Saturday Matinee: Warlords of History

Lindsay Graham
I've been watching Shogun on Hulu recently and really enjoying it. It's a really well constructed narrative mashup of fish out of water culture clash, romance, political thriller and spectacle war movie. The acting is great, the costumes are rich, the cinematography is transporting. It's all around a great show. But while I am invested in the characters and their journeys, one of the things that really piques my curiosity is the real history of feudal Japan at the time.

The year is somewhere around 1600, and Wikipedia tells me that this is the tumultuous end to the Azuchi Momoyama period. But thats academic. Whats interesting is the style of government, the evolution of power. There are fragile alliances, strained institutions, and tenuous agreements, but ultimately its a tale of warlords, those with enough will and courage to take power, concentrate it, and then take some more. Of course, warlords have been with us throughout history, and not just in Japan.

Even right now, in 2024, warlords are tearing Haiti apart, for instance, upending democracy and sowing a lawless chaos. Theres one warlord there known as barbecue, though he swears the nickname comes from his mothers roadside chicken joint and not his tendency for burning his enemies alive. And in the fourth century BCE, there was Philip II of Macedon, the man that defeated what we know as classical Greece, whose conquest was second only to that of his son, Alexander the Great. And that's the story we bring you on today's Saturday matinee with an episode from Warlords of History, a podcast that uncovers the lifetimes and achievements of warlords from ancient and medieval times. I hope you enjoy.

While you're listening, be sure to search for and follow warlords of history. We put a link in the show notes to make it easy for you.

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Mark Pimenta
In 370 BCE, at the Royal palace in the city of Pella, Macedonia, a twelve year old boy by the name of Philip stood off far to the side, quiet, forgotten amidst the concerned, bustling activity in the room, watching and absorbing the scene before him with sorrowful yet keenly attentive eyes. As his father, King Amyntas III of Macedon, who had taken ill, lay in what would be his deathbed, Philips attention was momentarily drawn to his eldest brother, Alexander II, the young, impetuous and hot headed future king, as he tersely commanded the royal physicians to leave the room, having done all they could but failing to prevent the inevitable, would he be the one to guide Macedonia out of this seemingly ever present storm surrounding the kingdom, threatening its very existence? He certainly had the right temperament for a warrior king, an essential attribute of a macedonian monarch. But something fundamental was missing, a solid foundation to heal the internal divides and unite the kingdom. Philip looked again to his father, carefully studying his face.

The burden of leadership had taken its toll on King Amyntas, although Philip could now see the lines of worry melt away as he cascaded into his final sleep. Sleep, his breaths coming in irregularly and in shallow bursts, struggling to keep him alive. Struggle, a notion that Philip clearly understood. His father had faced his entire reign. Although Amyntas had somehow been able to hold onto the macedonian crown for 22 years, he had been surrounded by countless enemies, internally and externally throughout.

As such, his hold was ever tenuous, severely limiting his ability to govern and protect their lands. This while the macedonian court was beset with intrigue, betrayal, and murder, even within his own family. Disunity, squabbling, fighting for crumbs while Macedonias neighbors and the supreme powers in that part of the world were feasting. From the very founding of the kingdom of Macedonia in 808 BCE to that moment, these were the issues that had always plagued the kingdom, locking it into its status as a second rate power, a player of lesser importance, far off, both literally and figuratively, in the fringes of the greek world. Philip shook his head slowly while pondering these thoughts.

This didnt have to be the way of the world, did it? Maybe there was another way. At that moment, even the young prince himself, nor anyone else for that matter, could have foreseen the rise of Macedon. Although Philip in time would become the architect, the innovator, the builder of that foundation that would take Macedon to unimagined heights.

Welcome to the Warlords of History podcast. Im your host Mark Pimenta. The focus of this podcast is on people, those defined by the term warlord. Fascinating warriors and leaders that made a huge impact in history, some with more lasting effects and others that were relatively short lived, but certainly no less interesting. That said, when I select a particular warlord, I plan to of course review their lifetime and actions, but also take this further by looking at the environmental and political conditions right before their lifetime.

