Ptolemy (general)
Encyclopedia
Ptolemy; died 309 BC) was a nephew of Antigonus
Antigonus I Monophthalmus
Antigonus I Monophthalmus , son of Philip from Elimeia, was a Macedonian nobleman, general, and satrap under Alexander the Great. During his early life he served under Philip II, and he was a major figure in the Wars of the Diadochi after Alexander's death, declaring himself king in 306 BC and...

, and who served as a general to Alexander the Great (338–323 BC) who afterwards became king of Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

.

He is first mentioned as being present with his uncle at the siege of Nora in 320 BC, when he was given up to Eumenes
Eumenes
Eumenes of Cardia was a Thracian general and scholar. He participated in the wars of the Diadochi as a supporter of the Macedonian Argead royal house.-Career:...

 as a hostage for the safety of the latter during a conference with Antigonus. At a later period we find him entrusted by his uncle with commands of importance. Thus in 315 BC, when Antigonus was preparing to oppose the formidable coalition organized against him, he placed Ptolemy at the head of the army which was destined to carry on operations in Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

 against the generals of Cassander
Cassander
Cassander , King of Macedonia , was a son of Antipater, and founder of the Antipatrid dynasty...

.

The young general successfully carried out his mission, thereby relieving Amisus
Samsun
Samsun is a city of about half a million people on the north coast of Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Samsun Province and a major Black Sea port.-Name:...

, which was besieged by Asclepiodorus, and recovered the whole satrap
Satrap
Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....

y of Cappadocia
Cappadocia
Cappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...

; after which he advanced into Bithynia
Bithynia
Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...

, compelling king Zipoites
Zipoites I of Bithynia
Zipoetes I, also Zipoites I or Ziboetes I, possibly Tiboetes I Zipoetes I, also Zipoites I or Ziboetes I, possibly Tiboetes I Zipoetes I, also Zipoites I or Ziboetes I, possibly Tiboetes I (in Greek Zιπoίτης or Zιβoίτης; lived c. 354 BC – 278 BC, ruled c...

 to join his alliance. Upon his approach and occupation of Ionia
Ionia
Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements...

, Seleucus
Seleucus I Nicator
Seleucus I was a Macedonian officer of Alexander the Great and one of the Diadochi. In the Wars of the Diadochi that took place after Alexander's death, Seleucus established the Seleucid dynasty and the Seleucid Empire...

 withdrew from that territory.

In the latter part of that year, Ptolemy next threatened Caria
Caria
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...

, which was defended for a time by Myrmidon
Myrmidon of Athens
Myrmidon was an Athenian who commanded a force of ten thousand men, which formed part of the armament sent by Ptolemy I Soter, the son of Lagus, under his brother Menelaus, to effect the reduction of Cyprus, 315 BC...

, the Egyptian
Ptolemaic Egypt
Ptolemaic Egypt began when Ptolemy I Soter invaded Egypt and declared himself Pharaoh of Egypt in 305 BC and ended with the death of queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt and the Roman conquest in 30 BC. The Ptolemaic Kingdom was a powerful Hellenistic state, extending from southern Syria in the east, to...

 general; but in the following year (314 BC) Ptolemy was able to strike a decisive blow in that quarter against Eupolemus
Eupolemus (general)
Eupolemus was one of the generals of Cassander; he was sent by him in 314 BC to invade Caria, but was surprised and taken prisoner by Ptolemy, a general who commanded that province for Antigonus...

, the general of Cassander, whom he surprised and totally defeated.

In the summer of (313 BC), the arrival of Antigonus himself gave a decided preponderance to his arms in Anatolia, and Ptolemy, after rendering active assistance in the sieges of Caunus and Iasus, was sent with a considerable army to Greece
Hellenistic Greece
In the context of Ancient Greek art, architecture, and culture, Hellenistic Greece corresponds to the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the classical Greek heartlands by Rome in 146 BC...

 to carry on the war there against Cassander. His successes were at first rapid: he drove out the garrisons of his adversary from Chalcis
Chalcis
Chalcis or Chalkida , the chief town of the island of Euboea in Greece, is situated on the strait of the Evripos at its narrowest point. The name is preserved from antiquity and is derived from the Greek χαλκός , though there is no trace of any mines in the area...

 and Oropus
Oropos
Oropos is a small town and a municipality in East Attica, Greece.-Geography:It is situated on the southern Euboean Gulf, opposite Eretria. Oropos is located N of Avlona and Athens, E of Thebes and SE of Chalcis. Oropos is linked with the road linking Nea Palatia and Sikamino...

