
(Oxford University Press, Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, UK; www.oup.com)
