Thewars of the Diadochi witnessed the fall of theArgead dynasty in Macedon resulting in a power vacuum, which the Antigonid andAntipatrid dynasties sought to occupy. The Antigonid family first rose to power whenDemetrius I Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus I, oustedCassander'sgovernor of Athens in 306 BC giving his father control over a land spanning from theAegean Sea to the Middle East. Despite the subsequent instability and loss of the Asian territory, the family managed to maintain its power in mainland Greece and the islands, withAntigonus II Gonatas ultimately solidifying Antigonid rule over Hellenistic Macedon –a territory also known as theAntigonid Empire.Antigonus III Doson further expanded Macedonian influence in southern Greece reestablishing theHellenic Alliance with himself as the president. UnderPhilip V, Antigonid Macedon first came into conflict with Rome, which had become a decisive power in the eastern Mediterranean. In the second century BC, the last Antigonid king,Perseus, became known as the champion of Greek resistance against Rome, albeitRome's control over Antigonid Greece began to steadily expand, culminating in the fall of the dynasty in 168.[3][4]
In 307 BC, Demetrius I successfully oustedCassander's governor ofAthens,Demetrius of Phalerum, and after defeatingPtolemy I at theBattle of Salamis in 306 BC he conquered the islandCyprus. Following that victory, Demetrius' father, Antigonus I, assumed the title ofBasileus ("King" of Alexander's Empire) by the assembled armies and gained control over the Aegean, the eastern Mediterranean, and most of the Middle East.[4] While Antigonus and Demetrius attempted to recreate Philip II'sHellenic league with themselves as dual hegemons, a revived coalition of Cassander,Ptolemy I Soter,Seleucus I Nicator, andLysimachus decisively defeated the Antigonids at theBattle of Ipsus in 301 BC, during which Antigonus I was killed.[6] Demetrius I survived the battle and in 294 BC –during the struggles between Casander's sonsAlexander V andAntipater I– he managed to seize control of Athens and establish himself as king of Macedon. In 288 BC, he was driven out byPyrrhus and Lysimachus and eventually died as a prisoner of Seleucus I Nicator.[7][8] After a long period of instability, Demetrius' sonAntigonus II Gonatas was able to establish the family's control over the old Kingdom of Macedon, as well as over most of the Greek city-states by 276 BC.[9]
The Antigonid was one of four dynasties established by Alexander's successors, the others being theSeleucid dynasty,Ptolemaic dynasty andAntipatrid dynasty. The last scion of the dynasty,Perseus of Macedon, who reigned between 179 and 168 BC, proved unable to stop the advancing Roman legions and Macedon's defeat at theBattle of Pydna signaled the end of the dynasty.[10]
Son ofAntigonus I Monophthalmus. Demetrius' wife Phila was a daughter ofAntipater, and ancestor of all subsequent Antigonid kings of Macedon, exceptAntigonus III Doson, through her sonAntigonus II Gonatas. Antigonus III Doson was descended from the marriage of Demetrius and Ptolemais, who was a daughter of Ptolemy I Soter and mother of Doson's father,Demetrius the Fair, the ephemeral King of Cyrene. Deïdameia was a daughter ofAeacides of Epirus and sister ofPyrrhus, she had one son, Alexander, by Demetrius. Demetrius had a further two sons, Demetrius the Thin and Corrhagus, the former by an unnamed Illyrian woman, the latter by a woman named Eurydice.Demetrius I Poliorcetes was the first Antigonid king ofMacedon.
^Grant, Michael (1988).The Rise of the Greeks. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.ISBN978-0-684-18536-1.It was the descendants of these Dorians [...] who formed the upper class among the Macedonians of subsequent epochs.
^Adams, Winthrop Lindsay (2010). "Alexander's Successors to 221 BC". In Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (eds.).A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Oxford, Chichester, & Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 214–215.ISBN978-1-4051-7936-2.
^Adams, Winthrop Lindsay (2010). "Alexander's Successors to 221 BC". In Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (eds.).A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Oxford, Chichester, & Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 217.ISBN978-1-4051-7936-2.
^Adams, Winthrop Lindsay (2010). "Alexander's Successors to 221 BC". In Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (eds.).A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Oxford, Chichester, & Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 218–219.ISBN978-1-4051-7936-2.
^Encyclopædia Britannica,Antigonid dynasty, 2008, O.Ed. "But Perseus' failure to deploy his full resources brought about his defeat (168) at Pydna in Macedonia and signaled the end of the dynasty."
Adams, Winthrop Lindsay. 2010. "Alexander's Successors to 221 BC." InA Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Edited by Joseph Roisman and Ian Worthington, 208–224. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Anson, Edward M. 2014.Alexander's Heirs: The Age of the Successors. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Edson, Charles F. 1934. "The Antigonids, Heracles, and Beroia."Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 45:213–246.
O'Neil, James L. 2003. "The Ethnic Origins of the Friends of the Antigonid Kings of Macedon."The Classical Quarterly 53, no. 2: 510–22.https://www.jstor.org/stable/3556219.