[Music] welcome back to the podcast history of Our World chapter 46 Philip II we return to the start of the 7th Century BC over in the Levant the Assyrian King sakb has failed to conquer Jerusalem and up in northern Greece three brothers from Argos had become Farm hands for a petty Regional King toiling hard for him the queen being of Kinder stuff would bake fresh bread for them every day but curiously the loaf of bread she would make for the youngest brother pericas by name would always double in size and it happen so often that she told her husband about it this the king took as an ill portant and summoned the brothers before him to cast them from his lands when the eldest replied that it was not right to be expelled without being paid their Fair dues the king pointed to a ray of sunlight which poked through the roof and said there are the wages which you deserve I give it to you the older two brothers stood by stunned at this act but pericas stepped forth and said oh King we accept your payment and un sheath the small knife he was carrying to trace a circle around where the sunlight Hit the Floor to this he brought the light towards his chest and walked away that's when one of the king's advisers leaned in and informed him that the boy had just ritually claimed ownership of his Palace oops in a few decades pericas would conquer the land in northern Greece between thce to the east thesy to the South Lia to the west and ponia to the North or not the story comes from our old palus and we all know how much he loves taking gossip and hear say is truth regardless even though the later Mass Macedonian Kings claimed descent from pericas and his argad dynasty argad being derived from Argos the macedonians were never quite viewed as Greek by the Greeks they were Horsemen and farmers and lived semi-nomadic lives in villages not like the great puses of true Greeks and their language which has since been identified as a dialect of Greek was so harsh to proper Greek ears that translators were needed but throughout most of their early history things were relatively quiet a king we've mentioned before Alexander I allowed Macedon to become a crappy under the Persians thus keeping out of the war now while capitulating without fighting might sound cravenly to some Persian protection allowed Macedon to fight back against its traditional enemies I.E all of its neighbors without having to worry about reprisals and the kingdom grew all while fostering cultural ties with Greece if you remember from that prev previous episode Alexander even whipped out a family tree to prove that he was Greek enough to compete in the Olympics and when Persian power finally waned the Macedonian Kings seized the chance to break away and Forge their own destiny taking advantage of their resourcer land gold silver Lumber and grain were sent to every port in the Greek World especially Athens who was all too happy to purchase the stuff from her buala cousins up north however as the drmas filled the Macedonian treasur Athens wondered if perhaps they were creating a reliable business partner or a dangerous rival over the next Century Macedon weathered plots to undermine its power and deafly played Sparta against Athens in the pelian wars but during that Century 12 Kings ruled too many for a stable monarchy and it seemed like the kingdom was near ruined nearly that is until Philip came around born in 382 and like many ancient lives not much is known about his early years he received the standard Court education no doubt and in his mid teens he was sent as a royal Hostage to thieves upon Pawn in his older brother's failure to conquer that City exchanging VIP hostages can be found in numerous cultures and continues throughout history is a sign of good faith between dynastic powers and while one bad move on macedon's part might have been the end for young Phillip he made the best of his time there observing how Greek politics worked and paying special attention to thean military tactics when he was released in 367 Philip's brother had been dead for 2 years assassinated in a plot for the throne three more Kings would rule in a span of about 8 years including yet another older brother who died fighting yyan tribes in the west see hereditary systems are peculiar things when there's not enough heirs to go around and technically the next in line to the throne was Philip's nephew amantus but he's an infant and Philip as the only remaining argad adult was supposedly appointed Regent to rule in his place but a more likely story was that as he was in his early 20s he was not in the mood to babysit and supplants the nephew as next in line to become King Philip II at 359 ah but be careful what you wish for yes he was King but not everyone was happy about that thce was lending Military Support to a half brother of Philip who also wanted the job and even Athens got in on the action supporting an earlier Macedonian usurper named Aras and of course the yans and ponan were still causing trouble in their neck of the woods a lot to handle but first Philip launches a series of reforms to strengthen his position at home and bolster a weakened State first up came the military Philip introduces lightly armored skirmishers both infantry and Cavalry to the Macedonian forces good for harassing the enemy nexu reveals a little machine that dianis I over in Syracuse had been tinkering with the Catapult although really it was more of a Ballista Siege weapons aren't unknown in the ancient world take the Assyrians for example but Philip took the concept to a