Alexander IV of Macedon

Alexander IV entered the world in August 323 BC, his father already dead, his mother Roxana a Bactrian princess suddenly alone at the center of a fracturing empire. As the conqueror's only surviving legitimate child, the infant inherited a throne in name while generals tore the Macedonian world apart around him. He grew up a pawn, passed between rival hands, his claim both invaluable and intolerable to men who wanted the power for themselves. In late summer 309 BC, still in his early teens, he was killed — erasing the last direct line to Alexander III and clearing the board for the warlords wh…