Fourth-Century Greece to the Death of Philip II

Fourth-Century Greece to the Death of Philip II is one of the Historical Periods options in Section IV (25 marks). You write one extended response (one of two alternatives), about 1,000 words. Study the period through the written and archaeological evidence, organised around:

• Historical context: Greece after the Peloponnesian War (404 BC); the role of Persia.
• The nature of power and authority: the attempts of Sparta, Athens and Thebes to dominate Greece (hegemony); leagues and alliances; the role of Persia and of common peaces.
• The rise of Macedon: Philip II's reign (359–336 BC) — the army, finance, diplomacy, the Sacred War, Athens and Demosthenes, Chaeronea and the League of Corinth.
• Evidence and interpretations: Xenophon, Diodorus, Plutarch, Demosthenes, Aeschines, Isocrates, inscriptions and archaeology (e.g. Vergina).

All dates are BC.

• 404: Athens surrenders. Lysander installs harmosts (governors) and decarchies (boards of ten); the Thirty rule Athens.
• 403: King Pausanias allows the restoration of Athenian democracy (Thrasybulus).
• 400–394: Sparta at war with Persia in Asia Minor; Agesilaus campaigns there (396–394).
• Corinthian War (395–387/6): Thebes, Athens, Corinth and Argos against Sparta, with Persian money. Haliartus (Lysander killed, 395); Nemea and Coronea (Spartan victories, 394); Cnidus (394: Conon and Pharnabazus destroy the Spartan fleet); Athens rebuilds its Long Walls; Lechaeum (390: Iphicrates' peltasts destroy a Spartan mora).
• King's Peace (Peace of Antalcidas, 387/6): the cities of Asia and Cyprus to the Persian king; all other Greek cities autonomous (Lemnos, Imbros and Scyros to Athens). Sparta enforces it.
• Abuse of the peace: the Boeotian League dissolved; Mantinea split into villages (385); war on Olynthus (382–379); Phoebidas seizes the Cadmea of Thebes (382).
• 379/8: Theban exiles under Pelopidas liberate Thebes. 378: Sphodrias' raid on Attica; Athens joins Thebes.

Why Sparta failed: harsh rule and alienated allies; dependence on Persia; abuse of autonomy; too few citizens (oliganthropia) and fear of the helots (the conspiracy of Cinadon, about 399); and the rise of Thebes.

• 378/7: founded against Spartan aggression. The decree of Aristoteles (377, inscription) promises freedom and autonomy, no garrisons, governors or tribute, and no Athenian ownership of land in members' territory. Members meet in a council (synedrion) and pay ‘contributions’ (syntaxeis).
• Social War (357–355): Chios, Rhodes, Cos and Byzantium break away after Athenian breaches of these promises; the confederacy is weakened.

• Leuctra (371): Epaminondas' left wing, 50 shields deep, with the Sacred Band under Pelopidas, smashes the Spartan right; King Cleombrotus and about 400 of 700 Spartiates killed (Xenophon).
• 370/69: first invasion of Laconia; Messene founded (369) — the Messenian helots freed; the Arcadian League and Megalopolis (about 368).
• Thebes intervenes in Thessaly and Macedon (Philip is a hostage at Thebes, about 368–365); Pelopidas killed at Cynoscephalae (364).
• Mantinea (362): the Thebans hold the field, but the battle is indecisive and Epaminondas is killed. Xenophon ends his history: ‘even more uncertainty and confusion in Greece after the battle than before’.

Why Thebes failed: dependence on two leaders; limited money and no navy; rivals uniting against it.

Reasons for Philip's success

• Army: the sarissa phalanx (a pike of perhaps 5–6 m), Companion cavalry, light troops, siege engineers; professional, paid and constantly trained.
• Money: the Pangaeum mines; gold for soldiers, bribes and gifts.
• Kingship: decisions without an assembly; personal leadership.
• Diplomacy: marriage alliances, promises, bribery, playing enemies off against each other.
• Opportunity: Greek exhaustion and divisions — the Social War and the Sacred War let him intervene as champion of Apollo.
• Settlement: harsh to Thebes (garrison on the Cadmea), lenient to Athens; the League of Corinth presented his rule as Greek unity.

• Xenophon (Hellenica, Agesilaus): a contemporary; pro-Spartan and admirer of Agesilaus, but critical of Spartan injustice (Phoebidas); hostile to Thebes and says little about Epaminondas.
• Diodorus (Library, books 14–16, 1st century BC): a later, continuous narrative based on lost 4th-century historians.
• Plutarch (Agesilaus, Pelopidas, Demosthenes): late and biographical.
• Demosthenes (Philippics, Olynthiacs, On the Crown) and Aeschines: rival Athenian politicians — vivid but partisan.
• Isocrates (Panegyricus 380; To Philip 346): Panhellenism — Greeks should unite against Persia.
• Material evidence: the decree of Aristoteles; the walls of Messene; the Lion of Chaeronea; the royal tombs at Vergina (Aegae), excavated by Manolis Andronikos from 1977 — whether Tomb II held Philip II is still debated.
• Modern views (credited if used): debates about Spartan manpower, about whether Philip planned the conquest of Greece from the start, and about how ‘Greek’ the Macedonians were seen to be.

1. Unpack the question: the command verb and the focus (a hegemony, a leader, Philip, the period as a whole).
2. Thesis: a clear judgement at the start.
3. Paragraphs by argument, each with dated evidence and analysis.
4. Compare: many questions reward comparing Sparta, Athens, Thebes and Macedon.
5. Sources: treat Xenophon, Demosthenes and Isocrates as interpretations with agendas.
6. Conclusion: answer the question.

• Confusing the King's Peace (387/6) with the Peace of Philocrates (346) or the League of Corinth (338/7).
• Confusing Phoebidas (382, the Cadmea) with Sphodrias (378, the raid on Attica).
• Treating Demosthenes' speeches as neutral history.
• Forgetting Persia's role in Greek affairs before Philip.
• Going past 336 into Alexander's reign.

• Anchor dates: 404, 395, 387/6, 382, 378/7, 371, 362, 359, 346, 338.
• Use terms accurately: hegemony, harmost, autonomy, common peace, synedrion, oliganthropia, sarissa, Companions, Amphictyonic Council, Panhellenism.
• For questions on Philip, weigh his own abilities against Greek weaknesses.

• Spartan society to Leuctra: the Spartan system that failed in this period.
• Alexander the Great (Personalities): the army and League that Alexander inherited.
• Persia: Cyrus II to the death of Darius III: the Persian side of the King's Peace.