Polyperchon (
Greek Πολυπέρχων 394–303 BC) was a
Macedonian general who served under
Philip II and
Alexander the Great, accompanying Alexander throughout his long journeys. After the return to Babylon, Polyperchon was sent back to Macedon with
Craterus, but had only reached
Cilicia by the time of Alexander's death in
323 BC. Polyperchon and Craterus continued on to Greece, helping
Antipater to defeat the Greek rebellion in the
Lamian War. Polyperchon remained in Macedon and, following the
First War of the Diadochi remained home as
regent of Macedon while Antipater travelled to
Asia Minor to assert his regency over the whole Empire.
Upon Antipater's death in
319, Polyperchon was appointed regent and supreme commander of the entire empire but soon fell into conflict with Antipater's son
Cassander, who was to have been his chief lieutenant. The two fell into civil war, which quickly spread among all the successors of Alexander, with Polyperchon allying with
Eumenes against Cassander,
Antigonus and
Ptolemy.
Although Polyperchon was initially successful in securing control of the Greek cities, whose freedom he proclaimed, his fleet was destroyed by Antigonus in
318 BC, and Cassander secured control of
Athens the next year. Shortly thereafter, Polyperchon was driven from Macedon by Cassander, who took control of the weakling king
Philip Arrhidaeus and his wife
Eurydice. Polyperchon fled to
Epirus, where he joined Alexander's mother
Olympias, widow
Roxana, and infant son
Alexander IV. He formed an alliance with Olympias and King
Aeacides of Epirus, and Olympias led an army into Macedon. She was initially successful, defeating and capturing the army of King Philip, whom she had murdered, but soon Cassander returned from the Peloponnesus and captured and murdered her in
316, taking Roxana and the boy king into his custody.
Polyperchon now fled to the
Peloponnesus, where he still controlled a few strongpoints, and allied himself with Antigonus, who had by now fallen out with his former allies. Polyperchon soon controlled much of the Peloponnesus, including
Corinth and
Sicyon. Following the peace treaty of
311 between Antigonus and his enemies, and the murder of the boy-king Alexander and his mother, Polyperchon retained these areas, and when war again broke out between Antigonus and the others, he sent Alexander's natural son
Heracles to Polyperchon as a bargaining chip to use against Cassander. Polyperchon, however, decided to break with Antigonus and murdered the boy in
309. He retained control of the Peloponnesus until his death a few years later but played no further role in politics.
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