The combined Athenian-Aetolian army maintains the blockade of Antipater and his Macedonians at Lamía.
Antipater calls for reinforcements from Asia.
Alexander's general Leonnatus intervenes in the spring of 322, setting out from his satrapy to relieve Antipater; nominally a supporter, he is in fact ambitious to usurp Antipater's power.
Leonnatus is a member of the royal house of Lyncestis, a small kingdom that had been included in Macedonia by King Philip II of Macedon.
Leonnatus was the same age as Alexander and was very close to him.
He had later been one of Alexander's seven bodyguards, or somatophylakes.
After Alexander died in 323 BCE, the regent, Perdiccas, made Leonnatus satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia.
Alexander's sister Cleopatra, the widow of king Alexander of Molossia, has offered Leonnatus her hand.
If they marry, Leonnatus will be a powerful rival to Perdiccas, and might reasonably claim the throne, and a victory over the Greeks will certainly enhance his claim.
The marriage never takes place, however: Leonnatus is killed in action, although the reinforcements force the Greeks to raise the siege.
Antipater is thus able escape from Lamia and merge his army with that of the slain Leonnatus.
The arrival of a third Macedonian force under the leadership of Craterus decidedly shifts the numerical superiority to the Macedonian side.
