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)
2)
3)
4)
Who was the pausanias referred to in this
passage?
Who were Attalus and Cleopatra? What had
they done to injure Pausanias and why did
Philip not offer any assistance?
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?
Who did Alexander blame for the murder of
Philip? How did he deal to these people that he
blamed?
answers
1)
2)
3)
4)
Was one of philip’s bodyguards, a macedonian noble, the
king’s ex-lover
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
Olympias went to Epirus after the argument at the wedding
of Cleopatra & Philip. Alexander went to Illyria after the
argument
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.
8. 6000 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 (30.000 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