Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Will the real Greek please stand up? Philip of Macedon and Greek oratory Lecture 25 The Athenian orator Demosthenes The Athenian orator Demosthenes on Philip of Macedon: “Not only is he [King Philip of Macedon] not a Greek (a Hellene), he’s not a relative of the Greeks; he’s not even a barbarian from any decent place. He is a damn Macedonian from a country where you could never even buy a good slave.” In a famous series of speeches known as the “Philippics,” the Athenian statesman Demosthenes (d. 322 B.C.) caustically denounced King Philip of Macedon as a “damn Macedonian,” whom no Greek city should ever trust. The vehemence of D’s attack on Philip’s ethnicity is ironic, given the fact that most modern Greeks insist that Philip was a true Hellene. First some context: Although victorious in the Peloponnesian Wars, which ended in 431 B.C., the Spartans were illsuited to rule over Greece. The proSpartan oligarchy imposed on Athens — the so-called “thirty tyrants” — was soon overthrown, and Athens allied herself with Thebes, Corinth, and even Persia to resist Spartan hegemony. The King’s Peace signed in 386 B.C. ended these wars, but placed the Greek cities of Ionia, as well as the island of Cyprus, back under direct Persian control. Theban “Sacred Band: A highly imaginative reconstruction During the period after the King’s Peace, the city of Thebes became a leading military force in central Greece. Its strength partly depended on an elite infantry unit known as the Sacred Band, which was composed of 150 pairs of male lovers. This experiment lasted only a few years at most. Here, a highly imaginative modern reconstruction (The sources never claim that the Sacred Band fought “in the buff”). In the next generation, however, innovations in infantry warfare would set the stage for the dramatic rise of the Kingdom of Macedon. MACEDONIA The Kingdom of Macedon was located at the northern edge of the Greek world. During the GrecoPersian wars, Macedon yielded to the advance of Persian power, but then harassed the remnants of Xerxes’ army as it retreated after its losses at Salamis (480 B.C.) and Plataea (479 B.C.). The Macedonian capital was at Pella, in the lowlands of what is today northern Greece. Its location gave the Macedonian kings access to the Aegean (via the Loudias River, which was navigable to Pella), but also links with the hill country and the highlands of the southern Balkans. The Macedonian capital at Pella possessed many of the amenities of Greek urban life, including an enormous agora. But in contrast to Greek cities, the most lavish building was not a temple, but rather the palace. The floors of the Macedonian palace were decorated with mosaics -- the same art form that would later be used to decorate elite houses throughout the Roman Empire. MACEDONIAN PALACE AT PELLA The Pella mosaics include a few figural scenes that combine Greek techniques with local artistic tastes. Here, t wo heroes (hence, their nudity) slay a lion. View of the mountains of the southern Balkans. The tribes who inhabited these highlands were gradually incorporated into the Macedonian kingdom. Philip of Macedon (father of Alexander) When Philip rose to the Macedonian throne in 382 B.C. (just four years after the King’s Peace), he inherited a kingdom that had nearly been torn apart in the previous generation by a combination of civil war and foreign intervention. A brilliant strategist, Philip bought enough time through negotiations to recruit and train a new citizen army, which he then led in a remarkable series of military triumphs. THE MACEDONIAN PHALANX The key to Philip’s success was his reorganization of the Macedonian phalanx, which he armed with 16-foot pikes and trained to maneuver in unison. Some scholars believe that Philip’s bold innovations in infantry warfare were inspired by his time in Thebes, where he spent several years Philip’s soldiers honed their skills in battles against various Thracian and Pelagonian tribes in the southern Balkans. Here, an artist’s rendering of one such battle described in Greek literary sources. This detailed map indicates key stages in the expansion of the Macedonian Kingdom under King Philip II. First, he captured the gold mines near Mt. Pangaeus, then the Greek cities on the northern Aegean coast. In the 340s, he gained control of the narrow straits (the Dardanelles and the Bosporus), connecting the Aegean to the Black Sea, thus threatening the Athenian grain supply from the Crimea. Philip of Macedon’s southern campaign In 338 B.C., Philip’s army made its most decisive thrust to the south, winning at Chaeronea a crucial battle over a coalition of Greek cities led by Athens and Thebes. This Macedonian victory effectively marks the end of the long-standing independence of the leading citystates of the Greek heartland. STONE LION MARKING SITE OF BATTLE OF CHAERONEA This giant stone lion marks the site of the Battle of Chaeronea. Its precise significance is uncertain, though some scholars have argued that it served as a burial marker for the Theban soldiers (members of the Sacred Band) killed in the battle. Nearby, archaeologists excavated 254 skeletons from the period. OATH OF THE LEAGUE OF CORINTH After his victory at Chaeronea, Philip organized the Greek citystates into a new league, in theory to defend against Persia. The oath taken by each member of this League is preserved in copies that were car ved in stone and displayed in public. Members of the League swore to remain loyal to Philip and to maintain peace with all other member-states. By the end of his reign, Philip controlled directly, or by treaty, the whole of the southern Balkans and began to prepare for a major campaign against Persia. His plans were cut short in 336 B.C., when Philip was murdered at a wedding banquet (Macedonian kings were polygamous). The Macedonian royal tombs at Vergina (in northern Greece) Interest in the Kingdom of Macedon has surged in recent years as a result of a dramatic archaeological discovery. In 1977, Greek archaeologists discovered at Vergina in northern Greece the royal cemetery of Kingdom of Macedon. Two of three royal tombs were still intact, 23 centuries after being sealed in the fourth century B.C. Inside the tombs at Vergina, archaeologists found an extraordinary cache of ancient objects, including this gold-embossed breastplate and helmet. It is very likely that both objects once belonged to Philip II. A gold box from the tomb II at Vergina. Note the star emblem on the lid, which was apparently a symbol of the Macedonian monarchy. Silver vase from Macedonian royal tomb at Vergina Modern politics often influences the questions scholars ask about even the distant past. Contemporary debates about national identity in the Balkans continue to produce radically different interpretations of the region’s ancient and medieval history. With the breakup of Yugoslavia in the late 1990s, the republic of Macedonia became an independent country. The Greeks, however, have vociferously opposed the new country’s use of the name Macedonia, which most Greeks reserve for the territory of Macedonia INSIDE Greece. This map shows the Macedonians’ view of the issue. As you might have guessed, both sides claim Philip II (and his famous son, Alexander the Great!) as their ancestor. Philip of Macedon A real Greek? Depends how you define Greek This miniature head, found in tomb II at Vergina, is the only surviving marble portrait of King Philip. Was Philip a Greek? The question hinges on how one defines “Greekness.” Demosthenes argued (at least in his political speeches) for a restrictive view of who could be a true Greek. His predecessor Isocrates took a more expansive view. Philip’s son, Alexander the Great, would prove that Isocrates was right -- at least in terms of culture.