Once, there was Macedon. Macedon the mighty, Macedon the free. Led by great men, like Phillip. Like Alexander.
Phillip made an Empire in Greece.
Alexander made an Empire of the known world.
Then he died.
His realm was divided between his men, the diadochi.
These men vied for control of the Hellenic world.
Persia was dominated by the Seleukid Empire.
Asia by Phrygia, but she shared this province with lesser realms.
Egypt and her vast riches were taken by Ptolemaios.
Macedon was again a small, if powerful, kingdom in her old core region of Greece.
But the southern parts were split into many small kingdoms, some under the protection of Phrygia.
In Epirus, a young king thirsted for power.
Kassandros I Antipatrid knew he had a long way ahead of himself, if his kingdom of Macedon were to again become a world power.
He struck at some of the weaker Greek kingdoms. He won.
He took out Epirus and killed the would be conqueror, making his realm a province of his own kingdom.
He conquered Rhodes and her allies, securing his grip of most of Crete and the ancient stronghold of Rhodes.
He vanquished Illyria Graeca and several Greek kingdoms in a bloody war that could have broken his might once and for all.
He prevailed.
In Phrygia, the old guard died.
Same, in Egypt.
In the Seleukid Empire, the old fox refused to die.
Kassandros, for his part, were getting senile.
But he lived on.
His heir was a leper, his other sons preparing their bid for power.
But Kassandros was not done.
Another war, this time draining both the coffers of state and Macedon’s manpower.
The man was senile, stubborn and increasingly incompetent.
Then he died.
His second son raised an army but did not yet strike.
Instead, he helped win the war.
But now, controlling the strongest army, as his brother the king lost his men, but won the war.
Phillippos IV Antipatrid was a dead man walking, and Macedon held their breath as he lingered on, closer and closer to Hades.
His son and heir, a 17-year-old whelp – yet untried.
