Perdiccas's Tomb

[ruthaki]

thanks Karl, that contradicts other research I've done about her (which I'll have to check my files to verify) but I understand she was poisoned and I understood it was much earlier than 309. I've never heard Ptolemy mentioned in connection with this.

[abm]

Hi Ruth,Karl is absolutely right about the death of Cleopatra, which - if i remeber correctly this time - is described in Diodorus XX.37. As for Perdikkas marrying her or not, I'm not sure it was that easy. The way I see it he married Nikaia because he needed Antipatros' military support, in order to establish his power. Marrying Kleopatra, however, was only interesting to legitimize power already established. Therefore I assume he didn't have much choice, although for various other reasons his relationship with his Antipatros quite soon deteriorated so badly that it might have been better to marry Kleopatra after all, and maybe Perdikkas had realized that too. Anyhow, by that time it was too late for him.regards,abm

[abm]

from http://hometown.aol.co.uk/bobbbennett/defeat.htm: had had high ambitions when he entered Aegean waters he had not sailed since he left Macedon with the army of Alexander the Great. Ambitions made clear enough by his intrigues with the greatest remaining member of the Macedonian royal line. Cleopatra the sister of Alexander, himself, and chased by so many suitors years before had been retired in Sardis since 320. Her court was there but she had no real power save the prestige of her name as AntigonusGÇÖ soldiers ruled the city. But inclining to throw in her lot with Ptolemy, she once again dangerously cast herself onto a political sea she did not really comprehend. The ruler of Egypt with ambitions in the old kingdom looked to win her as a mascot and standard bearer of his cause. In this loose world of Macedonian hegemony it was easy for agents to come and go with a common tradition and language to grease their intrigue. In 309 he had started to talk with her and in the next year she made her choice and moved to join her new ally. But as it was easy to plot so it was for Antigonus' friends to find out. The vigilant governor of Sardis apprehended her as she tried to start her journey and Antigonus angered at this trouble-making dowager took radical action. He arranged for her own maidservants to kill her. So easily was the blood of the Argeads spilt by men who had so recently claimed veneration for the name of Alexander."