LVI. End as of 11/29/95
LVII. Philip II of Macedon gets the ball and keeps it.
A. I mentioned that Philip had grown up in Thebes. What was he doing there?
1. Amyntas had died in 369, leaving his eldest (of three) son Alexander king and his widow Eurydice sleeping with her lover, Ptolemy of Alorus.
2. Pelopidas (Plu. Pel. 26-27) had tried to settle what turned into a civil war (to Thebes advantage) but sweet Eurydice had found her own way of settling matters by helping Ptolemy off her son in 369/8. For a brief period, the throne was up for grabs.
3. Iphicrates got his chance to put Ptolemy on the throne as regent for Amyntas's second son Perdiccas, while Thebes was strong enough to force an alliance with Ptolemy (368), for which security, Philip (Plu. Pel. 27).
B. The Macedonian Kingship was a funny institution, straight out of the Dorian invasion.
1. They had a king, and they had a capital/fortress, Aigai
2. To the North, on the Illyrian border were the hills of Lyncestis, Orestis, below the proper plain of Macedonia, much more Hellenized.
3. The infantry of the hills and the cavalrymen of the plains, the king's companions (hetairoi) voted to decide which male of the Argead house (starting with Alexander I Philhellene, Her. 8.137f; Thuc. 2.99f) would be the king. He got the cavalry, their favored arm, and not much besides, since the other nobles were still pretty powerful.
4. Perdiccas had the votes, but Ptolemy had Athenian and Theban support (as long as he stayed quiet), and so Perdiccas spent all his time doing sissy stuff like reading books until...
5. In 365 he disposed of Ptolemy, his mother, and called Philip back from Thebes.
C. Perdiccas seems to have been a fairly active ruler
1. He took Athens' old city of Amphipolis, much to their displeasure.
2. The Illyrians decided they'd best hit him early, which they did, wiping out him and most of the old Macedonian army in a horrible battle in 359.
3. The army made Philip regent for Perdiccas's boy Amyntas, but king very soon after. Amyntas would live until Alexander killed him in 336!
D. Philip groveled in the dust until he found his gun
1. Philip allied with the Chalcidean League (who were scared to death), which encouraged trade.
2. There'd been a big gold strike (1,000 T/year) near Mt. Pangaeus on the Strymon, where we soon hear of a fortified town called Phillipi, and whence we start finding gold coins with Philip's picture on them called "Philippics."
a) Philip used his money buying off the Illyrians and Paeonians.
b) He bought off the Athenians too when they tried to put their own man on the throne, by evacuating Amphipolis and turning over Perdiccas's P.O.W.'s.
3. Most of the money went into the formation of Greece's first standing professional army. It helped that he was starting with a slate the Illyrians had cleaned for him.
a) Philip called his new troops the "Pezhetairoi," foot- companions, elevating a Lyncestian shepherd to something near in rank to the nobles of the plains.
b) When these guys weren't drilling in the new Theban- style "Macedonian" phalanx with these new 15' pikes (sarissai) Philip had adopted, they were building roads and fortifications.
c) They never went home, and unlike the Spartans, didn't have to worry about the Helots or take a lifetime to produce in sufficient quantity to be ungodly lethal.
d) They were armed in between a Peltast and a Hoplite-- helmet, linen corselet, small shield, and that collapsible/extendable pike.
e) The cavalry got a shorter Sarissa of their own, and drilling in a formation we call the wedge, which allowed them to punch through an enemy line.
f) Philip also had an elite bodyguard of hoplites, the hypaspists.
g) The meatgrinder of the phalanx moves at an oblique angle towards the enemy line while the cavalry darts through any weakened area while the hypaspists keep them linked together.
4. Philip also used his money to buy the best siege engineers and equipment money could buy (Dionysius I and Motya, 394), or to open a city the EASY way...
E. Would it surprise you if I told you that the rest of Greek history more or less involves the Macedonian army destroying anything or anyone who got in front of it? The, victims, please!
