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The Hellenistic Period (336-31 BC) of ancient Greek history was marked by a series of important political and cultural developments brought forth by men who for the most part lived by the adage, “might makes right.” After Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, his generals, known as the <i>Diadochi</i>, divided his conquests into a number of kingdoms and then engaged in a nearly constant series of wars with each other until the Romans became ascendant in the first century BC. Among the most important, although lesser known today, of Alexander’s successor generals was a man named Lysimachus.

Besides the death of Antigonus, the Fourth Diadochi War was important because the generals all began proclaiming themselves king, or <i>basileus</i>, of their respective kingdoms. Ptolemy proclaimed himself king of Egypt in 305 or 304, which Lysimachus followed up by doing the same in Thrace. <ref> King, p. 223</ref> While he was the king of Thrace, Lysimachus not only engaged in the war against other Hellenistic kings, he also practiced the art of diplomacy. Lysimachus helped the city of Rhodes by providing them with much-needed grain when it was being blockaded by Antigonus during the Fourth Diadochi War. After Antigonus was dead and the war was concluded, the Rhodians showed their gratitude toward Lysimachus by erecting a statue of him in their city. <ref> Diodorus Siculus. <i> The Library of History.</i> Translated by Francis R. Walton and Russel M. Geer. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 2004), XX, 100, 1-2</ref>

“Finally, however, after Demetrius had suffered a crushing defeat in Syria, Lysimachus, who by then felt secure and had no other distractions, lost no time in marching against Pyrrhus. He found his opponent encamped at Edessa; there he attacked him, captured his supply columns and caused his troops to suffer great hardship. Next, by writing letters to the leading Macedonians and spreading rumors, he set about weakening their loyalty to Pyrrhus. He reproached them for having chosen as their master a man who was a foreigner and whose ancestors had always been vassals of the Macedonians, and or having driven from their country the men who had been the friends and comrades of Alexander. When Pyrrhus discovered that many of the Macedonians were being won over, he took fright and withdrew, taking with him his Epirot troops and his allies, and in this way, he lost Macedonia in exactly the same way that he had seized it.” <ref> Plutarch. <i> The Age of Alexander: Ten Greek Lives by Plutarch.</i> Translated by Ian Scott Kilvert and Timothy E. Duff. (London: Penguin Books, 2012), <i>Pyrrhus</i>, XII</ref>