Well explore their motivations for taking on the mantle of war. Well cover what they did, how they did it, and finally what their legacy was beyond their demise. But with the caveat that im going to look beyond the mainstream historical figures that everyone knows about by taking on lesser known subjects such as the feature of this episode, Philip II of Macedon. Although I wouldnt exactly say that Philip is a lesser known historical figure, his name at the very least is known far and wide by many history enthusiasts. But what may come first to mind for most is that hes the father of Alexander the Great, the eternally youthful, renowned macedonian king that has been studied and romanticized throughout history, helping his father to reign supreme in Greece and then later upon Philips death, fulfilling his fathers desire to conquer the achaemenid persian empire, establishing one of the largest empires in history, undefeated in battle and considered to be one of historys most successful commanders.

Understanding all of this, it's easy to understand how Philip has been overshadowed by the astounding achievements of his son, and consequently how his story remains obscure. In my humble opinion, however, what Philip achieved in his lifetime is no less astounding, in some ways, even more unbelievable. When he assumed the throne of Macedon in 359 BCE, he inherited a kingdom that had been stagnating for some time, wracked by infighting, disunity, a poor economy, and mediocre military power, his predecessors had a tenuous hold on power internally, while surrounded by neighbors that regularly chipped away, most literally at macedonian domains and sovereignty, Macedon at that time was considered no more than a minor player in the unfolding drama that was classical Greece, in many ways an afterthought of the successive hegemons, including Athens, Sparta and Thebes, who spurned Macedonia as no more than a pawn in the wars of greater nations. And in many ways, at least prior to Philips reign, they were right, though. As soon as Philip took charge in his first year in 359 BCE, he miraculously reached into the fire and pulled his nation out of a terrible series of predicaments, using an artful combination of cunning, diplomacy and military acumen in symphony to stave off disaster, providing just a hint of what was to come.

A 23 year reign from 359 to 336 BCE that would coincide with the rise of Macedon, taking it from the periphery of classical Greece and molding it into the undisputed superpower of its time. How is this even possible, when the kingdom he was handed was falling apart at the seams, being assailed from all sides? That thought is exactly what makes Philips story so unbelievable. He revolutionized the macedonian army, its configuration and tactics showing a brilliance that was only matched by his diplomatic skills. Underneath his jovial and friendly appearance, he was shrewdly calculating, pitting his enemies against one another, spinning webs of alliances and agreements to be kept or broken when convenient, with somehow Philip always coming out on top.

And we cant neglect the overall circumstances within Greece, the development of a power vacuum of sorts that followed in the wake of the exhaustive peloponnesian war, veritably consuming all of Greece, and that ultimately paved the way for others beyond the traditional contenders of Athens and Sparta, to ascend as hegemon of the greek world. If somehow you had a time machine and were able to see the 46 year old Philip near the end of his time in 336 BCE, sitting on his throne in the macedonian capital of Pella, his appearance alone would give an indication of the toil required to bring this to fruition. A missing right eye that had been taken by an arrow during a siege, his smashed collarbone that had healed but never really set properly, a disfigured leg that had been pierced by a lance, leaving him permanently lame and numerous scars covering his entire body, each one acting as a reminder to leading his troops through so many battles, sieges and skirmishes very different from the unproven, fresh faced Philip that would have come to the throne at 23. He proudly wore these scars like badges of honour, and he was still lively in energy and hungry for more. Despite having brought Greece to its knees, the achaemenid persian empire was to be next.

Philips story is indeed the stuff of legends, but in order to better understand and appreciate the scope and gravity of his story, lets backtrack in time to learn about the origins of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia and its regional neighbors, framing the environment and political climate leading up to his lifetime before becoming established as a kingdom in 808 BCE. Macedonia, also known as Macedon, names that ill use interchangeably throughout the story. The lands that would in time roughly make up the boundaries of its early domains included the alluvial flatland plains between the Haliakimon and Axios rivers in contemporary northern mainland Greece. Rivers that have their origins in the surrounding highlands that also carry in life giving silt and nutrients to these lowland plains, yielding an abundance of fertile soils perfect for livestock cultivation and farming, which beckon various tribes to settle this landscape in pockets, living independent from one another with different laws and chieftains, then later increasingly mingling with one another through trade and at times in conflict. It is believed that these tribal people who formed the basis of ancient Macedonia, shared a common heritage with the ancient Greeks, who ended up populating the rest of the greek peninsula to the south of Macedon.

