For the past few months I have been posting about the successor kingdoms of Alexander The Great. This post will however be different because I am going to recap most of the post and include a few more details about some of the kingdoms that I posted about. 

 

As I have stated in an earlier post when Alexander the Great died he left behind a massive empire and without a legitimate heir his generals and other high officials began to vie for territory in the empire. This ended with the formation of several kingdoms and empires itself. Among those who rose to prominence were the Seleucid, Antigonid, Ptolemaic, and Pergamese empires. Together they ruled most of the Pan Hellenistic world. These empires spanned from Greece in the west to Egypt in the south, and India in the east. 

It goes without saying that undoubtedly these empires linked culture and people like they never were before. All of the successor states built new cities and hired marvelous architects to create palaces, temples, and other buildings for them.  It is needless to say that philosophy from the East travelled west and vice versa. Creating one of the most explosive periods in literature and philosophical works.

 

Among some of these architectural feats were the lighthouse of Alexandria, the Library of Pergamon, The altar of Zeus, the acropolis of Pergamon, the library of Alexandria and many more. The successor kingdoms were in possession of some of the most important and productive territories in the ancient world. For example, Egypt was the breadbasket of the ancient world exporting grains as far as Spain. Greece was a cultural and philosophical hub experienced well in trade and warfare. To the East came many military uses such as Indian war elephants, scythed chariots, and Parthian horse archers and cataphracts. 

 

However, the resources that these empires possessed made them very attractive to the others. This led to infighting among the empires weakening them all. This fighting also encouraged multiple uprisings and many states spring up from diminishing empires. For example when the Seleucid empire was declining the kingdom of Parthia, Armenia, and Bactria emerged. When the Antigonid empire fell it led to the uprising of the kingdom of Epirus, the Achaean and Aetolian leagues which took root in Greece. The kingdom of Pergamon also emerged when the Antigonid and Seleucid empires were at war.

 

This fracturing of the empires made them easy targets to the ever growing Roman war machine. This begs the question: if Alexander’s successor states stopped infighting could they stand a better chance against the Romans and possibly beat them. This question is out of my area of knowledge and is probably best left for the professionals.