Macedonia, ancient kingdom centred on the
plain in the northeastern corner of the Greek
peninsula, at the head of the Gulf of
Thermaikos. In the 4th century BC it achieved
hegemony over Greece and conquered lands as
far east as the Indus River, establishing a
short-lived empire that introduced the
Hellenistic Age of ancient Greek
civilization.
The cultural links of prehistoric Macedonia
were mainly with Greece and Anatolia. A
people of unknown ethnic origins who called
themselves Macedonians are known from about
700 BC, when they pushed eastward from their
home on the Haliacmon (Aliakmon) River under
the leadership of King Perdiccas I and his
successors. By the 5th century BC the
Macedonians had adopted the Greek language
and had forged a unified kingdom. Athenian
control of the coastal regions forced
Macedonian rulers to concentrate on bringing
the uplands and plains of Macedonia under
their sway a task finally achieved by their
king Amyntas III (reigned c. 393-370/369).
Two of Amyntas' sons, Alexander II and
Perdiccas III, reigned only briefly. Amyntas'
third son, Philip II, assumed control in the
name of Perdiccas' infant heir; but having
restored order he made himself king (reigned
359-336) and raised Macedonia to a
predominant position in Greece.
Philip's son Alexander III (reigned 336-
323; see Alexander the Great) overthrew the
Achaemenian (Persian) Empire and expanded
Macedonia's dominion to the Nile and Indus
rivers. On Alexander's death at Babylon his
generals divided up the satrapies (provinces)
of his empire and used them as bases in a
struggle to acquire the whole. From 321 to
301 warfare was almost continual. Macedonia
itself remained the heart of the empire, and
its possession (along with the control of
Greece) was keenly contested. Antipater
(Alexander's regent in Europe) and his son
Cassander managed to retain control of
Macedonia and Greece until Cassander's death
(297), which threw Macedonia into civil war.
After a six-year rule (294-288) by Demetrius
I Poliorcetes, Macedonia again fell into a
state of internal confusion, intensified by
Galatian marauders from the north. In 277
Antigonus II Gonatas, the capable son of
Demetrius, repulsed the Galatians and was
hailed as king by the Macedonian army. Under
him the country achieved a stable monarchy
the Antigonid dynasty, which ruled Macedonia
from 277 to 168.
Under Philip V (reigned 221-179) and his son
Perseus (reigned 179-168), Macedonia clashed
with Rome and lost. (See Macedonian Wars.)
Under Roman control Macedonia at first (168-
146) formed four independent republics
without common bonds. In 146, however, it
became a Roman province with the four
sections as administrative units. Macedonia
remained the bulwark of Greece, and the
northern frontiers saw frequent campaigning
against neighbouring tribes. Toward AD 400 it
was divided into the provinces of Macedonia
and Macedonia secunda, within the diocese of
Moesia.
Alexander's empire became, after his death,
the scene of a long struggle among his
generals, most of whom, installed by
Alexander as satraps, aimed at breaking up
the empire and creating realms of their own.
For more than 40 years (323-280 BC) they
battled, with shiftings of territories and
power; and their conflicts laid the
foundations of a new type of monarchial ruler
and bureaucratic state and a new civilization
of multiple nations united culturally by the
Greek language. The three leading realms the
Macedonian (north of Greece), the Seleucid
(reaching from Palestine and Anatolia to
Persia), and the Ptolemaic (centred in Egypt)
thereafter maintained a balance of power. The
ensuing wars and foreign policy signified a
constant probing of that balance and were
concentrated mainly on the border areas of
Syria, Asia Minor, and the Aegean. Greece
itself in the 3rd century BC saw the rise of
two leagues, the Aetolian (which held
central and northern Greece) and the Achaean
(which held all the Peloponnese except Sparta
and Elis); they gradually extended their
power and rivalry and weakened the position
of Macedonia.
Culturally the period from about 280 to 160
BC was highly creative, producing the
historian Polybius, the mathematician Euclid,
the astronomers Aristarchus, Hipparchus, and
Seleucus, and the geographers Eratosthenes
and Poseidonius. It was the philosophic
period of the Epicureans and Stoics and the
artistic period that left to posterity such
now-famous sculptures as the "Venus de Milo,"
the "Victory of Samothrace," and the
"Laocoon." The Museum at Alexandria, with
its large library, became the meeting place
of scholars and writers. Callimachus, who
was the leading Greek poet of the 3rd century
BC, was responsible for the catalog of the
library. Other cities besides Alexandria also
had substantial libraries.
The decline of the Hellenistic states began
in the late 3rd century BC and accelerated
after 160 BC. It was the moment when "the
clouds from the West" began to threaten the
Hellenistic world and its balance of power.
