Macedonian household where the splendid royal tombs have recently been exca-
vated, were important centres.
On Alexander’s death, Athens and the northern states revolted against
Macedonian rule but were again defeated at the battle of Crannon in 322 by Antipater,
whom Alexander had left in charge of Macedon in his absence. He now established
a Macedonian garrison in the Piraeus, and modified the Athenian constitution by
restricting citizenship to the wealthy, thereby creating a broad oligarchy or restricted
democracy. The Macedonian garrison effectively prevented the Athenians from
developing naval power. It was one of four on the eastern side of Greece, called by
a later Macedonian king ‘the fetters of Greece’, the others being Demetrias, newly
founded in Thessaly, Chalchis on the island of Euboea and Corinth, by which the
Macedonians controlled the western Aegean sea routes and had easy access to the
main city states of Greece north of the isthmus. Though fettered by the garrison, after
various interventions democratic rule of a kind was restored to Athens, but the powers
that be in Athens courted the patronage and material support of Ptolemy II, as a result
of which the Athenians, along with the Spartans and states south of the isthmus,
became involved in war against Macedonia in the 260s. Antigonus II successfully
besieged the city and established a governor there. In 229 the city was freed from the
garrison at the Piraeus, and gave up her fortifications and navy effectively becoming
a neutral state. In this period in Athens, as in many states, citizen assemblies
continued to meet and pass resolutions. And despite interference in her internal affairs
and her loss of military independence, Athens remained an important cultural centre,
accepting the patronage and endowments of successive kings.
At Sparta there were successive attempts by two kings, first by Agis IV from
244–241, and then after his failure by Cleomenes III 235–222, to revive the fortunes of
their city in a conservative revolution involving a redistribution land designed to return
to the system of Lycurgus. However, the assertive foreign policy of Cleomenes brought
a military defeat at the hands of Antigonus III, who intervened to modify the constitution
and abolished the kings, making a rare Macedonian intervention south of the isthmus.
In the eastern Aegean, Macedonian control was less secure. The island of
Rhodes, well situated on the trade routes from Macedonia to the eastern cities,
survived a year-long siege by Demetrius, the son of Antigonus I, in 305–4 who was
seeking to break its connections with Ptolemy in Egypt. The city earned sufficient
monies from the sale of siege equipment to fund the building of the Colossus, which
became one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world. Maintaining good relations
with Ptolemaic Egypt, Rhodes avoided domination by any of the major powers and
in the second half of the third century its large navy secured the surrounding seas
from piracy. In addition to the distinction of its sculpture, it was a cultural centre on
the lines of Athens, the home of philosophers and poets. Macedonian hegemony did
not spell decline for all Greek states.
86 THE GREEKS