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Biographies: Demetrios I Poliorketes
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Demetrios I Poliorketes (English: Demetrius I the Besieger) was one of the early second generation Diadochi. He was the first king of the Antigonid dynasty of Macedon, but he is best remembered for his famous siege skills.
Demetrios was born shortly before the invasion of Persia. Demetrios was born in the year 337 B.C., his birth place is unknown but it is most commonly believed to be the Macedonian capital of Pella. His father was a veteran general under Philip II named Antigonos Monophthalmus (English: Antigonus the One-Eyed) and his mother was Stratonike, daughter of Corrhaeus the nobleman. Not much is known of Demetrios before his 22nd birthday, what little we do know comes from the ancient historian Plutarch. According to Plutarch when Demetrios was young he knew a young man his own age named Mirthadates and his father Ariobarzanes. At some point Antigonos had a dream, in which he sowed a golden crop, but when he went to harvest it the crop was already gone. Because of gossip Antigonos came to suspect that Mirthadates stole his golden crop and he planned on killing him. This he told Demetrios, with strict orders to not let anyone know. But Demetrios did not want his friend killed so on one of their hunting trips (a favorite Macedonian pastime) Demetrios took Mirthadates aside and traced the words “Fly Mirthadates” with his javelin tip so that he did not break his oath of silence to Antigonos. Mirthadates, taking Demetrios’ advice, fled to Asia Minor and purchased territory there. That territory would later become the kingdom of Pontus.
We get the first solid mention of Demetrios in 312 B.C. When Demetrios turned 22 years old in the year 312 B.C. Ptolemy Lagus, as a part of a joint effort by all of the Diadochi to topple Antigonos, invaded the province of Syria (Modern Syria, Lebanon, and Israel). Antigonos, who was in Phrygia province in Asia Minor and planning an offensive against Cassander, sent Demetrios to defend Syria in his first real test of generalship. Demetrios did so and set his line of defense on the city of Gaza. Despite his best attempts Demetrios lost to the combined forces of Ptolemy and Seleukos at Gaza and he retreated to Tripolis in Phoenicia. Demetrios regrouped his forces at Tripolis and waited. Ptolemy sent his commander Cilles into Phoenicia to drive Demetrios out of Syria altogether, but Cilles was overconfident and Demetrios ambushed him near Myus, winning a great victory. The defeat of Cilles caused Ptolemy to retreat from Syria and seek a ceasefire with Antigonos, who graciously accepted. Antigonos then decided to send Demetrios into the desert to conquer the Nabathaeans. Demetrios was able to easily conquer them through a show of military might and after becoming laden with tribute set out to return to his father. Not long afterwards Seleukos reclaimed Babylon and took Persia, Susiana, and Media away from Antigonos. Infuriated Antigonos dispatched Demetrios in 311 on a raid of Seleukos’ new territories, especially Babylon, while Antigonos held him down elsewhere. Demetrios advanced rapidly wreaking destruction where ever he went, but none of this would even faze Seleukos. When Demetrios reached Babylon he took one of the two citadels that protected the city and then proceeded to allow his men to run wild, each man taking as much as he could carry. After several days of this Demetrios left Babylon and Seleukid territory, returning to his father’s lands. In 308 B.C. the war against Ptolemy and allies resumed. Demetrios was charged with the attack on the province of Cilicia and the island of Cyprus. In 307 after Demetios broke the Ptolemaic siege of Halicarnassus, Antigonos decided that now was time to invade Greece. At the time Macedon and Greece were ruled by the regent Cassander, who oppressed the people heavily. Against the word of his advisors Antigonos decided the best place to begin his attack on Greece was on the city of Athens. So he sent Demetrios with 5,000 talents and a fleet of 250 warships to take the city. Amazingly Demetrios was able to sail right up into the port of Piraeus with out being detected, by the time Demetrius the Phalerian, Cassander’s governor, realized what was happening Demetrios had already declared to the people his intention to liberate Athens and restore the democratic government. The Athenians immediately handed their city over to Demetrios, who expelled the governor and laid siege to Munychia (the home of the garrison) and Megara (another garrison post). Megara surrendered without a fight and out of respect for the philosopher Stilpo ordered his men to be on their best behavior in the city. After wrapping up his business at Megara Demetrios went to Munychia, which he took after a difficult assault. Upon destroying Munychia’s walls Demetrios went into Athens proper for the first time where he reaffirmed his earlier promise at Piraeus and in addition announced that Antigonos was going to give them enough wheat to feed the city for a long time to come, as well as enough timber to build a fleet of a hundred warships. The Athenians loved Demetrios and his father for this and hailed them as kings, but Demetrios declined the title out of loyalty to Alexander’s heir (who unknown to Demetrios was already dead). So the Athenians instead gave Demetrios the title Soter (English: Savior) and made him and his father tutelary deities. Because of this new title Demetrios was obliged to stay in Athens for an extended period of time, during