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Lysimachos, king of Thrace, Tetradrachm (silver coin replica) 297 - 281 BC.
OBV: Diad. hd. of Alexander the Great, wearing horn of
Ammon.
R: Athena enthroned l., holding Nike and resting l. hand on shield.
On r. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, on l.
ΛΥΣΙΜΑΧΟΥ. Far left
monogram Φ. below Nike, crowned female hd. r.
Lysimachos was a
companion of Alexander the Great, serving as one of his bodyguards.
After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Lysimachos received control of Thrace
and northwest Asia Minor. With the aid of Seleukos he defeated Antigonos
the One-Eyed at Ipsos, thereby adding northern and central Asia Minor to
his kingdom. Sixteen years later, in 285 BC, he wrested control of
Macedon and Thessaly from Demetrios and by so doing, he became the
strongest of Alexander's successors. Lysimachos was less successful at
home. He was unpopular with his subjects because of his high handed
administration and heavy taxation and was distracted by family quarrels.
In 281 BC Lysimachos died in battle, at the age of 89, fighting an army
of his former ally Seleukos. His kingdom did not survive his death.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
Lysimachus (c. 360 BC–281 BC)
was a Thessalian Greek
officer and "successor" (Diadochi) of Alexander the
Great, later a king (306 BC) in Thrace and
Asia
Minor.
Son of Agathocles, he was a citizen of Pella in
Macedonia. During Alexander's Persian campaigns he was
one of his immediate bodyguard and distinguished himself in India. After
Alexander’s death (323 BC) he was appointed
to the government of Thrace and the Chersonese. For a
long time he was chiefly occupied with fighting against the Odrysian
king Seuthes
III.
In 315 BC he joined Cassander,
Ptolemy and Seleucus
against Antigonus,
who, however, diverted his attention by stirring up Thracian and Scythian
tribes against him. In 309 BC, he founded Lysimachia
in a commanding situation on the neck connecting the Chersonese with the
mainland. He followed the example of Antigonus in taking the title of
king. In 302
when the second affiance between Cassander, Ptolemy and Seleucus
was made, Lysimachus, reinforced by troops from Cassander, entered Asia
Minor, where he met with little resistance. On the approach of
Antigonus he retired into winter quarters near Heraclea, marrying its
widowed queen Amastris,
a Persian princess. Seleucus joined him in 301 BC, and at the battle of Ipsus
Antigonus was defeated and slain. His dominions were divided among the
victors, Lysimachus receiving the greater part of Asia Minor.
Feeling that Seleucus was
becoming dangerously great, Lysimachus now allied himself with Ptolemy,
marrying his daughter Arsinoe II of
Egypt. Amastris, who had divorced herself from him, returned to
Heraclea. When Antigonus’s son Demetrius I
of Macedon renewed hostilities (297 BC), during his
absence in Greece,
Lysimachus seized his towns in Asia Minor, but in 294 BC concluded a peace
whereby Demetrius was recognized as ruler of Macedonia. He tried to
carry his power beyond the Danube, but was defeated
and taken prisoner by the Getae king Dromichaetes
(Dromihete),
who, however, set him free on amicable terms. Demetrius subsequently
threatened Thrace, but had to retire in consequence of a rising in Boeotia,
and an attack from Pyrrhus of Epirus.
In 288 BC Lysimachus and
Pyrrhus in turn invaded Macedonia, and drove Demetrius out of the
country. Pyrrhus was at first allowed to remain in possession of
Macedonia with the title of king, but in 285 BC he was expelled by
Lysimachus.
Domestic troubles
embittered the last years of Lysimachus’s life. Amastris had been
murdered by her two sons; Lysimachus treacherously put them to death. On
his return Arsinoë asked the gift of Heraclea, and he granted her
request, though he had promised to free the city. In 284 BC Arsinoe, desirous
of gaining the succession for her sons in preference to Agathocles (the
eldest son of Lysimachus), intrigued against him with the help of her
brother Ptolemy Ceraunus;
they accused him of conspiring with Seleucus to seize the throne, and he
was put to death.
This atrocious deed of
Lysimachus aroused great indignation. Many of the cities of Asia
revolted, and his most trusted friends deserted him. The widow of
Agathocles fled to Seleucus, who at once invaded the territory of
Lysimachus in Asia. In 281 BC, Lysimachus
crossed the Hellespont into Lydia, and
at the decisive battle of
Corupedium was killed. After some days his body, watched by a
faithful dog, was found on the field, and given up to his son Alexander,
by whom it was interred at Lysimachia. |
