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Alexander alienated many of his generals by his actions. In particular, they disliked the fact that he began to assume the prerogatives and manners of an Oriental monarch and was introducing Persians into the army.<ref> Arrian, 4, 67</ref> The conqueror was not content with his vast domains and wanted to conquer the known world. He invaded north-west India and successfully annexed several kingdoms before his troops mutinied and forced him to turn back. The retreat from India was a disaster, and many died crossing the Gederosian Desert. Alexander returned to Babylon, but he soon developed a fever and fell gravely ill and died at the age of 32 in 323 BC.
====Civil War and Disintegration==Who took control of Alexander's Empire after his Death?==
[[File: A;ex 2.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Painting of a Macedonian soldier from a 3rd century BC tomb]]
Moreover, many of the generals became suspicious of Perdiccas , who appeared to be seeking to elevate himself to the emperor of Alexander's kingdom.<ref> Hornblower, Simon, and Spawforth, Tony. Who's Who in the Classical World (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 238 </ref> This led to the first First War of the Diadochi or Successors of Alexander. By 321 AD, Ptolemy , the satrap of Egypt , was acting like as an independent ruler. Ptolemy then seized Alexander's body , which was perceived as an attempt to anoint himself as Alexander’s heir. Perdiccas attempted to invade Egypt, but he bungled the crossing of the Nile, and his generals later assassinated him. Antigonus defeated Eumenes, who had regarded himself as the successor of Perdiccas , and he became the most powerful ruler in the lands conquered by Alexander.<ref> Hornblower and Spawforth, p. 167</ref>
However, much of the Empire was outside of his control, and Antigonus sought to reunite all the lands that had been conquered by Alexander. There were three more civil wars, between the Alexander's successors of Alexander that ravaged an area from Greece to Central Asia. At this time, Seleucus was forced to concede, the satrapies in India to the rising regional superpower , the Mauryan kingdom. The fourth Diadochi war was decided at the Battle of Ipsus (301 AD). Here Antigonus was defeat by a coalition led by Seleucus. <ref>Hornblower and Spawforth, p 189</ref>
The aftermath of the battle was the final partition of the Macedonian Empire. There were no further attempts to reunify the lands conquered by Alexander the Great. After some additional conflicts, by 280 BC, Alexander’s conquests were finally divided between the Seleucids in Asia, the Ptolemies in Egypt, and the Antigonids in Macedonia. These kingdoms proved durable, and the successor states endured for roughly 200 years.
