Yet Antipater became regent after Perdiccas and effective ruler of the empire?
Yes, ever so briefly and now for the explanation... a little known and infrequently acknowledged fact is that it was the role of the Macedonian Army to acclaim a
king. It is via this mechanism that Perdiccas and Antipater (both experienced and respected veterans and the most
senior figures in Alexander's command structure) were made regents (on behalf of the Alexander's unstable half-brother Arrhidaios and Alexander's unborn child by Roxanne) in the east and
west respectively. Proof if required, that yet again the Macedonian veterans were determinants of the outcome in more ways than one.... either by vote of the army, or by point of sarissa!
The need for the constant and ongoing support of the Macedonian veterans behind any contender was the reason for much of high volume
posthumous Alexander coinage produced in the decade after ATG's death. Support was temporarily bought, then more permanently won on the battlefield....
military prowess became the ultimate basis for any claimant to the throne and without
military success the Macedonian veterans' support quickly evaporated... witness what happened to Perdiccas, then Eumenes and twenty years later Demetrios as their armies deserted them after
military setbacks!
Ptolemy was the least exposed to this risk by virtue of
his early selection in the immediate aftermath of ATG's death of self sufficient and isolated
Egypt as a power base, absent troublesome, fickle and unreliable Macedonian veterans.
Unfortunately popular historical accounts today tend to dwell on the cult of personality of each of the
Diadochi, rather than coming to deal with the more fundamental issue of the societal dynamics and drivers, at the core of which in the ten years following ATG's death was the Macedonian army (-ies).
Macedonia was a militaristic society and the army was the centre of all power in more ways than one. In the fragmentation of the Macedonian Empire, in the immediate aftermath of ATG's death, the role of the Macedonian veterans (which by this time represented a large percentage of the Macedonian population) is usually downplayed if not completely overlooked. The contenders for the throne who played this militaristic cultural and societal dynamic most successfully, or effectively neutralized it (
Ptolemy) were the winners.... smarts, ambition and ruthlessness won the day.
