Division of Alexander’s Empire c. BCE 275

After Alexander the Great died in 323 BCE, he left behind a vast empire comprised of independent territories, which extended from Macedonia to India, Egypt and eastern Mediterranean. There was no clear successor to Alexander, which created conflict between many of his commanders, who were greedy for land and power. This resulted in a divided kingdom and four Successor Wars, which lasted for the next quarter of a century and ended in c. 300 BCE. After this time, there were few territorial changes and by 275 BCE the empire had been partitioned into three great kingdoms: the Seleucid kingdom in Asia; Ptolemaic Egypt and Antigonid Macedonia. They were named after Alexander’s victorious generals and all, ultimately, became dynasties. The Hellenistic province continued to be unstable and in 275 BCE was ruled by Lysimachus, one of Alexander’s officers, in alliance with King Pyrrhus, a second cousin to Alexander the Great.