The Rise of Philip of Macedon (359 – 336 BC)

During the Peloponnesian Wars, a new political force was rising in Macedonia. The Macedonians were a civilization speaking another form of Greek and with different customs and social organizations. The Macedonian political and social system was totally different from those which were centered around the traditional Greek polis. The Macedonian system was organized around kings wielding the majority of the power fostered by a strong military.

By the end of the Peloponnesian war, Sparta was the acknowledged hegemon of Greece. But though for a while she tried to play the part of an imperialist, she soon lost Persian aid, which was then for a time given to Thebes, previously a relatively unimportant city. Thebes, indeed, had lost all title to respect in Greece by collaborating with the Persians during the Persian Wars. Now however, she developed a new military tactic, and under the leadership of two great generals established herself temporarily as the leading power in Greece. By defeating the Spartans in open warfare she freed the helots, thereby reducing Sparta forever to the rank of a second- or third-rate power. But away in the north from 359 B.C. onward, a new power was rising in Greece. This was Macedon, ruled by a shrewd and crafty semi-barbarian named Philip. Philip perceived very clearly that if he could keep the Greeks disunited he could pick them off one by one.

Thebes never did come to realize the dangerous nature of Philip, nor the threat that he presented to Greece. The Athenians were divided in their opinions, one party thinking it best to collaborate and "appease" Philip; the other, led by Demosthenes, believing that the only safe policy was to stop Philip before he became too strong. Philip himself did his best to win support in both cities, spending lavishly of the gold which he had won in northeastern Greece, while at the same time building himself a small but strong and effective army, with new military formations hitherto unknown in Greece Though Demosthenes was able to persuade the Athenians to send an expedition to Olynthus, which Philip was threatening, the expedition was too small and arrived too late to be of any great assistance. Philip, after capturing Olynthus, destroyed it completely, thereby providing an example to the rest of the Greeks which he hoped would prove salutary.

Philip's barbarity incensed Demosthenes but cowed most of the Athenian statesmen. Indeed, a writer of speeches named Isocrates even urged Philip to unite the Greeks and engage in a great expedition against Persia. Philip in fact intended to make such an expedition, but the means by which he proposed to unite Greece were not calculated to please any Athenian democrats. In fact Philip's diplomacy paid off handsomely. Although he was not himself regarded as a Greek by the other Greeks, who thought they could use him for their own ends, he was made head of a Greek religious league and invited to chastise some Greek cities which had been accused of sacrilege. Philip, nothing loath, came down into Greece, and suddenly confronted Thebes, which realized at last that there was nothing to hinder him if he wished to turn upon Thebes itself. Demosthenes hastily organized an alliance between Athens and Thebes, but it was too late. Philip defeated the united armies at the battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C, and thereafter was the undisputed leader of Greece.

Macedonia quickly became a great Empire and conquered, under King Philip II, a number of city-states, defeating Athens and Thebes in 338 BC at the Battle of Chaeronea. King Philip was assassinated thereafter and the task of expanding the empire was given to his young son Alexander the Great, the most renowned student of the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle. When his father died, twenty two years old Alexander became king of Macedon.

Alexander forged the largest empire the world had yet seen. After having conquered all the city-states of Greece, he invaded Asia Minor with approximately 35.000 soldiers. Before dying at the age of 33, Alexander the Great had conquered the entire Persian Empire, Egypt and the Mesopotamia, Afghanistan and some parts of India. At the time of Alexander’s conquests, the Persian empire was thirty times larger than Greece. Alexander truly ushered in a new world age – the Hellenistic Age, characterized by the spread of Greek culture throughout the world.

On his deathbed, Alexander reputedly left his empire “to the strongest.” After the death of Alexander the Great, the Macedonian Empire was divided in several parts: such as, the Antigonids in Macedonia, the Seleucids in Asia Minor, Syria, Persia and the Ptolemies in Egypt.

There were severe wars among the successors to Alexander following the King’s death.

Athens was too weak to pose a serious threat at this time and new Hellenistic and autonomous monarchies made their appearance. The concept of the “polis” disappeared and states of larger size appeared. However, the Greek language remained the official language in trade, administration and literature throughout the Hellinistic world.