Ptolemy (Antigonid)
Ptolemy or Polemaios ( Greek Πτολεμαῖος ; † 309 BC on Kos ), son of Ptolemy (?), Was a Macedonian general during the Diadoch Wars of the 4th century BC. He was a nephew of the Diadoch ruler Antigonos Monophthalmos . His brother was probably Dioskourides .
Ptolemy defended during the Third Diadoch War in 313 BC. The coast of Karia for his uncle . He destroyed an invading army of the Kassander and took his strategists prisoner. He then operated successfully on the Hellespont against Lysimachus . In order to strengthen the position of the Antigonids in Asia Minor, Ptolemy married the daughter of the powerful tyrant Dionysius of Herakleia .
In 313 BC BC Ptolemy was sent by his uncle with 150 ships and a strong land force to Europe, where he landed on the coast of Boeotia . Thereby he forced Kassander to give up the siege of Oreios. After taking Oropos , he crossed over to Euboea , where he succeeded in conquering Chalcis , Eretria and Karystos . Then he turned against Thebes , allied with Kassander , which he subjugated by taking the Kadmeia . In the midst of this success fell in 312 BC. Chr. Telesphorus , another nephew of Antigonus, from his uncle. Before Telesphorus could ally himself with Cassander and thereby the Peloponnese was lost to them, Ptolemy moved against him. He received the support of the people of Elis , whose treasure was stolen from the Olympic Temple of Telesphorus. Ptolemy was able to quickly take the city and capture Telesphorus, then he returned the treasure to the temple. By the end of the Third Diadoch War in 311 BC In BC Ptolemy had conquered almost all of Greece for his uncle, only Athens still stood by Cassander.
But in 309 BC BC Ptolemy, along with the satrap Phoinix , fell away from his uncle. He had probably hoped for the Peloponnese as his own principality from his uncle, but the concurrent peace agreement between Polyperchon and Kassander may have made this impossible. Ptolemy set sail with his army and fleet, and Greece again fell to Cassander. He headed for the island of Kos , which had recently been conquered by Ptolemy the Lagid , ruler of Egypt , in order to ally himself with him. Instead, Ptolemy was forced to drink the hemlock cup. His entire force was added to that of the Lagiden.
To make up for the losses in Greece, Antigonos sent his son Demetrios Poliorketes to Europe two years later .
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ptolemy |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Nephew of Antigonos Monophthalmos, strategist in Greece |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th century BC Chr. |
| DATE OF DEATH | 309 BC Chr. |
| Place of death | Kos |