Monday, 4/13: The Rise of Macedonia

After Mantinea

• Death of Agesilaos 361?
• General impoverishment of Sparta
• Athens again the most important state in the Greek world
  • but two other regions growing in power:
    • Caria, in Asia Minor, a land and sea power that may well have been seen at the time as the most formidible threat, but which within a few decades will have sunk back into obscurity
    • Macedonia, a land power, which at the time probably didn't seem to be a major threat to the Greeks

   

• Sources for the period between Mantinea and Alexander

   

• Athens after Mantinea:
  • 357: recovery of Chersonese after several years of setbacks and conflicts with local Thracians
  • Same year, recovery of Euboia
    • put Athens in a position to consider an attempt to retake the long-lost Amphipolis

Macedonia enters the picture:

• Background
  • Monarchy
  • Greek, but sufficiently different from the rest of Greece in dialect and customs to be viewed by many Greeks as at least semi-barbarian
    • represented as rough, militaristic, uncultured
  • extended over time from the northern and northwestern coasts of the Thermaic gulf to encompass the hilly territory up to the Illyria on the west and Paeonia on the north
    • people of the conquered territories were Illyrian, and presented a long-term hindrance to stability in Macedonia
• 359: King Perdiccas killed in an Illyrian attack
  • son Amyntas a minor
  • Amyntas' uncle, Philip, holds regency
    • Philip had been a hostage at Thebes for a few years in the mid-360's
    • had a chance to learn from the most militarily dynamic state in the Greek world at the time
• Philip has immediate problems to deal with:
  • Paeonians: bought off with a large bribe
  • Pretenders to the throne defeated
    • one was supported by Thrace -- bribed
    • other supported, with a fleet, by Athens
      • Philip tries to come to terms with Athens
        • released prisoners he had taken from the fleet that had assisted the pretender
        • renounced claims to Amphipolis
• Spends winter remodelling and training the army
  • by spring, had 10,000 infantry and 600 horse, well-trained
  • 358: defeated Paeonians, then Illyrians, in very decisive battles
  • more or less eliminated the age-old impediment to the stability and growth of Macedonian power
• Begins moving eastward into Thrace, to acquire gold
  • gold mines on the Macedonian frontier at Mt. Pangaios
    • but to control it, needs to control the Strymon crossing and Amphipolis
      • 357: Advanced to Amphipolis, Athenians busy with Euboia and Chersonese, can't send help, city falls to Philip
        • Philip releases Athenians captured in the taking of the town to try not to offend Athens too much at this point
      • Established fortress at Crendies, renamed Phillipi
  • Now, with two strong positions to secure Pangaios, his immense revenue of gold is secure, and Macedonia quickly has more wealth than any other Greek state
    • capital moved from Aigai to Pella
• c. 356: Took Pydna, an Athenian ally
  • also captured Potidaia, handed it over to Olynthus, with whom he entered into alliance
    • Athens now has only Methone as a foothold in the Thermaic Gulf
• In the years that follow, Philip established himself as king, and began creating a national army, remaking Macedonia in the process
  • made the hill-people into professional soldiers, always under military service:
    • contagiousness of the military spirit started to unite the disparte ethnic groups into a greater Macedonia
    • Infantry and cavalry organized in territorial regiments, but such distinctions gradually diminished
    • 'Companions': special heavy infantry and cavalry, originally probably made up from aristocratic families
    • hypaspists: special corps
    • Macedonian phalanx:
      
      • looser than the traditional hoplite phalanx; soldiers armed with longer spears (16-18 feet) and smaller shield
      • line more easily manipulated than dense hoplite phalanx; depended less on mass than on skillful use of spears
      • idea of using the phalanx not as the decisive component, but to keep the enemy busy while the cavalry, in wedge formation, attacked the flanks

Meanwhile, in the Aegean and Central-Southern Greece:

