02 - Phillip II of Macedonia : Phil It Still

Time to relax and hear a tale... Where did Alexander come from and what made him so great? Some say his father, and I second that notion. Phillip II took his people from near extinction to Greece's first great empire! He was a great diplomat but he also kicked a lot of ass to get there. At that time kicking ass was the most popular way of getting things. Not too different than today. Let's learn about Alexander's pops during today's sesh. 

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Transcript

The Meat

Wes 0:34

Welcome to the Stone Dave Podcast. I'm Wes Ranson, and today we'll be talking about Philip II of Macedonia. He's mostly known today for being the father of Alexander the Great, but Philip was a great man in his own right. He did a lot to pave the way and mold the ambitions of Alexander, and without him, Alexander would have had a hell of a time to achieve what he did. It would probably have been truly impossible. But before we start talking about antiquity, let's get high. So today I'm going to be smoking a pre-roll from the Connected brand. And if I'm not mistaken, I didn't see any of this on the website, but I believe can the brand Connected and Alien Labs are somehow, no pun intended, connected. But again, I didn't find anything about that on the website. So about us for Connected, it doesn't say a whole lot. Connected Cannabis Company, a movement championed exceptional strains and cultivation methods, started by Caleb Counts in 2009, is now a premier uh pioneer in cannabis product RD and one of the most prolific brands in commercial cultivation. Beginning at Sacramento's Fruit Lidge Health and Wellness Dispensary, Counts launched the Connected Brand in 2018 to serve as a dedicated platform for his portfolio of top-tier genetics. And the strain that I'm going to be smoking today is called Ghost OG. Now, just a note here, I did buy this uh, you know, as a sativa. Uh, I looked at Leafly, it didn't look, you know, as sativa, or really, it didn't look sativa at all. But I do know with the different terpenes that they grow with, uh, it can be really weird. I mean, I've seen vapes, I haven't bought any, but I've seen vapes that are Indica uh Sour Diesel, which is always a sativa brand in my mind. I've like I said, I I would not purchase one of those, it just seems, I don't know, wrong. But yeah. Uh so connected, looking on their website, it does say sativa dominant hybrid. So that makes me feel a little better about it. Again, just because you look at Leafly or Weed Maps or one of the other sites, and they say that it's this or say that it's that, it really depends on the grow. So um, lineage, it says clone only. And I'm guessing that means there are no seeds for this. Uh, like taking a punch from a poltergeist, Ghost OG envelops you in the ri in the resin pine and petrol, slightly sweet and on the pool. Then knocking you knocking your wind with its cocoa hazelnut exhale, a buzzy hybrid or cerebral mystery, perfect for focus relaxation, and unlocking creative energy. Even the most timid souls will find themselves chasing shadows after a little time with this one, named after the elusive OG who brought it back into this world and now connected across California. All right, and I will say that just the OG, I don't know if there's any truth to this either, but I find a lot of times when it does say OG, it is uh it is uh indicalinian. But uh, this is what Leafly says about it. It has it at about um, it's less than halfway, it's about a quarter, um, quarter away on the little calming energizing meter. So this is like, I don't know, not super calming, not super indica, but it's it's not even halfway sativa, according to Leafly. So Ghost OG, also known as Ghost OG Kush, is a hybrid marijuana strain and a cut of the OG Kush. Ghost OG is loved by many for its balanced cerebral and body effects, often described as simultaneous, potent, and non-intrusive. Ghost OG has won itself cup awards and renowned among and renowned amongst customers. Jesus. Uh its strong citrus smells and crystal crystal cover buds hint at this strain among genetics and its ability to annihilate pain, insomnia, depression, and anxiety. So I did open it out of the container here, and it says that this one is 20.61% THC. And if you want to leave a comment or send me an email and let me know what you're smoking on when you listen to the episode, and maybe I can check out that strain next time, uh next time I go to the store. I need to make sure I don't get any runs. Alright, so let's go. Philip II of Macedonia. Philip claimed to be kin to Hercules, a lineage of royal blood derived from the gods. This was very common in the ancient world. He sat amongst his barons wearing the same clothes, simple and homeswun by his wife. He had no household slaves, unlike other Greeks and the surrounding areas in antiquity. When hearing cases amongst uh common subjects or discussions with the barons in the assembly, Philip was called by his name without any title. He would be called Philippos Minton Macedonis, or simply Philippos Macedonios, but never king. He often engaged with his men in public wrestling contests. He never described himself as king in any official documents or public statements. Father of Alexander the Great, Philip was a unifier of Greece, author of Greece's first federal constitution, creator of the first national state in Europe, the first general in the Greek imperial age, founder of Europe's first great land empire, making him one of the prominent statesmen of the ancient world. Philip saved Macedonia from disintegration and military occupation. He secured Macedonia against eternal enemies by bringing together Europe's first national territorial state. This was an entirely new form of political organization in the West. He developed mining, agriculture, urbanization, trade, commerce, and Greek culture. He transformed a semi feudal tribal pastoral society into a centralized national state governed by a powerful monarchy and protected by a modern army, doubled the size of Macedonia and incorporated much of the Balkans into the Macedonian state. Philip used diplomacy, bribery, intimidation, deceit, subversion, sabotage, assassination, marriage, betrayal, and war to reach his goals, which were the same means used by his contemporaries. He was a rare military man who saw the political and cultural world around him changing, and by mastering this change he could reshape the future for himself and his people. Had there been no Philip, the exploits of his son would not have been possible. The provided means, methods, and motives that lay behind Alexander's achievements. That was Philip. Culturally, the Greeks in Philip's day regarded Macedonia as a remote, undeveloped area that remained unaffected by current events, progress, or development. This geographic backwater