Prepared by Jennifer Daugherty for History 102, Spring 2004
A. Violence in Greece continued
to rise
B. Shifting alliances
1. shows tendency of Greek
city-states to restore particularism
2. particularism—city-state
autonomy
C. Result was that Greece was
divided and vulnerable
II.
Rise of Macedonia
A. Macedonia’s history
1. on the Aegean
2. emerged in the 4th
century
3. had a dominant role in world
affairs
4. underwent a long process of
Greek assimilation through being exposed to Greek culture and technologies
through colonization
5. ruled by a king among kings
a. local nobles dominated the
mountainous regions
b. the King’s authority was
reduced by court intrigues, constant conspiracies among the nobles, threatening
neighboring peoples, and by superior external powers
6. area had vast potential
resources
a. large manpower capabilities
b. rich forests
c. silver
B. Philip the Great
1. History
a. began career as a hostage in
Thebes
b. after his brother’s demise
he defeated the Illyrians
2. Military strength and state
development
a. asserted control over the
warrior bands of the nobles of the Macedonian interior during the defeat of the
Illyrians
b. took the warrior sons
hostage and taught to hold greater loyalty to the king than to their families
c. repopulated the hinterlands
by moving them into more effective locations militarily
d. used diplomatic maneuvering
and silver to buy time to galvanize his male population to a loyal royal
fighting force
e. developed a phalanx of
32,000 infantry and a shock calvary of 8,000 which became the backbone of the
Macedonian state
f.
employed meritocracy to recruit the best and the brightest warriors
g. developed a highly
professional fighting force that sliced its way through Greek armies ultimately
assuming ascendancy over the entire Greek world
3. His downturn and demise
a. growing discontent and
aggressions were developing in Macedonia
b. he conducted a crusade
against the Persians to divert his overthrow
c. on the eve of that campaign
he was murdered in a palace coup
d. his son Alexander assumed
the throne
C. Alexander the Great
1. His rule
a. seized control of the entire
eastern Mediterranean
b. used exaggerated meritocracy
which created a more reckless element in the army which fought with reckless
abandon
c. galvanized the entire army
into the “Macedonian people and state”
·
regardless of their origins
·
induced to fight with reserves of conquered sliver and gold
2. His demise
a. conspiracies abounded
b. many high officials executed
c. armies eventually mutinied
in 326
d. died in his early 30’s
probably to war wounds
3. From a king of all of Macedonia
to individual territories with many rulers
a. two generations of conflict
followed Alexander’s death vying to take his place
b. generals realized the
impossibility of assembling a world empire and set out to carve individual
territories for themselves
III.
The Individual Territories: the Hellenistic successor states
A. Antigonid Macedonia
1. Antigonus Gonatus secured
Philip’s area of Macedonia
a. became somewhat of a
cultural backwater
b. but was a compact highly
defensible state
2. Maintained a leading army
a. chief recruiting ground for
the armies of the other Hellenistic dynasties
b. their phalanx posed a
serious threat to all
c. Romans found them to be
difficult adversaries
3. Battles with the Romans
a. fought three times
b. at the end of the third the
dynasty was deposed
4. Under Roman rule
a. attempted to reorganize the
territory into a dismembered settlement of four republics
b. when this failed and after
suppressing an uprising Rome reduced Macedonia to provincial status
c. became the first such Roman
province in the Aegean world
B. Attalid Pergamum
1. Founded by Philetairos, the
Greek secretary of Alexander’s general Lysimachus
a. gained royal recognition
through his successful efforts at repulsing the Gallic invasion of western
Anatolia
b. became recognized as a
liberator and savior by the Greek coastal cities
c. established his hegemony
over these Greek coastal cities
2. Power passed to the
Attalids, the four sons of his brother
a. successfully cooperated and
handed over power in succession
b. elevated Pergamum into the
