Hellenistic Greece

• 1. The Wars Of The Diadochi

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  In 323 BC, the death of Alexander the Great triggered a violent scramble for power among his former generals. These men, known as the Diadochi, fought armed contests to carve up an empire stretching from Europe to North Africa. The wars lasted until 275 BC and witnessed the fall of both the Argead and Antipatrid dynasties of Macedonia. A new dynasty emerged in their place, the Antigonid dynasty, which would rule Macedon for centuries.

  Cassander, son of Alexander's leading general Antipater, made himself master of most of Greece after years of warfare. He founded a new capital at Thessaloniki and generally acted as a constructive ruler. His power was soon challenged by Antigonus, the ruler of Anatolia. Antigonus promised Greek cities that he would restore their freedom if they supported him. This promise led to successful revolts against Cassander's local rulers.

  In 307 BC, Antigonus's son Demetrius captured Athens and restored its democratic system. But the victory was short-lived. In 301 BC, a coalition of Cassander and other Hellenistic kings defeated Antigonus at the Battle of Ipsus. This battle ended his challenge to the existing order. After Cassander died in 298 BC, Demetrius seized the Macedonian throne again. He gained control of most of Greece before being defeated by a second coalition of Greek rulers in 285 BC.

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• 2. Macedonian Dynastic Struggles

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  The struggle for the Macedonian throne continued long after the initial wars of the Diadochi. Lysimachus of Thrace took mastery of Greece after defeating Demetrius in 285 BC. Yet Lysimachus was in turn defeated and killed in 280 BC. The Macedonian throne then passed to Demetrius's son, Antigonus II. He also defeated an invasion of the Greek lands by the Gauls who were living in the Balkans at this time.

  Antigonus II ruled until his death in 239 BC. His family retained the Macedonian throne until it was abolished by the Romans in 146 BC. Their control over the Greek city states remained intermittent throughout these decades. Other rulers, particularly the Ptolemies, subsidized anti-Macedonian parties in Greece to undermine the Antigonids' power. Antigonus placed a garrison at Corinth, the strategic centre of Greece, but many states retained substantial independence.

  In 267 BC, Ptolemy II persuaded the Greek cities to revolt against Antigonus. This conflict became known as the Chremonidean War after the Athenian leader Chremonides. The cities were eventually defeated and Athens lost her independence and her democratic institutions. The Aetolian League was restricted to the Peloponnese but gained control of Thebes in 245 BC. In 255 BC, Antigonus defeated the Ptolemaic fleet at Cos and brought the Aegean islands under his rule.

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• 3. Federal Leagues And City States

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  Despite their decreased political power, the Greek city state or polis continued to be the basic form of political organization. Classical city states such as Athens and Ephesus grew and even thrived during this period. Warfare between Greek cities continued, yet they responded to threats by banding together into alliances. These federations allowed them to become inviolate to attack by other cities.

  The Aetolians and the Achaeans developed strong federal states called koinon. They were governed by councils of city representatives and assemblies of league citizens. Initially ethnic leagues, these organizations later began to include cities outside of their traditional regions. The Achaean League eventually included all of the Peloponnese except Sparta. The Aetolian League expanded its territory into Phocis.

  During the third century BCE, these leagues managed to defend themselves against Macedon. The Aetolian league defeated a Celtic invasion of Greece at Delphi. Athens remained aloof from conflicts involving the Achaean League by common consent. Sparta remained hostile to the Achaeans until 227 BC when Cleomenes III invaded Achaea. Aratus preferred distant Macedon to nearby Sparta and allied himself with Doson.

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• 4. Rome Enters The Eastern Arena

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  Philip V came to power in 221 BC after his regent Antigonus Doson died. He was known as the darling of Hellas and controlled all of Greece except Athens, Rhodes, and Pergamum. Under his auspices, the Peace of Naupactus brought conflict between Macedon and the Greek leagues to an end. However, Philip formed an alliance with Rome's enemy Carthage in 215 BC. This decision drew Rome directly into Greek affairs for the first time.

  The First Macedonian War broke out in 212 BC and ended inconclusively in 205 BC. Rome promptly lured the Achaean cities away from their nominal loyalty to Philip. They formed alliances with Rhodes and Pergamum, which became the strongest power in Asia Minor. In 198 BC, the Second Macedonian War broke out for obscure reasons but likely because Rome saw Macedon as a potential ally of the Seleucids.

  In 197 BC, Philip was decisively defeated at Cynoscephalae by the Roman proconsul Titus Quinctius Flamininus. Philip had to surrender his fleet and become a Roman ally. At the Isthmian Games in 196 BC, Flamininus declared all the Greek cities free. Yet Roman garrisons were placed at Corinth and Chalcis. All the cities except Rhodes were enrolled in a new League that Rome ultimately controlled.

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• 5. Cultural Centers Outside Athens

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  During the Hellenistic period, the importance of Greece proper within the Greek-speaking world declined sharply. The great centers of culture shifted to Alexandria and Antioch, capitals of Ptolemaic and Seleucid Kingdoms respectively. Cities such as Pergamon, Ephesus, Rhodes, and Seleucia also held significant importance. Increasing urbanization of the Eastern Mediterranean characterized this era.

  The quests of Alexander widened the horizons of the Greeks significantly. This led to steady emigration, particularly of the young and ambitious, to new Greek empires in the east. Many Greeks migrated to Alexandria, Antioch, and other new Hellenistic cities founded in Alexander's wake. These settlements stretched as far away as what are now Afghanistan and Pakistan. There the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdom survived until the end of the first century BC.

  Athens remained the largest, wealthiest, and most cultivated city in Greece despite losing political independence. Hellenistic Athens saw the rise of New Comedy and schools of philosophy like Stoicism and Epicureanism. By the turn of the century, the Attalids in Pergamon became patrons and protectors of Athens as the Ptolemaic empire weakened.

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• 6. The Roman Conquest Of Greece

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  When Philip V died in 179 BC, he was succeeded by his son Perseus. Perseus dreamed of uniting the Greeks under Macedonian rule but Rome's ally Eumenes II of Pergamum persuaded Rome that Perseus was a threat. In 171 BC, Rome declared war on Macedon and brought 100,000 troops into Greece. At Pydna in 168 BC, the Macedonians were crushingly defeated by Lucius Aemilius Paullus.

  Perseus was captured and taken to Rome while the Macedonian kingdom was broken up into four smaller states. All Greek cities who aided her were punished even if only rhetorically. Under the leadership of an adventurer called Andriscus, Macedon rebelled against Roman rule in 149 BC. It was directly annexed the following year and became a Roman province. This marked the first of the Greek states to suffer this fate.

  Rome demanded that the Achaean League be dissolved since it remained the last stronghold of Greek independence. The Achaeans refused and declared war on Rome. Many Greek cities rallied to their side while slaves were freed to fight for Greek independence. The Roman consul Lucius Mummius advanced from Macedonia and defeated the Greeks at Corinth. The city was razed to the ground.

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