Rome, by defeating the Illyrian pirates,
ruled the Adriatic Sea and became Macedonia's
neighbour. In a succession of Macedonian Wars
(214-205, 200-196, 171-168, 149-148 BC), Rome
defeated and finally conquered Macedonia and
Greece. By this time the Seleucid empire had
shrunk as a result of dismemberment and loss
of territories and allegiances; it was
practically confined to Mesopotamia and
Syria, with a weak hold on the seven "upper
provinces" in the east. A new power, Pontus,
on the southern coast of the Black Sea, was
flexing its muscles under Mithradates VI
Eupator. Rome stepped in, and, after three
Mithradatic Wars (88-85, 83-82, 74-63 BC),
the Seleucid empire ceased to exist. Syria
and Bithynia (with western Pontus) became
Roman provinces, and client-kings were
recognized in Armenia, Commagene, Cappadocia,
and elsewhere.
Egypt under the Ptolemys limped along,
gradually surrendering to Rome such
territories as Cyrene (96 BC). The final act
of the Hellenistic Age came when Egypt was
drawn into the civil war between Octavian
(the future Augustus) and Mark Antony. After
the deaths of Antony and Cleopatra, Egypt
became a province of the Roman Empire (30
BC).
Nothing shows the personality of Alexander
the Great more clearly than the way in which
people who had seemed pygmies at his side now
became leaders of the world he had left
behind. Blood still counted: the only male
relative, a mentally impaired, illegitimate
son of Philip, was proclaimed king as Philip
III Arrhidaeus (c. 358-317), together with
Rhoxane's son Alexander IV (323-310), born
after his father's death in August; both were
mere figureheads. For the moment Antipater
was confirmed in authority in Macedon and
Greece. At Babylon power was shared by two
senior officers, Perdiccas (c. 365-321) and
Craterus (c. 370-321). By common consent,
Alexander's ongoing plans were abandoned. His
generals had to be content with the office of
governor. Antigonus Monophthalmos ("The One-
eyed"; c. 382-301), like Antipater, was not
in Babylon at the time of Alexander's death
in 323. For almost 10 years he had been
governing Phrygia and had shown himself a
brave soldier and competent administrator.
His firmness and tact were popular with the
Greek cities. Of the generals in Babylon, it
was Ptolemy (c. 367/366-283) who calculated
from the first that the empire would not hold
together. He secured for himself the
governorship of Egypt, where he aspired to
set up an independent kingdom. Lysimachus (c.
360-281) was given the less attractive
assignment of governing Thrace. Two of the
others, noted for their physical and military
prowess, Leonnatus and Seleucus, waited on
events. The soldiers discounted Eumenes of
Cardia, who bore the main responsibility for
civil administration, but he knew more about
the empire than anyone else.
An uprising by Greek mercenaries who had
settled in Bactria but wanted to return to
Greece was crushed. Trouble in Greece, led by
the Athenians and aimed at liberating the
cities from Macedonian garrisons, was tougher
to control. Sparta refused to participate, as
did the islands, but a coalition of Athens
with Argos, Sicyon, Elis, and Messenia,
supported by Boeotians, Aetolians, and
Thessalians, was a formidable challenge to
Antipater's authority. For a time Antipater
was hard-pressed in Lamia (the war of 323-322
is known as the Lamian War). Leonnatus
intervened, nominally in support but in fact
ambitious to usurp Antipater's power; he was
killed in action, however. In the end
Antipater won, Athens capitulated, and
Demosthenes (the voice and symbol of anti-
Macedonian feeling) committed suicide.
Antipater reestablished Macedonian authority
autocratically, with no nonsense about a
"free" League of Corinth.
The story of the jockeying for power during
the next two decades or so is inordinately
complex. First Perdiccas, governing in the
name of the two kings with the support of
Eumenes, was charged with personal ambition
and was assassinated. The armies made
Antipater regent (Craterus had been killed in
battle), and Antigonus, with Antipater's son
Cassander (c. 358-297) as second-in-command,
was placed in charge of the armies in Asia.
Ptolemy was secure in Egypt; Seleucus (c. 358-
281), governor of Babylon, and Lysimachus in
Thrace continued to watch and wait; and
Eumenes, a non-Macedonian with a fortune
behind him, could claim to represent the
kings against the ambitions of generals and
governors.
Then, in 319, Antipater died and was
succeeded by a senior commander but maladroit
politician named Polyperchon, who tried to
win the Greeks of the mainland by a new
proclamation of their liberties. The result
was that the Athenians used their freedom to
execute the pro-Macedonians, including the
worthy but compromising Phocion. War flared
up. Eumenes, allied with Polyperchon,
challenged Antigonus and secured Babylon, but
he was betrayed and killed in 316. Seleucus
escaped to Egypt. Polyperchon's position was
weak, and he was soon ousted by the able, up-
and-coming Cassander. In becoming master of
Macedon and most of Greece, Cassander rebuilt
Thebes and put the Aristotelian Demetrius of
Phalerum in charge of Athens. Olympias,
Alexander the Great's terrible mother, had
eliminated Philip III. Cassander had her put
to death, while keeping Rhoxane and Alexander
IV under his protection or guard.
