ABSTRACT
The death of Alexander the Great in 323 brought the grand narrative of Greek hegemony to a sudden and dramatic halt. Alexander’s empire was broken apart and slowly refashioned by his former generals into a number of competing power bases, each vying for political and cultural superiority in a contest to be the true successor to Alexander: Antigonus established himself in Macedonia, homeland of Alexander, as ruler; at Pergamum (in Mysia, close to the island of Lesbos) the Attalids came to power; Egypt came under the sway of the dynasty of the Ptolemies who ruled from the city of Alexandria; Seleucus and his descendants dominated Asia from Anatolia to Iran.