LVIII. The End of Greek History as we know it!
A. Philip first chewed up the semi-independent mountain tribes. There would be a price for Lyncestis.
B. The nobles found their sons as "pages," hostages, at Philip's court, learning his tactics and his authority.
C. Parmenio defeated the Paeonians, who became part of the kingdom, while Philip settled the Illyrians in 356, supposedly the same day his charming wife Olympias (Just like the girl/Who murdered dear old Dad!) gave birth to Little Alexaander.
D. Athens was reeling from the Social War of 357-4, and Philip wasted no time.
1. Philip took and KEPT Amphipolis almost immediately.
2. Athens' last fortress, Pydna, and Potidea were gone by 356, and with the Chalcidean League's support, Athens was basically out of Macedonia and Thrace. Roll over, Militiades.
E. Philp would have Thrace beaten by 352.
F. Meanwhile, some chickens were coming home to roost for Thebes.
1. Thebes had long been beating up on Phocis, the cork in Macedonia's bottle.
2. With Spartan support, the Phocians seized Delphi in 356 and showed how impiety could be a deadly weapon: they hired a huge mercenary army with the money from the temples and treasuries! Remeber what I said about the Olympics and Greek morale? How do you think THIS went down?
3. Athens got its image tarnished by backing the Phocians
4. Thebes hit and killed Philomelus in 354, but Onomarchus was a better general.
a) Philip was only TOO GLAD to intervene in Phocis, but
b) Onomarchus was the one man who could beat him in the field--with field artillery! 353-2.
G. Philip accordingly went North to people he COULD beat...
1. Demosthenes had screamed his head off in vain about the Social War, failing to get any help for Rhodes after Mausolus stopped supporting it and just took it.
2. When Philip starting leveling the cities of the Chalcidean League one by one (including Stagira, Aristotle's home town) he (Plu. Dem. 16) screamed progressively louder (Athens allies, 352-1).
LIX. End as of 12/4/95
LX. Brief Note as Regards the Final!
A. Our course final is scheduled for 12/22/95 (Friday after Next) in Meyerson Hall (West of Button, across from Fisher Fine Arts Library) B3. Nobody freak. Who can't take it then, due to my error on the Syllabus and Homepage?
B. Because the wrong date went uncorrected for so long, I personally will offer an exam at the time on the syllabus (4-6 P.M. on Monday 12/18) at a location that depends on how many will take it then.
C. By design, the Final will be simply a larger version of the Midterm, and in answer to the eternal question (cumulative?)...
1. The MAIN emphasis of this exam will be on material covered since the Midterm on 10/23rd through the assigned readings on Alexander. You can remember that when you're fretting over passaged and term identifications.
2. On the other hand, people who've forgotten everything we covered in the first half of this course are going to look much worse than people who haven't, particularly in regard to the choice of essay questions.
3. The very best information I can give you about what to expect is to keep your past strengths and weaknesses in mind when reviewing your midterms and the grades you got for them.
LXI. Back to Greeky Kid Stuff
1. When Philip laid siege to Olynthus in 349, you could hear Demosthenes scream in Aegina (The Olynthiacs, preserved). Olynthus falls in 348, Greece full of Greek slaves as Philip finances his war machine. That DID help make Demosthenes' point for him.
2. Too late! Athens negotiates the Peace of Philocrates with Philip in 346, the SAME YEAR Philip smashes through Thermopylae and puts paid to their allies in Phocis. Uh-oh.
A. People were beginning to realize the inevitable...
1. Isocrates, a teacher, pamphleteer and speech-writer, has decided that Philip could do what he'd urged Alexander (Yecch!) of Pherae to do: unite Greece, crush Persia, and become a god (Philippus, 346).
2. Demosthenes was firing off his Philippics as fast as he could write them, which were more or less accurate about Philip's intentions, if a little generous to Athens in discussing his motives...
B. Philip was cleaning out Thrace (on the ROUTE to Persia), although he did get his pug bloodied at Perinthus and Byzantium (Plu. Dem. 17, 340-39) with some Athenian and Persian support. Now ATHENS is selling out to Persia!