However, some distance was created beyond this common heritage as the macedonian predecessors intermingled with the bloodlines of other non greek tribes of the highlands surrounding the plains. As they settled and grew their populations on these fruitful lands, they gradually expanded their territories along the northern edge of the greek peninsula, an area that would later be called Lower Macedon, while either absorbing and driving out the neighboring non greek tribes that were of illyrian, paeonian and thracian ancestry. Three of the collections of people neighboring Macedonia that well expand on a little later on, being that they factor in heavily during Philips early reign. From a geographical standpoint, Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece and in greek mythology, the home of the gods, marks the historical southern limit of where Macedonia ended and the greek states began, a distinction that ill continue to use for the sake of storytelling clarity. Underneath of this, however, is a much broader debate because its heavily disputed how Greek Macedonia was a debate present during Philips lifetime and that remains heated to this day, a rabbit hole that I am leery of getting drawn into.

According to much of the greek world at the time, Macedonia was not quite greek and not quite barbarian, rather something in between regarding some of their customs, cultural practices with disdain as uncouth or uncivilized behaviors. One poignant example is that Macedonia was a monarchy, a political structure that the Greeks felt was primitive for people not intelligent enough to rule themselves. In comparison to other forms like the athenian democracy, even external powers such as the achaemenid Persians, they applied an interesting naming convention when referring to the Macedonians, noting similarities but also differentiating them from the rest of the greek world. Naming the Greeks as ya'ona and naming the Macedonians as yana takabara, meaning Greeks with hats that look like shields, referring to the distinct macedonian khazia hat. Macedon and Greece shared many characteristics, a notion that would gain momentum and grow more symbiotic, especially during the classical greek era, which is 500 to 336 BCE, for example in language while there is controversy surrounding just how closely related the ancient macedonian language was to ancient Greek, this gap would later be narrowed as the Macedonians adopted the greek dialect that dominated the peninsula in the fourth century BCE.

Another significant similarity were their religious beliefs, mirroring those of the Greeks in following the deities of the greek pantheon, religious beliefs that are linked to the official founding of the kingdom of Macedon, traditionally marked as 808 BCE, a founding shrouded in myth for reasons of preserving and affirming legitimacy of the Argeia dynasty that ruled this kingdom. The dynasty later that Philip and his son Alexander also belonged to. Conflicting accounts name either Caranus or Perdiccas I as the initial king of Macedon and the founder of the Argeia dynasty, in both cases cited as relatives to Temenus, the mythical king of Argos, a city in the Peloponnese in southern Greece who in turn was the great great grandson of Heracles, the son of Zeus, the king of the greek gods that ruled from Mount Olympus, a lineage which of course sounds far fetched to us. But this was a common practice for noble families in Greece, setting them apart from the common riffraff, thus establishing a direct lineage from the gods to that of the reigning macedonian kings, a necessity for legitimizing their right to rule, being that no other people, no matter how rich or powerful, could possess those same rights. But that also meant that for relatives possessing these bloodlines, they were often seen as valuable tools by foreign rulers as a means to install puppet kings, which youll see a little bit in this episode and definitely in future episodes because Philip had to deal with a seemingly unending line of pretenders to them.

Throne backed by foreign powers the capital of this fledgling kingdom was initially established as the city of Ege in the mid 7th century BCE, placing it near to where the present day town of Virginia now sits. Interestingly, the name Aege doesnt have some grandiose meaning, but surprisingly stands for the city or place of goats. The ancient greek historian Diodorus Siculus relates that it was named so by King Perdiccas I, who was advised by a pythian priestess to build the capital of his kingdom wherever he found white horned and white fleeced goats resting at dawn. And while im sure that we all appreciate a good goat story, what we now better understand, thanks to modern archaeology, is that from around 1000 BCE, the area within roughly a ten kilometer radius of where the city would be founded was already intensely occupied by villages and seemingly an already important population centre. While a new capital would later be founded at Pella in the fifth century BCE, about 40 km northeast to the original, Ege would remain an important city, largely from a symbolic standpoint, used for religious ceremonies like royal weddings and as the location for the royal tombs.

Prior to the late fifth and early fourth centuries BCE, the territory of the Kingdom of Macedon roughly corresponds with the western and central parts of the modern day region of Macedonia and Greece, forming the portion of the kingdom known as Lower Macedonia. Encircled by the surrounding mountains, however, successive kings gradually expanded the kingdoms boundaries to the highlands west and northwest of Lower Macedon, an area that would eventually become known as Upper Macedonia. History Daily is sponsored by greenlight watching your kids grow is one of the wonders of the world. Every year they become more and more themselves as they learn to talk, express themselves, and reason. But they're still learning lots of lessons along the way, like how expensive that pink Stanley mug really is.