which he married several women, among them Eurydice (a descendent of Miltiades) and Phila (the widow of Alexander’s general Craterus). In 306 Antigonos recalled Demetrios from Athens to fight Ptolemaic forces in Cyprus. After wrapping up some loose ends in Greece Demetrios set sail for Cyprus, where he ambushed Ptolemy’s brother Menelaus, causing him to flee to Salamis. Then the main Ptolemaic fleet under Ptolemy himself arrived. Ptolemy told Demetrios to flee if he valued his life, Demetrios countered with telling Ptolemy to flee and remove his garrisons from Greece. Infuriated by what he perceived as arrogance on the part of Demetrios, Ptolemy ordered Menelaus to strike out of Salamis and hit Demetrios in the rear. But Demetrios was able to anticipate this and used ten of his vessels to block Salamis harbor, and then turned to fall on Ptolemy. In the ensuing naval battle the Ptolemaic forces were so devastated that the naval power of the Ptolemaic dynasty would be broken for many years to come. At the news of this victory Antigonos left Asia Minor for Cyprus where he, riding the wave of popularity, declared himself Basileos (English: King). At the suggestion of his advisors Antigonos declared Demetrios a king as well and his equal in all matters of state. Within months the other Diadochi followed suite and the unified empire came to an end, beginning a new era of war and bloodshed.
Now a king Demetrios set out to make the royal authority felt throughout the former empire of Alexander. One of the first things that Demetrios did as a king was aid his father in a land-sea operation against Ptolemy. Unfortunately Antigonos was now eighty years old, and unable to keep up with the rigors of an army march and so, after concluding a treaty with Ptolemy, he left much of the running of the new kingdom to Demetrios while he retired in luxury. After the formal handing over of power Demetrios devoted himself to the advancement of technology in the field of ship building and siege machines. Demetrios had a fascination with the mechanical and he loved designing new ships and new siege weapons. Already his five and six decked oared warships were famous, but it was the siege engines that gained him his title of Poliorketes. In 305 B.C. Demetrios turned his attention on the island of Rhodes. This island had originally been an ally of his father, but during the recent war defected to Ptolemy, Demetrios saw this as a dishonor that must be punished. So he laid siege to the island of Rhodes, and during this siege unveiled his greatest siege weapons: the Tortoise ram and Helepolis siege tower. The Tortoise ram was an enormous armored battering ram 180 feet long with a 1,000 man crew needed to operate it. The Helepolis (English: City Taker) was the largest siege weapon of its time, a massive armored wheeled tower that stood 125 feet tall, 60 feet wide and weighting 360,000 pounds. Despite these great engines Rhodes held out and Demetrios was beginning to get impatient and looking for a way to quit the siege but still save face. He got his wish when an Athenian diplomatic party arrived asking him to come to their aid against Cassander. Demetrios agreed to come, but only if the Athenians brokered a peace with Rhodes, this they agreed to do and a peace treaty in which Rhodes promised to support Demetrios against all enemies except Ptolemy was signed in 304. Before Demetrios left for Greece the Rhodians asked him not to dismantle the Helepolis towers, so that they could have a monument to the siege. Demetrios agreed and the Rhodians used the material from the Helepolis to build the famous “Colossus of Rhodes”, they also are the ones who first called Demetrios ‘Poliorketes’. In Greece Cassander was besieging Athens, but Demetrios and his fleet of 330 warships broke the siege and chased Cassander all the way to Thermopylae and beyond. Demetrios declared independence for all cities on his side of Thermopylae and just to be safe made an alliance with the Boeotians. The Athenians in thanks bestowed even more gifts on Demetrios, and gave him the back temple of the Parthenon to live in. But Demetrios soon proves to not be the hero the Athenians thought he was as his excessiveness causes much discomfort. After a while Demetrios invades the Peloponnesian peninsula and one by one the cities join him, fall to him, or are bribed. At Argos Demetrios marries Deidamia, the sister of his commander Pyrrhos of Epirus. At Sicyon Demetrios forced the people to move to a new location and renames the city after himself. With this the Greeks meet at Corinth and declare Demetrios to be the new Hegemon, a title left vacant since Alexander’s death. Upon assuming the title Demetrios returned to Athens and stated his wish to be initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries. Demetrios also stated he wished to go through all of the stages at once, something forbidden by the rules. Nevertheless Demetrios got his way, but the Athenians began to resent him. In 301 Seleukos had formed another league against Antigonos, and the old king recalled Demetrios back from Greece. Despite his age insisted upon leading his forces himself and so assembled an army larger then the allied army of Lysimachos and Seleukos. The two armies faced off at Ipsus. In the ensuing battle Demetrios led the bulk of the cavalry and was able to rout Antiochus, the son of Seleukos off the field. However Demetrios overextended himself and became disconnected from the battle. When word reached Demetrios about the defeat of the main body and the death of Antigonos he ordered a retreat to Ephesus to regroup.