C. Demosthenes pulls off the biggest political triumph of his life: Athens and Thebes ally against Philip and it comes to a conclusion at Chaeronea, 338.
1. Athens sends hoplites, among whom Demosthenes with the word "Hope" written on his shield. Unfortunately for Greece, Demosthenes left his "Hope" on the battlefield...(Plu. Dem. 19)
2. Philip hit the Theban army with his phalanx and the Sacred Band died where they stood trying to stop it (Lion of Chaeronea, B3 P. 440) while Philip's cavalry took them in the flank.
3. 18 year old Alexander (what were YOU doing at 18?) let the Athenians chase him and the Hetairoi until Philip's infantry got behind them and he charged--2000 P.O.W.'s, 1,000 slain, Demosthenes himself contemplating a change of career as a sprinter(Plu. Dem. 20).
a) That's some kid, there. He conquered his first people, the Madi, and founded his first city, Alexandropolis, at the ripe old age of 16 (Plu. Alex. 9) while Philip was at Perinthus and Byzantium.
b) Philip had also given him the best education that sheer power could buy, namely, Aristotle's (Plu. Alex. 8)
(1) Aristotle was Plato's most formidable pupil and the fellow who had the idea of applying the "reasoned inquiry" of history to the other sciences.
(2) Philip rebuilt Stagira and Macedonian money would fund Aristotle's school in Athens, the Lyceum.
(3) Alexander's enthuiasm for science led him to take Aristotle's nephew Callisthenes and a team of scientists with him when he went a-conquering.
c) He had a way with horses, too--Bucephalus anecdote: will, courage, and analytical abilty combined--and Philip's noting that! (Plu. Alex. 6)
D. Athens gets ready for Armageddon, but Philip (despite Demosthenes--quote) is more interested in Persia than in trying to crack the Iron triangle and offers a generous peace:
1. The Corinthian League: Philip is Hegemon of the combined armed forces, with a dominant number of votes. Sparta stays out, gets slapped and ignored.
2. League votes to punish Persia for its acts of sacrilege (thanks to Phocis, that was on a lot of people's minds) during the Persian War
3. Philip has Parmenio and Amyntas in Persia by the end of 336 and is getting ready to head over himself when
E. Philip is assassinated at a grand festival in 336 by one Pausanias, a Lyncestian
1. Who HAD spent a lot of time talking with Alexander about what a rat Philip was and
2. How Philip was not going to leave anything for the Next Generation (tm) to do... (Plu. Alex. 10)
F. Alexander inherited Philip's army, Philip's ambition, and started out in a very big shadow (Plu. Alex. 11)
LXII. Alexander III, King of Macedon, 336-323. Why the War?
A. Payback to the Persians: It was possible.
1. As Cimon, Xenophon, and the Spartans had shown, the Greeks COULD outfight the Persians. What they needed to do was to find a way to fight the Persians without ending up fighting each other.
2. Philip gave them that--conquest and the League of Corinth, again, and the cause.
3. Alexander used the Iliad as his personal bible and played the Trojan War thing (As Agesilaius had) for all it was worth
4. Also, once again, the gods were on their side: Xerxes had burned the Athenian temples and angered the (Greek) gods
B. Alexander set out to conquer the world by covering his back (335).
1. Alexander's first campaign was in the north against the Illyrians and Triballoi. The way to deal with barbarian peoples is to destroy their wretched homes and means of support.
2. Alexander convened the League of Corinth and told them that he was sure they'd support him like they had his father: Surprise! The office of hegemon is hereditary!
a) Upon the completely inaccurate news that Alexander had died in Illyria, Demosthenes revives old coalition (Plu. Demo. 23; Alex. 11)
b) But Thebes was left to face Alexander alone and destroyed (Plu. Alex. 11)
3. What happened to Thebes set a horrible example of what happens when you make trouble. With Alexander, you always find a rational explanation for his actions.
