What happened after Alexander the Great died?On June 11, 323 BC, at just 32 years old, Alexander left an empire without a clear heir, sparking chaos among his generals. Tristan Hughes and Dr. Graham Wrightson explore the immediate aftermath of his death, the power struggles among his top generals, and the rise of new kingdoms from the fractured empire.The fascinating and brutal Wars of the Successors is a real life Games of Thrones with multiple family sagas, broken allegiances and murders, as the generals battle it out to become Alexander the Great's sole successor.MOREAlexander the Great:https://open.spotify.com/episode/0z8hT2mn3bV4QCFSkoyk4AAlexander the Great's Sex Life:https://open.spotify.com/episode/3CYOYc97yU9Y9rdQelirJ9?si=f821a2f87f7a40e4&nd=1&dlsi=ab1ef58e265748bfPresented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Nick Thomson, the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic SoundsThe Ancients is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here:https://uk.surveymonkey.com/r/6FFT7MK
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Those were the immortalized, fabled last words of Alexander the Great, when he died in Babylon after a short and sudden illness on the 11th of June 323 BC, aged just 32. In his 13-year reign, he had conquered the mighty Persian Empire and forged one of the largest empires the world had yet seen, stretching from Greece to the Indian subcontinent.
His achievements have been the talk of countless books and podcast episodes, but the story of the chaos that erupted after his death is even more fascinating. This chaos is epitomised by those fabled last words themselves, to the strongest – These words were an answer, an answer by Alexander to one of his generals who had approached his deathbed.
The general had asked to whom Alexander left his empire. Alexander had simply replied, To Kratisdo, to the strongest. Now unfortunately, it's very likely that Alexander did not pass from this world with those legendary final words. However, fictional or not, they have come to epitomise the titanic struggle for power that followed his death. Alexander's death was unexpected.
Aged just 32, he left no clear heir to the throne. His only son was illegitimate. His wife, a Bactrian princess called Roxana, was pregnant at the time of Alexander's death and she would ultimately give birth to a son. But that son, although Alexander's sole legitimate heir, would be incapable of ruling for years. Alexander also had a brother, an elder half-brother in fact, called Aridaeus.
But Aridaeus had a condition that meant that he was incapable of ruling without help. It had also saved his life, Alexander therefore had not considered Aridaeus a threat to his rule. It would ultimately be the incapable Aridaeus and Roxana's newborn son, who the Macedonians would name as Alexander's regal successors, joint-kings, but everyone knew that their actual power was non-existent.
Real power lay with Alexander's former generals, experienced commanders who had served with Alexander throughout his campaigns and been critical to the king's many military successes. It was these generals, all larger-than-life figures, who would decide the fate of Alexander's empire and help forge the Hellenistic world that emerged from it.
These were the successors, and it's their story that we are covering today. After putting down a soldier mutiny almost immediately after Alexander died, the generals who had outlived their king in Babylon divided the spoils of Alexander's empire amongst themselves. Regions were given out to these generals almost as prizes for their senior positions and for outliving Alexander.
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