‘He’s not going to give you the body and you won’t be able to take it; forget Alexander; his resting place will always be in Egypt.’
The rage welled up inside of Perdikkas as he saw all that he had sought to achieve being wrenched away from him. ‘I will have his body! There will be no talking until his body is returned to me. To me! I am his heir! I should bury—’ He stopped abruptly as he realised what he was saying.
Seleukos shook his head, a half-smile twitching his lips. ‘No, you’re not, Perdikkas; none of us are and that is what the whole trouble is. Alexander’s heirs are a fool and a babe and I almost think that it is what he wanted. Now, Antipatros has offered talks at The Three Paradises. Ptolemy is arriving and Kassandros is here; let’s travel north together and work out a peace.’
I will not be summoned. ‘They will come to me; if they want to talk peace it is in my camp and the backdrop will be Alexander’s catafalque. Those are my terms.’
Antigenes pushed Seleukos aside. ‘We thought that would be your attitude. Well, I’m afraid it’s evidently too late for you to learn now.’
The punch to his ribs took Perdikkas by surprise; his eyes widened as they looked down to see a dagger plunged into his chest, blood blooming on his tunic. He looked up into Antigenes’ eyes as Peithon and then Seleukos both struck; one blow each.
‘You must have known that it would come to this,’ Seleukos said, his voice almost gentle. ‘You were never meant for politics but you just couldn’t bring yourself to admit it; think about that as you bleed out.’
Perdikkas’ eyes swam as Seleukos, Peithon and Antigenes turned and left; he swayed and felt his legs growing weak. Feeling blood rising in his gorge, he crumpled to his knees; his head tilted up; its momentum collapsed him onto his back.
His eyes clouded over as his slowing heart thumped in his ears and a peace enveloped him such that he had not felt since Alexander had given him the burden that had proved to be his bane.
Soft footsteps passed close to his head; he tried to look but all was white and the distance between him and his thought was lengthening. It was a small tug on his forefinger but, despite the serenity into which he was falling, he twitched a smile for he knew its meaning: he had lost the ring; another had taken up the burden of Alexander’s Legacy.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The main problem we have with the wars of the Diadochi, the Successors of Alexander, is the chronology; there are two timelines: the so-called High and the Low. They differ from one another significantly: the High places Perdikkas’ death in 321 BC and the Low puts it in 320 which has serious knock-on effects throughout the history. In this novel I have favoured the High chronology; however, I have tried not to make too much of an issue about the passage of time as I tell the story of these momentous years.
Almost every event that occurs in the novel is attested to by one of the few primary sources; indeed, there is very little reason to make things up as it would be hard to outdo the facts: the trampling of Meleagros’ supporters or Roxanna’s poisoning of her two rivals and disposing of the bodies down a well or Eumenes’ frantic hand-to-hand struggle with Neoptolemus are hard to improve on. I did, however, add a few things to the reality: for example, I had Alexander’s catafalque constructed in a room whose doors were too small to get it out in order to give Arrhidaeus more of a motive for betraying Perdikkas; Iollas breaking the siege of Lamia and his death at the hands of Eumenes’ men are also my fiction as is Roxanna’s poisoning of Philip and her being forced to administer the antidote, but the examples are few and far between.
Likewise, nearly all of the characters existed – even Archias The Exile-Hunter and he really had been a tragic actor! Babrak the merchant and Antipatros’ wife, Hyperia, are the most prominent fictional characters – although Antipatros obviously had a wife, with whom he was very active as his youngest son, Triparadeisus, was born just a year or so before his death, we just do not know her name.
As the primary sources are, in the main, few and fragmentary I have relied heavily on, and am indebted to modern histories of the time and biographies: Ghost on the Throne by James Romm and Dividing the Spoils by Robin Waterfield were my combined bible and highly recommended reads; Jeff Champion’s biography of Antigonos the One-Eyed, John Grainger’s Rise of the Seleukid Empire and the Wars of Alexander’s Successors by Bob Bennett and Mike Roberts are also excellent explorations of the time and my thanks go to them all.
My thanks also go to Will Atkinson and Sara O’Keeffe at Atlantic Books for taking up the new series and to my agent, Ian Drury, for persuading them to buy it. I would also like to thank Susannah Hamilton, Poppy Mostyn-Owen and everyone at Atlantic/Corvus for all the work that goes into publishing a book.
Once again, my love and thanks to my wife, Anja, for putting up with me being distracted for the six months that it took to write this and for her constant support.
And finally my thanks to you, Dear Reader, for joining me on this adventure; I hope I manage to make it exciting enough for you to stick with it until the end.
Alexander’s Legacy will continue in The Three Paradises.
LIST OF CHARACTERS
(Those in italics are fictional.)
Adea Daughter of Cynnane and Alexander’s cousin Amyntas.
Aeacides The young king of Epirus.
Akakios
A Macedonian naval officer.
Alketas
Brother of Perdikkas.
Alexander the Great
The cause of all the trouble.