Lindsay Graham
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Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See mint Mobile for details. To again give this some context in terms of location, the lands of Upper Macedonia would roughly equate to modern central north Greece and the southern reaches of the country today called the Republic of North Macedonia. Ill be sure to include some maps on my website so you can better see what im talking about here. These two portions of land are what formed the domains of Mastodon during Philips early reign and that of several generations of Argaid kings before him.

Mark Pimenta
But there were some important distinctions between Upper and Lower Macedonia. In theory, the king of Macedon was the ruler of all Macedonians, but in reality, this centralized notion of kingship was only really recognized in Lower Macedonia, while the tribes of Upper Macedonia, some of these Greek, some of these of non greek ancestry, while offering regular tribute to the king, still retained a strong sense of independence and their own royal families, at times rebelling and revolting against macedonian rulers. In addition, while the inhabitants of lower Macedonia were largely settled in farming communities, towns, and some cities, those of upper Macedonia lived a pastoral or semi nomadic existence, herding goats, sheep, and raising some cattle and horses. The upper Macedonians also most heavily felt the influence and threats of those outside of the kingdom, various tribes of the surrounding Illyrians, Epeirotes and Paeonians that would regularly attack and occupy portions of these lands, seeking to increase their own pastoral holdings sometimes the upper macedonian tribes would even throw in their allegiance with these neighbors as well, looking to separate from the kingdom of Macedon. As such, disunity remained a nagging problem for Macedon throughout much of its history.

And aside from constantly having to deal with this internal strife, this also inhibited a unified front when fighting against outside influences. Another detrimental impact of this disunity was on the macedonian economy, keeping it perpetually poor. Lower Macedonia had productive agricultural lands, so at least they were well fed relative to most of Greece, which of course is important, but they didn't really have much else going for them. Whereas upper Macedonia was rich in natural resources, including mineral deposits, but most importantly lumber, a highly sought after commodity that was scarce throughout Greece, macedonian lumber was prized and heavily imported by city states like Athens for uses like shipbuilding. However, at this time, a huge proportion of the source.

These magnificent forests were largely under the control of the tribes within, underscoring an important notion in that the pieces were there to fuel a powerful national economy. But they were essentially inaccessible. Or perhaps a better characterization would be as intermittently accessible, because, as mentioned earlier, conflict between the macedonian king and the various upper macedonian tribes was of frequent occurrence, in large part due to the squabbles over land and the resources within, with the king unable to maintain a hold on these areas. Overall, the macedonian army was rather lackluster, in keeping with its status as a second rate power. However, there was one exception, their cavalry, an exceedingly skilled group that would become known as the companions, alluding to its lofty status as being made up of those closest to the king which had prestige and political influence attached to it.

These typically coming from the macedonian nobility, as they were the only ones who could afford to put up the expenses required to take part in these types of units. Being that a common practice across the greek world was that participation in any army required self funding. In terms of equipment, the plains of lower Macedonia had always been well suited for horse breeding. As such, this proud tradition grew, with the cavalry evolving to play a prominent role in macedonian armies early on. The problem with this, however, is that although formidable, they were relatively few in number, coming mostly from the aristocracy, thus limiting their effectiveness, also leaving the infantry habitually neglected, with the poor citizens filling its ranks with less training and less prestige attached to it.

This disjointed military, racked with self imposed limitations, made it extremely difficult for macedonian kings to exert any ongoing power over the upper macedonian tribes, and even worse, made it extremely difficult to ward off foreign incursions. While all of this was happening within Macedonia. While important to our story, it barely registered among the superpowers in that part of the world, nothing more than background noise, who were playing a greater game for much higher stakes, during which Macedon would be swept into the storm, one of the many weaker realms swallowed up by the behemoths surrounding them, most notably the lumbering giant to the east of Greece, across the Aegean Sea, the achaemenid persian empire, spanning an enormous 5 million km², from modern Afghanistan and northwest India to Egypt and Anatolia. Turkey, led by Darius I, the king of kings, who in 513 bce initiated the first phase of his quest to conquer Greece, a period called the Persian wars, or greco persian wars, launching a massive military campaign across the Hellespont, what we today call the Dardanelles, invading Thrace, the Balkans, and Macedon, which fell and submitted to the Persians, becoming a vassal state, which would last until 492, until the Persians annexed Macedon, officially incorporating it as a part of the achaemeanid empire. Though Mastodon was given a great deal of autonomy in terms of administering themselves, one unavoidable expectation was providing military support to Darius and his successor, Xerxes, during their expeditions into Greece.

