Antigonus II Gonatas

Antigonus II Gonatas (born c. 320 bc—died 239) was the king of Macedonia from 276 bc who rebuilt his kingdom’s power and established its hegemony over Greece.

Antigonus II was the son of Demetrius I Poliorcetes and grandson of Antigonus I. While Demetrius was busy fighting in Macedonia and Asia Minor, Antigonus, as his regent, was engaged in maintaining Macedonian hegemony in Greece, which had been achieved in 287 bc. Demetrius was taken prisoner in 285 by Seleucus I, who then claimed the Macedonian kingship. This contested title was assumed by Antigonus himself on the death of his father two years later; however, he did not count the beginning of his reign until 276. Although he had only a few bases in Greece, Antigonus laid claim to Macedonia when Seleucus was murdered in 281. His claim was disputed by Seleucus’ successor, Antiochus I. Antigonus took part in the defense of Greece against the invading Celts (279). In the following year he concluded a peace with Antiochus, surrendering his claim to Macedonia. Thereafter Antigonus’ foreign policy was marked by friendship with the Seleucids.

In 277 he crossed the Hellespont and defeated the Celts near Lysimacheia. After this success he was acknowledged king by the Macedonians in 276. Pyrrhus, returning in 274 after the failure of his campaign in Italy, drove Antigonus out of Upper Macedonia and Thessaly. Although he retained only a few Macedonian cities, Antigonus followed Pyrrhus of Epirus when the latter marched into the Peloponnese; and when Pyrrhus died in Argos in 272, Antigonus’ control over Macedonia was assured. He was now also the chief of the Thessalian League and on good terms with neighbouring Illyria and Thrace. He secured his position in Greece by keeping Macedonian occupation forces in the cities of Corinth, Chalcis on Euboea, and Demetrias in Thessaly, the three “shackles” of Hellas.

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Beyond that he supported the pro-Macedonian faction in various cities in the Peloponnese and the rise to power of tyrants in Sicyon, Argos, Elis, and Megalopolis. In order to keep Greece in a state of complete dependency by controlling the straits and the supply of grain from the southern Russian region, Macedonia—its vigour restored—needed only to gain mastery over the Aegean Sea. To avert this danger, King Areus of Sparta and the city of Athens—urged on by Ptolemy II of Egypt—declared a war for the liberation of Greece (the Chremonidean War, 267–261). Although the Egyptian fleet had blockaded the Saronic Gulf, Antigonus defeated Areus near Corinth in 265 and then besieged Athens. In 263–262 the city capitulated. Athenian officials were replaced by Antigonus’ appointees, and Athens became no more than a Macedonian provincial city.

Immediately after the Chremonidean War, Antigonus joined forces with the Seleucid Antiochus II against their common enemy, Ptolemy II. Whether his naval victory of Cos, which secured Antigonus the Aegean Sea and the League of the Islanders, belongs to this (255) or to the Chremonidean War (261) is uncertain. In 255 a peace was concluded with Ptolemy, and by marrying his stepbrother Demetrius the Fair to Berenice of Cyrene, Antigonus established Macedonian influence in this neighbour country of Egypt.

But his position in Greece was now shaken by a number of reversals. In 253 Alexander, Antigonus’ nephew and regent, revolted in Corinth with Ptolemy’s help and declared himself an independent monarch. Antigonus lost Corinth and Chalcis, the two bases from which he dominated southern Greece. As the Aetolians had occupied Thermopylae, he was cut off from Athens and the Peloponnese. After Alexander’s death, however, Antigonus gave Nicaea, Alexander’s widow, to his son Demetrius in marriage and by means of a stratagem regained Corinth in 244. In the meantime the Achaean League was becoming a dangerous opponent. Since 251 it had been under the leadership of Aratus of Sicyon and was receiving financial aid from Ptolemy II. In vain, Antigonus sent gifts to win over Aratus. In 243, without a declaration of hostilities, Aratus made a surprise attack on Corinth and forced the withdrawal of the Macedonian occupation troops. Megara, Troezen, and Epidaurus also deserted Antigonus. He made no attempt to regain these territories but instead formed an alliance with the Aetolian League, which made unsuccessful raids of pillage into the Peloponnese. Nevertheless, by defeating the Egyptian fleet at Andros about 244 Antigonus was able to maintain his hegemony in the Aegean. After a life of endless warfare he died in 239 at 80 years of age.

Personally, Antigonus was unassuming, short of stature, and snub-nosed. In Macedonia the cult of the ruler, so usual in the other Hellenistic states, was unknown. He chose his friends not because of their noble ancestry but for their personal abilities. He conceived his monarchic rule in philosophical terms—i.e., by the strict observance of his duties as a ruler. Once, when his son treated some subjects arbitrarily, he said to him: “Do you not understand that our kingship is a noble servitude [endoxos douleia]?” This paradoxical concept of monarchy envisaged the ruler as bearing the burden of his office, serving the people and the law. In his youth Antigonus had been a student of Zeno, the founder of Stoicism. He had been taught by him in Athens and in 276 invited him to his court in Pella in Macedonia. The philosopher, however, did not come and instead sent two of his students, Persaeus and the Theban Philonides. Persaeus wrote a treatise on kingship, was the mentor of Halcyoneus, the son of Antigonus, and became commandant of Corinth in 244. When Zeno died in 263 the King lamented that he had lost the only man whose judgment of his public actions he valued, and he prevailed upon the Athenians to bury him in state. Among the literati at his court were the historian Hieronymus of Cardia, who recorded the war with Pyrrhus, and the poet Aratus, a native of Cilicia, author of the much read didactic poem on astronomy, Phaenomena.

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