Having organized the Greeks in this league, Philip announced that he wanted to invade Persia, because almost a century and a half before, the Persian king Xerxes had invaded Greece and pillaged the temples of Athens. This was a pretext (if only because back then, the Macedonian king Alexander I had been Xerxes' ally), but no one really cared.
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Having organized the Greeks in this league, Philip announced that he wanted to invade Persia, because almost a century and a half before, the Persian king Xerxes had invaded Greece and pillaged the temples of Athens. This was a pretext (if only because back then, the Macedonian king Alexander I had been Xerxes' ally), but no one really cared.
After the battle Chaeronea, Philip pursued a friendly policy. He wanted to reorganize Greece, not to destroy it. What he needed was a safe southern border, so that he could leave Europe and invade the Achaemenid Empire.
Philip II (*382): king of Macedonia (r.360-336), responsible for the modernization of his kingdom and its expansion into Greece, father of Alexander the Great. After the battle Chaeronea, Philip pursued a friendly policy. He wanted to reorganize Greece, not to destroy it.
In the winter of 337/336, this family quarrel escalated to an international crisis when Alexander allied himself to several Illyrian leaders and threatened to invade Macedonia. Now, Philip understood that things were going wrong, and he reconciled himself with his son, saying that he had sent Attalus away from court.
Having organized the Greeks in this league, Philip announced that he wanted to invade Persia, because almost a century and a half before, the Persian king Xerxes had invaded Greece and pillaged the temples of Athens.
The Road to Hegemony. Army and State. The last year. Philip II. After the battle Chaeronea, Philip pursued a friendly policy. He wanted to reorganize Greece, not to destroy it. What he needed was a safe southern border, so that he could leave Europe and invade the Achaemenid Empire. Besides, there was no need to attack cities ...
During the wedding banquet, Attalus prayed that the Cleopatra might give birth to a legitimate son worthy of the throne. Queen Olympias and prince Alexander felt insulted, decided to leave Macedonia and went to the court of Olympias' brother, Alexander of Molossis.
Philip's leniency can easily be explained, because he needed the Athenian navy if he wanted to attack Persia, and he could not allow the Athenians to side with king Artaxerxes III Ochus.
The real cause of this war, of course, was not revenge, or Philip's greed, or his attempt to create peace in Greece by uniting it against a common enemy. The deepest cause was the lack of internal structure of his kingdom. As noted above, Macedonia had to expand or implode. The moment of the invasion was well chosen.
This was an important marriage, because it gave the Macedonians a chance to obtain the city of Halicarnassus, the capital of Caria and an important, heavily fortified port. During a war against Persia, this would be a first-class asset. Unfortunately, crown prince Alexander was not happy with the deal.
Philip immediately broke off the Spartan campaign, and invited representatives of the Greek towns to Corinth, where they organized themselves in a new alliance, the Corinthian League. Its members would remain free and autonomous, but agreed never to wage war against each other, unless it was to suppress revolution.