was inhabited by untrustworthy barbarians who spoke an uncouth form of Greek, governed by primitive political institutions, subscribed to customs, social values, and sexual practice that bordered on unspeakably depraved, dressed in bear pelts, drink wine, kneat, and were given irregular bouts of incest, murder, and regicide. And regicide, I did not know what it was, is the killing of a king. Where the Greeks regarded the city-state as an expression of advanced political culture, Macedonia remained a land of clans and tribes held together by the bonds of warriorhood, dynastic bloodlines, and a powerful monarchy, a male-dominated warrior society that had long since died out in Greece. Greeks mixed wine with cold and warm water. Macedonians, Thracians, and Scythians drink wine neat, leaving Greeks to regard this habit as another barbarian custom. Witches were also common. Two of Philip's wives were reputed to be witches. Olympia was Alexander the Great's mother, and Nasisopolis of Thessaly, she was also supposed to be a witch. Olympia was said to worship snakes and had a habit of taking the reptiles to bed with her. I believe there's also a story later, like is with Alexander, that his father was actually Zeus as a snake. So, you know, she snake fucked and then had uh had Alexander. One more curious and ancient practice was the Macedonian ritual of purifying the army as it set out for war. Priests cleaved a dog in two, and the army was made to walk between the severed halves to purify themselves. And that's disgusting. I love dogs. A man in Macedonia who had not killed a single single a bear single handedly with a spear and without a net wasn't permitted to recline at the table or eat meat with the fellow soldiers. Instead it was required to sit upright for all to notice. The European bear, by the way, is an aggressive and dangerous animal. To kill one without a net, armed with only a spear, was not a task for the faint hearted. Macedonians who hadn't yet killed a man in battle were required to wear a cord around their waist to mark them as unblooded. As a young man, Philip was required to pass all these tests. I got a little run anyway. I guess I'm not perfect. His formal education was probably not too different from Alexander's. His personal tutor oversaw the literary education and taught Philip to read and write. Music was also part of his curriculum. In a serious test of bravery, Philip hunted lions, bears, and leopards with only his spear. He attended the frequent symposia where he heard tales of Macedonia's history, suffering at the hands of the Illyrians, the Foin Phaeonians, Malausians, oh Jesus. The Illyrians, the Phaeonians, the Melosians, the Thracians, the Athenians, the Thebans, the Focan invaders. It's almost like Fucking invaders. I think it might actually be pronounced that way, but I'm going with Focan. During his young life, he had witnessed Athenian and Theban armed interventions. This no doubt influenced his future decisions and fueled his aggression to Macedonian expansion. Now let's examine his life and get a good understanding about who Philip was and how he was able to rise and expand Europe's first great empire. I'm not going to bog you down with all these Macedonian battles and dates and formations. As with all topics, there are a lot of layers. Okay. We'll be pulling back quite a bit of those layers today, but if it just isn't enough to satisfy your Macedonian itch, maybe it's enough to inspire you to go back and uh, you know, start pulling out your own layers. I know I learned a lot from doing this and I really enjoyed it. Honestly, this was this is the first thing that I that I looked up. This is the first thing that I kind of studied getting ready for the podcast. And for this research, I leaned heavily on Philip II of Macedonia, Greater Than Alexander by Richard A. Gabriel. So let's get into his life. Born in 382 BCE, Philip was the youngest of three legitimate sons to King Amentus III of Macedonia and his wife Eurydis, princess of the Lincestian royal house. And this is one of the cantons of Upper Macedonia. And a canton, by the way, is a land boundary corresponding to territories of the former tribes, like different townships in the same county or similar for the time. From three hundred ninety three to three hundred ninety two BCE, and again in three hundred eighty eight BCE, outside forces drove Philip's father from his throne, only to have deposing outside forces assist him in regaining his position. In three hundred eighty two BCE, Illyrians defeated him again and occupied much of lower Macedonia, taking hostages and tribute. At age twelve, Philip's father died, leaving his eldest son Alexander II to be king, and in arranged truce between Alexander II and Ptolemy of Acharis, Philip, along with thirty sons of other prominent Macedonian barons, were taken as hostage to Thebes. And this was also very common in the ancient world. I mean, people kept people's kids. You keep some people's kids, uh, you know, important people's kids, you teach them, but also you have them in case the city starts to acting up again, you know. Uh Alexander II was assassinating while participating in a traditional war dance, uh uh Sotica, uh, possibly by a supporter of Ptolemy. Must have been a hell of a war dance. Uh the Macedonian assembly selected Perdiccas III at age 15 as the new king, and Ptolemy was appointed his guardian. In 365 BCE, possibly for supplying large quantities of timber to Thebes so they could counter the Athenian fleet, Philip was released and brought back to Macedonia. Immediately after returning around age seventeen or eighteen, Philip was appointed provincial governor. He is also granted permission to train and raise militia. In three hundred fifty nine BCE, Macedonia's army was destroyed. Perdicus, along with four thousand men, were killed in battle with Lyrian king Bartalus. According to the Greek historian Diodorus, it was then Philip was elected king. It's more than likely that Perdicus' five year old son was appointed king, with Philip appointed his regent, as explained by Roman historian Marcus Junius Justinus. Man, the names of these people. Unlike Greek states which had developed excellent hoplite infantry, Macedonia had no tradition of infantry combat. Macedonian infantry troops were little more than untrained peasants, hastily assembled for the occasion and armed mostly with farm implements and work tools. The most important combat arm of the Macedonian armies was the cavalry, comprising the nobility who provided their own mounts and equipment. Alexander II, Philip's oldest brother, seems to have made some tentative efforts to create infantry units that were armed and trained similarly to the hoplites of the Greek states. In nineteen nineteen three hundred fifty nine BCE, Macedonia needed an army and it needed one quickly. The Illyrians were