And while Xerxes did manage to sack the city of Athens, the coalition of greek city states, one of the rare times they united in pursuit of a cause, inflicted a series of stunning defeats on the Persians in the battles of Salamis and then Plata, forcing the Achaemeanids to withdraw from Greece and the entirety of mainland Europe in 479, in the process also freeing Macedon from their persian overlords. The victory over the Persians during the greco persian wars would give way to the rise of Athens as a superpower and the establishment of the Delian League in 478. A coalition of greek city states under athenian leadership. The purpose of this league was initially aimed at inhibiting any further persian aggression, but was then twisted by Athens for self serving interests and entrenching their power across the coastlines of the Aegean Sea. No longer an athenian led league, a better description would be more of an athenian empire pushing an imperialist agenda, backed by their growing military power and confidence, in particular their navy, which was second to none, the strongest and largest of all the city states.

Through this, athenian allies were essentially turned into subjects, with Athens in firm control of the vast majority of cities all along the coast of the Aegean Sea, including the ionian greek settlements along the western coast of the anatolian peninsula, the Dardanelles Strait, the Bosporus Strait, even as far as the coastline surrounding the Black Sea. The Athenians had also established a strong presence on the southern coast of Macedon and Thrace, in particular, the city of Amphipolis, one of its most important colonies, due to its control over the nearby gold and silver mines, which will become a key battleground into the future of our story here. In fact, among the many fights that Athens was picking at this time, the macedonian kingdom was certainly on that list. During the reign of Perdiccas II, king of Macedon from 454 to 413, the Macedonians were involved in a number of conflicts against Athens, not faring too well in these encounters. While incursions by the Thracians threatened Macedonians territorial integrity to the east, this was a dark time for Macedonia, who were forced into ceding land cities and paying tributes to numerous external entities.

While internally this inflamed the disunity that I mentioned a little earlier. The tribes in upper Macedon, seeing the weakness of their supposed monarch, stopped with the tribute payments and in some instances rebelling outright. The athenian empire was gaining enormous momentum, in the process reaping a windfall of resources, riches and grains, strengthening the Athenians to such a degree that they were now threatening to become the unassailable power in Greece, which, of course, alarmed the other superpower in Greece, the land based, military focused powerhouse Sparta, widely known even today to have one of the finest land armies that ever existed. They were also the leaders of the Peloponnesian League, the counterpart or counterweight of the Delian League. The Spartans understood that the window was quickly closing for them to stem the rising athenian power, otherwise be relegated to subservience.

As such, in 431, the peloponnesian war erupted, which was essentially the ancient greek equivalent of a world war, Sparta and the Peloponnesian League versus Athens and the Delian League, resulting in a brutal and exhaustively draining 27 year war that devastated the greek peninsula, pulling almost all the greek city states, Macedonia, and other foreign nations such as Persia into this fight. The macedonian king Perdiccas II cast their lot in with the Spartans. Not surprising really, given the concerns with the heavy handed athenian approach, who habitually harassed and conquered the macedonian coastal holdings. However, Perdiccas was apparently unable to keep peace with his allies, as he would in due course change his allegiance dizzying amount of times from Sparta to Athens, back to Sparta, and then finally back to the athenian side by 414, although in reality he was probably just looking to side with the group that was most looking like it would win the war, thereby yielding the best returns for his kingdom, which didnt work out too well for Macedonia in the end, who had wagered on the wrong racehorse, because in 404 BCE the Spartans and their allies had finally managed to conquer the city of Athens after a prolonged siege, tearing down the walls, protecting the city, and dissolving the Delian League. Although Athens lost the war, it would recover some of its strength and again become one of the more influential city states in Greece.

