A portrait of one of the ancient world�s first political celebrities, who veered from failure to success and back again
The life of Demetrius (337�283 BCE) serves as a through-line to the forty years following the death of Alexander (323�282 BCE), a time of unparalleled turbulence and instability in the ancient world. With no monarch able to take Alexander�s place, his empire fragmented into five pieces.
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Capitalizing on good looks, youth, and sexual prowess, Demetrius sought to weld those pieces together and recover the dream of a single world-state, with a new Alexander�himself�at its head. He succeeded temporarily, but in crucial, colossal engagements�a massive invasion of Egypt, a siege of Rhodes that went on a full year, and the Battle of Ipsus�he came up just short. He ended his career in a rash invasion of Asia, and he became the target of a desperate manhunt only to be captured and destroyed by his own son-in-law.