Number of words: 152

In June 323 BCE, as Alexander the Great lay on his deathbed, surrounded by his anxious generals, his Eurasian empire stretched from Greece’s Mediterranean Ocean all the way to India’s Indus River Valley. They asked him to whom should they bequeath his empire? Many versions exist of what he might or might not have said, but one of them is “Krat’eroi” (“to the strongest”). Some think it might have been “Krater’oi” (“to Creterus”, one of his senior-most generals).

But such was the absolute and unquestioned leadership of Alexander that there was no one who was a clear successor or heir. So, the generals, known as the Diadochi, fought each other. For nearly three decades and across continents. The wars were known as the Wars of Succession or the Wars of the Diadochi. By the end of the wars, Alexander’s massive empire was divided roughly into three parts, in Europe, Egypt, and Asia.