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Why did Ptolemy I Soter argue for dividing Alexander the Great’s empire among his generals?
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Ptolemy I Soter
Ptolemy I Soter, portrait on a silver tetradrachm; in the British Museum
Ptolemy I Soter argued for the division of Alexander the Great’s empire among his generals because he was convinced from the outset that the generals would be unable to maintain the unity of the vast empire following Alexander's death in 323 BCE.1
During the council at Babylon held after Alexander’s passing, Ptolemy proposed that the satrapies—the provinces of the empire—be divided among the generals. This pragmatic approach allowed him to secure the satrapy of Egypt, where he methodically leveraged the territory's geographic isolation to establish a powerful, independent Hellenistic kingdom.1