The siege of Megalopolis was a siege battle during the

Second War of the Diadochi The Second War of the Diadochi was the conflict between the coalition of Polyperchon (as Regent of the Empire), Olympias and Eumenes and the coalition of Cassander, Antigonus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus following the death of Cassander's father, Antip ...

between

Polyperchon Polyperchon (sometimes written Polysperchon; el, Πολυπέρχων; b. between 390–380 BCafter 382 BC according to Billows, R., 'Antigonos the One-Eyed and the Creation of the Hellenistic State' (1990), p. 172, n. 20 – d. after 304 BC,Heckel ...

, the Regent of the

Macedonian Empire Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by ...

, and the people of

Megalopolis A megalopolis () or a supercity, also called a megaregion, is a group of metropolitan areas which are perceived as a continuous urban area through common systems of transport, economy, resources, ecology, and so on. They are integrated enoug ...

who supported Polyperchon's rival

Cassander Cassander ( el, Κάσσανδρος ; c. 355 BC – 297 BC) was king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 305 BC until 297 BC, and ''de facto'' ruler of southern Greece from 317 BC until his death. A son of Antipater and a cont ...

. The siege failed and Polyperchon lost a lot of prestige, which was capitalized on by Cassander and his ally Antigonus.

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history ''Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which su ...

, ''

Bibliotheca Historica ''Bibliotheca historica'' ( grc, Βιβλιοθήκη Ἱστορική, ) is a work of universal history by Diodorus Siculus. It consisted of forty books, which were divided into three sections. The first six books are geographical in theme, ...

'', Book XVIII 68,2-72,1.

Background

After the death of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

in 323 BC, his generals immediately began squabbling over his huge empire. Soon it degenerated into open warfare, with each general attempting to claim a portion of Alexander's vast empire for himself. These wars were called the

Wars of the Diadochi The Wars of the Diadochi ( grc, Πόλεμοι τῶν Διαδόχων, '), or Wars of Alexander's Successors, were a series of conflicts that were fought between the generals of Alexander the Great, known as the Diadochi, over who would rule h ...

and would last for decades (321-281 BCE). At the end of the First War, at the partition of the empire at Triparadeisos,

Antipater Antipater (; grc, , translit=Antipatros, lit=like the father; c. 400 BC319 BC) was a Macedonian general and statesman under the subsequent kingships of Philip II of Macedon and his son, Alexander the Great. In the wake of the collaps ...

had been made Regent of the Empire, he would represent the kings: Philip III (Alexander's mentally defective half-brother) and Alexander IV (Alexander's son by Roxane). Antipater died in 319 BCE, but just before he died he had nominated

to be his replacement as regent. Antipater's son

, enraged at not having been made his father's successor, soon fell out with Polyperchon, fled to

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

and got the backing of

Antigonus Monophthalmus Antigonus I Monophthalmus ( grc-gre, Ἀντίγονος Μονόφθαλμος , 'the One-Eyed'; 382 – 301 BC), son of Philip from Elimeia, was a Macedonian Greek nobleman, general, satrap, and king. During the first half of his life he serv ...

, the ''

strategos ''Strategos'', plural ''strategoi'', Linguistic Latinisation, Latinized ''strategus'', ( el, στρατηγός, pl. στρατηγοί; Doric Greek: στραταγός, ''stratagos''; meaning "army leader") is used in Greek language, Greek to ...

'' of Asia. Cassander also had a lot of support in Greece, through the Macedonian garrison commanders and the Greek tyrants and oligarchs placed in control of the

Greek city-states ''Polis'' (, ; grc-gre, πόλις, ), plural ''poleis'' (, , ), literally means "city" in Greek. In Ancient Greece, it originally referred to an administrative and religious city center, as distinct from the rest of the city. Later, it also ...

by his father. Polyperchon decided to go to Greece himself and try and weaken Cassander's position.

Prelude

Polyperchon first marched on

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

, where he tried to get control of the fortress of

Munychia Munichia or Munychia (; el, Μουνιχία or Μουνυχία) is the ancient Greek name for a steep hill ( high) in Piraeus, Greece, known today as Kastella (Καστέλλα). This is a fashionable neighborhood in Piraeus. On the top of t ...

and the harbor of

Pireaus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

. In this he was thwarted by Nicanor, the commander of the Macedonian garrison, and Cassander, who had just arrived with reinforcements from Asia Minor. A long siege was inevitable. Polyperchon left the siege of Munychia and Pireaus to a subordinate and marched his main army into the

Peloponnese The Peloponnese (), Peloponnesus (; el, Πελοπόννησος, Pelopónnēsos,(), or Morea is a peninsula and geographic regions of Greece, geographic region in southern Greece. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmu ...

. Although most cities on the Peloponnese had sided with him, the influential city of

had sided with Cassander.Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca Historica'', Book XVIII 64,1-68,1;

Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for his ''P ...

, ''

Parallel Lives Plutarch's ''Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans'', commonly called ''Parallel Lives'' or ''Plutarch's Lives'', is a series of 48 biographies of famous men, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues or failings, probably writt ...

'', Life of Phocion 31-33.

The siege

At that time Megalopolis was ruled by an

oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...

under Damis (a veteran of Alexander's campaigns). Damis did not recognize Polyperchon as the new regent and had joined Cassander's coalition. When Polyperchon arrived at Megalopolis he established two camps in front of the city, one for his Macedonian troops, one for his allies. He had wooden

siege tower A Roman siege tower or breaching tower (or in the Middle Ages, a belfry''Castle: Stephen Biesty's Cross-Sections''. Dorling Kindersley Pub (T); 1st American edition (September 1994). Siege towers were invented in 300 BC. ) is a specialized siege ...

s constructed and had his engineers dig tunnels under the walls to bring them down. Eventually three towers and part of the wall came down. Polyperchon then ordered his men to attack the city through the breaches. The defenders were able to hold the breaches and after a lot of hard fighting the attackers withdrew with heavy losses. During the night the defenders build stockades in the breaches and stationed archers and catapults on them to keep the enemy at bay. Polyperchon's casualties rose and he decided to use extreme measures, by sending his

war elephants A war elephant was an elephant that was trained and guided by humans for combat. The war elephant's main use was to charge the enemy, break their ranks and instill terror and fear. Elephantry is a term for specific military units using elephant ...

against the stockades. Damis must have had some intelligence on this because during the night he had iron spikes, hooks and nails attached to the stockades. The next day, when Polyperchon's elephant assault began, Damis had his men retreat from the stockades and had them fire their bows and catapults from the adjacent walls (he did not want his men to face a direct assault by elephants because of the psychological effect). When the elephants reached the stockades they tried to rip them down, but because of the spikes, hooks and nails they hurt their trunks panicked and fled. The elephant stampede caused further casualties and took the fight from Polyperchon's army. After a few weeks Polyperchon ended the siege and marched back to Athens.

Aftermath

The failed siege of Megalopolis damaged Polyperchon's reputation and several Greek cities went over to Cassander. Their cause strengthened because Cassander and Antigonus went on the offensive. Antigonus defeated Polyperchon's fleet at

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion ( grc, Βυζάντιον) was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' cont ...

. Eventually Cassander was able to drive Polyperchon from Macedon and became the dominant power in the European part of the Macedonian Empire. Polyperchon was reduced to a minor contender in the

Background

Prelude

The siege

Aftermath

References

Further reading