Lecture 8: The Hellenic League, founded in the year after the Battle of Chaeronea, represented Philip’s solution to running the Greek world. It really is an ingenious arrangement - and one of the reasons why Philip should get high remarks in his own rank.
In 337 B.C., Philip II preside over a Panhellenic conference at Corinth attended by plenipotentiary representatives from the city-states of Greece except Sparta. There, Philip announced a general peace (koine eirene) and alliance of the Greeks in a war of national vengeance to punish the Persians for the destruction of the temples of Athens in 480 B.C.
In its provisions, the alliance Philip outwardly respected the freedom and autonomy of the member states. While the Thessalian cities were enrolled in the league, the Macedonians were not, for they were not Hellenes. In avowed aims, Philip embraced the language of the Panhellenists. War was declared to liberate the Greek cities of Asia Minor and Cyprus. Foremost, Philip was only the supreme general of the league of free Greek cities. A federal council, or synedrion, administered the fi nances and relations among the member states. Yet, Philip fashioned the league to avoid the odium of ruling the Greek cities as a foreign conqueror. In many cities, Philip backed conservative rule by the propertied classes headed by pro Macedonian leaders. Macedonian garrisons held strategic points at Ambracia, Lamia, Thermopylae, Chalcis, and the Acrocorinth. The Athenians retained their ancestral democracy, but they were compelled to dissolve their naval alliance and to put their fleet at the disposal of Philip.
In 336 B.C., Parmenio, Philip’s leading general, and 10,000 men secured the crossings at the Hellepont in preparation for an invasion of Asia Minor. Philip, however, never crossed to Asia. He was struck down by an assassin’s dagger in October 336 B.C., a victim of the lurid dynastic intrigues at the Macedonian court. The Greeks rejoiced at the death of the barbarian tyrant, but they failed to appreciate that Philip had left not only a powerful Macedonian state, but a son and heir, Alexander, the greatest military genius of all
time.
Suggested Reading:
Borza, In the Shadow of Olympus.
Cawkwell, Philip of Macedon.
Ellis, Philip II and Macedonian Imperialism.
Hammond and Griffi th, A History of Macedonia.
Larsen, Representative Government in Greek and Roman History.
Worthington, Philip II of Macedonia.
Lecture 9: https://www.bitchute.com/video/D9YWHTYMQqic/