, invaded Attica
Attica
Attica is a historical region of Greece, containing Athens, the current capital of Greece. The historical region is centered on the Attic peninsula, which projects into the Aegean Sea...

, where he compelled Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

' tyrant
Tyrant
A tyrant was originally one who illegally seized and controlled a governmental power in a polis. Tyrants were a group of individuals who took over many Greek poleis during the uprising of the middle classes in the sixth and seventh centuries BC, ousting the aristocratic governments.Plato and...

 Demetrius Phalereus
Demetrius Phalereus
Demetrius of Phalerum was an Athenian orator originally from Phalerum, a student of Theophrastus and one of the first Peripatetics...

 to make overtures of submission, and then carried his arms triumphantly through Boeotia
Boeotia
Boeotia, also spelled Beotia and Bœotia , is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the region of Central Greece. It was also a region of ancient Greece. Its capital is Livadeia, the second largest city being Thebes.-Geography:...

, Phocis
Phocis
Phocis is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. It stretches from the western mountainsides of Parnassus on the east to the mountain range of Vardousia on the west, upon the Gulf of Corinth...

, and Locris
Locris
Locris was a region of ancient Greece, the homeland of the Locrians, made up of three distinct districts.-Locrian tribe:...

. Wherever he went, he expelled the Macedon
Macedon
Macedonia or Macedon was an ancient kingdom, centered in the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, bordered by Epirus to the west, Paeonia to the north, the region of Thrace to the east and Thessaly to the south....

ian garrisons, and proclaimed the liberty and independence of the cities.

He then directed his armies to the Peloponnese
Peloponnese
The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...

, where the authority of Antigonus had been endangered by the recent defection of his general Telesphorus
Telesphorus (general)
Telesphorus was a general in the service of Antigonus Monophthalmus, the king of Asia, who was sent by him in 313 BC, with a fleet of fifty ships and a considerable army to the Peloponnese, to oppose the forces of Polyperchon and Cassander...

. Here he appears to have remained till the peace of 311 suspended hostilities in that region.

He is thought to have considered that his services had not met with their due reward from Antigonus; and therefore, when in 310 BC the kings of Macedonia and Egypt were preparing to renew the war, Ptolemy suddenly abandoned the cause of his uncle and concluded a treaty with Cassander and Ptolemy I Soter
Ptolemy I Soter
Ptolemy I Soter I , also known as Ptolemy Lagides, c. 367 BC – c. 283 BC, was a Macedonian general under Alexander the Great, who became ruler of Egypt and founder of both the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Ptolemaic Dynasty...

. His ambition may have been to establish himself in the chief command in the Peloponnese: but the reconciliation of Polyperchon
Polyperchon
Polyperchon , son of Simmias from Tymphaia in Epirus, was a Macedonian general who served under Philip II and Alexander the Great, accompanying Alexander throughout his long journeys. After the return to Babylon, Polyperchon was sent back to Macedon with Craterus, but had only reached Cilicia by...

 with Cassander must have frustrated this: and on the arrival of the Egyptian king with a fleet at Cos
Kos
Kos or Cos is a Greek island in the south Sporades group of the Dodecanese, next to the Gulf of Gökova/Cos. It measures by , and is from the coast of Bodrum, Turkey and the ancient region of Caria. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within the Kos peripheral unit, which is...

, Ptolemy repaired from Chalcis to join him. He was received at first with the utmost favour, but soon gave offence to his new patron by his intrigues and ambitious demonstrations, and was in consequence thrown into prison and compelled to put an end to his life by poison, 309 BC.

He appears in Harry Turtledove
Harry Turtledove
Harry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.- Life :...

's novel The Gryphon's Skull
The Gryphon's Skull
The Gryphon's Skull is a historical fiction novel written by H. N. Turteltaub. It follows the adventures of Menedemos and his cousin, Sostratos...

, under the variant form of his name, "Polemaios." The two heroes carry him from Kos to Chalcis, and one of them later witnesses his execution. He is portrayed as a bullying, unpleasant man.
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