However, it would never regain its pre war prosperity or reach the lofty heights as hegemon. This title now belonged to Sparta, but in reality all the city states, even the victors, had been significantly weakened and depleted. Following this marathon of a war. The economic costs of the prolonged conflict were felt all across Greece, with poverty that became widespread in the aftermath. Another outcome of the peloponnesian war was that it reshaped the ancient greek world, significantly reducing the economic and military lead between the dominant city states, Athens and Sparta and everyone else.

Not quite a power vacuum just yet, but almost not allowing the hegemon to dominate the other states as extensively as they did previously. As mentioned, the kingdom of Macedonia had found itself on the losing side of the peloponnesian war, thanks to Perdiccas II, who didnt have to deal with the fallout, being that he died in 413 with his son Archelaus I, succeeding him. Thankfully, everyone in Greece was relatively spent licking their wounds after the prolonged war, so the kingdom of Macedon fared better than expected in the aftermath, in part due to Archelaus being a capable ruler, recognized for his numerous administrative and infrastructure achievements, such as extensive road building, helping to improve the nations economy and military mobility, as well as moving the macedonian capital from Egay to Pella. Why did he move it? Well, mainly for three reasons.

Firstly, to start fresh with a new canvas to construct a more modern and impressive capital city secondly, to gain sea access for the capital, being that in antiquity Pella was connected to the aegean through an inlet, although it has since silted over, leaving the site today landlocked. And thirdly, historical accounts note that the natural features around the city made it more defensible against invading armies, an elevated hill site jutting out like an island surrounded by marshlands. Unfortunately, this was only to be a short burst of momentum for Macedon, and where things get particularly troublesome for the kingdom in the lead up to Philips birth, being that Archelaus reign would be cut short in 399, murdered by one of his entourage during a hunt, a man by the name of Kratavas, who then proclaimed himself as king, ruling for a mere four days, plunging Macedonia into utter chaos over the next six years, internal battles of succession and civil strife, obliterating much of the improvements that had been made prior to this time, the details of which are extremely murky. But we know that the crown exchanged hands at least six times, with numerous other pretenders to the throne emerging, including some backed by foreign nations looking to install puppet kings. This chaotic, wild ride of short term macedonian kings finally ending in 393 BC, when Philips father, Amyntas III, secured the throne by assassinating his predecessor.

But by then the damage had been done, and while Amyntas had managed to grasp the crown, recent events made it rather clear that holding onto it was going to be more than a challenge. Surrounded by enemies at home and abroad, setting the tone for life in the macedonian court for the foreseeable future. Future a soap opera of intrigue, murder, and internal factionalism, with external entities influencing and inserting themselves to tease out desired outcomes. In fact, in 392 BCE, just one year after assuming the throne, Amyntas was forced to flee from his kingdom, owing to a massive invasion of illyrian and dardanian tribes under an ambitious ruler, king Bardellus, whose lands bordered west and northwest Macedonia. Its debated whether the Dardanians were an illyrian tribe or a separate entity altogether, but what seems to be clear is that there was a long tradition of conflict over the upper macedonian lands, including all of these people.

However, being that this was typically situated around smaller tribal warfare, the overall threat to the whole of Mastodon was never too great and somewhat localized. That is, until Bardylus entered the picture. In the years leading up to that point in time and Amyntas reign, Bardylus had arose to become the king of his tribe, and then proceeded to dominate all the dardanian tribes, roughly correlating with the present day areas of southeastern Serbia and Kosovo, followed by the conquest of a number of tribes in southern Illyria, which is modern day Albania, thereby uniting a huge collection of people under his thumb, and was now looking to expand his territory into upper Macedonia. Taking advantage of the weakened state of Amyntuss new position, Bardellus proceeded to defeat Amyntas in a series of battles and even managed to seize the macedonian capital of Pella, installing a puppet king of the argeid bloodline. However, once Bardellus left Macedonia, seeking new conquests in other lands, Amyntas would shortly thereafter return, ousting the pretender to regain his crown with the help of greek thessalian allies who were directly south of Macedonia.

Thessaly was viewed by many contemporaries of the time as the last bastion of civilization before finding the barbarians that lived beyond Mount Olympus to the north, which included the Macedonians, that also acted as a buffer state against the truly uncivilized barbarians beyond. And they probably very much desired Macedonia to continue assuming that role, saving them the trouble of having to deal with the barbarians directly. An interesting little side note regarding the word barbarian. As we know its somewhat of a blanket term to describe a person or people that are considered to be uncivilized. This word has greek origins emerging out of the ancient greek language as Barberos which developed as an antonym for citizen.

