Philip and Alexander of Macedon

To the north of Greece were the Macedonians, a warlike people. Under their king, Philip II, who came to the throne in 359 B.C., they seized Greek coastal colonies and began a southward advance. In 351 the Athenian orator Demosthenes delivered the first of his warnings (called Philippics ) against Philip, but most Athenians did not yet see Philip as a significant threat.

In 356 the Sacred War among several Greek city-states began after the desecration of the temple at Delphi by the Phocians. In 346 Philip intervened in the war to defeat the Phocians, thereby earning the praise of many Greeks and securing for himself a seat on the Amphictyonic Council (the assembly of leaders of several neighboring Greek city-states). Athenians continued to ignore the threat of his territorial ambitions until 338, when he began a march on Thebes. Athens joined Thebes and other cities to resist Philip's advance, but the allied forces were defeated and the entire Greek peninsula was brought under his control. Philip then united the Greek city-states in the League of Corinth, and in 337 made plans for a campaign against Persia. Before the attack could be launched, Philip was assassinated.

Philip's son Alexander (later called “the Great”) combined the Greek and Macedonian armies into a massive fighting force and in 334 crossed into Asia Minor. In the next 10 years he conquered the entire Persian Empire, which included eastern Mediterranean countries as far as Egypt and extended inland as far as India. After Alexander died in 323 B.C. his empire was divided—but he had planted Hellenistic culture throughout the eastern Mediterranean region.