Demetrius Poliorcetes

Relatives:

• Father: Antigonus Monophthalmus
• Mother: Stratonice
• First wife: Phila (daughter of Antipater)
  • Daughter: Stratonice I (married to Seleucus I Nicator and Antiochus I Soter)
  • Son: Antigonus II Gonatas
• Second wife: Eurydice of Athens
• Third wife: Deidamea (sister of Pyrrhus of Epirus)
• Fourth wife: Lanassa (former wife of Pyrrhus)
• Fifth wife: Ptolemais (daughter of Ptolemy I Soter and Eurydice)
  • Son: Demetrius the Fair (married to Olympias of Larissa; their son is Antigonus III Doson)

Main deeds:

• 337/336: Birth
• 320: Marries Phila
• 314: Demetrius' father Antigonus has become too powerful: outbreak of the Third Diadoch War (Cassander, Ptolemy Soter, and Lysimachus against Antigonus and Demetrius); Antigonus declares the Freedom of Greece (text)
• 313: Antigonus captures Tyre; the Peloponnese sides with Antigonus
• 312: Ptolemy defeats Demetrius near Gaza
• 311: Seleucus liberates Babylon (May; text); Demetrius fights against the Nabataeans (summer); the Peace of the Dynasts makes an end to the Third Diadoch War, and leaves Antigonus breathing space to declare the Babylonian War (December)
• 310: Seleucus defeats Demetrius (spring; text); Antigonus in Babylonia (autumn)
• 309: Seleucus decisively beats Antigonus (text)
• 307: Outbreak of the Fourth Diadoch War (Ptolemy and Cassander against Antigonus and Demetrius); Demetrius liberates Athens and expels its ruler, Demetrius of Phaleron; the liberator is recognized as god (text)
• 306: Demetrius defeats Ptolemy off Salamis (Cyprus); Antigonus and Demetrius accept the royal title (text)
• 305-304: Demetrius is unable to capture Rhodes (text); he earns the nickname Poliorcetes, 'besieger of cities'
• 303: Returns to Greece, attacks Cassander in Thessaly; foundation of Halos (text)
• Cassander and Ptolemy open negotiations, which Antigonus declines
• 302: Lysimachus invades Asia Minor; he receives support from Cassander and Seleucus
• 301:Battle of Ipsus; death of Antigonus. Asia Minor is for Lysimachus; Asia for Seleucus; Ptolemy seizes Coele Syria; Demetrius keeps the islands.
• Demetrius allies himself to Seleucus (who marries to Stratonice)
• 295/294: Demetrius reconquers Athens
• 294: Becomes king of Macedonia (text), loses distant ports; builds a new capital, Demetrias
• Conflict with Pyrrhus of Epirus; his wife Lanassa leaves him and marries to Demetrius, who obtains Corcyra
• 288: Joint attack on Macedonia by Lysimachus and Pyrrhus; Demetrius abandons Europe (leaving his son Antigonus II Gonatas) and attacks Lysimachus' Asian possessions; he marches to the east and surrenders to Seleucus; his wife Phila commits suicide
• 283: Drinks himself to death

Literature

• C. Wehrli, Antigone et Démétrios (1968)
• P.V. Wheatley, "The Lifespan of Demetrius Poliorcetes" in: Historia 46 (1997), 19-27
• P.V. Wheatley, "The Antigonid Campaign in Cyprus, 306 B.C." in: Ancient Society 31 (2001) 133-56