Eumenes of Cardia: A Greek among Macedonians

Book Description
Eumenes of Cardia was a royal secretary who, in the years following the death of Alexander the Great became a major contender for power. Despite his having been chiefly an administrator rather than a military or political power, Eumenes came close to securing control of the Asian remnants of Alexander’s empire. Eumenes was born in the Greek city of Cardia and lived during a period dominated by native-born Macedonians, and his defeat and death have traditionally been attributed to his having "Greek" rather than Macedonian origins. This book argues, however, that as a result of the actions of Macdonian monarchs, Macedonia was a land in which large numbers of a variety of people were successfully amalgamated into a single state.

About the Author
Edward M. Anson, Ph.D. (1975), University of Virginia, is Professor of History at the University of Arkansas Little Rock. He has published extensively on the history of the early Hellenistic Age.


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The sources describe Eumenes (323-281 BC) as a brilliant general and one of the last defenders of the monarchy after the death of Alexander the Great, but who was doomed to failure by the prejudice of the native-born Macedonian officers and common soldiers. The story is dramatic, says Anson, but fictional. Outside of Macedonia proper, he points out, Macedonian had come to mean a fighting style or political status rather than ethnicity, and Philip and Alexander's contribution was to raise Macedonians from barbarians into a lesser form of Greeks rather than to drive the two groups apart. He begins his biography by looking at the sources, then traces Eumenes' life and military through its various stages. He includes maps. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR


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