THE PERDICCAS YEARS
erdiccas was one of Alexander the Great's most reliable commanders, fighting in all his battles. Initially of the phalanx, in 324 BC he took over command of the Companion cavalry after the death of Hephaestion. When Alexander died in June 323 BC, it was to Perdiccas that Alexander gave his ring. His power was immediately challenged. Perdiccas proposed that the successors of Alexander await the birth of Roxanne's child and, if a boy, he should be chosen king. Meleager (another equally experienced commander) proposed, however, that Alexander's half-brother Philip Arridaios be made king. Thus began the dissention and wars of the Diadochi, the successors of Alexander. In this volume, Hughes explore the first three years of this era. It is a complex and dense period of history and Hughes leads us confidently and expertly from the death of Alexander to 320 BC when Perdiccas died trying to keep Alexander's empire together. By this time, the lines had been drawn between the Ptolemaic, Seleucid, Antigonid and other empires (Antipater in Greece, Lysimachus in Thrace and Eumenes in Cappadocia).