• 357-354: The 'Social War':
  • Mausolus, tyrant of Caria, has been bringing a wider territory under his influence; wants to move into the islands, begins building harbours and a fleet at Halicarnassus
  • Discontent brewing in the Athenian sea alliance:
    • Athens had started establishing cleruchies again, first at Potidaia, then at Samos and in the Chersonesos
  • 357: Mausolus incites Rhodes, Cos, and Chios to revolt, soon followed by Byzantium
    • Athenian fleet under Chares and Chabrias sent to Chios, eventually abandoned blockade after the death of Chabrias
    • 356: Chian fleet of 100 blockades Athenian fleet of 60 on Samos
      • relief force of 60 ships under Iphicrates and Timotheus sent
      • broke fleet free at Samos
      • moved to Byzantium, but failed to take it
      • moved back to Chios
        • dissent among the Athenian commanders led to a half-hearted attack and loss
        • Chares brought up Iphicartes and Timotheus on charges, Timotheus condemned
    • 355: Chares, as sole commander, continued campaigning
      • acquired revenue to pay troops from Artabazus, who had repelled against Persia, by helping him win an important victory
        • victory led some Greeks to propose putting together a pan-Hellenic expedition to attack Persia
        • but sounder heads prevailed
        • Athens itself certainly doesn't have the resources for any kind of major wars
    • 354: Athens negotiated a peace with her revolted allies:
      • recognized independence of Chios, Cos, Rhodes, Byzantium
      • Lesbos and Corcyra soon also seceeded
      • Athens' second sea leage (and resurgent empire?) stripped of its most important members

Wednesday, 4/15: Athens, Philip, and the Battle of Chaironeia

• 356-346: The 'Sacred War'
  • 356: Phocis siezed Delphi after a conflict with Thebes
    • fortified sanctuary, garrisoned it with 5000 troops
      • Delphic priestess refused to perform
      • Phocians used sacred treasury to pay their mercenaries, assemble army of 10,000 men
  • Leads to a 'holy war' on the part of Thebes
    • Thebes convenes the Amphictionic council at Thermopylae, decided to liberate Delphi from Phocis
  • Beginning of indcisive campaigns, culminating in a severe defeat for the Phocians at Neon on the north of Mt. Parnassos
  • But Phocians were able to reorganize and get reenforcements at Delphi
    • began turning bronze and iron temple dedications into weapons
  • Phocians manage to expand a bit westward and eastward
  • bribed Pherai in to alliance
    • brought about a division in Thessaly: Thessalian league had been cooperating with Thebes against Phocis, now hampered by Pherai
    • Thessalian league appealed to Philip of Macedon for help
  • By 353, Philip had secured all of the Thermaic gulf with the capture of Athenian Methone
    • 352: agreed to act as general for Thessalian league
      • good place to start a southward push
      • Philip initially successful against a Phocian army sent to support Pherai
      • But then the Phocians move their full force, now some 20,000 men, into Thessaly
        • «after two serious losses, Philip is forced back into Macedonia, and Thessaly is put under the control of Pherai
  • By this time, Phocians control region from Corithian gulf to the slopes of Mt. Olympus
    • control Thermopylae
    • won Orchomenos and Coroneia in western Boiotia
  • Soon after, the Athenians support a Phocian attempt to capture Pagasai, which Philip had managed to garrison in the previous campaign
    • Major victory for Philip:
      • infantry numbers were evenly matched
      • but Philip used his cavalry to his great advantage
        • more than a third of the Phocian army was killed or captured
        • Philip now in control of Thessaly
  • Phocis now in a desperate position, but none of the other central and southern Greek states want to see Philip move farther south
    • Athens sends large force to help Phocis defend Thermopylae, as do Sparta and Achaia
    • Philip decides to bide his time, and doesn't make an attempt at this point to move south.

Macedonia's Growth Eastwards:

