Aridaeus and Eurydice. At length famine overcame the bravery Olympias is
of the defenders of that place, when the haughty Olympias, put 40 death'
deserted by her troops, fell into the hands of her enemies, and
the mother of Alexander was put to death, by the kindred of
those who had already suffered by her orders: but Roxana and
her son, who were destined to experience a similar fate, still
remained in captivity.
Favoured by these circumstances, Antigonus marched to-Combination
wards Babylon, and on his approach Seleucus fled to Ptolemy, ptdemy™nd
whose authority then extended over Syria and Phoenicia as Cassander-
well as Egypt. He was well received; and he soon induced
Ptolemy to join with the rulers of Macedonia and Thrace in a
combination against Antigonus, who now openly aimed at
uniting the whole of the Macedonian conquests under his
dominion. He prepared for the approaching conquest by establishing
beacons and couriers to secure speedy intelligence
throughout Asia, by raising troops, by building a fleet, and
at the same time strengthening his party by an alliance with
Rhodes and Cyprus.
His advantageous position between Ptolemy on the one side, Antigonus
and the confederates in Asia on the other, was speedily turned preparations,
to good account. A fleet being urgently required to cope with
that of Ptolemy, which, under Seleucus, threatened the coast
and menaced the camp before Tyre, numerous shipwrights
were immediately employed to construct vessels at Tripoli,
Sidon, and Byblus, and also on the coast of Cilicia. The
forests of the Taurus supplied materials for that coast, and
1,000 pairs of bullocks were employed in transporting the
magnificent pines and cedars of Lebanon to the ports of Syria.1
Leaving, in addition to the necessary protection at these
places, 3,000 men, under Andronicus, to blockade Tyre,
Antigonus proceeded southward, and having secured his flank
on the side of Egypt by subjecting the cities of Joppa and
Gaza, he returned to resume in form the siege of the first
place.2 During its progress, however, the operations of Ptolemy siege of Tyre,
in Greece, and those of the confederates in Asia, called for particular
attention to the northern provinces. Leaving, therefore
1 Diod. Sic., lib. X IX ., cap. xviii. s Ibid.