Antipater was a Macedonian general and statesman under kings Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great, and father of King Kassander.
Nothing is known of his early career until 342 BC, when he was appointed by Philip to govern Macedon as his regent while the former left for three years of hard and successful campaigning against Thracian and Scythian tribes, which extended Macedonian rule as far as the Hellespont. In the autumn of the same year, Antipater went to Delphi, as Philip's representative in the Amphictyonic League, a religious organization to which Macedon had been admitted in 346 BC.
He started as a great friend to both the young Alexander and the boy's mother, Olympias, and he aided Alexander in the struggle to secure his succession after Philip's death, in 336 BC. Later the friendship deteriorated. When Antipater died in 319 BC, he did not name his son Cassander heir, but chose an aging officer called Polyperchon. Cassander became indignant at this, and appealed to general Antigonus to assist him. In 317 BC, after two years of war with Polyperchon, Cassander emerged victorious.
Nothing is known of his early career until 342 BC, when he was appointed by Philip to govern Macedon as his regent while the former left for three years of hard and successful campaigning against Thracian and Scythian tribes, which extended Macedonian rule as far as the Hellespont. In the autumn of the same year, Antipater went to Delphi, as Philip's representative in the Amphictyonic League, a religious organization to which Macedon had been admitted in 346 BC.
He started as a great friend to both the young Alexander and the boy's mother, Olympias, and he aided Alexander in the struggle to secure his succession after Philip's death, in 336 BC. Later the friendship deteriorated. When Antipater died in 319 BC, he did not name his son Cassander heir, but chose an aging officer called Polyperchon. Cassander became indignant at this, and appealed to general Antigonus to assist him. In 317 BC, after two years of war with Polyperchon, Cassander emerged victorious.
(1)
Alexander III
|
Antipater
An
AR
Tetradrachm
struck 325-323/322 BC
in
Amphipolis
Obverse: head of young Heracles in lionskin right
Reverse: Zeus seated left, leaning on scepter, holding eagle; cock left AΛEΞANΔPOY
Diameter:
25.5 mm
Die Orientation: -
Weight: 17.3 g
Die Orientation: -
Weight: 17.3 g
struck under Antipater
Price 79; Troxell, Studies, Issue E3
(2)
Alexander III
|
Antipater
An
AR
Tetradrachm
struck 323-317 B.C.
in
Amphipolis
Obverse: Head of Herakles right, wearing lion skin headdress.
Reverse: AΛEΞANΔPOY-BAΣIΛEΩΣ - Zeus Aëtophoros seated left on backless throne, left leg drawn back, feet on ground line, eagle in right hand, scepter in left; cornucopia in left field.
Diameter:
24 mm
Die Orientation: 12 H
Weight: 16.89 g
Die Orientation: 12 H
Weight: 16.89 g
No notes for this coin
Price 108; Troxell, Macedon, Group G, 57; Müller 369.