The distinguished Demetrius Poliorcetes (besieger of cities) was king of
Macedonia from 294 to 287 B. C. His life was passed in fighting with
varied success and he was driven from the throne at last by a
combination of enemies, including the famous Pyrrhus, king of Epirus.
Demetrius was a man of wonderful abilities and resources, deriving his
surname from the enormous machines which he constructed for the siege of
Rhodes, one of his warlike enterprises. He freed Athens for a time from
Macedonian domination before he became ruler of Macedon.
A famous personage was Pyrrhus, the warlike king of Epirus, the
territory in the northwest of Greece, inhabited by descendants of the
old Pelasgians and Illyrians. The first king of the whole country was
Alexander, the brother of Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great. He
ruled from 336 to 326 B. C.