Alexander the Fourth
Alexander’s posthumously born son by Roxanna.
Amastris
Krateros’ Persian wife, cousin to Stateira.
Antigenes
Veteran commander of the Silver Shields.
Antigonos
Satrap of Phrygia appointed by Alexander.
Antipatros
Regent of Macedon in Alexander’s absence.
Antiphilus
A Greek mercenary general in the service of Athens.
Archias
A one-time dramatic actor turned bounty-hunter.
Ariarathes
The rebel satrap of Kappadokia.
Arrhidaeus
The mentally challenged half-brother to Alexander.
Arrhidaeus
A Macedonian officer charged with the construction of the catafalque.
Aristotle
Alexander’s former tutor and correspondent and friend of Antipatros.
Artacama
Ptolemy’s Persian wife, cousin of Barsine.
Aristonous
The oldest of Alexander’s bodyguards.
Assander
Alexander’s satrap of Caria.
Atalanta
Perdikkas’ sister, married to Attalus.
Attalus
A Macedonian officer, brother-in-law to Perdikkas.
Babrak
A Paktha merchant.
Barsine
Alexander’s Persian mistress and mother of his bastard, Heracles.
Barzid
An Illyrian nobleman.
Berenice
Antipatros’ niece and cousin to Eurydike.
Cleomenes
Alexander’s appointed satrap of Egypt.
Cynnane
Daughter of Philip the Second and half-sister to Alexander.
Darius
Defeated Great King of Persia.
Deidamia
Daughter of Aeacides, King of Epirus.
Demades
A pro-Macedon Athenian.
Demeter
A Macedonian naval officer.
Demetrios
Son of Antigonos.
Demosthenes
An Athenian life-long enemy of Macedon.
Eudamus
Alexander’s satrap of India.
Eumenes
First Philip’s and then Alexander’s secretary, a Greek from cardia.
Eurydike
One of Antipatros’ daughters.
Eukleides
A Macedonian veteran.
Harpalus
Alexander’s dishonest treasurer.
Hecataeus
Tyrant of Kardia.
Hephaestion
A Macedonian general and the love of Alexander’s life.
Heracles
Alexander’s bastard by Barsine.
Hyperia
Antipatros’ wife.
Hyperides
An Athenian demagogue, one-time ally of Demosthenes.
Iollas
Antipatros’ son, half-brother to Kassandros.
Kassandros
Antipatros’ son, half-brother to Iollas.
Kleitos
A Macedonian admiral with a Poseidon complex.
Kleopatra
Daughter of Philip and Olympias, Alexander’s full sister.
Krateros
Macedon’s greatest living general.
Leonnatus
One of Alexander’s seven bodyguards.
Leosthenes
A Greek mercenary general in the service of Athens.
Letodorus
A Greek mercenary serving as Philo’s second-in-command.
Lysander
A Greek mercenary officer.
Lysimachus
One of Alexander’s seven bodyguards.
Magas
Antipatros’ kinsman and second-in-command.
Meleagros
A Macedonian veteran infantry officer.
Menander
Alexander’s satrap of Lydia.
Menon
A Thessalian cavalry general.
Nearchos
A Cretan, Alexander’s chief admiral.
Neoptolemus
A Macedonian of the Molossian royal house.
Nicaea
One of Antipatros’ daughters.
Nicanor
Son of Antipatros and full brother to Kassandros
Olympias
One of Philip’s wives, mother to Alexander and Kleopatra.
Ophellas
Ptolemaic governor of Cyrene
Oxyartes
A Bactrian nobleman, father of Roxanna and satrap of Paropamisadae.
Parmida
A Kappodokian cavalry officer.
Parysatis
One of Alexander’s Persian wives, cousin of Stateira.
Peithon
One of Alexander’s seven bodyguards.
Perdikkas
One of Alexander’s seven bodyguards.
Peucestas
One of Alexander’s seven bodyguards.
Phila
Antipatros’ recently widowed daughter.
Philip
Alexander’s father and predecessor.
Philo
A Greek mercenary in Macedon’s service.
Philotas
Friend of Antigonos.
Phocion
Athens’ veteran general and friend of Antipatros.
Phthia
Wife of Aeacides, King of Epirus.
Polemaeus
Antigonos’ nephew.
Polyperchon
Krateros’ second-in-command.
Ptolemy
One of Alexander’s seven bodyguards, perhaps Philip’s bastard.
Roxanna
A Bactrian princess, wife of Alexander and mother to Alexander
Seleukos
Commander of the Hypaspists.
Sisygambis
Mother to Darius the third.
Stateira
Daughter of Darius the third, wife of Alexander.
Stratonice
Wife of Antigonos and mother to Demetrios.
Thais
Long-time mistress of Ptolemy.
Thessonalike
Daughter of Philip the second in the care of Olympias
Thetima
Slave to Kleopatra.
Tychon
Companion and doctor to Arrhidaeus the Fool.
Xennias
A Macedonian cavalry officer.
Xenocrates
An Athenian statesman and one-time friend of Aristotle.
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