preparing for another invasion aimed to occupy the entire country. The Feonians had begun to assemble their armies along the Axis River for an attack on the lowland plains, and Athens demanded the return of Amphipolis and had assembled an invasion fleet to support the claim of Argius II, Philip's half brother to the Macedonian throne. So there were several reasons to get some sort of fighting force assembled, but on the cheap, considering he was basically paying for it all himself. So how was he supposed to turn an assemble of peasants with little no military experience and equipment and train them quickly in a tactical formation that can hold its own against the hoplite infantry in the Greek states? The answer he devised was the Macedonian phalanx. The original Macedonian phalanx was a simple box, ten men in front of ten men deep, with each file command the ducadarch or leader of ten who led their file their fli their flies, who led their files from the front. These file commanders were the bravest and most experienced troops Philip had available and received double pay. The simple square was easy to control, especially in an attack when all it had to do was move forward. The infantry phalanx that Philip invented revolutionized infantry combat in Greece. The Macedonian soldier carried a small twenty four inch circular shield made of wood and sometimes covered in bronze, weighed about twelve pounds. The shield hung over the shoulders, chest from a strap around their neck. They wore the same iron helmet the Greek hoplites wore and carried the same sciphos or straight double edged infantry swords. Philip introduced a completely new weapon to Greek warfare, the sarissa. Theophrastus, a contemporary of Philip's, tells us that Sarissa the Sarissa of Philip's day was twelve cubits or some eighteen feet long. That was, I believe, a lot longer. I think like the average of everything else was like somewhere around twelve. The phalanx was designed mostly to fend off the army long enough so his cavalry could attack its flank or rear, but the mere sight of the phalanx could be an unnerving to the enemy. As long as the Macedonian infantry held their fear in check, the phalanx was impenetrable by hoplite infantry. In the attack, the phalanx could easily drive through Greek infantry line. In the defense, its wall of pikes points stopped cavalry in its tracks. When Philip took the field against the Illyrians in three hundred fifty eight BCE, just one year after the Macedonian army was more or less destroyed, he had raised ten thousand men. This achievement certainly suggests the rapidity for which raw recruits could be trained in the new organizational tactic and tactical system of infantry combat. Philip was a brilliant tactician and relied heavily on the capabilities of the new combat instrument he created. With the invention of the Pike phalanx, Philip brought about a tactical revolution in Greek warfare, and the real revolutionary aspect of the Macedonian phalanx was its ability to penetrate and paralyze hoplite infantry in ways that made it vulnerable to cavalry attack. Cavalry remained a comparatively minor combat arm in Greece until Philip developed it into the Macedonian army's combat arm of decision. The geography of Greece was largely unsuitable for raising horses, so accordingly, little attention was paid to breeding the horses and using them as warfare. Circumstances were quite different in Macedonia. The large plains and surplus grains production supported breeding as a majority industry. It wasn't until Philip introduced the pike phalanx in the 359 BCE that Macedonia infantry became an important force on the battlefield. While Greece produced excellent infantry and poor cavalry, Macedonia produced excellent cavalry and poor infantry. The Persian army used the horse as a prominent pack animal and a logistical train first, but Philip was the first in the Western commander to use the horse for this purpose. Philip's greatest contribution to the Greek cavalry warfare was to organize and train his cavalry units to do what no Greek cavalry had done before, to attack Greek hoplite infantry and destroy them in close contact. Once the army infantry line had been pierced, Macedonian cavalry could carry out lethal assaults on the infantry. The primary weapons of the Macedonian cavalrymen were the Sistan and a murderous meat cleaver called a Makira. The great wealth Philip came to possess allowed him to hire contingents of mercenary troops on which Ditoris tells us was an unprecedented scale. Let it go out again. After the Peloponnesian Wars, Greece was crawling with unemployed, experienced soldiers who sold their skills to various states, tyrants, and kings throughout the Mediterranean. Philip used them often, and he used them, sometimes he used them instead of his own troops. He would just send a bunch of mercenaries in and let a bunch of them die, and then he would bring in his troops. From 358 BCE to 353 BCE, in just five years' time, the military manpower base doubled from 10,000 to 20,000, and a year later to 30,000. Philip's policies exploited the manpower base to create a full-time army of great size, paid and equipped by the king that could be honed to a fine combat edge by discipline and training. Macedonian officers were not elected officials, but battle-hardened, experienced commanders who held their position after demonstrating competence at war. Diodorus says that Philip held contentious maneuvers under arms and trained exercises under combat conditions, and goes on to say that the degree training of the Macedonian army was unprecedented in the Greek world at the time. Philip was the first Western general to create permanent engineering corps with siege capability as an integral part of his army. Early on, perhaps, before 350 BCE, Philip established a department of military engineering under a talented engineer's direction to research and develop new weapons and their applications. The development was established in Pella, where Philip constructed magazines, workshops, and training facilities for his armies. Magazines. Couldn't imagine him making some magazines. What did magazines look like in uh 359 BC or whatever? 