Antigonus was now the dominant figure of the
old brigade. Cassander, Ptolemy, and
Lysimachus formed a coalition against him.
For four years (315-311) they fought
indecisively. Antigonus showed himself
energetic, resourceful, and imaginative, but
he could not strike a decisive blow. The only
major change came in the brilliant coup by
which Seleucus succeeded in recovering
Babylon. In 311 the four leaders agreed to
divide the world, leaving Ptolemy with Egypt
and Cyprus, Antigonus with Asia, Lysimachus
with Thrace, and Cassander with Macedonia and
Greece, but only until Alexander IV came of
age in 305. Seleucus was left out.
Royal blood, however, was quickly forgotten
in the pursuit of power. Cassander murdered
Rhoxane and young Alexander in 310, soon
after Antigonus had vainly tried to crush
Seleucus. Seleucus, however, held on to a
damaged Babylon and the eastern provinces,
except for India, which he had to yield to
the Indian king Chandragupta. Antigonus now
had the effective support of his brilliant
son Demetrius (336-283), known as
Poliorcetes, or Besieger, who ousted the
other Demetrius and restored the democracy
and eventually the League of Corinth; he was
hymned with divine honours and given the
Parthenon as his palace. Demetrius, also in
306, crushed Ptolemy in a naval battle and
secured Cyprus and the Aegean, though he
failed in a famous siege of Rhodes (305-304).
Antigonus and Demetrius now proclaimed
themselves joint kings in succession to
Alexander. Antigonus, however, failed to
conquer Egypt, and the other rulers also took
the title of king. Cassander, Lysimachus,
Seleucus, and Ptolemy formed an alliance
against Antigonus and Demetrius, and at Ipsus
in 301 the allies, with the help of a force
of elephants brought from India by Seleucus,
defeated and killed Antigonus. Demetrius
escaped, retaining Tyre and Sidon and command
of the sea. Lysimachus took large portions of
Anatolia; Seleucus assumed control over
Mesopotamia and Syria, except for a part in
the south occupied de facto by Ptolemy; and
Cassander was content with Macedonia and
parts of Greece.
Cassander, who was a statesman, had founded
two great cities, Cassandreia and
Thessalonica, as well as rebuilding Thebes.
His death in 297 was a prelude to more
disturbances. Demetrius conquered most of
Greece and secured Macedonia in 294, but he
was ousted in 288 by Lysimachus in alliance
with King Pyrrhus of Epirus (319-272).
Demetrius now concentrated all his forces on
winning Asia and all but succeeded. He fell
ill, however, and surrendered to Seleucus,
who gave him every opportunity to drink
himself to death. The stage was set for a
confrontation between Lysimachus and
Seleucus.
Ptolemy gained command of the sea by
Demetrius' fall. He died in his bed, the only
one of Alexander's successors to do so, and
was succeeded peacefully by his son Ptolemy
II Philadelphus (308-246). However, a son by
his first wife, Ptolemy Ceraunus, the
Thunderbolt (grandson of Antipater), was
stirring the waters round Lysimachus, and the
latter soon lost support. Seleucus defeated
and killed Lysimachus, and Alexander's
empire, except for Egypt, seemed to be his
for the asking. Lysimachus' army, however,
supported Ceraunus, who assassinated Seleucus
in 281. Seleucus' son by a Sogdian noblewoman
succeeded him as Antiochus I (324-261). In
Greece proper the strongest powers were
Antigonus Gonatas (c. 320-239), son of the
brilliant Demetrius and himself a man of high
character, ability, and culture, and Pyrrhus,
king of Epirus. Pyrrhus was about to embark
on his ill-starred expedition to Italy, where
he soundly defeated the growing power of Rome
but at an enormous cost to himself.
At this point, migrating Celts under the
command of Bolgius and Brennus caused an
added complication, not least by the defeat
and death of Ceraunus. Brennus pushed down
into Greece but was repulsed by the
Aetolians. The dangers posed by the invading
Celts led, in 279, to a treaty between
Antigonus and Antiochus, who agreed not to
interfere in one another's spheres of
influence. Each won a decisive victory over
the Celtic invaders, who eventually settled
in Serbia, Thrace, and Galatia in central
Anatolia. Antigonus was able to secure
Macedonia. Lysimachus' kingdom was never
revived. The three centres of power were
Macedonia, Syria, and Egypt.
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