Barberos in turn originally arose out of a form of disparagement among Greeks who believed that the languages of non Greek sounded like nothing more than gibberish, sounding like bar bar, easily making the connection for us to Barbaros and ultimately barbarian. But lets get back to our story. Although Amyntas had been reinstalled as the king, he was well aware of where he stood relative to the king of the Dardanians and Illyrians, and continued paying tribute to Bardilis to prevent any further invasions. These events didnt escape the notice of all the other nations surrounding Macedonia, including the chalkidian league that bordered Macedon to the southeast. Situated on the peninsula that juts out into the northwest Aegean Sea, the Chalkidian League was a wealthy federation of greek cities led by the most powerful, called Olynthus that had broken away from athenian domination in 432.

Seeing that Macedonia was seriously struggling to stay afloat, the Chalkydians seized upon this land grabbing opportunity and began occupying some of Macedonians southeastern lands, including, for a short time at least, its capital city of Pella. This was a particularly tumultuous time for the kingdom of Macedon, with the nations of Thrace to the east and Paonia to the north also rattling their swords, circling like vultures above the wounded animal that was macedon, waiting for it to drop so that they too could feast. In fact, one interesting anecdote from this period that illustrates this sentiment involves a chalkidian envoy that had travelled to Sparta in 383, describing that the macedonian king had been forced to retire from a number of his cities and had all but fallen out of his kingdom. History Daily is sponsored by indeed in my line of work I tell a lot of stories. Many follow one of seven basic plots, including the quest, an epic search for a thing of value with all sorts of obstacles in the way, a treasure guarded by a dragon, a magic amulet hidden in a faraway land.

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Indeed.com onthisday terms and conditions apply. Need to hire you. Need indeed. This episode is brought to you by Noom. Forget one size fits all diets.

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Sign up for your trial today@noom.com. Dot thats noom.com and check out nooms first ever cookbook, the Noom Kitchen, for 100 healthy and delicious recipes to promote better living. Available to buy now wherever books are sold. Enemies surrounded Macedonia practically on all sides, with perhaps only its southern border secure with Thessaly, who had recently helped them to avoid a complete disaster by bailing out amyntas. This was the dire state of the kingdom into which Philip II was born in 382 BCE in Pelhamacodon, the youngest or second youngest of four children, including two older brothers, the children of King Amyntas III and his wife, Eurydice, a fiery woman from Upper Macedonia who played an unusually large role in macedonian public life and was known to be rather aggressive in terms of court intrigues and also in the political sphere.

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Of note is that Philip also had three half brothers from his fathers second wife. Although having multiple wives was somewhat common among the macedonian ruling class, polygyny was another aspect of their culture that the Greeks frowned upon viewing this in bad taste, similar to the practices of other uncultured barbarians. Granted, there was a bigger and very real problem that came with this practice, in that there were loads of people running around possessing the argeid bloodline, thus adding to the morass of people with claims to the macedonian throne. And while these three half brothers werent in the immediate line of succession, given what we now know of the value of the Argeid dynasty in terms of legitimacy to kingship. These men would later be leveraged by foreign powers attempting to install puppet rulers.

In his youth, despite Macedonia being a comparatively weaker and poorer nation versus the dominant powers in the region, Philip was still the son of a king, receiving an excellent education by the standards of the day, learning greek philosophy, drama and poetry, developing strong oratory skills in the process, a vital component for someone destined to be active in public life. Even though it was unlikely that he would ever rise to become king as the youngest of three male heirs, nonetheless, he would have still been expected to be appointed to a lofty position, including participation in the military, which was an absolute must for the males of the aristocratic class. Accordingly, the training he received in his youth was well rounded, including an extensive amount of physical conditioning, and he would have been well versed in a wide range of athletics, in particular running, horse riding, and various forms of combat and weapons training that would have been emphasized. Hunting would have also been included in this sphere, helping to instill virtues of bravery and courage. Beyond the formal schooling and martial training that he received, a key part of his education included an early indoctrination into court life in order to gain insights and learnings on proper conduct in these proceedings and about the issues assailing his kingdom.