350. Probably the same as three hundred fifty nine BC. Philip's army was designed precisely to project force over great distances, and his political objectives often required the capture and even prominent occupation of enemy cities. He intended to incorporate some cities into the Macedonian state after deporting their native population and replacing them with the Macedonian settlers. In three years between 357 and 354 BCE, Philip successfully conducted six sieges against fortified cities. At less than twelve months, he took Amphipolis, Pydna, and Pathadia. Two years later he took Methone, Pagasa, and Alinthos. The speed in which these sieges were accomplished was nothing short of amazing for Greek standards. Diodorus describes Philip's siege of Parenthus in 340 BCE, mentions siege towers 120 feet high, battering rams, bolt shooting artillery, these were basically catapults at the time, and scaling ladders. Given Philip's strategic perspective that war was always subordinate to political direction, and that much more could be achieved through political uh politics than by war, it's hard hardly surprising that Philip became a superb intelligence officer who knew the value of information and how to use it. Philip was a famous and affable host, who threw the most expensive parties, he was a great conversationalist, and gave many expensive gifts and honors to many of his friends, and he had hundreds of his friends throughout Greece whom he turned into valuable intelligence assets. We hear again and again from such sources as Demosthenes and Theompopus that Philip's successful enslavement was of Greece was owed more to treachery on the part of the Greeks themselves, allowing Philip to purchase their consciences than to Philip's own abilities. On multiple occasions during sieges, cavalry commanders and other men defected to Philip, making his assaults easier to compete. Sometimes these men were caught red handed, charged with being sent to sent by Philip and killed. That's pretty much all. Another of Philip's innovations was the Macedonian Navy, the first national navy force in the country's history. The combination of geography and the Athenian naval power of the history of the seaborne invasions forced Philip to develop a naval forest in defense. Amphipolis had extensive shipbuilding yards, a seafarer tradition of competent sailors in proximity to fir and pine forests that were the sources of wood for ships. Next he seized Pydna, which possessed a fortified harbor and a seagoing population that could be used to man the new ships. By 353 BCE, Philip had a small fleet operating from the Thracian coast. The Macedonian Navy was no match for the Athenian Navy, but Philip never let it come to that. The Macedonian Navy was basically a defensive force tasked with protecting the country's coastline and preventing hostile and amphibious landings across the Macedonian army's line of communication. And that was the war machine he himself basically paid for and created. And we're going to go back to Philip's life now. So immediately after getting king or however he got it, Philip immediately plunged into the intrigues and court politics of the day. He moved instantly by murdering his half brother Archilaus. His other two brothers were driven into exile, and two tr two additional claimants from a rival branch of the royal family were also killed. The Paeonians, a people living in the upper reaches of the Axis and Stramon rivers, sensed Macedonian weakness and began raiding the Macedonian lowlands, while Thrace threatened the small Macedonian garrison in Amphipolis. Athens was readying a fleet and an invasion force to land in the Macedonian coast and march on Pella itself. These were perils threatening them. Diodorus says, and the Macedonians were reduced to the greatest despair. Philip needed a break in hostilities to rebuild the army so it could at least handle the threats of the Phaonian Thrace. To counter the imminent military threat from Illyria and Athens, Philip turned to diplomacy. He opened the negotiations with Bartalus, the Illyrian king. It seemed that Philip agreed to formally recognize the Illyrians' occupation into the upper cantons, in some Macedonian cities and to pay tribute in cash or in kind goods. He then moved quickly to diffuse the threat from Athens. Unable to come to any sort of agreements, Philip knew the military confrontation with Athens would be a certainty. Diodorus tells us next he opened up negotiations with Paonians, and having corrupted some with bribes and others with generous promises, he made an agreement to remain at peace. In a few short months, Philip achieved what might have first appeared impossible. Without the means to protect Macedonia by force, Philip relied on diplomacy to reduce the dangers facing this country. In this way he delayed the invasion by Illyria, and he had discovered the neutralization several plots to remove him. Gifts, bribes, and promises purchased temporary peace from the Faonians and ended their raids. Under the cover of night, Philip marched his new army from Pella to the Lava Lava Lavadi Ridge Lava, Lava, Lava Ridge, and knowing the Athenian commander Montius had no cavalry, Philip planned accordingly. Diodorus tells us that Philip's plan worked perfectly. No one knew it, but warfare in Greece would never be the same. Philip used his victory as an opening to seek the diplomatic solution to the problem and offered lenient terms for those that he had captured. He sent a letter promoting proposing peace with Athenians in return for renouncing his claims on Amphipolis. Athenians Athens accepted the proposal. In October three fifty eight BCE, Cineus, the head of the powerful a lot of times when I'm reading this, it's just like I'm going with this. I don't know. I mean, I'm reading this. I'm I'm not gonna get into it, but let's get into it. In October 358 BCE, Cineus, the head of the powerful again, Aluida family. Aluiday family who ruled Larissa requested Philip to intervene in his quarrel with the tyrants of Pharaoh in Thessaly. His intervention at the request of Larissa was an important diplomatic achievement from Macedonia, for its established Philip as a legitimate player in Thessalian politics, and one whom the cities of the Thessilian League could turn for advice. To demonstrate his sincere commitment to Thessaly, Philip married a Thessilian girl, Phellina of Larissa. She was the mother of Arden Ardeus, Philip's first son. According to Theopompus and Diamosthenes, a de a secret pact was struck with Philip. After taking Amphipolis, he promised to turn it over to Athens in return for Pydna. In the autumn of three hundred fifty seven BCE, Philip straightaway reduced Pydna. The Athenians waited for Philip to turn Amphipolis over to them. It would be a long time. 357 is also the year Philip met and married Olympius to cement the alliance between Macedon and Ipirus. In three years Philip unified Macedonia, inflicted crushing defeats on Illyrians and Paeonians, put down two attempts by his rivals to depose him, freed the Macedonian coast of all but one of the foreign bases, captured the fortress of Amphipolis, destroyed the Athenian naval base of Patadia, neutralized the Calcadian threat, driven Athenian influence from Thermaic Gulf, and pushed into Thrace, extending Macedonia's power east of the Nestus River, incorporating the Umper Cantons doubled the size of the population of Philip's kingdom, and in July of 356 BCE, Olympius presented Philip with a son. Philip named him Alexander. Philip's interest in Thessaly