From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cassander (in Greek, Κάσσανδρος — Kassandros, c. 350—297 BC), king of Macedon (305—297 BC), eldest son of Antipater, and founder of the short-lived Antipatrid dynasty.

He first appears at the court of Alexander the Great at Babylon, where he defended his father Antipater, regent of Macedon, against the accusations of his enemies (principal of which was Queen Mother Olympias. Having been passed over by his father in favour of Polyperchon as his successor in the regency of Macedonia, Cassander allied himself with Ptolemy Soter and Antigonus and declared war against the regent. Most of the Greek states went over to him, including Athens. He further effected an alliance with Eurydice, the ambitious wife of King Philip Arrhidaeus of Macedon.

Both she and her husband, however, together with Cassander's brother Nicanor, were soon after slain by Olympias. Cassander at once marched against Olympias and, having forced her to surrender in Pydna, put her to death (316 BC). In 310 BC/309 BC he also poisoned Roxana and the nominal King Alexander IV of Macedon, respectively the wife and son of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. He also bribed Polyperchon to poison Alexander's illegitimate son Heracles.

He had already connected himself with the royal family by marriage with Thessalonica, half-sister of Alexander the Great, and, having formed an alliance with Seleucus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus against Antigonus, he became, on the defeat and death of Antigonus around 301 BC, undisputed sovereign of Macedonia. He died of dropsy in 297 BC. According to Pausanias: "He was filled with dropsy, and from it came worms while he was still alive. Philip, his eldest son, soon after coming to the throne took a wasting disease and died. Antipatros, the next son, murdered his mother Thessalonica, daughter of Philip and Nikasepolis, accusing her of being too fond of Alexandros, the youngest son." Alexandros avenged his mother by killing his brother Antipatros, but was killed in turn by Demetrios the Besieger of Cities, son of Antigonus. Thus the entire family of Cassander was exterminated from the world.

Cassander was a man of literary taste but violent and ambitious. He restored Thebes after its destruction by Alexander the Great, transformed Therma into Thessalonica, and built the new city of Cassandreia upon the ruins of Potidaea.

• Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca chapters xviii, xix, xx
• Plutarch, Parallel Lives, "Demetrius", 18, 31; "Phocion", 31

• Franca Landucci Gattinoni: L'arte del potere. Vita e opere di Cassandro di Macedonia. Stuttgart 2003. ISBN 3-515-08381-2

Mary Renault refers to Cassander by his Greek name, Kassandros, and depicts him as a monster of evil, in particular in Funeral Games, in which novel he is the villain.

• A genealogical tree of Cassander

Preceded by Polyperchon	Regent of Macedon 317–306 BC	Succeeded by became king
Preceded by: Alexander IV	King of Macedon 306–297 BC	Succeeded by: Philip IV