bigger level implementing what are essentially giant crossbows with these machines he could break down thin walls and wreak havoc among enemy soldiers and speaking of soldiers Philip radically redesigned the Macedonian falling unlike the heavily armored Greek fallings with that massive hoplon Shield Philips solders dressed in light armor with a small shield and short sword but the biggest difference came from the Sissa an enormous 18 ft long spear 18 feet before the enemy could even Engage The macedonians they would be skewed and since they didn't rely on the overlapping hoplon Shield to maintain formation the troops could more easily maneuver around to confront whatever threat awaited but it wasn't all military reforms with Philip and he was keenly aware that with the loss of So Many Kings in royalty to assassinations and Palace machinations the ranks of the Macedonian nobility had thinned out a bit so Philip decides to just make more macedonians and Greeks alike were brought into the wonderful world of entitlement and given kushy military and Palace roles if you were already a noble even better you get lands special military privileges and your sons would become Royal paves serving the king and getting a fine education at the same time oh they'd even grow up to be future officers one day but really in the mean time their hostage fod good as bargaining chips hey it worked for Philip right the system of promotions and social benefits worked Philip had created a large fan club of loyal followers at home now it was time to move on to phase one of his larger plans over the next two years through a combination of diplomacy and Military might Philip managed to to thwart all threats to his power by promising tribute to some stronger tribes and fighting others Philip holds off the ponan threat long enough until 358 when his army was fully trained in the new tactics and weapons and raring to go Philip defeats the ponan in the north and seizes much of their land to the West an alliance with the msians of a pyrus done through marriage with the princess olympius helped form a united front against the yans olympius is described by the Ancients as was very beautiful but also prone to fits of Madness and per her religion kept snakes in her bed and still her father the king of melosia figured that the alliance would keep his people safe from both the yans and macedonians even after he died and it did especially since Philip annexed the region as soon as the old King died so now the only threats remaining were thce to the East and possibly Athens First Philip goes after thce taking cities all along the Southeastern Coast except for the port of amphipolis once again if you recall from the pelian episodes Athens suffered a crushing defeat from Sparta here losing the Strategic location since then the city remained mostly independent but Athens really wanted it back knowing that is a foreign policy Advantage for Phillip maedon had previously sent troops to defend the city from Athens but Philip promised not to interfere in any Athenian plans for empolis in return for drops of support of argas that usurper Athens agreed and then Philip got an idea an awful idea Philip got a wonderful awful idea amphibus is a city surrounded by great forests with trees perfect for ship Construction in addition to the numerous gold mines dotting the landscape not to mention that it sits on the mouth of an important trading River and well all this comes to one thought amphibolis is far to too strategic to turn over in 357 Philip breaks his word and took the city for himself it was a quick Siege as opposed to the long drawn out one the Athenians suffered through and that's of course thanks to his new Siege tactics oh and while he was at it he also took the Athenian aligned cities of PNA Padia and methon too I mean when you're in deep you might as well keep going now a little historical side note at methon while Philip was inspecting his Siege equipment he took a sniper's arrow straight into his right eye luckily for the king either the arrow entered at an angle or he was wearing his helmet and it sort of deflected it a bit but either way the arrow did not go straight in which would have killed him he arrived at his position with the arrow still protruding out and the skilled doctor was able to extract the arrow along with the eye but with no infection or major scarring afterwards also a year later in 356 by the way olympius gives birth to a son named in honor of Philip's Dead Brother Alex alander but this isn't about him right now Philip had successfully made Athens nervous over Macedonian expansion into their historical sphere of influence but as agitated as they were there was little they could do the pelian wars and successive battles had taken a massive toll in the city's Treasury and army it wasn't until 352 that Athens managed to pull enough resources together through some Financial Wizardry to build up an Army strong enough to contend with philli but instead of rushing out to fight a war they might lose instead the Athenians set up camp at where else thermop remember the 300 Spartans well now it was Athens turn to make a stand and so their soldiers set up a defensive position and waited for the inevitable arrival of the Macedonian Scourge except Philip laughed it off and said good luck with that continuing to take all the land he wanted the city of alyus once a Macedonian Ally had left him in a bid for Independence and his response was to brutally punish them They begged for Athens to use their army and save them