• around this time, Macedonia has also begun building a fleet
  • Macedonian ships active in north Aegean
    • disrupt Athenian grain supply
    • attacked Athenians possesions of Lemnos, Imbros, Euboia
• Athens' main concern is the Hellespont and Propontis
• Philip, too, turns his attention eastward:
  • 352: soon after Thessalian campaign, Philip is moving into Thrace
    • made rapid advances as far as the Propontis, but an illness forces him to withdraw and the Chersonese is, for the moment, safe
    • Demosthenes' First Philipic: exhortation for the Athenians to vigorously oppose Philip
      • but Athens at this point recognizes that vigorous opposition is impossible, and the prevailing attitude is that Athens should focus on protecting itself and its commercial interests, and not involve itself in an unwinnable campaign.
  • around this time, Olynthus, the head of the Chalcidian league, which had been maintaining friendly relations with Philip, moves to make peace with Athens and recognized Athenian rights to Amphipolis
    • a few years later (349) Philip moved into the Chalcidice and all the cities were either won over or captured quickly, with the exception of Olynthus itself
    • Olynthus seeks a defensive alliance with Athens
      • Demosthenes' Olynthiacs
        • Athens votes for alliance and sends citizen soldiers and mercenaries to Chalcidice
        • More forces expected, and Philip divides Athenian attention by stirring up revolt on Euboia
          • Athenian expedition to Euboia in 348 unable to retake the island, and Athens, in return for prisoners, acknowledged the independence of the island
          • Athens sends 2000 troops to Olynthus, but they're too late, and Philip destroyed the city, dispersing the population

The Peace of Philocrates:

• In the wake of Euboia and Olynthus, Athens is exhausted financially
  • ambassadors sent aroudn the Peloponnese to arouse resistance to Philip, but there's no serious chance of an alliance forming
• Philip invited by Thebans and Thessalians to undertake the generalship of the Amphictionic League against the Phocians
  • no one wants Philip to do this and end up with Thermopylae and Phocis
• Late 347: Athens sends embassy to Pella to negotiate a peace with Philip (Peace of Philocrates)
  • March 346: peace sworn by Athens
    • Athens and Macedonia would retain their possesions at the time
      • Amphipolis would be Macedonia's
      • Chersonesos would be Athens'
    • Athenian and Macedonian allies were included in the peace
      • except for Phocis, which Philip was still intent on crushing
  • April 346: Athenian envoys return to Macedonia for Macedonia to swear to the peace
    • further discussions for mercy on Phocis and cooperation against Thebes
    • but some of the ambassadors were against this policy, felt that Athens might ultimately want to cooperate with Thebes
    • end result is that the treaty was sworn, but no further moves toward active cooperation between Athens and Macedonia were undertaken at this point
  • When the embassy returned to Athens in June, however, the Assembly votes that Athens should extend its cooperation with Philip, despite vigorous opposition of Demosthenes and his followers
    • called upon Phocis to surrender, threatening military action otherwise
  • Shortly afterward, Philip takes Thermopylae
    • defended by Phoicans with some Spartan and, initially, Athenian support, but with the change in Athenian policy the Phocians fall back from Thermopylae
    • Philip now in a position to dictate to the Phocians:
      • breaks up all their cities into small villages, to reduce their potential threat
      • Macedonia takes Phocis' seat on the Amphictionic Council of Delphi
      • Returned western Boiotian towns that had been taken by the Phocians to Boiotian league

