How did the leaders of Alexander the Great divide his empire after his death?

Answer 1

Alexander the great's kingdom was split into four major parts. Each was ruled by one of his army generals.

Answer 2

Initially there were a dozen. After much fighting Macedonia, Egypt and Syria remained with some lesser ones on the fringes. One even survived in Bactria long after Greek influence in Central Asia was thought to have vanished.

Answer 3

After Alexander's death, the 'leaders' of his empire (or rather: the Council of members of his inner circle of friends and coucillors) did NOT decide to divide the kingdom. The reason: there was a legal successor to the Empire in the person of Alexander's brother Arrhidaeus, although he was mentally handicapped (some experts have concluded from the few known facts that he might have been severy autistic). Also, Alexander's wife Rhoxane was pregnant and a few months later gave birth to a son and heir. It was decided that the most senior member of the Council, Perdiccas, would serve as principal guardian - together with a few other Council members - of Alexander's brother and eventual son until the latter's majority.

Several members of the council were then appointed as Satraps (viceroys) of the several parts of the Empire. But from then on, with a strong adult successor of Alexander at least some 18 years away, things started to go wrong for the unity of the Empire.

Perdiccas started off by having some of his fellow guardians murdered and assuming the role of Emperor in all but name. The other council members who might have accepted Alexander's legal successor as the leader of a unified Empire did however not accept Perdiccas as their superior - also because they looked at his recent track record and decided that they might well be next in line to be disposed of.

The result was that they started forming alliances to protect their interests. As Satraps, they had their own armies at their disposal. Several of Alexander's Council members were his generals, who commanded veteran troops who were very loyal to them. Some of the generals allied themselves with their fellow-Council members newly appointed as Satraps, others decided to try their luck and carve out some niche of their own.

The result of the infighting and shifting alliances of the Council members was a fight for turf and independent power that lasted for several years. Among the victims were Alexander's mother, wife, brother and son, whose death served to rob Perdiccas from his claim to supremacy over his fellow Council members. The result in the end was that what remained of the territory conquered by Alexander was divided into several "Hellenistic" kingdoms, the most important being: the Ptolemaic empire of Egypt and northern Libya , the Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greekempires covering much of present-day Iran , Afghanistan and nothernmost India, the Seleucid empire covering much of the rest of the Middle East, and Macedonia proper.

Answer 4

When Alexander died his empire split into 3 kingdoms.

Answer 5

It was split up by his generals and after much fighting between them, settled down to Egypt, Syria, Pergamon and Macedonia.