Antip'ater

Antip'ater, (1) a general highly trusted by Philip and Alexander the Great, left by the latter as regent in Macedonia when he crossed over into Asia, 334 B.C. He discharged the duties of this office with great ability, suppressing the insurrections in Thrace and Sparta; but he was about to be superseded by Craterus, through the influence of Olympias, when Alexander died. The government of Macedonia was assigned to him anew, in conjunction with Craterus; and soon after, he was called upon to defend himself against an alliance of the Grecian states. The war, usually called the Lamian war, from Lania where Antipater was besieged in 323, was terminated by the defeat of the confederates in 322. The murder of his unsuccessful rival, Perdiccas, in Egypt in 321 B.C., left Antipater the supreme regency of the kingdom, and the guardianship of Alexander's children. He died at an advanced age in 319.—(2) The father of Herod the Great, appointed by Julius Cæsar procurator of Judæa in 47 B.C. He was poisoned in 43 B.C.—(3) The son of Herod the Great by his first wife, a worthless prince, who was perpetually conspiring against the life of his brothers, but was executed in prison five days before Herod died.