DIADOCHI (Gr. &aUxeo-

See also:

• OAT (O. Eng. ate; the word is not found in cognate languages; it may be allied with Fr. eitel, knot, nodule, cf. Gr. oiSos swelling)

Oat, to receive from another)  , i.e . " Successors," the name given to the Macedonian generals whofought for the empire of Alexander after his death in 323 B.C . The name includes Antigonus and his son Demetrius Poliorcetes, Antipater and his son Cassander, Seleucus, Ptolemy, Eumenes and Lysimachus . The kingdoms into which the Macedonian empire was divided under these rulers are known as Hellenistic . The chief were Asia Minor and Syria under the Seleucid Dynasty (q.v.), Egypt under the Ptolemies (q.v.), Macedonia under the successors of Antigonus Gonatas, Pergamum (q v.) under the Attalid dynasty . Gradually these kingdoms were merged in the Roman empire .