had heightened in 356 BCE when Phocus occupied the sacred shrine of Delphi and seized the temple treasure. An Athenian army might come over land through Thessaly or by sea. If by sea, it's likely they would go through the city of Methone, its remaining ally on the nearby Macedonian coast as a place for the invasion on shore. Diodorus tells when Philip saw the inhabitants of Methone were offering their city as a base to his enemies, he initiated a siege. Sometime in the fall of 355 BCE, Philip attacked Methone, and this would be the battle where Philip got wounded in the eye. Theodorus tells us for some time the Methones endured the siege, but were eventually overcome and compelled to surrender their city to the king on condition that they should depart Methone with one garment apiece. It is interesting to note that the city surrendered apparently was taken without violence. Marcus Junianus Marcus Junianus Justinus described I'm just gonna go with Justinus from now on for him. His name's too long and weird. Describes Philip's mood after recovering from his wound in Mathone. The wound did not make him slower in war or angrier with his enemies, so much so that a few days later he granted them peace at their request and was not only restrained but mild to be vanquished. An arrow in his eye. That sounds terrible. Let's talk a minute about Philip's battle wounds. So Philip's in Philip's world officers led from the front and risked their lives with their men. From all accounts, Philip was a remarkably brave man who suffered at least five wounds in combat. His wounds left him in constant pain, and alcohol likely reduced the suffering, but he did not appear to be the alcoholic Alexander became. Philip received his first battle wound in 354 BCE at the siege of Methone. A sniper in the city wall shot an arrow through Philip's eye. He would again, in 345 BCE, during his campaign against the Illyrians, a soldier, Pausanias, covered Philip as he lay on the ground and shielded him from further blows, saving the king but dying in the process. His army had a 20% casualty loss in that battle. Philip suffered a broken collarbone and his lower leg bones were smashed. It's likely the latter wound that made Philip lame for the rest of his life. 339 BCE, Philip was wounded again after a successful campaign. While returning back to Macedonia, he was basically jumped by warrior people the Tribali. When people were when Philip refused to give up any booty, they took most of his prisoners and left Philip so severely verely wounded officers thought he was dead. Didymus tells us Philip was struck in the leg by a lance and his head was mutilated, most likely by a horse falling on him. I'm sure he had a lot more wounds in his lifetime, but these are the recorded instances that I have. So back to Philip 354 to 353 BC, he undertook an expedition into Thrace, accompanied by a small naval force, the first operational test for the new Macedonian navy, Philip pressed east beyond the Nestus into Arm Armaticus' kingdom, the middle of Thrace. After this, his troops were ambushed and defeated into retreat by Anomachus on behalf of Lys Lysophron, the I don't know. Lysophron, the tyrant of Pharaoh, on the grounds of Philip being significant threat against the Feranian Phokian alliance. Philip is supposed to have remarked about the ambush, I didn't run away, but like a ram, I pulled back to Bud again. In the spring of three fifty-two BCE, Philip and the Macedonian army marched into Thessaly and made straight for the city of Faray. Philip took Faray, its tyrant Lysif Ly Lysif what did I say? Lysifron and his two thousand defenders under siege. Philip's reconnaissance picked up Anomachus's What am I saying here? Are you listening to these names? These freaking people. Okay. Philip's reconnaissance picked up Anomachus as soon as he entered Thessaly. Philip Philip was aware of Anomachus's Anomachus' progress and position at any given time, and he knew that he had a pr had an advantage in cavalry due to his reconnaissance discovered by the strength of the Foke of the Phocian force. As night fell, Philip assembled his army under the cover of darkness for the eight mile march into the crockets field. Anomachus found himself facing the best infantry in Greece and must have known that he was doomed, trapped between the Macedonian pike men to the front and the Makira wielding cavalry at their backs, the Phocian infantrymen were stabbed and hacked to pieces. The battle couldn't have lasted long, perhaps only an hour or so. In the end, thousands of Phocian soldiers were killed, and another three thousand soldiers were taken prisoner. Anomachus' fate is unclear, but in all likelihood he perished on the battlefield and then his corpse was crucified. On Philip's orders, the 3,000 prisoners were put to death by drowning, and holy shit, I wonder if it was like 300 at one time or were they like ten at a time, two at a time? How long did that take to drown 300 or 3,000 dudes? Either way, it sounds terrible. To the Thessalian aristocrats, Philip of Macedon was no longer a foreign king called upon to save Thessaly from civil war. Philip was no longer regarded as the savior who suppressed the Farian tyranny and rescued the Thessalian League, something the League alone had been unable to do. In the event that was completely without precedent in Greece, a foreign king was chosen by free election and without compulsion or intimidation to be Archon or ruler of League of the League of Greek cities. What made Philip's election even more astonishing is that the office was conferred for life. Not only was it Philip's great diplomatic victory, it was also changed the history of Greece. For all political purposes, Philip's election as Archon made Thessaly a part of the Macedonian kingdom. It would remain so for the next hundred and fifty years. After returning from Thessaly, Philip first turned his attention to Thrace. After his defeat of Animachus, the Athenians sought to take advantage of Philip's weakened position and take control of Thrace. For almost a year, Philip campaigned, fighting several battles and captured numerous towns and cities. In July of 351 BCE, with the campaign completed, Philip fell seriously ill, but he recovered. Philip had been concerned about Olympus and the thirty two cities of the Calcadian League that it had led since the beginning of his reign. Its strategic geographic location at the head of the Thermaic Gulf, its economic power and large population, and its considerable military force constituted a potentially serious threat to the Macedonian security. Olympus had openly been in contact with Athens since three hundred fifty three BCE and had already concluded a peace treaty with Athens to repair relations strained during Philip's siege in Amphipolis. Olympus' treaty with Philip prohibited such a deal and would have been great