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I'd appreciate it if someone can clarify some dates for me in regards to the time Olympias took the royal household to Pydna. I have varying dates but figured she went there in late 317 BC. After which Kassandros arrived at Dion. (Polyperchon was in Thessaly then)
Was it the winter of 317 or the winter of 316 that Kassandros dug the trench around Pynda and trapped them in there, eventually resulting in Olympias being captured and killed. (wasn/t she killed in 316?)

I would say it took them quite some time to dig that trench as it was a fairly large fortress and they were hardly using back-hoes and modern equipment. How long would you imagine it too them and who did the work? Slaves? Soldiers?

Ah...these little technical date glitches...
I'd love to hear from anyone who knows or can suggest where I can find a fairly accurate time-line. Thanks in advance.

The chronology of these years is a hotly debated topic. It has already been discussed here before, e.g. here: http://www.pothos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3247.

It was either the winter of 317/316 or that of 316/315. Scholars have been arguing about this for decades now, and a consensus does not seem to be for the immediate future. You will simply have to choose, and be consistent within your book. If you placed Perdikkas death in 321, it would seem advisable to date the siege of Pydna to the winter of 317/316 (although a hybrid chronology has recently been advanced). Bosworth's The Legacy of Alexander contains a timetable for this chronology. I cannot give you a reference to timetable with the different chronology off the top of my head, but I will check and let you know.

From what I have researched your dates seems accurate and trying to find the exact date is somewhat frustrating! I have pulled out most of my books that I thought the information would be in and it's generalized and no exact dates are in them. I found the same thing online as well. I'll try to search some more but am not hopeful. Sorry.

Hey I found something and am not sure if it is helpful or not.It's from an educational site.
It has a history timeline: (see the October 317)

Then, while Cassander campaigns in the south, Polyperchon and Olympias invade Macedon; Eurydike's army desert and she and Philip Arrhidaeus are captured and executed (D.S. 19.11, Justin 14.5, Athenaeus 13.560f., October 317).
Olympias' reign of terror in Macedon.

316 Cassander invades Macedon, and besieges Olympias in Pydna. (D.S. 19.31-36, 49-51, Justin 14.5-6).

Here is the link to the site :
http://www.anchist.mq.edu.au/222/DiadochWarsFrames.htm

OK, well everyone seems to have about the same sources of dates as me so I'll take a chance on keeping it the winter of 316 that they were trapped inside the fortress as I would imagine, if Kassandros arrived at Dion in late 317 it would have taken months and months to dig that trench around the fortress which, I was told by the archaeologist on site who had discovered the trench remains, was a pretty big structure. Meanwhile, Olympias' men were deserting like rats from a sinking ship so not much she could do about it and Polyperchon was away in Thessaly dithering over what to do.

Thanks for your prompt replies. I really appreciate it!

abm wrote:The chronology of these years is a hotly debated topic. It has already been discussed here before, e.g. here: http://www.pothos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3247.

You will simply have to choose, and be consistent within your book. If you placed Perdikkas death in 321, it would seem advisable to date the siege of Pydna to the winter of 317/316 (although a hybrid chronology has recently been advanced). Bosworth's The Legacy of Alexander contains a timetable for this chronology. I cannot give you a reference to timetable with the different chronology off the top of my head, but I will check and let you know.

I find Bosworth's chronology cogent. High, or late, summer 321 for Perdiccas' death is good. The rest follows. But, as ABM says, there's always debate.

If you do not have the book that abm refers to Ruthaki (Legacy of Alexander) I would suggest - like Diodorus bks.18-20 - you get it before publishing: much information.

All the best for the symposium abm.

I am hugely jealous.....but then you know that.

Thanks Paralus. I'm going to get that book as it's one I don't have in my library for some reason.

I'll let you know how this 'symposium' goes tomorrow. I have another one on editing coming up next month.

The timeline on site Theseus gave the link to seems to be a very thorough exposition of the low chronology, i.e. the one Perdikkas' death in 320 (haven't really checked it in detail though). Indeed, as Paralus says, The Legacy of Alexander would be a very useful book for you Ruthaki, if you do not have it yet. There's a paperback edition as well.

Paralus, maybe you'll be a bit less jealous if you know that my paper is far from finished (as in " it's all there in my head, but I still have to write most of it"), so I've got a few stressful weeks coming up .

abm wrote:Paralus, maybe you'll be a bit less jealous if you know that my paper is far from finished (as in " it's all there in my head, but I still have to write most of it"), so I've got a few stressful weeks coming up .

Oh indeed. How well I know that situation; how altogether too well.

That in no way reduces my level of jealousy. Not one whit.

Amyntoros has her riding instructions and I insist that you have a glass of decent red over dinner in lieu of the fact that I will not be there. I shall be nursing an Alexandrian hangover worthy of fifty years whilst you attend the Saturday of that symposium.

Legacy is one of the better books on the subject; an all too often passed over subject of those years which established the Hellenistic states that would live until Rome - like a white blood cell enveloping a bacteria - absobed them.