A Macedonian king-reformer, who ruled 359-336 BC and turned Macedonia into a centralized kingdom.

Philip II of Macedon reorganized the army – introduced into the infantry corps the so called Macedonian phalanx, and made the first steps for fleet in Macedonia.

He managed to conquer the Pangaion Hills with their gold mines and the colony of Amphipolis from the Thracians. He took advantage of the Odrysian kingdom, weakened after the death of Cotys I and conquered Aegean Thracia, where he initiated a great colonization. Philip II of Macedon started minting gold coins, which led to a conflict with the Persian interests and undermining of the Athenian silver coins. He seized the opportunity, when the Second Athenian Sea League lost its power, and took part in the Holy War on the side of Phocis against Thebes and Athens – 352 BC. In 339 BC, he crushed their united forces at Chaeronea. The established peace made easier for Philip II of Macedon to force the Macedonian hegemony in Hellas. In 337 BC, at the Synedrion at Corinth, a Hellenic league was established under Macedonian hegemony and peace for entire Hellas and a Holy War on Persia was declared. In 336 BC, the military operations began and the Macedonian army, commanded by Parmenion and Attalus, invaded Anatolia to liberate the Greek settlements. In the same year Philip II of Macedon was assassinated by plotters.

The last king of Macedon 179 – 168 BC, son of Philip V. He succeeded to dethrone his pro-Roman brother Demetrius and to organize an anti-Roman coalition with the Greek city-states. The so called Third Macedonian War started with an initial success for Perseus but in the Battle of Pydna 168 BC he suffered an utter defeat and was forced to surrender to the Romans. His victor, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, carried immense plunder back to Rome and enslaved 150 000 people from the Epirote towns, allied to Perseus. He was captured too and died in 165 or 162 BC.

Alexander the Great 356-323 BC, son of Philip II of Macedon and Olympias. Aristotle was his tutor and thus Alexander was influenced by the Hellenic theories. After the death of Philip II, Alexander of Macedon subjugated Hellas, and in Corinth, proclaimed himself a leader of the Greeks in the war against the Persians. After he conquered the Hellespont, he went to Anatolia where he gained number of victories over the Persian king Darius III. He captured the Phoenician city of Tyre and made for Egypt where he was welcomed as a liberator (from the Persians). In Egypt he visited the temple of Amun where the priests gave honour to him as a god.

In 332-331 BC, in Egypt, he founded the future big cultural Hellenistic centre – Alexandria. Then he started his victorious march to the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, Babylon, Susa and Persepolis and reached the Indus River. He defeated the Indian king Porus in 326 BC, who later became his ally, and Alexander made him a satrap of India, then he set off with his army to the north-east.

Alexander of Macedon had to turn back due to the discontent and exhaustion of his army. He settled in Babylon where he died of fever later on.

During his marches Alexander of Macedon founded hundreds of new settlements that turned into important seats for distribution of the Hellenic culture. On the other hand, this culture was deeply influenced by the Eastern one, which led to the forming of the so called Hellenistic culture. The enormous empire, formed by Alexander’s marches, was not lasting because it comprised of economically and ethnically heterogeneous regions. After his death, his generals, the Diadochi, began long wars for the so called Alexander’s legacy. This led to the dissolution of his vast empire into numerous Hellenistic kingdoms. The most significant of them were these of the Seleucids in Syria, Ptolemies in Egypt and Antigonids in Macedonia and Hellas.

The Empire of Alexander the Great - map from Wikimedia