Tensions between Athens and Philip

• Athenian attitudes toward Macedonia
  • Despite the peace of Philocrates, there was considerable anti-Macedonian sentiment at Athens, thanks primarily to the influence of Demosthenes
    • Demosthenes advocated cooperation with Thebes and offense against Macedonia once they had sufficient resources
  • The more moderate Eubulus, who had been an important Athenian statesman for some time now, advocated cooperation with Macedonia, as a means to protect Athenian self-interest
  • Proposal of Isocrates, a political pamphleteer, but not really a politician
    • The plurality of sovereign states in Greece had historically led to nearly incessant conflict
    • the time had come for a united Greece under a common leader, and Philip was clearly a good candidate
    • a united Greece could invade and conquer Persia, or at least Asia Minor
      • thus vanquishing an old enemy
      • and at the same time providing new land to colonize and ease the burden of unsettled people, many of the mercenaries, who by their presence in Greece
  • In the wake of the peace of Philocrates, Demosthenes' views seem to more or less prevail, though there is constant struggle between the 'war party' and the 'peace party'
• Philip's activities after 346
  • consolidation of power over Macedonia
  • alliances in the Peloponnese with enemies of Sparta, including Messenia, Megalopolis, Elis, and Argos
• By 343, Demosthenes and his war party are firmly in the ascendancy
  • political attacks on his rivals partly successful
  • frivolous diplomatic wranglings with Philip over specific terms of the peace, with the effect of keeping the friction between Athens and Macedonia strong
  • Alliances with Megara and Chalcis on Euboia (though other Euboian cities side with Philip)
  • As Philip gains control of Epirus -- thus making his way to the Corinthian Gulf -- alarmed states such as Ambracia, Acarnania, Achaia, and Corcyra into alliance with Athens
• 342-341: Philip in Thrace
  • details unclear, but local Thracian princes are dethroned, and Thrace becomes a tributary of Macedonia
  • Now Macedonia's frontier had advanced securely up to the Chersonesos
• 341: Athens breaks terms of Peace by sending small force of ships and mercenaries to Cardia and Thrace, allies and possesions of Philip
  • expedition undertaken at the influence of Demosthenes, in the hope of fanning the flames
  • Demosthenes himself travels to Propontis, detaches Byzantium and Perinthos from Macedonian alliance
  • Athenian troops invaded Euboia, set up an independent Euboian league led by Chalcis
• Peace fraying, Philip unwilling to lose possesions on Propontis
  • 340: besieges Perinthos
    • real siege -- rams, machines, mines, towers, etc.
    • but unsuccessful
    • suddenly broke off and descended on Byzantium, hoping to take it unprepared
      • Athens can't afford not to get directly involved:
        • tore down the inscribed copy of the Peace
        • sent fleet under Chares, and a second under Phocion
          • Rhodes and Chios also sent help
        • Philip withdrew into Thrace
          • 340-339 dealt with rebellious Scythians

The Battle of Chaironeia

• By now it's clear that there will be no enduring peace, much less cooperation, between Athens and Macedonia.
• Philip has to consider war against Athens:
  • two vulnerable points:
    • Athens itself
    • The entrance to the Black Sea and the grain supply
      • but Macedonia's navy is small at this point, no chance against Athens, much less the Aegean islands and cities of Asia Minor who wouldn't want Philip to have a bridge into Asia
• Demosthenes anxious to secure cooperation of Thebes, but Thebes had recently benefitted from Philip's settlement of the Sacred War and was an ally of Macedonia
  • if Thebes remained allied to Macedonia, Philip would have unimpeded access through central Greece into Attica
  • if Thebes switched to ally with Athens, their combined forces might have a chance of opposing a Macedonian invasion
• Opportunity for cooperation presents itself in another 'Sacred War'
  • This time, the Amphictionic council declared war on Amphissa for having illegally cultivated land that belonged to the gods
  • in early 338, Philip moved in at their invitation to command the forces in this war
    • Moved through Thermopylae and fortified Elatea to protect his rear against possible hostility from Thebes
    • Tested Thebes' intentions by sending an embassy proclaiming his intention to march on Attica, asking for their cooperation
    • Athenians heard about this, paniced -- apparently no one expected Philip to move south this soon
      • sent an embassy, including Demosthenes, to Thebes
  • At Thebes, the Athenian and Macedonian ambassadors debated before the Theban assembly
    • Thebes, though not particularly friendly toward Athens, realized that Philip's conquest of Athens would leave Thebes all alone
    • Formed alliance with Athens:
      • Athens agreed to pay 2/3 of the costs of the war
      • abandoned claim to Oropus on the Attic-Boiotian frontier
• Athenians and Thebans occupied passes from Phocis into Boiotia, and sent a force under Chares to block the route from Amphissa to the gulf of Corinth
• Philip managed to swiftly drive through Phocis, capture Amphissa, and defeat Chares
  • moved on to seize Naupaktos, giving him full access to the Gulf of Corinth
• Athenians and Thebans, now threatened in the rear, moved back to the pass at Chaironeia
  • relatively narrow e-w pass (c. 2 km straight across), flanked by the Kephissos river on the north and the high ground and acropolis of the city of Chaironeia on Mt. Petrachos to the south
• Armies confronted each other August 2, 338
  
