Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Antigonus One-Eyed

 





Here's Antigonus One-Eyed trying to rally the troops at the Battle of Ipsus. The Antigonus figure is from the Gripping Beast Polemarch Successors range and the phalangite command are by Warlord Games with a LBM banner.

Plutarch (c.46-c.119 AD) in his life of Demetrius describes Antigonus shortly before his death at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BC:

Antigonus was almost eighty years old and by this time it was his corpulence and weight even more than his age which incapacitated him for an active part in military operations. He therefore made more and more use of his son, for Demetrius with the help of experience combined with good luck was now conducting the greatest enterprises with some success, and neither his luxury nor his extravagance nor his drinking habits troubled his father.

Plutarch Demetrius 19, The Age of Alexander, translated by Ian-Scott Kilvert, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1973, p.350.

Xyston Miniatures make an excellent corpulent Antigonus on a palanquin with bearers in 15mm:

Antigonus on a Pallanquin

Plutarch describes his end at the battle:

Then as great numbers of the enemy bore down Antigonus, one of his attendants cried out, 'They are making for you, sire,' to which the king replied,'Yes, what other object could they have? But Demetrius will come to our rescue.' In this hope he persisted to the last and kept looking on every side, until the enemy overwhelmed him with a cloud of javelins and he fell. The rest of his friends and attendants abandoned him, and only Thorax of Larissa remained by his body.

Plutarch Demetrius 29, The Age of Alexander, translated by Ian-Scott Kilvert, Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1973, p.360.







10 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Phil, I'll have to get the Xyston Antigonus on pallanquin.

      Delete
  2. Lovely looking command stand!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love it. Tiggers is my favourite of the set, nice to see him so well done.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great looking Macedonians! Antigonos One-Eye is one of my favorite warriors in history.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Dean, I'd like to do a refight of Ipsus at some stage.

      Delete

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