Cassander

Cassander ( ; c. 355 BC – 297 BC) was king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 305 BC until 297 BC, and de facto ruler of southern Greece from 317 BC until his death. A son of Antipater and a contemporary of Alexander the Great, Cassander was one of the Diadochi who warred over Alexander's empire following the latter's death in 323 BC. Cassander later seized power by having Alexander's son and heir Alexander IV murdered. While governing Macedonia from 317 BC until 297 BC, Cassander focused on strengthening the northern borders and economic development, while founding or restoring several cities (including Thessalonica, Cassandreia, and Thebes); however, his ruthlessness in dealing with political enemies complicates assessments of his rule. Early history In his youth, Cassander was taught by the philosopher Aristotle at the Lyceum in Macedonia. He was educated alongside Alexander the Great in a group that included Hephaestion, Ptolemy and Lysimachus. His family were distant collateral relatives to the Argead dynasty. Cassander is first recorded as arriving at Alexander the Great's court in Babylon in 323 BC, where he had been sent by his father, Antipater, most likely to help uphold Antipater's regency in Macedon, although a later contemporary who was hostile to the Antipatrids suggested that Cassander had journeyed to the court to poison the King. Cassander left Alexander's court either shortly before or after the king's death in June of 323 BC, playing no part in the immediate power struggles over the empire. Cassander returned to Macedonia and assisted his father's governance, he was later assigned by Antipater to Antigonus as his chiliarch from 321 to 320, probably to monitor the latter's activities.