ABSTRACT
Olympias now had to cope with the loss of the son whose mere existence and subsequent astonishing success had defined nearly every aspect of her adult life. She had to do so in a world of bewildering political complexity, one characterized by much greater internecine violence than the era that had preceded it. Alexander’s unanticipated death left the empire he had forged in political chaos. For more than forty years the Macedonian elite fought over the territory he had conquered. His generals (the Successors) waged war against each other; some of the most brilliant fell early in this seemingly endless struggle, while some of the least competent managed to survive into old age. In 281, two of the last of the group of able but ruthless young men who had gone east with Alexander, now elderly but still tough and battlehardened, faced each other in battle. Within a few years of that event (277/6), the political structure of Alexander’s former empire achieved some measure of stability; of the many original competitors, three dynasties created by the Successors would endure.1
