Prior to 350, Macedonia is hardly more than a footnote to Greek history. The Macedonians were regarded half-Greek, at best. Different from
the rest of Greece, Macedonia had no poleis - the Macedonian settlements did not enjoy the autonomy characteristic for Greek poleis.
Neither was the Macedonian constitution "Greek". It was a simple monarchy, an authoritarian structure, exavtly what the Athenians and
Spartans regarded as oriental, despotic, non-Greek. Neither was the country of economical importance. Makedonia has one important
feature : the largest plain in all of Greece. Good country to breed horses. When PHILIP II. was crowned in 359, he reformed the Macedonian
army, with the emphasis on the cavalry. He pursued an expansionist policy, and Macedonia became one of the major political players in
Greece. Macedonian expansion was against the interest of both THEBES and ATHENS, both striving to maintain their HEGEMONY, THEBES
on land, Athens on the sea. Philip's Macedonians defeated the allied Thebans and Athenians decisively in the BATTLE OF CHAIRONEIA
(338 B.C.). In 337, most Greek states established the CORINTHIAN LEAGUE, under leadership of Macedonia. Philip was assassinated in 336.
B.) ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND HIS EMPIRE
ALEXANDER THE GREAT succeeded to his father's throne at the age of 18. He demanded the Greeks to send troop contingents for the planned
expedition into the PERSIAN EMPIRE, but the Thebans refused. Thebes was destroyed, it's inhabitants enslaved in 335. In 334, Alexander
crossed into Asia Minor. He won the BATTLES OF GRANICOS (334) and ISSUS (333). His greatest worry was not the Persian army, but the
Athenian fleet - Athens nominally allied to him, but practically seeking to harm his expedition. From Issus, Alexander turned south, across Syria
into Egypt (332). Only when it was reported to him that Memnon, the leader of the Athenian fleet, had died in battle, did Alexander turn east, away
from the Mediterranean. The Persian army was defeated a last time in the BATTLE OF GAUGAMELA (331). The Persian king DARIUS III. wanted
this battle to decide the fate of this dynasty, either way. He had brought his wife and daughter to the battlefield. Alexander won the battle and
Darius' daughter STAGEIRA, whom he later married. Darius flew. He was killed by one of his own men while fleeing eastward. At PERSEPOLIS,
the old Persian capital, his Macedonian troops nearly mutinied. They disliked Alexanders gestures taking over oriental customs, allowing
Persians etc. to kowtow in front of him, Egyptians treating him like a god. Alexander kept them busy by burning down Persepolis and then moving
east, pacifying the eastern provinces of the Persian Empire - Sogdiana, Bactria, the Indus valley. Here, he went beyond the sphere of Persian
influence; he had to fight one enemy after another. When Alexander demanded his forces to cross the Indus, they refused, and reluctantly he
ordered the retreat. Alexander established his center of administration at Susa in lower Mesopotamia. He arranged a mass wedding of
Macedonian officers and Persian noblewomen, attempting to create a new Graeco-Persian leadership. At many places he had founded (or
reorganised) cities, most of them named after him : ALEXANDRIA. These Greek cities were to have decisive influence on the history of Asia Minor.
At the age of 34, Alexander died of disease in Susa, Mesopotamia, in 323 B.C.
Alexander's early death left a power vacuum. His son, by the Persian princess Roxana, was born only after his death. As there was no clear
successor, his appointed officials - generals and administrators - continued, soon pursuing their own, uncoordinated policy. CASSANDER, the
administrator of Macedonia, had Alexander's mother Olympias, as well as his wife Roxana and his son murdered. LYSIMACHUS was in control of
Thrace. ANTIGONUS controlled Anatolia, Syria, Mesopotamia. SELEUCUS controlled the east, and PTOLEMY controlled Egypt. Antigonos tried to
uphold the unity of the Empire (under his leadership), but soon found an alliance of the others formed against him. He was defeated in the
BATTLE OF IPSOS in 301. Antigonus fell, his son DEMETRIUS withdrew to Greece. Lysimachus expanded into Anatolia, Seleucus received
Mesopotamia with Antiochia, Ptolemy got Syria. The Empire was dvided among the DIADOCHI.
C.) THE DIADOCHI STATES
Seleucus, Antigonus and Ptolemy all established long lasting empires and dynasties : the SELEUCID EMPIRE with its capital ANTIOCH,
Macedonia with its capital PELLA and PTOLEMAIC EGYPT with its capital ALEXANDRIA. Antioch and Alexandria quickly rose to become the largest
cities in the Greek-speaking world. The constitution of these Empires was oriental (despotic), science and administration Greek. Greeks formed
the backbone of administration and military. The Hellenistic army soon integrates elements of Asian tradition, such as war elephants from India.
Quite a number of Greek monarchs regarded Alexander as a role model, and tried to imitate him. Antigonos' son Demetrius tried to reestablish the
Empire his father had lost, PYRRHUS tried to establish an Empire in Sicily and Italy, the Bactrians (Menander) tried to reestablish Greek rule in
Northwest India. A constant feature in Hellenistic history was warfare, mostly Greeks against Greeks. Not only did the various diadochi empires
fight each other. At times various claimants of the throne fought it out, valuing their personal claim higher than the interest of the state. Tiny
PERGAMON gained a lot of territory from the Seleucid Empire, because ATTALUS I. assisted a Seleucid prince gaining the throne.
