Demetrius I (c. 337–283 BC)

King of Macedonia 294–288 BC, son of Antigonus I and Stratonice. In the struggles for power over the Macedonian empire which followed the death of Alexander the Great (the Wars of the Diadochi), Demetrius fought with his father against Ptolemy I and Cassander. He besieged the island of Rhodes 305 BC, earning the nickname Poliorcetes (‘besieger’).

He restored the Athenian democracy 307 BC and destroyed the naval power of Egypt 306 off Cyprus, but failed in his attempt to capture Rhodes and concluded a treaty 304. In 301 BC Demetrius and his father were defeated by the generals Seleucus, Cassander, and Lysimachus at Ipsus. Antigonus was killed and Demetrius fled to Ephesus, but he was later reconciled with Seleucus and obtained the throne of Macedonia 294. In 288, however, he was expelled by a coalition of Ptolemy, and Lysimachus, and Pyrrhus, King of Epirus northwestern Greece. He went to Asia, but was deserted by his troops and surrendered 285 to Seleucus, who kept him in confinement until his death.