C. King vs. King--Alexander vs. Darius III Codomannus
1. Note: Darius was an excellent leader, but a lousy general. Alexander was superlative at both. Consider the modern examples: Stalin/Zhukov, Hitler vs. Roosevelt/Marshall, Lincoln/Grant vs. Davis/Lee. Saddam Hussein vs. Bush/Powell/Schwarzkopf
2. Persian Empire wasn't what it had been
a) Artaxerxes Ochus had had a terrible time beating Egypt back into semi-submission (independent for the last time) from 404-343
b) b)Thanks to dear sweet Parasatis he ended up killing his son and setting off a horrible struggle for the throne.
c) Darius III was a distant relative put into power by the eunuch Bagoas, who had poisoned everybody who got into his way until Darius, meant to be a puppet, poisoned him first.
d) Satraps acting up
(1) Sevral independent-minded such had staged the "Satrap's Revolt" of 373-358, in which our friend Mausolus had played his part.
(2) Rather than listen to central command, many would make their own decisions, either to fight at the wrong place or surrender. That'd cost the Persians.
e) Darius III had absolutely no military experience and oh, God, would it show.
3. Persian assets:
a) VAST empire all loyal to the same man. Darius was effectively able to send huge armies into the field even after two of them had been entirely destroyed.
b) Like the Romans, excellent road system and communications (King's Eyes & Ears, again)
c) Incredible gold reservers from all those years of taxation and almost no major public spending which meant that
d) They had the best Greek soldiers money could buy:
(1) It was Greek mercenary troops who would in fact give Alexander his worst trouble in the West (Plu. Alex. 16)
(2) Mercenary commanders--such as Mentor, who had reconquered the Aegean Islands and coast, and Memnon, the most formidable single opponent Alexander ever fought. These men, I should note, were two brothers from Rhodes.
(3) They also tried the money bit--remember Demosthenes' activities, Plu. Demos. 20.
4. PHILIP, however, had set up counters
a) Physical occupation of Greece, which Alexander continued by leaving Antipater and the army. No more meddling behind the king's back.
b) League of Corinth's prohibition on any Greek serving with the Persian Army and authorization of a holy war (Plu. Alex. 14).
c) Foothold in Asia (Attalus and Parmenio since 336) so that the Persians couldn't turn it into a naval war at the Hellespont and the Bosphorus.
D. The War Itself, 336-330: Alexander's strategy for winning:
1. First, get into Persia
a) Alexander at Troy, propaganda (Plu. Al. 15), a statue-op and reinforcement for that "crusade" theme.
b) Battle of the Granicus, 334
(1) Memnon vs. the Persian Satraps: withdraw and devastate (scorched Earth policy) vs. Satraps' arrogance and desire to protect the tax base
(2) Big Mistake--cavalry battle on the Macedonians' terms
(3) Statues of 34 slain and dedication on the Athenian acropolis, "except the Spartans." (Plu. Alex. 16)
c) "Gordium," and Gordian knot--still more propaganda (Plu. Alex. 18)
2. Second, kill the Persian navy
a) Coastal strategy , but a question:
(1) Was Alexander really destroying the Persian navy's ports by conquering down the coast? The Persians could use the Aegean islands--their main fleet base outside of Halicarnassus was Samos.
(2) Or was he following Philip's policy of going for the vitals? When Alexander conquered Phoenicia, he ACQUIRED the Persian navy.
(3) Why was he so intent (otherwise) on taking Tyre? (333-2)
3. Always, kill the Persian army
a) Darius III ended up as Alexander's best general by mobilizing these huge armies for Alexander to destroy, e.g. Issus in 333.
(1) The Persian army was holding
(2) The Greek mercenaries had PENETRATED the phalanx. Alexander made a point of slaughtering them after the battle.
(3) When Darius fled, all was lost. The question here: Did the Persians have more to lose by Darius staying or running (each time).
b) Final big battle: Gaugamela, 10/1/331, some call it Arbela after a neighboring village),
(1) Set piece battle: Let Darius arrange things to suit him right down the line and accordingly commit all his availible resources to the battle
(2) Total (if at first chancey) rout, destruction of much of the Persian army, Alexander's subsequent effort to keep Darius on the run and unable to raise another.
LXIII. End as of 12/6/95