Introducing the Ancient Greeks: From Bronze Age Seafarers to Navigators of the Western Mind

by Edith Hall

When Alexander died, Perdiccas became regent for the whole empire, with Antipater in control of Greece. Antipater became guardian of Alexander’s infant son by Roxana. After machinations, Antipater’s son Cassander replaced him. Cassander disposed of Olympias and had the boy heir and Roxana murdered. Yet amazingly, Cassander’s twenty years on the throne of Macedonia (316–297 BC) were relatively peaceful and prosperous. We must thank Cassander for one of the most famous ancient visual images, since he commissioned from the painter Philoxenos the picture of Alexander in battle against Darius III of Persia that almost certainly was imitated in the exquisite “Alexander mosaic” from Pompeii: Alexander, with determined jaw and staring eyes, charges on his chestnut warhorse toward the terrified Darius, gesturing helplessly in his chariot.