GIP!

Finally, I have a Rome icon! From the lovely alexandral, who makes gorgeous icons. It is of about the only Roman woman standing who isn't completely barmy (if we put aside the whole incest bit in the first season!).

Antingonus the One-eyed

The only thing I like about Alexander's successors is that they all have such exciting names: Antingonus the One-eyed, Demetrius the Besieger, Ptolemy the Saviour, etc. However, seeing as they all go to war with each other every five minutes I cannot keep them straight. But I read this about the Battle of Ipsus (301 BCE), (notable because it may be the one battle in which elephants are actually useful and because it spells the end of any chance of Alexander's kingdom ever being reunited), and it struck me as terribly, terribly poignant. Maybe they were all terrible bastards but still they loved their children:

"But the old King Antigonus still kept his post, and when a strong body of the enemies drew up to charge him, and one of those about him cried out to him, 'Sir, they are coming upon you,' he only replied, 'What else should they do? But Demetrius will come to my rescue.' And in this hope he persisted to the last, looking out on every side for his son's approach, until he was borne down by a whole multitude of darts, and fell. His other followers and friends fled, and Thorax of Larissa remained alone by the body." Plutarch, Life of Demetrius