When the dying Alexander the Great was asked to whom he bequeathed his vast empire, he supposedly replied 'to the strongest'. There ensued a long series of struggles between his generals and governors for control of theseterritories. Most of these Diadochi (Successors) were consummate professionals who had learnt the art of war under Alexander or even his father, Philip. Few died a peaceful death and the last survivors of this tough breed were stillleading their armies against each other well into their seventies. Colourful characters, epic battles, treacheryand subterfuge make this a period with great appeal to anyone interested in ancient history and ancient warfare in particular. The wars shaped the map from the Balkans to India for the next couple of centuries. This first volume introduces the key personalities - characters such as Antigonos 'Monopthalmus' (the One-eyed) and his son 'Demetrius 'Poliorcetes' (the Besieger), Seleucus 'Nicator' ('the Victorious') and Ptolemy 'Soter' ('theSaviour') - and gives a narrative of the causes and course of these wars from the death of Alexander to the Battle of Corupedium (281 BC) when the last two original Diadochi faced each other one final time.

著者

鮑勃·本尼特與麥剋·羅伯茨皆為英國曆史作傢，他們對古典世界有著巨大的熱情，創辦瞭一個研究世界古代史的網站，緻力於希臘羅馬時代的軍事曆史研究。另有閤著《希臘化世界的黃昏》與《斯巴達的霸權》。其著作旁徵博引、文采斐然。

譯者

張曉媛，山西太原人，畢業於山西大學文科試驗班，後入讀意大利帕多瓦大學，修習古典學，主攻希臘史，擅長英文與意大利文翻譯。