but the Athenians would not budge from their posts in 348 othus was completely destroyed and its citizens carded off as slaves truthfully Athens wouldn't have been Victorious on their own against Phillip the macedonians were far too powerful though Athenian politicians like demosthenes certainly tried their best to Rouse the public and demand action in a speech against Philip he blasts his fellow countrymen saying when Athenians will you take take action what are you waiting for until you are compelled I should presume but what are we to think is happening now for my own part I think that for a free people there can be no greater compulsion than shame for their position or perhaps are you content to run around and ask one another is there any news today could there be any news more startling than that a Macedonian is triumphing over Athenians and settling the destiny of hos but in a very Chamberlain type of concession piece Athens negotiat a peace treaty in 346 seeding claims to amphipolis in exchange for assurances that Philip would stop his conquest of Greece many Athenians were outraged at this fully believing Philip would break his word again and they were right he skirted around the details of the treaty by conquering fosis a city which Athens had fought against but still did not wish to see in Macedonian hands the next few years are a blur of battle after battle if you're interested in the specifics there's far better stuff out there than I can provide but a few important dates here are 343 and that's when Aristotle comes over to Macedon a tutor Alexander 342 which is the Conquering of thce and finally 340 when Philip decides enough with the diplomacy and sweet talk and moves on Athens by this point Athens was no longer on the defensive and had been making preparations for the inevitable conflict yet there was still this gnawing sense of maybe the whole thing will resolve itself out anyway de tried again to stir the Athenians ramping up his pmic against Phillip ah it is the same tale everywhere one giving advice to another that would ensure their safety but in the end the people are induced to concede gradually yielding because they felt their defeat was inevitable and by Heaven that is what I fear will happen I pray Athenians this will not occur better to die a thousand times than pay court to Phillip it is cowardice to lend an ear to The Advocates of your enemies and a disgrace too to say when it is all over we ought to have done this or that and not so and so many things could be named by the althans or the fans and of every ruined City eventually Athens saw that Philip could not be appeased nor could his Ambitions be thwarted Athens called on any Greek City to join them in resistance demosthenes especially had a hand in convincing thieves as well as Corinth Meara and some other Northern pelian cities but what of Sparta they've been awfully quiet right it's not like they didn't know it was happening Philip had already contacted them writing you are advised to submit without further delay for if I bring my Army on your land I will destroy your Farms slay your people and raise your city the Spartans wrote back their own message with one word if the story goes that Philip knew they weren't messing around and left them alone but the truth is by this time in history their glorious fading never to return after losing the battle of lucra to the thebans back in 371 Sparta lost many of her pure citizens to the spartiates we've talked about their society before and how important those guys were to maintaining the status quo but in addition the major source of helots the land of Mia was completely liberated in turn the freed people Allied up with Philip thus ensuring that Sparta would never again enslave her neighbors Spartan power was now a tenuous thing at best so they stay out of this as for the Defenders of Greece it is now 3:38 and this is the Battle of kirenia the details are murky the Macedonian fallings held firm against the larger Greek army and also we see the 18-year-old Prince Alexander and his newly formed companion Cavalry charging through the Greek lines routing them but good in the end 1,000 Athenians were dead and thieves famed sacred band an Elite Force of 300 100 was wiped out thieves had not changed her military tactics since Philip's time as a hostage there and he knew exactly how to exploit those weaknesses and when the dust of battle cleared Philip surveyed what he had done what Darius and Xerxes had failed to do Greece was now his the night following the victory Philip engaged in common Macedonian tradition getting blasted on wine laughing it up with his friends Philip starts mocking The Fortunes of the Athenian dead but a captive Athenian Soldier a politician named demades couldn't hold his tongue and barked Fortune has cast you in the role of Agamemnon are you not ashamed to act the part of thides in The Iliad the soldier thides is this sort of rough vulgar drunker not a good thing for a king to be and Philip immediately sobered up at the thought those comments might have affected the aftermath of the battle too and instead of the usual method of crushing his opponents Philip showed leniency the prisoners were ransomed off although their leaders were executed and Athens well her prisoners were let go even being allowed to take a wagon home carrying their dead alongside an escort from Prince Alexander deanes had warned Athens to fear the worst but the city actually came out relatively well was Athens now under control of Macedon yeah but it's not so bad