concern of Philip. Theopompus is probably correct that Philip delivered a stern warning to the city leaders while the Macedonian army was encamped close by. As he had done often, Philip used his diplomatic skills to deal with Olympus by reminding leaders in serious tones of their treaty obligations, but taking no further action. The discussion seemed to have some effect, and the Alithians expelled Apollonides, the leader of the Anti Macedonian faction from their city. In the spring of three hundred forty nine BCE, Philip demanded Olympus surrender his half brothers to him. Olinthos refused, and in midsummer Philip attacked Chalcitus. Philip moved against Chalcadians to prevent the alliance. After arriving at Chalcitus, Philip's engineers went about their work, and the city fell in a relatively short time. Philip's policy of striking terror in the hearts of the League's cities paid quick dividends and a number of small towns surrendered without a fight to save themselves. Philip's strategy was succeeding handsomely when events forced him to abandon his campaign and return to Thessaly in the late fall. Faray had broken into open revolt, perhaps by deposed tyrant Petalaus. While Philip was in Thessaly suppressing the Feraian revolt, another revolt broke out in the island of Euboia in february three hundred forty eight BCE that greatly concerned Athens. The island was of vital strategic importance to Athens. If Philip could reach the northern end of Euboia by sea, he could then march down the island, cross into Boeia, link up with his Theban and Boian allies, and attack Athens itself. Boia? Are you kidding me? In the spring of three hundred forty eight BCE, Philip was campaigning against the western cities and much closer to Olinthos. He took Apollonia, Apollonia, and Tyrone. By summer Machimberna fell to Macedonians, greatly reducing Olympus' ability to retrieve reinforcements from Athens. By June, Philip was outside its walls, preparing to bring Olymtos under siege. Philip had timed his final assault on Olymtos to coincide with the season of the winds. The transports carrying the Athenian relief force were unable to be put to sea for forty days. Olinthos sent a messenger asking Philip for terms. Philip had no intentions of coming to terms. Philip's reply reflected his contempt for Olymtos. For the rest of time it is not possible for you to live on an Olympos and me in Macedonia. His only solution was to destroy Olinthos and annex the entire Caucasian peninsula. The siege began in July and by september three hundred forty eight BCE it was over. The once powerful city of ten thousand ceased to exist. Because Olinthos had betrayed him, Philip turned the city over to his army, which went on a bloody rampage, killing the civilian population indiscriminately. He distributed Olinthian lands to his companions and other important persons, he distributed cash to important men in the Chalcadis cities, and in this way secured the services of many men willing to betray their city. Philip intended to integrate the whole Chalcades into Macedonia. He had taken first steps towards the negotiation peace with Athens immediately after his capture of Olympus. If Philip wished to do so, he could have easily forced the now only lightly defended pass at Thermopylae, joined the Thebes, and defeated Phocis, bringing an end to the sacred war, but he had no desire to end the war as long as it continued to weaken all the major Greek states except for Macedonia. That summer, the Macedonian privateer had captured an Athenian citizen named Phrinon and held him for ransom. Athens sent an embassy to Philip demanding the man's release. Philip agreed that the seizure was illegal and the man was released. Philip then sent back a message with the Athenian emissary that the king regretted the war with Athens and that he had been forced into it, and that he had now wanted to end the war and conclude peace with Athens. As always, Philip was trying to obtain by diplomacy what he had not yet achieved by war. In three hundred forty six BCE, Philip made another attempt to settle things diplomatically. The fate of the Athenians captured by Philip and Olynthos and being held prisoner was an emotional issue for Athens, and in early three hundred forty six the Athenian assembly sent Aristotomus, an actor and old friend of Philip's to Pella to determine what Philip intended to do with the prisoners. Empty handed, Aristotomus returned with the news that Philip wanted peace and an alliance with Athens. This time Athens was in no position to refuse. As a sign of good faith, Philip offered two things to release the Athenian prisoners immediately and without ransom, and to recognize the Athenian influence on Euboia. He also promised not to attack the Athenian possessions and the Cersanese as long as the negotiations were in progress. While Philip was campaigning in Thrace, the Athenian delegation had returned to Athens and begun debating Philip's terms for peace and alliance with Macedonia. Athens was isolated, exhausted, broke, an easy prey for the Macedonian king. A few days. Two days later, the Athenian assembly agreed to the peace of Philocrates. Philocrates was a member of the delegation to the Pella and a proponent of peace with Philip. The Athenians had come to Pella to conclude to all sides a bilateral agreement, only to find themselves in the middle of a larger negotiation addressing how Philip intended to settle the sacred war. Philip intended carefully and led each to believe that he supported its position. The Athenians were eager for peace, and after negotiations concluded, Philip marched his army south towards the Thermopylae Pass to surprise the Sphochians, who had been misled by Philip's promises that he intended to settle the sacred war peacefully. More than likely a deal had already been agreed upon because when Philip arrived at the army, Philacus immediately surrendered Thermopylae to Philip without a fight. Philip's army poured through the pass and occupied the fortress towns. All of Greece from Attica to the Peloponnese was now at risk of Macedonian attack. Philip's seizure of the Thermopylae Pass was more a victory of diplomacy and intelligence than of arms. Macedonia's emergence as a major power was possible in large part because the most important Greek states were busy fighting each other while Philip expanded Macedonia's power in its periphery. When eventually Philip was ready to strike at the center of Greece, no state or combination of states was there to stop him. Philip and the Macedonian army were now less than thirty miles from Alate, with no substantial enemy forces between them and the Phocian capital. To the southeast, Thebes and the armies of the Boeotian League were preparing to move north. Phocus was now trapped in a vice by two major armies without any prospect of aid. The Phocians surrendered to Philip