155: "Heidelberg Epitome"
This is an anonymous summary of events after the death of Alexander, from 323 to 316 B.C.
[1] When Alexander died, he left behind his wives and an unborn son by Roxane. His followers quarrelled about who should become king, but Alexander's half-brother Arrhidaeus, who was later called Philippus, was appointed to be king until the son of Alexander reached an appropriate age. 2 Because Arrhidaeus was dull-witted, and also epileptic, Perdiccas was appointed to be guardian and overseer of the royal government. Alexander had given his ring to Perdiccas before he died, considering him to be more trustworthy than the other generals. After due consideration, Perdiccas divided the empire into more than 24 satrapies, and gave each of the generals a satrapy to govern. 3 So they went out to the satrapies which had been allotted to each of them, but still tried to extend their power to other territories whenever possible. Then Perdiccas gathered a large force and marched against Ptolemaeus in Egypt, but there some of his officers plotted against him and murdered him. 4 Then Antipater took over as guardian of the kings, and he also after due consideration changed the satrapies which had been allotted by Perdiccas, giving them to others to govern, except for the satrapies of Ptolemaeus and Lysimachus, which he could not alter. Amongst others, he gave the satrapy of Susiana to Antigonus, and the satrapy of Babylon to Seleucus; and he appointed his own son Cassander to be chiliarch.
5 Then after a while Antipater died, and Polysperchon took over as guardian and overseer of the royal government. At that time Olympias treacherously killed Arrhidaeus and his wife Eurydice. 6 Then Cassander bribed some of the royal attendants, and treacherously killed Olympias, Roxane and Roxane's son Alexander the son of Alexander, who was heir to the whole kingdom. This happened in Macedonia [(?) after the death] of Olympias the mother of Alexander. 7 As a result there was confusion in the satrapies. The officers plotted against each other and added other territory to their own. The more ruthless ones put together large forces and killed the weaker ones. Antigonus, who together with his son Demetrius Poliorcetes gained greater power than the others, called himself king and started to wear a diadem. Therefore the others, in order not to appear inferior to him, also wore diadems and called themselves kings. They were Ptolemaeus in Egypt and Syria; Lysimachus in Thrace; and Seleucus in Babylonia, who became king of all Asia after the death of Antigonus. And when they died, their sons became kings in succession.
[2] After the death of Alexander, the Macedonians carried his body from Babylon to Alexandria. They adorned the body lavishly, with great expense and fine workmanship in silver and gold. They accompanied the body with a large and abundant bodyguard. 2 Then they sent Roxane to Macedonia, along with the son whom she bore to Alexander, who was also called Alexander. They also sent over Philippus Arrhidaeus, who ruled with guardians for a total of six years and four months, until he and his wife Eurydice were cruelly killed by his stepmother Olympias. Shortly afterwards Olympias herself, along with [Alexander's] widow Roxane and her son Alexander, were cruelly killed by Cassander the son of Antipater. 3 After all these murders, Cassander married Thessalonice the stepsister of Alexander the Great, who later founded the city of Thessalonice. Her husband Cassander founded the city of Cassandreia.
[3] Eumenes, one of the cleverest of the generals and successors of Alexander, maintained a genuine devotion to Alexander even after Alexander's death. He often fought against those who were opposing the royal government, and won many great victories over some of the greatest generals of the Macedonians. 2 Then, since Antigonus was ambitiously increasing his power and wished even to take the name of king for himself, the royal family, Olympias, Philippus Arrhidaeus and Roxane, sent a royal summons asking Eumenes to come to their aid. Eumenes was moved by their request. He went off to the satrapies on the far side of Babylonia, and after collecting a large army from there he made war against Antigonus. He won two or three victories, and would perhaps have completely defeated him, if he had not been seized and handed over to Antigonus by some of his own friends, who had formed a plot against Eumenes. After this, Antigonus became extremely powerful and was completely irresistible
[4] After Ptolemaeus defeated Perdiccas in Egypt, as was related previously, he took over as much of Perdiccas' army as he wanted, and he also captured Perdiccas' wife, Cleopatra the stepsister of Alexander the Great, who was the daughter of Philippus, but by a different mother who was also called Cleopatra. Ptolemaeus married Cleopatra, and kept her with his other wives.