in fact without the fear of war between the two Powers Aristotle even returned to the city to build his own School the Lum in 335 take that Academy but back to philli who showed no sign of slowing down in 337 he called all the Greek cities to a meeting at Corinth even Sparta but they refused to attend because they're sour pusses here Philip addressed them all as Greeks one in all and revealed the secret and true purpose for his invasion of Greece to unify them in a way no one had ever done before with One Singular purpose to conquer Persia yes even though the Persian Wars took place almost 150 years ago Philip wanted revenge against the great Empire and for slights against Macedonian honor and of course sacking Athens the members took an oath to protect each other and remain loyal to Phillip I swear by Zeus Gaia Helios Poseidon Athena Aries and all the gods and goddesses I will abide by the peace and I will not break the agreements with Philip the Macedonian nor will I take up arms with hostile intent against any one of those who abide by the Oaths either by land or by sea now was Philip really gung-ho on Revenge maybe maybe he was also trying to sooe the ruffled egos of the defeated Greek cities and channel their anger and humiliation towards a more desirable Target well he picked a good time anyway Persia was going through a bit of a rough spot the Sha had been murdered by a court unic and in the chaos that followed a distant relative claimed the title of Sha Sha renaming himself Darius III but in their political weakness Philip could find opportunity except he didn't race off to Persia with all that gathered momentum and instead thoughts turned towards love specifically a pretty young thing from Macedonia named Cleopatra not the Cleopatra polygamy is also a fairly common thing for Macedonian royalty and Philip was no exception to this in addition to Cleopatra being good-looking she was also a pure Macedonian unlike the current Heir Alexander who's really half epero excited at the promise of this new Union Philip divorces Olympus in a fairly Hasty move at a grand Feast to celebrate Philip's new love interest Cleopatra's Uncle adelus stood up and declared his niece could now send a true heir to the throne Alexander tossed his wine goblet at the uncle and called him some Choice words Philip rip roaringly drunk rose up to attack his son and fell flat on his face Alexander laughed and said here is the man who was making ready to cross from Europe to Asia but cannot even cross from one table to another and then set out for ayrus with his mom he was done here so now it's 336 BC Cleopatra had only born Philip a daughter named Europa and while that wasn't the situation he had hoped for the marriage was still going to happen Philip knew enough to swallow his pride and make amends with Alexander to come back to court just in case no male Heir came along Alexander also knew enough to bite his tongue and return home a wise decision perhaps influenced from his educational years with Aristotle at the ancient Macedonian capital of IGI the wedding between Philip and Cleopatra took place Nobles and dignitaries from all over Macedon and Greece were in attendance watching as Philip took the lead in a grand procession and as all eyes were upon Him Philip's personal bodyguard posan rushed forward and impaled the king straight through the ribs with a dagger plunging the weapon deep into his chest and cutting short the king's Destiny what just happened lots of theories exist of course but I defer to diodoros culus the Greek writer on this one penus was once Philip's lover and when the capricious Philip passed him over for a younger model penus took to the streets to Proclaim this new lover was a lascivious hermaphrodite oo fighting words the New Lover was so distraught over these public insults that at the next battle Philip partook in he ran in front of the king falling under an enemy sword but the slain young lover was a friend to adelus Uncle of Philip's new bride and in retaliation for the loss of this friend he devised a rather heinous punishment he invited penus over to dinner one night got him very drunk on strong wine and tossed him over to his servants who raped him throughout the night when Philip learned of this he was outraged but in the interest of preserving his new family Unity decided not to punish adus and instead tried to calm the situation by promoting penus with gifts and the position of Royal bodyguard but penus could not forget what had been done to him nor could he forgive Philips turning an eye to this Injustice and so at the ceremony he took revenge on the King Racing off to a horse he had hidden nearby when his sandal was snagged on a tree root sending him crashing to the ground and giving his pursuers all the time they needed to catch up and slay him thus ended the life of Philip II conqueror of Greece the man single-handedly turned Macedon from a region of pastoral farmers and Horsemen into a military Juggernaut but what if his kingdom now would Macedon crumble without its strong leader would Athens take this as an opportunity to reclaim its strength in hos would Sparta knock it off with the sulking and do something or would someone else take up the mantle of leadership and real Philip's dream of a conquered Persia but why stop there in the right hands the Macedonian army could be unstoppable Persia could be just the beginning and what exactly if anything exists Beyond Persia next episode it's time to meet Alexander the Great on the podcast history of our [Music] world to