  • Reconstruction of the battle (as usual) somewhat problematic:
    • Relative forces:
      • Greeks 30,000 hoplites, 5,000 light-armed troops & 2,000 cavalry?
      • Macedonians 24,000 pike-men, 6,000 light-armed infantry & 2,000 cavalry?
    • battle lines (probably not straight across the pass)
      • Greek:
        • Thebans, with Sacred Band, on right, with its flank on the Kephissos
        • Athenians on left, with foothils of Mt. Petrachos, small stream, and light-armed troops on its flank
        • Other allies in the center (Achaians, Corinthians, Phocians)
        • No place on the line for Greek cavalry
      • Macedonian
        • Philip on right, opposite Athenians (with light-armed troops on his flank?)
        • Alexander on left, opposite Thebans, with heavy cavalry on its flank
      • Greeks presumably made their line longer than necessary to force the Macedonian phalanx to extend and weaken
        • if Greek phalanx prevailed, it could pivot on the fixed right wing and force the Macedonians toward the Kephissos
        • if Greek phalanx were broken, at least the left and center could escape down the Kerata pass to the southeast, down which cavalry couldn't pursue
    • Course of the battle:
      • Philip had his left wing gradually retreat (while still fighting!) in front of the Athenians
        • plan appears to be to draw the Athenians forward, drawing the allied center with it
        • This created a breach in the Greek line, since the Thebans couldn't move left without exposing their right flank to Alexander's cavalry
      • Alexander took advantage of the gap created to move in with the Companion cavlary
        • sent some squadrons right to attack allied center
        • Led the royal squadron against the Theban right and the Sacred Band
      • Meanwhile, Philip reversed his retreat when the Athenian left had loosened their formation in pursuit, inflicted heavy casualties
      • Heavy Greek losses:
        • 1,000 Athenians killed, 2,000 captured
        • Entire Sacred Band killed (lion monument)
          

Consequences of Chaironeia

• Macedonia clearly the supreme power in Greece, as Sparta and Thebes had become after Aegospotami and Leuctra
  • Harsh treatment of Thebes:
    • killed or exiled anti-Macedonians in Thebes
    • Garrisoned the Kadmea
    • Broke up the Boiotian league
  • Lenient treatment of Athens
    • still could put up a defense at its walls, Philip not anxious for a seige
    • Leniency and the 2,000 captives made Athens anxious for peace:
      • Philip would retore prisoners and not march on Attica
      • Athens would dissolve the remains of their naval confederacy and join Philip's new Hellenic League, and surrender Chersonesos to Macedonia
  • Marched into Peloponnese
    • met no resistance
      • Sparta refused to submit, but couldn't make any stand
        • Philip ravaged Laconia, broke up her frontier territories and handed them over to Argos, Tegea, Megalopolis, and Messenia
  • Established an annual Federal Congress at Corinth
    • announced at its second meeting, in 337, the aim which everyone knew was on his mind, the conquest of Persia
      • same pretexts as always:
        • liberation of the Greek cities of Asia
        • punishment for desecration of temples during Xerxes' invasion
    • Federal congress voted for war and elected Philip supreme commander (surprise!) and contributions from the various cities were determined.
• 336: First advance force moves across the Hellespont, to be followed soon by the main army under Philip
  • but in the summer, Philip was assasinated, leaving the kingdom and the expedition in the hands of his 20 year old son Alexander
    

Friday, 4/17: Fortifications

Warfare as it's been developing in the fourth century:

• New trends
  • Mercenaries
    • professionalism
  • non-hoplite troops
    • peltasts
    • cavalry
  • Economic warfare:
    • use of mercenaries allows for longer campaigns
      • Epaminondas in Peloponnese for 4-5 months, compared to 15-40 day invasions of Attica during Peloponnesian war
    • focus on choking off resources (already being done in Peloponnesian war)
      • Epaminondas' policy of boxing in Sparta, stripping it of its territory
      • Exploitation of grain supply by Athens' enemies as leverage
      • Peltasts better than hoplites for efficient ravaging of agricultural land
        • can split off in small groups, cover wider area without being completely vulnerable
  • less focus on great pitched hoplite battles
    • more emphasis on the hit-and-run tactics of light-armed troops

