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====Campaigns of Eumenes of Cardia====

By 321 Perdiccas was the most powerful of all the successors and he controlled all Asia and this led to a great deal of resentment from the satraps who feared he was growing too powerful. In 321 BC Antipater send Craterus into Asia Minor, from Macedonia, where he was to be joined by the satrap of Armenia in an attack on Perdiccas. He was on his way to Egypt to deal with Ptolemy and he placed Eumenes in charge of Asia Minor despite his lack of military experience. The former secretary and scholar was a natural leader and inflicted a serious defeat on the satrap of Armenia <ref> Anson, p 34</ref>. However, this satrap was able to unite his forces with Craterus and threated Eumenes province of Cappadocia. At a battle on the borders of Cappadocia (320 BC), Eumenes inflicted a devastating defeat on his enemies and killed one of the enemy commanders in single combat. This made the Greek master of all Asia Minor. However, his senior commander Perdiccas was assassinated by his own commanders. At the the settlement made at Triparadisus (320 BC), the various generals divided the Empire among themselves. Antigonus, the one-eyed general, was given the task of hunting down Eumenes, because he had been a partisan of Peridiccas. Despite being outnumbered the Greek was able to evade Antigonus and held up in the stronghold of Nora in Cappadocia (modern Turkey) <ref>Anson, Edward M. "The siege of Nora: A source conflict." Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 18, no. 3 (1977): 251-256 </ref>. The political situation changed and Antigonus offered him the role of his second in command in his army as he clearly recognized the brilliance of the former secretary and archivist. As part of this settlement he was given control of the Royal Treasury and the elite Silver Shields, the seasoned veterans of Alexander’s army. However, Eumenes as a Greek believed in the idea of a united Empire and one that was headed by a member of the Royal House of Macedonia. After the death of Antipater, Polyperchon became regent (319 AD) and was in possession of the Royal Family and was the only legitimate authority in the Empire in the eyes of many. He asked Eumenes to change sides and to support the family of Alexander. The Greek agreed and betrayed Antignous and entered into an alliance with Polyperchon and the Royal Family. Indeed, it seems that he was even in regular contact with Alexander’s sister Cleopatra <ref>Waterfield, p. 78</ref>. Antignous was by now the most powerful successor and he sought to crush Eumenes and Polyperchon who represented the royalist cause, and this led to the Second War of Diadochi. In the naval battle of the Bosporus (318), Antignous defeated the royalist fleet and thus isolated Eumenes from Polyperchon, who fought a civil war against Casander in Macedonia, with the backing of Alexander’s mother, Olympia <ref> Waterfield, p. 81</ref>. The one-eyed general used his superior numbers to put great pressure on Eumenes. However, the Greek from Cardia was resourceful and built up an army. On one occasion Eumenes was nearly ambushed by the Macedonian but he was saved by intelligence sent by Cleopatra. He was forced out of Asia Minor and briefly occupied Phoenicia (Lebanon) after beating Ptolemy’s Egyptian forces. Antignous pursued Eumenes and forced him further east with his army. After a series of small battles in which he inflicted minor defeats of the Antigonid army, Eumenes then took his forces into modern Iraq and Iran. He often claimed to have received messages from the great conqueror in his dreams and associated himself with the cult of Alexander by holding meetings with an empty throne where the spirit of the great monarch was meant to be seated <ref> Plutarch 11</ref>. This meant that even though he was Greek he was able to gain the loyalty of the Macedonian hoplites, especially the Silver Shields. He was able to obtain the support of some eastern Satraps who had grown suspicious of Antigonus ambitions. The Antigonid army chased Eumenes. The two armies came to face at Paraitakene, to the northeast of Susa, in what is now Iran in 317 BC. Eumenes, despite being outnumbered devised a brilliant strategy that almost overwhelmed the army of his opponent <ref>Waterfield, p 80</ref>. Atigonus was almost totally defeated and suffered heavy casualties, while Eumenes army suffered only light casualties. The two armies then withdrew to their respective winter quarters. In 316 BC the two armies met again in what is modern Iran at Gabiene (316 BC). Once again Alexander’s former private secretary was to show his military brilliance. He was able to inflict heavy casualties on Antigonus and won an inconclusive victory. Then a chance event ruined his moment of glory. His army’s baggage train was captured by Antigonid cavalry <ref> Waterfield, p 86</ref>. This meant that all the personal wealth and often the wives of the Sacred Band were in the hands of the Antigonid army. The elite hoplites sought their wealth and wives back from the one-eyes general. He agreed to their demands but on one condition that they hand over to him Eumenes. The Silver Shields who were all Macedonians had no real loyalty to their Greek general. According to Plutarch ‘’ they fell upon him, took away his sword, and bound his hands behind him with his own girdle’’ <ref>Plutarch, 17</ref>. Antigonus apparently only wanted to imprison him but his generals demanded that Eumenes be executed. After weeks of indecision the Macedonian general reluctantly had his one-time ally killed. This was the de-facto end of the Second Diadochi War and it left Antigonus as the ruler of most of the former Empire of Alexander the Great. An interesting footnote is that the one-eyed Macedonian general had the Silver Shields who had betrayed Eumenes, sent to what is now Afghanistan to battle local rebels. Plutarch reports that he instructed their commander to use them in ways so that ‘’ not one of them might return to Macedonia’’ <ref> Plutarch, 19, 3</ref>.

====Eumenes and the First and the Second Diadochi Wars====