Greece proper was only a sideshow in Hellenistic history. ATHENS still was a center of Hellenistic culture, but politically a dwarf. Macedonia was
the superior power, checked only by the ACHAIAN and AETOLIAN LEAGUES. For a time, SPARTA regained old glory by reinstituting the Lycurgian
constitution. Hellenistic armies were costly; state like Sparta, Rhodos, the Aetolians depended on Egyptian subsidies, while the Achaian League
again was allied with Macedonia and the Seleucids. These alliances often changed, with Rome getting into the picture in the 2nd century B.C.
D.) HELLENISTIC CULTURE
In the Hellenistic Era, Athens was still the capital of Greek philosophy. The CYNICS, SCEPTICS, EPICUREANS and STOICS all started out in Athens.
Plato's Academy and Aristoteles' Lyceum continued. However, talent was often emigrating to the courts of Alexandria, Antioch and
SYRACUSA. The Great Library of Alexandria established itself as another center of Hellenistic culture. Greek architecture reached its zenith. The
list of the SEVEN WONDERS OF ANTIQUITY is Hellenistic, although three of the wonders date back to earlier periods. Yet, the Mausoleum at
Halicarnassus, the Colossus of Rhodos, the Temple of Zeus at Olympia and the Lighthouse of Pharus were built in Hellenistic times. Mathematics
and the sciences flourished. ERATOSTHENES calculated the earth's radius by measuring the shadow of a post in Alexandria (and thus knew that
the world was a globe). ARCHIMEDES is regarded the greatest engineer of antiquity. The defense engines he constructed for the city of Syracusa
inflicted heavy damage on the Roman navy, and POLYBIUS' account of that event still is a fascinating read. EUCLID is revered as the father of
geometry; he taught in Alexandria.
In the Hellenistic world, the cities of Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, to a lesser extent those of Persia, were overformed by Greek culture. Often they were
rechristened : Zion turned into Hierosolymam, the modern Jerusalem. The leading class of Hellenistic cities and Empires was Greek. Hellenistic
poleis, as compared to classical Greek poleis, were redefined. Alexandria, Antioch, Pergamon, Pella flourished, outshadowed cities such as Athens
and Miletus by far, because of their function of capitals of large Hellenistic states. While Athens at its peak has had no more than 40,000 citizens,
Alexandria had over a million. However, such Hellenistic capitals rose and fell with the dynasty : Seleucia replaced nearby Babylon; when the
Parthians conquered Babylonia, they established their new capital at Ctesiphon and Seleucia declined.
Most Hellenistic states were multinational. The administration had to be multilingual, as shown in the famous ROSETTA STONE. In such an environment,
it was not only Greek culture influencing Oriental culture, but also vice versa. The Persian cult of god MITHRAS, and the Egyptian cult of Isis expanded.
The Phoenician ZENO OF CITIUM founded the philosophical school of STOICS.
Hellenistic civilization focussed much on the person of the ruler. Alexander was, to many of his successors, a role model - the king of a small country
who, risking all, conquered wealth and territory beyond imagination. Just like Alexander, Demetrios Poliorcetes, Pyrrhus, Antiochus III. the Great,
Menander attempted to conquer an Empire for themselves matching Alexander's in size and wealth, and Cleopatra pursued similar dreams applying
a different strategy.
Alexander had provided the generations after him with the role model of the daring conqueror; the diadochs the role model of the accomplished general
or satrap (province governor) who proclaims himself a king. As a result, Hellenistic states were almost constantly at war and notoriously instable,
conflicts over succession the rule, the political map frequently changing.
Alexander and his successors quickly became accustomed to the wealth of the east, so easily gained in a few battles. Hellenistic rulers lived a lavish,
opulent lifestyle; they paid for the construction of temples and palaces built in their capitals; the inthronisation of kings were celebrated in spectacular
pomp.
E.) THE DECLINE OF THE HELLENISTIC EMPIRES
The Seleucid Empire stretched from Antioch (at times even from the Aegaean Sea) to the Indus river. Yet its capital was located in Antioch, close to the
Mediterranean, indicating a strong orientation to the Greek west. In the 3rd century B.C., the PARTHIANS invaded the Persian provinces, and by 205 B.C.
they had succeeded in the conquest of Iran. They established their capital at CTESIPHON, near modern Baghdad. This reduced the Seleucid Empire
to Syria. The still Greek-controlled province of BACTRIA was separated from its capital and became independent. Around 170, the Bactrians began to
expand into Northwest India, where MENANDER (c. 150-130) established the kingdom GANDHARA. Between 130 and 1 A.D., Bactria was conquered by
the KUSHAN, invaders from Central Asia, ending the period of Hellenism in this area. In the west, Rome defeated PHILIP V. of Macedonia in 197 B.C., in
191/190 ANTIOCHUS III. the Seleucid. Rome did not directly annex the defeated states, but regularly interfered in their affairs. ATTALUS III. of Pergamon,
a Roman ally, got so tired of this interference he regarded worse than direct Roman administration, that he bequeathed his kingdom to rome in 133 B.C.
- the Roman province Asia. Macedonia had become a Roman Province in 148, Achaia in 146. Seleucid Syria remained "independent" until 68, Ptolemaic
Egypt until 30 B.C. Egypt's last Ptolemaic queen was CLEOPATRA.
This page is part of World History at KMLA Last revised on September 17th 2001/i>
