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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Demetrius Biography DEMETRIUS I, called POLIORCETES D¶m¶trios Poliork¶t¶s, "Demetrius, Besieger of Cities") (c.337-283 B.C.). A king of Macedonia. He was the son of Antigonus Cyclops and Stratonice. At an early age he assisted his father in wars with the generals of Alexander, was defeated by Ptolemy, the son of Ptolemy Lagus, at Gaza in 312, but soon after retrieved his fortunes by gaining a victory over Cilles in Syria. In 307 he freed Athens from the rule of Cassander (q.v.), expelled the garrison under command of Demetrius Phalereus (q.v.), and was received in the city with divine honors. In 306 he defeated Ptolemy in a naval battle at Cyprus and destroyed the naval power of Egypt. In 305 he laid siege to Rhodes, but was unable to take the city. Afterward (301) he won the enmity of Seleucus, Cassander, and Lysimachus; he was defeated at Ipsus by Seleucus and Lysimachus. His power in Greece now passed from him for a time, but in 295 he recovered Ęgina, Salamis, and Athens. In 294 he murdered Alexander, brother of Antipater, and seized the throne of Macedonia, but was afterward expelled by Pyrrhus and finally surrendered to Seleucus (286) , whose prisoner he remained until his death (283). Demetrius is famous for having conducted his sieges on a grand scale, with all the paraphernalia known to the military science of that age. His ingenuity in devising new siege weapons was shown especially in his attack on Rhodes. His life was written by Plutarch. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. VI (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 654. |