When Greeks were less fond of Alexander
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Athens, Jan. 30: To modern Greeks, Alexander the Great is an integral part of their rich heritage — one of history’s greatest conquerors who toppled the hated Persian Empire and took Greek culture as far as Egypt and India.
However, ancient Greek city- states, who spent more than a decade fighting against Alexander’s father Philip II of Macedon, were probably less enthusiastic. A skilled general and diplomat who transformed Macedon — ancient Macedonia — from a tribal backwater into a regional superpower, Philip waged a sustained campaign against the Greek city- states, eventually crushing Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE.
For the first time in history, most of the Greek mainland was then under the influence of a single ruler, ending decades of internecine warfare.
“Philip was a rather unscrupulous ruler, who tried to, and finally managed, to expand Macedonian power over the rest of Greece... of course, there was a lot of antagonism against him,” said Reinhard Senff, scientific director of the German Archaeological Institute in Athens. At the time, many Greeks did not consider Macedonians part of the Hellenic tradition — even though they spoke Greek and worshipped the same gods. However, in contrast to many city- state democracies, Macedon was a monarchy.
The orator Demosthenes of Athens, penned fiery speeches against Philip, calling him a “barbarian”.
“Force of habit,” said Stephen Miller, professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley.
“For Demosthenes, anyone who disagreed with him was ‘ barbarian’.”