The Diadochus: The People Who Splintered Alexander’s Great Empire

The story of the people who fought for a piece of the world’s greatest empire

On June 10th, 323BCE, surrounded by his loyal generals and most trusted confidantes Alexander III of Macedon, passed away in the palace in Babylon. As he faded, the men in the room looked around at each other in grief and uneasiness. Alexander the Great had died but left no heir and no chosen successor.

Unlike his father, Philip of Macedon, he had not groomed an heir to take his place at the head of the world’s largest empire. Later accounts said that in the moments just before his death, when his generals asked him who the empire should go to once he was gone, Alexander allegedly said: “to the best.” These words would set off a dash to carve up Alexander’s great conquest in a flurry of military campaigns, paranoia, politics, and intrigue that would shape the ancient world for the next four decades.

An empire stretching from the wilds of old Macedon, through the Greek city-states, sweeping across all of Persia and Babylon all the way to the rivers of the Indus valley was no left leaderless, with no chosen successor.

Diadochi is a derivative of the ancient Greek word for successor, and they would soon wage a series of…