Within Greece, Thebes had become the controlling power, receiving tribute from Thessaly and Macedonia. The Greeks viewed the Macedonians as barbarians, not fellow Hellenes. Part of the tribute was in the form of noble hostages and Philip of Macedonia, as an important prince, was held by the Thebans as a hostage from 368 to 365 BC.

He was to become king of Macedonia from 359 to 336 BC as Phillip II. At Thebes Philip learnt a great deal about Theban military practices, which they had used in 371 BC to defeat the Spartans. In particular the Thebans had used a “phalanx” of spearmen that Philip further developed. His version was about 8 men deep each carrying a very long (up to 18ft) spear or pike. This permitted the front four rows to present their spears to the enemy simultaneously, making the phalanx like an almost impenetrable porcupine. When he was made king, Macedonia was in a weak position threatened from north and south. Philip negotiated treaties, arranged marriages and used his army to consolidate Macedonia into a world power. Furthermore, in 357 BC his capture of the Athenian Colony of Amphipolis in Thrace, and its nearby gold mines, gave him the means of financing his conquests.

Between 357 and 355 BC many Athenian colonies such as Byzantium and Rhodes revolted. The Persian leader threatened to help them so they were given their independence by Athens. After several conquests, in 340 BC Philip absorbed the European side of the Dardanelles (apart from Byzantium), provoking Thebes and Athens to join together against him, even asking the Persians to help. Although outnumbered, at the battle of Chaeronea, Boeotia, in 338 BC, Philip’s army was the victor and Philip appointed himself “Commander of the Greeks”. His son 18-year-old Alexander took part in the battle. In 337 BC Philip organised the Greek States (apart from Sparta that remained independent) into the League of Corinth or Hellenic League, with a separate alliance with Macedonia, which had the effect of allying all Greeks to his rule. It also set the scene for the war against Persia, starting the following year, although many Greeks were unhappy and some 50,000 were said to have joined the Persian army against Philip.

The relationship between Philip and Olympias, his wife (of seven) who was Alexander’s mother, was strained and he made other enemies. Although it is not certain who was the instigator, Philip was assassinated in 336 BC, and was succeeded by his son Alexander the Great. Philip had built up possibly the first professional, full-time, well-paid army that was the basis of his son’s subsequent successes.

Map of Alexandrian Empire 323 BC
- courtesy Thomas Lessman,
worldhistorymaps.info

In 333 BC Alexander invaded Asia Minor, putting to flight an army set up by the Anatolian based Persian Satraps, and putting in place his own Satraps. He was politically astute and gave the defeated cities the appearance of autonomy, but left a military commander to keep things in check. He then confronted the main Persian army and defeated it. He went on to defeat all opposition reaching Persepolis in 330 BC and the Indus Valley in 326 BC. He completely absorbed the Persian Empire and converted it into the vast Alexandrian Empire stretching as far as India. Initially the Greek Culture and language spread widely throughout his Empire, however, before long the importance of the Greek Heartland started to decline in its influence.