Fortifications

• Been around forever
  • recall the great Cyclopean walls of the Bronze Age Mycenean cities
  • But in historical Greece, through the fifth century, fortification seems to be fairly undeveloped
    • primary type of infantry is hoplite, and hoplites by their nature aren't all that good at storming cities
      • all a Greek city would need is a reasonable set of walls that could be guarded -- keep the enemy from just walking in
      • nothing much in the was of siegecraft -- no artillery, nothing much more than ladders
        • siege of Platea exceptional, and it's not all that effective
        • 'flamethrower' at Delium
    • 'Sieges' before the fifth century are generally not attempts to take the city by force, but rather to blockade and starve the city into submission, or hope for betrayal from within.
• Changes in early fourth century:
  • Greeks becoming more familiar with Eastern arts of fortification and siegecraft
    • Xenophon and his 10,000, other Greeks in Persia?
    • Syracusan struggle with Carthage 406-367
      • Odd path of transmission: From Assyria to Syria and Phonecia to Carthage to Sicily to mainland Greece
  • Development of artillery changes things
    • non-torsion catapult (gastraphetes - 'belly bows') developed in 399, in the workshops of Dionysios, tyrant of Syracuse
      
      • held against the stomach, bow pulled back with two hands
      • much greater range and accuracy than composite bow
    • eventually, put on bases and equipped with winches
      • much greater firepower, able to hurl stones
      • catapult - 'shield piercer': by 350 or so, could hurl stones c. 300 meters with enough force to drive through a shield
    • Torsion catapult probably developed in Macedonia around the 340's
      • used torsion springs made of sinew or hair (horse or human)
      • largest catapults could ultimately hurl stones of 50 pounds for 300 meters or so.
        
  • Development of siege engines
    • also by Dionysios of Syracuse, in 397
      • used wheeled towers six storeys high equipped with catapults
      • battering rams
        
• 'Offensive-defensive inventive cycle'
  • need for bigger, stronger walls to resist attack, not just keep out soldiers
  • use of artillery for defense as well as offense
    • Philip's siege of Perinthos in 340
      • used catapults, towers, rams
      • but Perinthus used catapults mounted on their walls to harrass the besiegers, and this was one factor in Philip's abandonment of the siege
• Developments at Athens
  • in the wake of the repeated destruction of the Attic countryside during the Peloponnesian war, in the fourth century Athens appears to be more concerned with developing its border defense system
  • Already a number of fortified positions on the border: Eleusis, Phyle, Oinoe, Panakton, etc.
    
    • these are kept strong, others built, and a system of watchtowers that kept the various forts in visual contact with each other and the city is developed
    • not much literary evidence for the use of this system, but it would have enabled Athens to use small garrisons of light-armed troops to forsee incursions into their territory and delay them, while signals for reenforcements could be sent.
      • waterclock message system
• The walls themselves
  • surviving walls are very difficult to date accurately
    • masonry styles
      • polygonal
        
      • ashlar
        • quarry face easier to cut, also provides less surface area for rams and artillery
          
        • drafted corners
          
      • use of mud brick
        • often walls were only constructed of stone up to a certain point, then completed with layers of sun-baked mud brick
          
          • mud brick quite strong, and unlike stone won't shatter on impact
          • had to be protected from moisture, however, so this kind of wall needs to be roofed
            
        • other construction techniques included a double facing of stone, with the gap filled by mud brick or earth and rubble fill, sometimes with transverse blocks for stability
          
      • curtain walls would need to extend to surrounding heights, even if they weren't part of the occupied city, to prevent a besieger from gaining the high ground.
        
    • foundations would be built on bedrock if possible, or else sunk as deeply as possible
      • otherwise could be undermined, even by natural erosion
        
    • use of towers
      • placed periodically along curtain walls for reenforcement and defense
        • enable the attackers to be flanked
          
      • square ones easier to build, but round ones offer better views and less bulnerable to impact
        
      • higher towers meant greater artillery range and the ability to ward off attackers before they got close enough to use their ground artillery
        
        • upper storeys made of wood beams supported by cross timbers
          
        • artillery windows had to be large enough not only for the projectile but to provide an arc for aiming
        • windows protected by wooden shutters
          
    • gates
      • obviously the most vulnerable points of attack
        • developed even in Mycenean times
      • designed in concert with towers to draw the enemy attack into a position vulnerable to fire
        • overlapping of the curtain wall to provide a corridor-type gateway flanked on both sides
        • vestibule type gate -- external gate leads into a courtyard closed by a second door