In the year after Chaeronea, Philip called a conference of all the Greek states at
Corinth and announced a decision to make war on Persia to liberate the Greek cities
of Asia Minor and punish the Persians for acts of sacrilege committed in the days of
Xerxes. Philip was to be the supreme commander (hegemon)of a Panhellenic force.
He was now at the height of his power and prestige, marked by the presentation of
himself in the celebrations that followed the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra.
Along with his other magnificent preparations, Philip included in the procession
statues of the twelve gods, fashioned with superb craftsmanship and adorned with
an incredible display of wealth – and with these was carried a thirteenth statue,
appropriate for a god, that of Philip himself, with the King thus showing himself
enthroned beside the twelve gods.
(Diodorus Siculus, 16, 92, 5)In the light of this it is ironic that at these celebrations Philip was assassinated by a
young man with a personal grievance. This is how his son Alexander summed up his
father’s achievements when he addressed mutinous troops just after the start of his
Persian campaign.
Philip took you on when you were penniless vagabonds, mostly clothed in skins,
grazing a few sheep up on the mountains, and on their behalf fighting – with poor
results – Illyrians and Triballians and the neighbouring Thracians. He gave you
cloaks to wear in place of skins; he brought you down from the mountains to the
plains; he trained you so you could engage with the barbarians on your borders,
and no longer relied for your safety on your strongholds rather than on your innate
courage; he made you inhabitants of cities and gave you good laws and customs.
It was he who made you masters, and not the slaves and subjects of those
barbarians who previously used to harry and plunder yourselves and your property;
he also added most of Thrace to Macedonia, and by capturing the most
advantageous places by the sea opened the country up to trade; he ensured that
you could work the mines in safety; he made you rulers of the Thessalians, who in
the old days used to frighten you to death; by humbling the Phocian people he
made you a pathway into Greece which was broad and easy instead of narrow
and rough; the Athenians and Thebans who were always lying in wait to attack
Macedonia he so greatly humbled, – and we were part of these campaigns – that
instead of paying the Athenians tribute and taking orders from the Thebans it was
our turn to give them security. He also invaded the Peloponnese and settled
matters there as well, and his recognition as absolute leader over the whole of
Greece conferred renown not so much upon himself as upon the Macedonian state.
(Arrian, Expedition of Alexander, 7, 9, 1–5)HISTORY 79