With Antigonos now dead a new part of the adventurous life of Demetrios began. When Demetrios reached Ephesus it was commonly believed he would loot the city, but he did not and instead planned to rest up and make way to Athens. But the Athenians had taken the opportunity offered by recent events to bar Demetrios’ entry into their city. Angry, Demetrios set sail for Greece, but not to attack Athens. Instead he made way to Corinth and appointed his brother-in-law Pyrrhos to stabilize what little of Greece remained loyal to him. Demetrios then turned to attack the lands of Lysimachos, whose lands he ravaged thoroughly for some time. Not long after leaving Lysimachos’ territory in 298 B.C. Seleukos sent a marriage proposal to Demetrios, asking for the hand in marriage of Demetrios’ daughter Stratonike. Demetrios was quite happy to oblige Seleukos and set sail for Syria. Along the way Demetrios was forced to land his ships along the Asia Minor coast line several times. When he did so in Cilicia, Plistarchus, the king of Cilicia, cried that his rights had been violated amongst other things by these landings. Demetrios was enraged by this and he took the city of Quinda in response, then he promptly returned to his fleet. Not long afterwards Demetrios and Seleukos met at Rhosus in Syria and Stratonike married Seleukos. After making sure that Stratonike was alright in Antioch Demetrios left Syria and took the rest of Cilicia from Plistarchus. About this time Deidamia, who was traveling from Greece to meet Demetrios, died and Seleukos suggested that Demetrios marry Ptolemais, daughter of Ptolemy for the dual purpose of relieving Demetrios of his grief and reconciliation with Ptolemy. Demetrios agreed and Ptolemy gave Demetrios the cities of Tyre and Sidon as a gift. Peace now reigned, but it was quickly broken. In 294 Seleukos asked for Cilicia, Tyre, and Sidon. Demetrios refused, stating he would rather lose ten thousand Ipsus’ then give Seleukos the land he wanted. While fortifying his land in preparation for the invasion Demetrios received word that Lachares had taken over Athens and threatened all of Greece. Demetrios immediately set sail for Athens, but a freak storm off the coast of Attica (the region containing Athens) wiped out a good number of ships and men. Demetrios sent for another fleet while he himself led the remnant of his army to besiege Messena. One by one the cities of the Peloponnesian peninsula either fell to or re joined Demetrios and after securing the last city he advanced up into Attica. In Attica Demetrios strove to strangle Athens into submission, for this purpose he took the cities of Eleusis and Rhamnus and wasted the countryside. When Demetrios was done Athens was completely cut off from re supply by land. To make sure that none of the other Greeks would try to help Athens by sea Demetrios ordered the public hanging of the captain and cargo supervisor of a corn ship trying to get to Athens. Ptolemy, alarmed at what Demetrios was doing, sent 150 galleys to Athens to relieve the siege. But just as the Ptolemaic fleet got close the fleet Demetrios sent for arrived and drove them off. Athens, now without hope and Lachares gone, sent a peace delegation to Demetrios in hopes he would have mercy upon them. Amazingly Demetrios was not angry with Athens and treated the city kindly, forgiving them for refusing him entrance back in 301. Demetrios then marched against Sparta, the one city that did not submit to even Alexander. Demetrios defeated Sparta twice, the first at Mantinea the second near Sparta itself; nothing could stop him for conquering Sparta. But Sparta never fell; for on the eve of his entrance into the city Demetrios received word that his holdings in Asia (Cilicia, Tyre, and Sidon) had fallen to Lysimachos, and that Ptolemy had taken all of Cyprus save Salamis. This news caused Demetrios to move off from Sparta and make preparations for a counter attack. But just as he was doing this more news arrived. Cassander was dead and his heir Philip did not long survive his father. As a result a war broke out between Cassander’s remaining sons, Antipater and Alexander in late 294. When Antipater murdered their mother Alexander called for help from Pyrrhos and Demetrios. When Pyrrhos stole a large slice of Macedon out from under Alexander the prince endeavored to stop Demetrios from entering Macedon through trickery. But Demetrios learned of it and turned the tables on Alexander, killing him. For the people of Macedon this was a good sign, they invited Demetrios to come in and rule. This Demetrios did and after arranging for Antipater’s murder he was made King of Macedon at the end of 294 B.C. Soon