Babylonian imperial order

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The Babylonian imperial order is the name given to the following after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC Chr. Taken (preliminary) agreement and offices allocations among the generals of Alexander. It was the basis of the resulting rule of the Diadochi .

situation

On June 10, 323 BC In BC Alexander died in Babylon in the middle of preparing for another conquest . He had made no provision for his successor. He had only to Perdiccas , the senior general and Somatophylax , pass ( "Bodyguard") off his ring, and expressed a desire in Ammoneion of Siwa to be buried.

Alexander's half-brother Arrhidaios was considered incapable of government . Alexander's wife, Roxane , was pregnant at the time. But there was a party led by Meleager who wanted to appoint Arrhidaios as Alexander's successor. In opposition to these stood a group led by Perdiccas, which initially wanted to wait for the Roxane's child to be born. Meleager and 300 of his followers were finally at the instigation of Perdiccas, officially on the orders of the foot troops already as King Philip III. acclaimed Arrhidaios killed.

Content of the imperial order

Ptolemy , leading general and close friend of Alexander, had initially suggested dividing the empire into loosely connected satrap states. A council of satraps should jointly decide on occasional problems of supraregional importance. A continuation of the Macedonian kingship should be avoided. Ptolemy was not able to get through with this - in retrospect farsighted - proposal.

Finally, the following was agreed and confirmed by the Army Assembly:

  • The choice of Arrhidaios as king was confirmed. A possible son of the Roxane could become co-king.
  • Antipater , who was already imperial administrator in Macedonia, became the strategist of the European territories.
  • Perdikkas became Chiliarch , ie leader of the Hetairoi , the aristocratic equestrianism. Later he ceded the office to Seleucus .
  • Krateros should be the representative and spokesman for the king ( prostate ).
  • Cassander became the leader of the somatophylaks .
  • The satrapies were divided among the most senior Philoi and Somatophylaks.
  • The corpse of Alexander should be transferred to Siwa according to his wishes.

Since Krateros was absent, the office was provisionally taken over by Perdickas, who then kept it and subsequently became the fully authorized administrator ( Epimeletes ).

Of the orders as satraps, the assignment of Egypt to Ptolemy proved to be particularly significant. The list given here is based on the information provided by Diodorus and Arrian . Persons marked with an asterisk (*) were already in office at the time of Alexander's death.

Governor Provinces
Antipater * and Krateros Macedonia & Illyria
Lysimachus Thrace
Leonnatos Kleinphrygien ("Hellespontisches Phrygien")
Asandros Caria
Menandros * Lydia
Antigonos Monophthalmos * Greater Phrygia , Pisidia , Lycia & Pamphylia
Philotas * Cilicia
Eumenes Cappadocia , Paphlagonia & Pontus
Neoptolemus Armenia
Laomedon Syria
Ptolemy Egypt , Libya & Arabia
Arkesilaos * Mesopotamia
Archon Babylonia
Peithon Large media ("lower media")
Atropates * Small media ("upper media", "atropatene")
Koinos * Susiana
Peukestas * Persis
Phrataphernes * Parthia , Hyrcania & Tapurias
Tlepolemos * Carmania
Philip * Bactria & Sogdia
Stasanor * Areia & Drangiana
Oxyartes * Paropamisads & Gandhara
Sibyrtios * Arachosia & Gedrosia
Taxiles * Punjab ("Upper India")
Poros * India between Hydaspes and Akesines
Peithon * Indus Delta ("lower India")

After the death of Perdiccas in 320 BC A new division of the imperial territories in the conference of Triparadeisos .

swell

Of the sources mentioned, Diodorus is the oldest and most complete and is therefore considered the most reliable.

literature

  • Albert Brian Bosworth: The Legacy of Alexander. Oxford University Press, Oxford et al. 2002, ISBN 0-19-815306-6 .
  • Günther Hölbl : History of the Ptolemaic Empire. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1994, ISBN 3-534-10422-6 , pp. 13f.
  • Fritz Schachermeyr : Alexander in Babylon and the imperial order after his death. Böhlau, Vienna et al. 1970, ISBN 3-205-03641-7 ( Austrian Academy of Sciences. Philosophical-Historical Class. Session Reports, Vol. 268, Abh. 3).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Plutarch , Alexander 76.9.
  2. ↑ Junianus Justinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 13,2,12; Curtius Rufus, Historiae Alexandri Magni 10,6,15.
  3. ↑ Arrian, FGrH No. 156, F 1, 3; Dexippos , FrGH No. 100, F 8, 4; Junianus Justinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 13, 4, 5.
  4. ↑ a b Diodor, Bibliotheca historica 18,2,4.
  5. ↑ Junianus Justinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 13,4,6.
  6. ↑ Sources for the Babylonian satrapies distribution: Arrian, FGrH No. 156, F 1, 3-8; Dexippos, FrGH No. 100, F 8 (probably after Arrian); Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 18, 3, 1-4; Curtius Rufus, Historia Alexandri Magni 10, 10, 1-4; Junianus Justinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 13, 4, 5-25.
  7. ^ So Arrian, Historia successorum Alexandri , fragment 1b, 2; Dexippos, FGrH Nr. 100, F 8. - In contrast, Kassander was Satrap of Caria according to Diodor, Bibliothḗkē historikḗ 18, 3, 1; Curtius Rufus, Historia Alexandri Magni 10, 10, 2; Arrian, Historia successorum Alexandri , fragment 1a, 6; Junianus Justinus, Epitoma historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi 13, 4, 15; Orosius , Historiae adversus paganos 3, 23, 9.
  8. ↑ Cappadocia with the exception of Lycaonia and Paphlagonia were not yet conquered at the time of the Babylonian division of the Empire.