2.2.2 Video在线视频

2.2 Greece in the fourth century BC

1. In this century the Geek world changed from city-states to a Macedonian Empire. The most important events including: Spartan hegemony, the fall of Sparta, Theban hegemony and the Rise of Macedonia kingdom. From 404 BC to the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, nearly 80 years brutal wars never stopped in the Greek world. Not only had the armies of city-state fought in the war, professional Mercenary armies also joined. They fought for anyone who was able to pay. They could be troublemakers, if not paid they could fight the state which hired them.

2. Spartan hegemony

In ancient Greece hegemony means the political and military dominance of a city-state over other city-states. The dominant state is the hegemon. The Chinese translation made it a derogatory term, thus got negative meaning, similar to bully or tyrant. In English it has no negative meaning.

After conquered by Sparta in 404 BC, Athens changed from democracy to oligarchy, ruled by a group of pro-Spartan people, the Thirty Tyrants led by Critias, a former pupil of Socrates; Critias has been described as “the first Robespierre” because of his cruelty and inhumanity. The Thirty Tyrants killed 1,500 democratic leaders, exiled 5,000 and confiscated their property. They maintained power for eight months until the exiles recaptured the city and rebuilt the democracy. The Thirty Tyrants were executed or expelled.

After conquering Athens, Sparta became a hegemon, tried to build a new empire. But Spartan imperialism was extremely unpopular. We know Persian had helped Sparta to win the Peloponnesian War. To pay back Sparta returned the Greek Ionian cities in Asia Minor to Persians. This caused great shock and anger across the whole Greek world. A new alliance including Athens, Corinth, Argos and Thebes was formed to challenge Sparta.

3. Theban hegemony

Thebes was a city located northeast of Sparta. In 371BC, Sparta invaded Thebes but lost the war. Next year Thebes invaded the Peloponnesus, this area called Peloponnesus. First they took Messenia, the source of Spartan wealth. They conquered Sparta, destroyed its military power. Sparta never recovered. Thebes filled the power vacuum left by Sparta but Theban hegemony was short-lived. When the fighting between Greek city states made all of them exhausted, another power from north, Macedonia is just rising and ready to prey.

The rise of Macedon

Before the 4th century BC, Macedonia was a small kingdom located in the north-east of the Greek mainland. It was on the buffer zone between the barbarians to the north and the Greek mainland to the south. The Macedonians spoke a Greek dialect and identified themselves with Greek culture.

4. Philip II was a great king born in 382 BC. When he was 14 years old, Philip was held as a hostage in Thebes for 4 year, he received military and diplomatic education there. He took the throne became king of Macedon in 359 BC at the age of 23. After a series of successful military campaigns against northern barbarians, Philip turned south to conquer the Greek cities one by one. Before his death the majority of Greece city states were under Macedonian control. The Macedonian army was brutal. Before attacking Sparta, he sent Spartans a message: “You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city.”

5. The army of Macedonian Kingdom was one of the greatest military forces of the ancient world. It was created by King Philip II. By introducing military service as a full-time occupation, Philip was able to train his army regularly. In a short time he built a strong and effective army. He improved the traditional Greek phalanx by introducing the use of a much longer spear, and a smaller and lighter shield. This gave soldiers many advantages both in attack or defense. The Macedonian army included the heavy infantry phalanx, skirmish infantry, archers, light and heavy cavalry. In the battle they cooperated and supported each other. And like all the military powers of that time Macedonia also hired mercenary armies.

In 338 BC Philip defeated an alliance of some of the Greek city-states led by Athens and Thebes. After that he created The League of Corinth, a federation of Greek states. This made Philip II could deploy the entire Greek armies in his war against Persia. The first council of the League was held in Corinth that is why historians called it the League of Corinth. It was the first time most of the Greek states managed to unite into a single political entity. Philip was the leader called hegemon. Members of the League agreed never to wage war against each other and they would unite their army, under the leadership of Philip, to conquer the Persian Empire, to punish them for their invasion of the Greek world one and half century ago and its constant armed intervention in the wars between the Greek city states.

One day in October 336 BC, at Aegae, the ancient capital of Macedonia, Philip was assassinated by one of his bodyguards when he was entering into the city’s theatre to celebrate his daughter’s wedding. He was succeeded by his 20 year old son Alexander the Great, the great king who created one of the largest empires of the ancient world by the age of thirty.

6. Key words: Hegemony, the Thirty Tyrants, Theban hegemony, The League of Corinth, Philip II of Macedon