The Babylonian War was a conflict fought between 311-309 BC between the Diadochi

Diadochi

The Diadochi were the rival generals, family and friends of Alexander the Great who fought for the control of Alexander's empire after his death in 323 BC...

 kings Antigonus Monophthalmus and Seleucus I Nicator

Seleucus I Nicator

Seleucus I was a Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great and one of the Diadochi. In the Wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander's death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire...

, ending in a victory for the latter. The conflict ended any possibility of restoration of the empire of Alexander the Great, a result confirmed in the Battle of Ipsus

Battle of Ipsus

The Battle of Ipsus was fought between some of the Diadochi in 301 BC near the village of that name in Phrygia...

.

Preliminaries

After the death of Alexander the Great on 11 June 323 BC, his empire disintegrated. Officers who were trying to save it were defeated during the First War of the Diadochi. During the Second War of the Diadochi

Second War of the Diadochi

The Second War of the Diadochi is the conflict between Polyperchon and Cassander, following the death of Cassander's father, Antipater.-Background:...

, the power of Antigonus Monophthalmus, who had created a state of his own in Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

 and Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

, was growing; this caused alarm among the other generals, but in the Third War of the Diadochi, Antigonus managed to keep Ptolemy I Soter

Ptolemy I Soter

Ptolemy I Soter I , also known as Ptolemy Lagides, c. 367 BC – c. 283 BC, was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, who became ruler of Egypt and founder of both the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Dynasty...

 of Egypt

Ptolemaic Egypt

Ptolemaic Egypt began when Ptolemy I Soter invaded Egypt and declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt in 305 BC and ended with the death of queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and the Roman conquest in 30 BC. The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a powerful Hellenistic state, extending from southern Syria in the east, to...

 and Cassander

Cassander

Cassander , King of Macedonia , was a son of Antipater, and founder of the Antipatrid dynasty...

 of Macedon

Macedon

Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....

 in check. In December 311, the warring parties concluded the Peace of the Dynasts, and recognized each other. The only ruler who was excluded, was Seleucus I Nicator

Seleucus I Nicator

Seleucus I was a Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great and one of the Diadochi. In the Wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander's death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire...

. Antigonus had expelled this satrap

Satrap

Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....

 from Babylonia

Babylonia

Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia , with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as a major power when Hammurabi Babylonia was an ancient cultural region in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq), with Babylon as its capital. Babylonia emerged as...

 in 316, but Ptolemy had given him an army, which he now used to return to his satrapy.

Campaigns

Seleucus, reinforced with Macedonian veterans from Harran

Harran

Harran was a major ancient city in Upper Mesopotamia whose site is near the modern village of Altınbaşak, Turkey, 24 miles southeast of Şanlıurfa...

, reached his former capital Babylon

Babylon

Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...

 in the second half of May 311. He was soon recognized as the new ruler. Only the fortress remained occupied by a garrison loyal to Antigonus. Seleucus now built a dam in the Euphrates

Euphrates

The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

 and created an artificial lake; in August, he suddenly broke the dam, and a flood wave destroyed the walls of the fortress.

Antigonus' satrap

Satrap

Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....

s in Media

Medes

The MedesThe Medes...

 and Aria, Nicanor

Nicanor (satrap)

Nicanor or Nikanor was a Macedonian officer of distinction who served as satrap of Media under Antigonus....

 and Euagoras, now decided to intervene with an army of 10,000 infantry and 7,000 horsemen, but Seleucus and an army of 3,000 infantry and 400 cavalry had been waiting for them near the Tigris

Tigris

The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...

 since September 311. By hiding his men in one of the marshes and attacking by night, Seleucus was able to defeat the Macedonian soldiers in the army of Nicanor and Euagoras, after which the Iranian soldiers decided to side with the ruler of Babylonia (November 311). Without any problems, Seleucus could move through the Zagros Mountains, occupy Ecbatana

Ecbatana

Ecbatana is supposed to be the capital of Astyages , which was taken by the Persian emperor Cyrus the Great in the sixth year of Nabonidus...

 (the capital of Media), and continue to Susa

Susa

Susa was an ancient city of the Elamite, Persian and Parthian empires of Iran. It is located in the lower Zagros Mountains about east of the Tigris River, between the Karkheh and Dez Rivers....

 (the capital of Elam

Elam

Elam was an ancient civilization located in what is now southwest Iran. Elam was centered in the far west and the southwest of modern-day Iran, stretching from the lowlands of Khuzestan and Ilam Province, as well as a small part of southern Iraq...

). He now controlled southern Iraq and the greater part of Iran.

News of the defeat of Nicanor and Euagoras must have reached Antigonus at about the time of his signing the Peace of the Dynasts (December 311). He ordered his son Demetrius Poliorcetes to restore order; he arrived in the early spring of 310, when Seleucus was still in the east. Although Demetrius managed to enter Babylon, he was not able to cope with the resistance that Seleucus' adherents were able to organize, and he returned to Syria without having achieved his goal. His father Antigonus tried again in the autumn of 310, and also managed to enter Babylon, but was forced to leave the city in March 309. Returning to the northwest, he met the army of Seleucus, who ordered his soldiers to have their meal during the night, attacked Antigonus' soldiers while they were having breakfast, and won a decisive victory.

Significance

Antigonus retreated and accepted that Babylonia, Media, and Elam belonged to Seleucus. The victor now moved to the east and reached the Indus valley, where he concluded a treaty with Chandragupta Maurya

Chandragupta Maurya

Chandragupta Maurya , was the founder of the Maurya Empire. Chandragupta succeeded in conquering most of the Indian subcontinent. Chandragupta is considered the first unifier of India and its first genuine emperor...

. The raja received the Punjab and gave Seleucus a formidable force of five hundred war elephants. By adding all of Iran and Afghanistan, Seleucus became the most powerful ruler since Alexander the Great. Restoration of Alexander's Empire was, after the Babylonian War, no longer possible. This outcome was confirmed in the Fourth War of the Diadochi and the Battle of Ipsus

Battle of Ipsus

The Battle of Ipsus was fought between some of the Diadochi in 301 BC near the village of that name in Phrygia...

 (301).

Sources

Our knowledge is based on Diodorus Siculus

Diodorus Siculus

Diodorus Siculus was a Greek historian who flourished between 60 and 30 BC. According to Diodorus' own work, he was born at Agyrium in Sicily . With one exception, antiquity affords no further information about Diodorus' life and doings beyond what is to be found in his own work, Bibliotheca...

, World History, 19.90-93 and 19.100. He discusses Seleucus' battle against the satraps and Demetrius and offers plausible numbers for the armies, but ignores the campaign of Antigonus. This is described in one of the contemporary Babylonian Chronicles

Babylonian Chronicles

The Babylonian Chronicles are many series of tablets recording major events in Babylonian history. They are thus one of the first steps in the development of ancient historiography...

, the Chronicle of the Diadochi (= ABC 10 = BCHP 3), which also offers the chronological framework. Since the publication of this cuneiform tablet, now in the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

, our understanding of this conflict has much increased.

Literature

• T. Boiy, Between High and Low. A Chronology of the Early Hellenistic Period (2007).
• I. Finkel & R.J. van der Spek, Babylonian Chronicles of the Hellenistisc Period (= BCHP; forthcoming)
• A.K. Grayson, Assyrian and Babylonian Chronicles (= ABC; 1975, 1977)
• Pat Wheatley, "Antigonus Monophthalmus in Babylonia, 310-308 B.C." in: Journal of Near Eastern Studies 61 (2002), 39-47.