in june three hundred forty six BCE. The Amphistonic League's delegates resolved to destroy all the Phocian cities, and Pausanias names twenty cities that suffered this fate. The League decreed that Philip and his descendants should be members of the League, and he should have two votes which formerly belonged to the Phocians. Combined with six Thessalian votes, Philip now had a virtual majority over the League's decisions. Philip took great effort to appear operating within the context of the League and not as king of Macedonia, that is, furthering the alliance's interests first and not those of his own country. When Philip finally proposed an alliance and truce with the Athenians in early three hundred forty eight BCE, Athens was already on its last leg. By the end of the Sacred War, Philip had weakened the Athenians' hold on Eboia, driven it from Chalcades and the Thermaic Gulf, seized and occupied the Thermopylae Pass, and reduced much of Thrace to the Macedonian satellite from which he was able to attack eastern Thrace and the Carsines. Athenian's power had been so successfully reduced that the Athenians could no longer serve as an effective check on Thebes or Sparta. Having allied Athens with Macedonia, Philip now aimed to reduce Theban and Spartan power in the central Greece region. It was three hundred forty six BCE that Philip may have begun contemplating an invasion of Persia. Diodorus tells us after he arranged the Amphitonic peace, Philip returned to Pella, where he was eager to be nominated commander in chief of the Greeks in full powers and to conduct the war with the Persians. If Philip was seeking glory and wealth, then an invasion of Persia made the most sense. Differences between the Athenians and Philips, however, dissolved their partnership. The following spring, Philip took his army into Illyria to deal with the growing threat and the rebellion of the Dardarians. Philip broke the Illyrian rebellion, and after pillaging the land and securing many of the townships, he returned to Macedonia with large quantities of booty. For most of Philip's reign, the Persians had been distracted by internal problems. By three hundred forty BCE, Persia had succeeded in establishing control of Egypt, Cyprus, and Phoenicia Phoenicia, and remained on good terms with the Greek cities on Central Asia, gaining access to their fleets. Athens' failure to secure Persian aid removed the last restraint on Philip, and that summer Philip prepared war with Athens. He concluded that the genuine peace was no longer possible. Without getting too in depth with dates and specific battles, the Macedonians fought many battles in the Cyrene, Perinthus, Byzantium, Athius, Cynthia, and finally Carnea. This is also the time when Alexander began commanding on his own, and he achieved several key victories for his father. All great battles are fought for political goals. The armies are but means to a larger end. Cyrenea was a great battle precisely because it allowed Philip to finally achieve his most important political and strategical objective of unifying Greece under Macedonian hegemony. It is impossible to imagine Greek history from this point forward without Philip's victory in Caronia. Out of respect for the Athenians dead, Philip gave the bodies of the slain for burial, had them cremated, and had an honor guard led by Alexander, Antipater, and Alyssachus carry their ashes to Athens. Philip also freed Athenian prisoners of war without ransom. The Phenians were so relieved they raised a statue to Philip and Agora. Philip's treatment of Thebes, however, stands in marked contrast to his treatment of Athens. He allowed them to rot in the sun for several days, repeated denying Theban request to recover their slain. When Philip finally allowed them to do so, he charged ransom for the Theban prisoners and corpses as well. He did treat the sacred band with respect. Otherwise he treated Thebes and its soldiers with undisguised contempt as befitting a treacherous ally that had broken the solemn oath of a treaty. Macedonia was now a preeminent power in Greece. Philip intended to use that power to guarantee Macedonian power for the foreseeable future and for his heirs, and establish the necessary conditions to carry out a successful invasion of Persia. In the weeks of the following Curonia, Philip began establishing the new order, concluding bilateral agreements with the major Greek states. Unlike Athens, Philip had no interest in preserving Theban power. He set out to reduce Theban authority and the regional influence permanently. Philip killed the chief men in the city, others were banished and seized the others' property. Philip now turned his attention to Sparta, the most powerful state in the Peloponnasus. Sparta had not joined the Athenian League or taken any hostile action against Philip, yet Philip could hardly have permitted Sparta to maintain its position in the region if he were going to impose a common peace on Greece. To do so might invite the Persians to try and entice Sparta against Philip when he left for Asia. Philip marched to Argos and offered to negotiate with Sparta. When they refused, Philip marched into Lysonia and the Macedonian army in autumn of three hundred thirty eight BCE and laid the region to waste. Philip did not attempt to destroy the Spartan state. His objective was to weaken Sparta relative to its smaller neighbors and prevent its dominance of the region. He succeeded. In late three hundred thirty eight BCE, Philip issued more an order than invitation for the city states to send representatives to the Conference of Corinth. Philip aimed to create a common peace for all Greece. Justinus tells us that Philip was courteous to the delegates and listened to their concerns, and there was a wide agreement that they should end the revolutionary strife and warfare that plagued Greece. In the spring of three hundred thirty seven BCE, the delegates returned to Corinth for another meeting and voted to approve Philip's plan. The council authorized the creation of the common armed force drawn for each member's military forces in proportionate numbers to enforce its edicts. Philip was elected its hegemon. In this way, Philip imposed a common peace on Greece, creating a community of Greece, what modern scholars came to call the League of Corinth. As hegemon, Philip was also strategic autocrator, or commander in chief, with full powers, who could call up the League's forces to use against any member state violated obligations or meet any foreign threat. Philip produced a community of Greeks by making of various peoples live within a collective constitutional order with common laws and obligations supported by effective administrative and enforcement mechanisms, including means to defend itself from internal and external threats. Federal leagues of cities have been attempted before in Greece, but