Antigonus Monophthalmus in Babylonia, 310-308 B. C.

DESPITE the general silence of the classical sources on Antigonus Monophthalmus's activities during the years 310 to 308,' it is now common knowledge that, for part of this time, he was embroiled in an intense and sustained campaign against Seleucus Nicator for control of the East. This revelation has come about through the publication in the twentieth century of various historical Chronicles and Astronomical Diaries from the Babylonian tradition,2 which have provided a context for some scattered cryptic references in the classical documents. The war seems to have been largely limited in scope to the satrapy of Babylonia, and the complete absence of any reference to it by Diodorus is puzzling. Recently, as the chronology of the Babylonian sources has been progressively refined and their disclosures pinpointed to specific years, some scholarly treatments of Antigonus's eastern forays have appeared.3 It is not my intention to add superfluous analysis to these