Alexander's Empire
...established by Perdiccas I about 640 B.C. Perdiccas was a Dorian, although
the Macedonian tribes included Thracian and Illyrian elements. Originally a
semibarbarous and fragmented power, Macedon became tributary to Persia under the
Persian kings Darius I and Xerxes I and thereafter struggled to maintain itself
against Thracians and other barbarians and against the Greek cities of the
Chalcidice as well as Sparta and Athens.
A new stage began with Archelaus (d.399 B.C.), who centralized the kingdom
with a system of roads and forts; he also fostered the Hellenization of his
people by inviting famous Greek artists, Euripides among them, to his court.
Few regions gave much thought to Macedonia. The area was so primitive that
it seemed to belong to another age- it was a rude, brawling, heavy-drinking
country of dour peasants and landowning warriors. The language was Greek, but so
tainted by barbarian strains that Athenians could not understand it. Macedonia
remained an outland. Growth of trade in the early fourth century promoted the
rise of several cities, yet when Perdiccas III, king of Macedonia, fell in 359
B.C. while fighting the Illyrians the seaboard of his state was largely under
Athenian control or in the hands of the Chalcidian league, grouped about
Olynthus.
Philip (382-36), brother of the dead king, was made regent for the infant
heir, soon set aside his nephew, and became outright king.
Once power was his, the young monarch swiftly brought order to his domain
by armed force when necessary, by diplomatic guile whenever he could, Philip set
out to make Macedon the greatest power in the Greek world.
Alexander was born in 356 to the first wife of Philip. As a teenager
Alexander was educated by Athenian philosopher Aristotle. By the year 337 all of
the Greek city-states had been conquered or forced into an alliance by Philip.
He was...
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