after the beginning of his reign Demetrios marched south to deal with the Boeotians. The Boeotians in turn asked Sparta for help. But the Spartans withdrew after Demetrios actually entered Boeotia and they surrendered. As Demetrios was wrapping it up in Boeotia word came that Lysimachos had been captured and Demetrios immediately left in hopes of taking over Thrace. In his absence the Boeotians revolted and Pyrrhos invaded from Epirus. When word came of this and Lysimachos’ escape Demetrios turned back and sent his son Antigonos Gonatas to deal with Boeotia while he dealt with Pyrrhos. But Pyrrhos refused to give battle and fled, leaving Demetrios free to join his son against Boeotia. As it turned out this became the norm of the next seven years, every time Demetrios left Macedon to either take care of something in Greece, Thessaly, or anywhere else Pyrrhos would show up and raid him. They almost never met face to face because Pyrrhos always fled before Demetrios arrived. In 288 B.C. after recovering from an illness and driving out Pyrrhos yet again Demetrios began a massive military buildup in preparation for a grand invasion of Asia with the purpose of regaining his father’s empire. In alarm at these developments Ptolemy and Lysimachos banded together to stop the invasion. The two Diadoch also enlisted the aid of Pyrrhos in the invasion. Finally around mid 288 the allies made their attack, Ptolemy attacked by sea, Lysimachos and Pyrrhos by land. Demetrios put up a good defense but a combination of allied determination and his own citizens’ disaffection caused the collapse of Antigonid forces first in Macedon and later in Greece. After an unsuccessful attempt to force his way into Athens, Demetrios left for Asia Minor landing at Caria in Lysimachos’ territory. Despite early success, such as the taking of Sardis, Demetrios is forced to flee due to the advance of Agathocles, son of Lysimachos. Demetrios’ intention is to march out of Asia Minor and into Armenia where he can settle down. However famine and disease wreaked havoc on Demetrios’ forces and this forces him to seek shelter in the city of Tarsus and ask for aid from Seleukos. At first Seleukos seems willing to put aside their conflict and help Demetrios, but in the end masses an army and marches to Tarsus. Demetrios packed up and fled into the Tarsus Mountain range once news reached him. In the mountains Demetrios sends Seleukos letters asking for permission to settle amongst the petty tribes in the desert or at least give him enough food to last the coming winter (286-285). Seleukos refuses and blocks up the passages out of the mountains and into Syria. In desperation Demetrios launches an attack on Seleukos’ forces and inflicts a series of defeats upon him. This puts his army in seemingly high spirits and it seems that perhaps Demetrios is still a great threat, when unexpectedly he fell ill. The troops become disheartened by their king’s illness and many desert to Seleukos’ advancing forces. When Demetrios recovered he marched his remaining forces into Cilicia to attack the low country. When Seleukos discovers this he follows Demetrios’ path and falls into a trap. But Seleukos is warned of this and when Demetrios tries to disengage in fear of losing his small army they all desert him upon Seleukos’ promises of food. Demetrios attempts to escape into the deep forest to commit suicide but rethinks his plan and surrenders to Seleukos in early 285 B.C. Seleukos treated Demetrios kindly and had him interned into a resort-prison in Apamea. When word of Demetrios’ capture got out Antigonos Gonatas offered everything he had, even his own freedom, for his father’s release. But Seleukos refused these offers, stating he would release Demetrios when Stratonike requested it. But Stratonike does not request her father’s release and when Demetrios realized this he drank himself to death in 283 B.C. So died Demetrios I Poliorketes, the great taker of cities and threat to the Macedonian world’s stability, at the age of 54.
In conclusion Demetrios I Poliorketes was a great general and adventurer whose love of extravagance and daring led to his downfall. Through out his life Demetrios was one of the most feared of all the successors of Alexander, and while not personally popular in Macedon the dynasty Demetrios founded would endure until the rise of Rome.
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User Comments:
| Phoenix-TheRealDeal
:: November 17 2005 |
| A great story of one of the wiliest and able of the Successor (2nd generation) kings... one that merits greater dissemination; another job ewell done, Joshua. :D |
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