The Implications of ‘Poliorcetes’: Was Demetrius the Besieger’s Nickname Ironic?

Abstract

According to Diodorus, Demetrius, the son of Antigonus Monophthalmus, earned his famous sobriquet, ‘Poliorcetes’ during his spectacular siege of Rhodes in 305–304 BC. The ancient implications of this unique epithet are unremarkable, but modern scholarship has often taken the allocation of the surname, in retrospect, to be ironic. The thinking goes that, in the context of Rhodes, Demetrius was certainly the besieger, but he was not the taker of that city. This notion probably originates with Plutarch, whose Life of Demetrius is built around the trope that his famous subject aspired to much, but accomplished little. However, a systematic scrutiny of Demetrius’ lifelong siege enterprises demonstrates that his nickname was, in fact, well-deserved. This paper suggests that the image of Demetrius as a ‘Besieger’ but not a ‘Taker’ of cities is more a construct facilitated by Plutarch and peddled by superficial modern analyses, than a reality.