Ptolemaeus' Invasion of Attica in 313 B.C

Abstract

In 318 B.C. Athens passed under the control of Cassander, the son of the lately deceased Macedonian regent Antipater, and, as a result, Athenian citizens were, in later years, required to give him their active help in his struggles with rival generals such as Antigonus. Thus in 314 an Athenian squadron of twenty ships under a certain Aristotle was sent to recover the cleruchy of Lemnos in the northern Aegean ; it failed in its mission and the greater part of it was captured by the superior fleet of Dioscorides, Antigonus' nephew and admiral1). Later, during the fighting before Oreus, Athenian ships helped Cassander in a skirmish with the fleet of M?dius and Telesphorus, two more of Antigonus' men2). Now it is fairly certain that only the pressure of Cassander's garrison at Munychia made the Athenians fight his battles, but the Athenian government, led by the Macedonian appointed 'superintendent' Demetrius of Phalerum, presumably kept in close touch with Cassander and the garrison commander at Munychia and they were able to make the citizens collaborate along the lines that Cassander's policy required, in spite of the strong repugnance felt on all sides for Cassander (and the Macedonians in general). But, as at all times of oligarchic or tyrannical government, there persisted the threat of a democratic revolution should an opportunity arise. Moreover the promise of autonomy for Greek cities, solemnly proclaimed by Antigonus at Tyre in 315 3), implied the overthrow of Demetrius, the foreign nominee, and the expulsion of the Macedonian garrison ; the opponents of Demetrius and Cassander inside