After the death of Alexander his top generals and officials split up his empire and formed their own Hellenic kingdoms. So far we have discussed two of these kingdoms however the most prominent and most powerful was the Antigonid empire formed by Antigonus I and his son Demetrius.
Antigonus was one of Alexander the Greats top Generals and he had Alexanders ear. Antigonus served in the revered companion cavalry alongside Alexander himself as one of his bodyguards. In one of the battles he fought in with Alexander he lost his right eye in service of his king. When Alexander died he left Antigonus in the most powerful position in the world. Antigonus alone had the respect of a large swath of the military and used this might to secure large amounts of territory.
During his reign Antigonus was constantly at war with the other Hellenic kings even some at the same time. For example while Antigonus was campaigning against the Seleucids his son was at war with Ptolemaic Egypt. As a result these two kingdoms joined forces to defeat a Macedonian led coalition and Antigonus was killed in battle.
After Antiochus died his son took control of the army and continued to expand the territory of the Antigonid empire and defended it valiantly against multiple foreign invasions and even ousted the hegemon of Greece proclaiming it for himself. Demetrius’s son would also find success in that he drove off a large barbarian invasion for the Galatians, a large group of fierce warriors in the north.
The Antigonid empire remained stable for many years until the next king Philip V was the king. Because he was declared too young to rule a regent was instated named Antiochus dominium. Antiochus led an invasion and defeated the city state of Sparta and boosted the power of the Antigonid army. When Philip grew of age he attacked Rhodes and boasted his military might. These actions however attracted a new growing power the Romans. Tensions among the two nations ran high until Philip made a detrimental mistake. During the second Punic war he allied himself openly with Hannibal and the Carthaginians who invaded the roman empire.
When the Romans defeated Carthage and Hannibal they turned their eyes towards Macedon and awaited an opportunity to “eat their lunch”. This opportunity came in the form of the Greek city states who were used to their independence pleaded for Rome to come in and help them defeat the Macedonians. The Romans happily agreed and sent a massive invasion force which took control of Epirus and defeated Philip and his armies. Unfortunately, Greece was not liberated as many had hoped but instead it was occupied and eventually converted into a roman province.