Antigonus

Antigonus and Antigonids.The first bearer of the name Antigonus of whom we know was one of the generals of Alexander the Great, the son of a noble Macedonian family, who was satrap of Phrygia at the time of Alexander's death in 323 BC and eventually aspired to rule all the empire. He was defeated and killed at the battle of Ipsus in 301. His grandson Antigonus II Gonatas, son of Demetrius Poliorcetes, established in Macedonia the Antigonid dynasty, which maintained a partial control over Greece. After Gonatas the most prominent of the Antigonids was his grandson Philip V (238–179 BC) who by provoking Rome into the Macedonian Wars was largely responsible for bringing Greece under Roman domination. After the Macedonian army was practically annihilated by the Romans at the battle of Pydna in 168 BC the Antigonids were dethroned and the Macedonian realm broken up into four federal republics. In 146 BC it became a Roman province.