Alexander and the Greeks

Events after the death of Philip II Alexander’s Rise to Power

When Pausanias on the orders of Attalus and Cleopatra was assulted and failed to obtain satisfaction from Philip, he killed the King. Olympias was held cheifly responsible, since it was believed that she encouraged the young man’s resentment and spurred him on, but Alexander was also to some extent regarded as guilty. For it was said that when Pausanias met him after suffering the outrage and bitterly complained about it, Alexander quoted the verse from Euripides’ Medea, where Medea threatens “the bride and groom, and the father of the bride.” However, Alexander searched out those responsible for the plot and punished them. Plutarch 1)Who was the pausanias referred to in this passage? 2)Who were Attalus and Cleopatra? What had they done to injure Pausanias and why did Philip not offer any assistance? 3)Why might it have been believed that Olympias and Alexander could have encouraged Pausanias? Is it likely that they bore some responsibility for the death of Philip? 4)Who did Alexander blame for the murder of Philip? How did he deal to these people that he blamed?

answers 1)Was one of philip’s bodyguards, a macedonian noble, the king’s ex-lover 2)Attalus is a macedonian noble, uncle of cleopatra/eurydice, (philip’s recent bride). Pausanias had been raped while intoxicated by Attalus’ men, under instructions from Attalus. Philip was unwilling to address the situation because of the importance of Attalus as uncle to his new bride and also Attalus was general to his army. Attalus’ status was much higher than pausanias 3)Olympias went to Epirus after the argument at the wedding of Cleopatra & Philip. Alexander went to Illyria after the argument 4)The lyncestian brothers, Arrhabaeus and Heromones. They were arrested and executed.

Alexander’s Accession Alexander was 20 years old when he ascended to the throne Alexander had an easy accession to the throne –Had support of Antipater and Parmenio He was obvious choice to succeed Philip To secure his position as King, he put to death anyone who threatened his right to inherit throne –Put to death his cousin, Amyntas –Put to death Attalus (Attalus appeared to be conspiring against Alexander) –(Olympias had Cleopatra’s baby killed and forced Cleopatra to commit suicide.) Promised Macedonian nobles that he would follow the principles of his father’s administration –Announced that Macedonian people exempt from taxation Secured himself as leader of the Corinthian League

“Alexander inherited from his father the most perfectly organized, trained, and equipped army of ancient times.” J.F.C. Fuller, The Generalship of Alexander the Great King Alexander the Great was left with a strong army, a joined country and the ability to follow his dream of conquering the world. Like his father once said to him, “My boy, you must find a kingdom big enough for your ambitions. Macedonia is too small for you…” and with the help of his father, that is what he did.

Rebellion As soon as the Greek states of Athens, Thebes, Aetolia and Sparta heard of Philip’s death they rebelled against Macedonia The Greek states saw this as an opportunity to break free of Macedonian rule Alexander began marching up and down Greece putting down the rebellions in North and South

Southern States Rebellion Alexander dealt with the rebellions in the South first Thebes Athens had been encouraged by Demosthenes to rebel against Alexander Sparta Thessaly Aetolia voted to have opponents of Philip back Alexander moved so quickly to deal with the rebellions they had no time to act and were forced to submit to his rule. Thessaly Alexander was welcomed Neighbouring tribes saw the response and copied by welcoming him Thebes heard the news and also welcomed Alexander Athens Sent out an embassy to welcome him apologising for not recognising him as their Hegemon earlier. Most other Southern states gave up immediately to avoid confrontation with Alexander and his army.

Northern Tribes Rebellion 335 BC After Alexander had stopped rebellions of the Southern states, he received news that the Northern tribes were rebelling. (Thrace, Illyria, Danube) He marched North and attacked many barbarian tribes, suppressing the rebellions Alexander fought some significant battles with the Northern tribes that demonstrated Alexander’s ability as a general. –Battle with Thrace The Thracian army had their wagons lined up at the top of a steep pass intending to push the wagons off the pass to crush Alexander and his army below. Alexander ordered his Army to lie down with their shields linked on top of them so that the wagons would roll straight over them without harming anyone. The plan worked perfectly and then Alexander’s army charged on the Thracians defeating them. Alexander secured the North and conducted peace treaties with many of the tribes.

Second rebellion of the Greek States (Spring 335 BC ) While fighting in the north, the new king of Persia, Darius III sent agents to Greece with gold to encourage Greeks to rebel against Macedonia. A rumour also started that Alexander had been killed, therefore it was a good time to rebel. Alexander had to travel yet again to stop the rebellion in THEBES

Theban Rebellion, 335 BC 1.Thebes decided it was a good time to rise against Macedonia. 2.Athens promised to support Thebes in rebellion 3.Athens and Sparta had accepted gold from Persians 4.Thebes invited political exiles back and the Theban assembly voted to ‘free ourselves from Macedonian control.’ 5.Alexander quickly marched to Thebes and camped outside. He offered amnesty for Thebes if they handed over the two rebel political leaders who started the revolt. 6.Thebes refused and invited anyone to join them and the King of Persia in ‘freeing Greece from the Tyrants.’ 7.Alexander attacked and overthrew Thebes Thebans were killed. Draw these 8 events in a comic strip in your books..

Punishment of Thebes Alexander treated the rebellion as a breach of the peace of the League of Corinth He asked the council to decide on a punishment Their decision was to raze (destroy) Thebes, divide up its territory and sell all Theban survivors as slaves ( people in total) Alexander knew that the league would deal with Thebes severely. Alexander used Thebes to teach other Greek states a lesson One after another the Greek states quickly apologised to Alexander submitting to his rule again Alexander was now ready to prepare for his invasion of the Persian Empire in 334 BC.

But Athens were being rascals too! Alexander was very lenient to the Athenians because of their fleet, their culture and possibly because Athens was still the most powerful of all the states except Sparta. The difference in treatment between Thebes and Athens was very great and not at all justified by events as both cities had behaved equally badly to the Macedonians. If the Thebans had had a fleet Alexander wanted, they would have been treated very differently.

Questions to ponder … How fair was Alexander being in this situation? What kind of leader is he? Are his actions justified ?

Read now In your workbooks, read the Hamilton worksheet p.23 ‘The destruction of Thebes’ and answer the questions below. Make sure you have read Paul Artus p. 26