none in the scope of Philip's League of Corinth. In the autumn of three hundred thirty seven BCE, the council again called into session to hear Philip's proposal to invade Persia and punish the Persians for the act of sacrilege they had committed against Greek sanctuaries. Philip had technically been at war with the Persians since the siege of Perinthus in three hundred forty BCE, when Persia had sent supplies to Parenthus and military forces into Thrace. In the spring of three hundred thirty six BCE, Philip sent an advanced expeditionary force of ten thousand Macedonian troops into Asia Minor. A year later, in the spring of three hundred thirty seven, Philip acquired another wife, a Macedonian woman named Cleopatra, the ward of a powerful baron named Attalus. After the wedding feast, the males gathered in a typical Macedonian drinking bout. This is when the famous story of Philip attempting to attack Alexander only to stumble onto the floor happens. Alexander and Olympia left for Illyria, and upon sober reflection, Philip realized the damage he had done and moved to reconcile with Olympius and Alexander. The day after the marriage ceremony, Philip was to preside over the athletic games. A grand possession would take place beforehand in the theater of a gay. The possession began at sunrise with statues of twelve Olympian gods carried into the theater. A statue of Philip would be carried close behind. Then, according to Diodorus, came Alexander the heir and Alexander of Ipirus walking ahead of Philip. Philip himself entered wearing a white cloak. He ordered his bodyguards to follow and be removed at some distance from him as an indication to everyone that he had no need for protection of guards. Such was a degree of preeminence that he had attained. When Philip reached the center of the theater, he stopped and faced the cheering crowd. Suddenly, a figure rushed forward and stabbed Philip in the chest, driving the blow right through his ribs, and laid him out prostrate and lifeless. Philip's blood soaked his white cloak red. The king's bodyguard rushed to his side, but Philip died almost immediately. The assassin's quote sprinted at the gates to the horses, and he made ready for his escape. Diodorus notes the assassin had a head start in the pursuit, and would have succeeded in mounting his horse before he could stop him had he not entangled his sandal in a vine and fallen. As he was getting up from the ground, Perdicus and the soldiers seized him, ran him through, and killed him. Such was the end of Philip, in the course of a reign twenty years, had been the greatest of the kings of Europe of his day. And this was more or less the cliff versions of Philip II of Macedonia. So who killed him? The source of Philip's assassination is generally poor because none of them could have known whether anyone was involved or not into the scheme. All the sources do agree the assassin's identity, it was Pausanias of Aristus, a canton of Upper Macedonia. Pausanias was able to get close enough to Philip to strike him down because Pausanias had recently been appointed one of Philip's bodyguards. Diodorus tells us that Philip promoted Pausanius himself. Thus Philip put his own assassin in the position to kill him. Why did Pausanias kill Philip? According to all three sources we have, the motive was personal anger and revenge, because Philip quote, allowed him to be outrageously treated by Attilus and company. Diodorus and Justinus tell us of the outrage involved in Pausanius' rape by Attilus and his cronies who had turned Pausanius over to his muleteers for further abuse. When Pausanius was page, Philip had been attracted to him because of his good looks, and they engaged in a homosexual affair, apparently. After some time, Philip was attracted to another page and had the same name as Pausanius, but he took the new Pausanius. It said that Attalus lured Pausinius to his house where he, quote, after filling him with vast quantities of unmixed wine, Attalus handed his body over to his stableman to abuse him sexually in drunken rape. Pausinius was enraged at the assault and appealed to his former lover Philip to punish Atalus. While Philip was angry at the enormity of the crime, he refused to punish Atalus because of kinship. Attalus had adopted Philip's new wife Cleopatra and was therefore Philip's father in law. He also had already chosen Atalus to command the advanced expedition to Persia. Philip tried to appease Pausanius, and that was when he promoted him to an honorable position in his bodyguards. Aristotle tells us the same story of Atalus and his benchmen. Seething with anger, Pausanius killed Philip for not punishing Attalus or avenging him. That Pausanius killed Philip is beyond doubt. Whether the assassination was part of a larger conspiracy has intrigued historians ever since. The usual suspects are Olympia, Alexander, some of the sons of Erepus of Lyncestus, Amentis, and the Persian king Darius. Immediately following the assassination, the Macedonians from Aege and the surrounding regions were summoned to the assembly under arms to elect a new king, and Tipiter presented Alexander to the assembly, which then elected Alexander the new king. And that is where we're going to stop this examination into the life of Philip II of Macedon. Philip was a hard dude and a hard time living in a harsh world, but he endured and kept moving forward, turning Macedonia from near extinction basically to the most powerful, wealthiest state in Greece. He killed a bunch of dudes, but dudes that would have done the same to him if they had a chance. Why was he killed? No one knows for sure. But if I were gang raped by your stepdad and a bunch of his friends, then thrown outside for their soldiers to have their way with me, that would be more than enough to entice me to do some crazy ass shit. But who knows? Maybe it was Olympia or his son Alexander. He was ahead of his time and a product of his time. In a lot of ways, we just barely scratched the surface of what he accomplished. Since his early twenties, the only year he wasn't campaigning was 344 BCE, and that was because he almost died the previous year. There were a lot of dates, but he was a genius war tactician, which is a lot of what he's still known for today, and we didn't cover much or really any of his battle strategies. Alexander was no rags to riches. Philip was. Alexander was more of a Michael Douglas or Howard Hughes, both very accomplished on a professional level, inspiring. But Philip was Genghis Khan or Brad Pitt. And that's all we have for you guys today. Thanks for tuning in. If you have something to say, leave us a comment or send an email to stonedatepod at gmail.com. Follow us on Facebook at the Stonedate Podcast with Wes Ranson or YouTube.com at thestonedate pod, and I'll try to have links for these down below. Thanks again and have a chill day.