top echelon of Mediterranean states
c. employed skillful diplomacy
with Rome
d. established Pergamum as a
leading cultural center
·
library second only to one in Alexandria
·
prized sculpture, tapestries, and ceramics
·
highly baroque style of sculpture known as Asian school set trends in
Greek world
e. competed for the eastern
luxury traced by relying on an overland route now known as the Persian Royal
Road across Anatolia
3. King Attalus II left the
royal domain to the people of the Roman Republic in his will
a. accepted and secured by the
Roman military
b. royal territories of
Pergamum became the Roman province of Asia
c. richest of all of Roman
provinces
4. Roman Rule
a. abusive exploitation by
Roman tax collectors led to a revolt in 88 BC
b. 80,000 Romans and Italians
massacred
c. L. Cornelius Sulla restored
order just prior to his assumption of the Roman dictatorship
·
indemnities imposed by Sulla remained burdensome
·
Roman orator and senator, M. Tullius Cicero, estimated that 40% of
tribute raised came from Asia alone
d. merger of Greco-Roman
culture was probably most successful here
C. Seleucid Syria—Capital at
Antioch
1. Founded by Seleucus, another
of Alexander’s generals
2. Enjoyed significant wealth
a. methodical efforts at
colonization
·
responsible for the out-migration of the Aegean Greek population to
non-Greek areas
·
helped in developing Hellenistic “Koine” Greek culture
b. development of artisan
production in Syria-Palestine
·
prominent for craft war: perfumes, incense, purple dyed clothing, etc.
·
established a number of material trends for the Mediterranean
c. challenging Ptolemies for
control of the eastern luxury trace
3. Weaknesses and Its Demise
a. high diversity led to
instability within the various ethnic groups
b. dynastic disputes caused the
dynasty to implode
c. century of civil war and
chaos ensued
4. Roman Rule
a. Roman General Pompey the
Great subdued the area
b. absorbed the remaining
vestiges of the empire into the Roman empire as provinces in 66 BC
D. Ptolemaic Egypt—Capital at
Alexandria
1. Founded by Ptolemy, another
of Alexander’s generals
2. Became the most spectacular
of successor states
a. Alexandria’s population
reached 1 million
b. Harnessed the grain
production of the Nile: “bread basket of the Med.”
c. With Rhodes it assumed near
monopolistic control of trade
d. Established lucrative
maritime trade with Arabia and Indian
·
commanded an extensive eastern Mediterranean naval empire
·
earned a reputation as the “paymasters of the Mediterranean” b/c of
high pay to recruit the mercenaries
e. Supplanted Athens as the
most cosmopolitan center of the world
·
attracted talented Greeks
·
architectural innovators:
·
the Museum, the great library, the Mausoleum of Alexander and the
Ptolemies, and the great light house all celebrated monuments
3. The “sick man” of the
Mediterranean
a. dynastic disputes with the
Seleucids led to its gradual political and military decline in the second
century BC
b. the last dynast, Cleopatra,
actually attempted to exploit personal relationships with Julius Caesar and
Mark Antony to revitalize Ptolemaic influence
c. Octavians defeated Antony
and Cleopatra in 32 BC and ended these ambitions
4. Octavian rule
a. seized Egypt
b. became part of the Julio-Claudian
patrimony
IV.
Trend of New Empires
A. Greek city-states as loosely
constructed federations
1. Aetolian League-central
mainland Greece
2. Achaen League-in the
Peloponnesus
3. Certain states remained
independent-Rhodes, Athens, and Sparta
B. Migrations eastward to
Greek-speaking Hellenistic capitals
1. Greek mercenaries, citizens
down on their luck and/or nobles seeking opportunities
2. Common denominator to
membership in the Hellenistic hierarchy was Greek language and Greek culture
C. Hellenistic kings’
metritocratic policies
1. continued to recruit the
best and the brightest of the Greek world
2. hierarchical status at court
was designated by recognition as “a friend of the king”
3. marital alliances remained
important
D. Emerging international
community
1. transcended traditional loyalties
2. perceived of themselves as
“kosmopolitai” (cosmopolitans) or citizens of the world