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In-Depth Information
round to the Athenian side, and then for a spectacular moment under its brilliant
general
Epaminondas
became the greatest power in Greece, in the process dealing Sparta
a blow from which it never recovered. Theban supremacy did not survive the death of
Epaminondas, however, and Greece subsequently found itself free for the first time in
centuries from the dictates of Persia or any over-powerful Greek city-state. Exhausted
and impoverished by almost continuous war, it was an opportunity for Greece to
peacefully unite. But the political and moral significance of the city-state had by now
eroded, and with the
rise of Macedonia
came the concept of an all-embracing kingship.
The Macedonian Empire
Despite its large size and population,
Macedonia
played little role in early Greek affairs.
Many in Greece did not consider the Macedonians to be properly Greek; not in speech,
culture or political system. They did not live in city-states, which Aristotle said was the
mark of a civilized human being, but as a tribal people, led by a king, and were closer to
the barbarians (such attitudes still rankle today, and inform some of the bitter debate
over the name and status of FYROM, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia).
Towards the middle of the fourth century, however, the power of Macedonia grew
under the leadership of
Philip II
. Philip was determined to Hellenize his country;
borrowing from Greek ways and institutions, he founded the city of
Pella
as his capital
and lured teachers, artists and intellectuals to his court, among them
Aristotle
and
Euripides
. An admirer of Athens, Philip sought an alliance that would make them
joint-masters of the Greek world. But the Athenians opposed him, and he took matters
into his own hands.
In
338 BC
Philip brought about the unity of the mainland Greeks by force, defeating
the Theban and Athenian forces at
Chaeronia
with one of the most formidable fighting
units the world has ever seen, the
Macedonian phalanx
. Armed with the
sarissa
, a
eighteen-foot pike tapering from butt to tip, its infantrymen were trained to move
across a battlefield with all the discipline of a parade ground drill. Instead of relying on
a headlong charge, its effectiveness lay in manipulating the enemy line - seeking to
open a gap through which the cavalry could make its decisive strike.
Alexander the Great
After Chaeronia, Philip summoned the Greek states to Corinth, and announced his
plans for a panhellenic conquest of the Persian Empire. But Philip was murdered two
years later and to his son
Alexander
fell his father's plans for an
Asian campaign
- throughout which, it is said, he slept with the
Iliad
under his pillow.
In the East too there was an assassination, and in 335 BC the Persian throne passed to
Darius III
, namesake of the first and doomed to be the last king of his line. Using essentially
his father's tactics, Alexander led his army through a series of astonishing victories, usually
against greater numbers, until he reached the heart of the Persian Empire. Alexander
crossed the Hellespont in May of
334 BC
, with thirty thousand foot soldiers and five
thousand horses. By autumn all the Aegean coast of
Asia Minor
was his; twelve months
later he stood on the banks of the Orontes River in
Syria
; in the winter of 332 BC
Egypt
hailed him as pharaoh; and by the spring of 330 BC the great Persian cities of
Babylon
,
Susa
,
Persepolis
and
Pasargadae
had fallen to him in rapid succession until, at
Ecbatana
,
326 BC
323 BC
323-146 BC
c.300 BC
Alexander's army
reaches India.
Death of Alexander.
Hellenistic Period.
Euclid's Elements published, its
13 volumes creating the basis
or much of modern maths and
science.