Involving two key parts, the more public assemblies that primarily consisted of ranking men of the macedonian noble families, which, interestingly, the king did not get to select, being that these spots had been guaranteed by birthright. Would the king considered to be something more akin to a first among equals, during which they would meet to discuss issues regarding their kingdom and offer up advice to the king, who was the ultimate decision maker but not necessarily beholden to the nobility. Granted, at the point before Philips reign, the nobility still held a considerable balance of power versus the king, meaning that macedonian monarchs needed to keep the nobility happy. Otherwise they might find themselves murdered and replaced by another of the argeid lineage? That would be more agreeable.

Also, at times when there was no clear heir to the throne or multiple competing claims, textual evidence suggests that it was this group that would be the decision makers on royal succession. In addition to these public assemblies, Philip would have also attended the smaller, wine soaked meetings called symposia, wherein, unlike those broader assemblies, the king would have his pick of the litter, selecting influential men from nobility, the military philosophers and poets, to debate, plot, and revel with one another while languishing reclined on ornate couches. Although only those that had killed a wild boar by themselves during a hunt were allowed to recline. Otherwise, they were required to sit up throughout the event, this was a more tight knit group, highly sought after, with the macedonian elite probably clamoring to get invited into these in order to win the kings favor. Also being that the Macedonians were apparently among the hardest drinking folks in that part of the world, drinking copious amounts of undiluted wine was another feature of these meetings, typically devolving into a debauched celebration following the more serious discussions, which was another aspect of their culture that was considered barbaric, demonstrating the lack of restraint necessary for his civilized society.

Beyond the public assemblies and symposia, there was something else about his upbringing in the macedonian court and royal family that was much darker, but that nonetheless provided an essential piece of his character that would help him to achieve his goals without always resorting to overt military force. Philip became widely known to be a master of diplomacy, using intrigue and cunning, leveraging relationships and marriages, pitting nations and greek city states against one another to somehow facilitate scenarios that would always end favorably for Macedon, whatever the outcome, which well cover as we come across them. In the course of his reign following the assassination of King Archelaus in 399 BCE, and the overall weakness surrounding the kings position, the macedonian capital had become a vipers nest of plotting vicious treachery, royal murders and infighting involving factions of ambitious nobles and people with royal blood jockeying for better positions. The young Philip would have undoubtedly been frequently hearing of these stories and conspiracies, and his mother Eurydice was quite the master player in this realm herself. So perhaps this is where he gained his uncanny ability to prod and twist scenarios to his advantage, whatever the outcome.

To help illustrate this a little further towards the latter part of Amyntuss reign, while he fought and struggled to keep Macedonia from collapsing, several accounts speak of Eurydice, his wife, and philips mother taking on a lover, a young nobleman that was in fact her son in law, the husband of her daughter, a man called Ptolemy, which okay, is already quite bad as it is. However, to make things even worse, she and her liaison were in the midst of concocting a scheme to have King Amytas cast down and replaced by Ptolemy as regent, since he wasnt of the argead bloodline and couldnt be acclaimed as king. At length the affair and plot were uncovered and brought to the attention of King Amyntas, who surprisingly didnt have her killed and actually pardoned her. And Ptolemy? Why would he do such a thing?

You may be asking on the surface, stating that he did so because she was the mother of his children and couldnt bring himself to do it, which, okay, maybe, but im convinced that Eurydice, being the wily negotiator that she was, had taken many steps to insulate herself against this. One interesting theory may be that she and Ptolemy had built a consistent, considerable coalition of nobles around them, helping to protect themselves from a death sentence, otherwise risk a civil war, a conflict that was essentially untenable and that Amyntas was not willing to risk given the precarious state of the macedonian kingdom. Philip was so close to all these events, having a front row seat to the endless plotting and counter plotting alliances built and broken with head spinning frequency, that this must have had a significant and lasting effect on his personality. As for his father, Amyntas III, he was able to somehow hold onto the crown for 22 years, but being so mired in the muck of internal strife, this severely constrained his ability to effectively govern and defend the entirety of his domains. Although he would be one of the few argeid kings to die in his bed from natural causes in 370 BCE, when Philip was twelve years old, the macedonian throne passing to Alexander II, Philips eldest brother, which would have been of little consequence to the Greeks in the south, as a much more significant transition of power was taking place, calling the rapt attention of the dominant powers in the region.

When we had last left things off in Greece earlier in the episode, Sparta had just emerged as the greek hegemon after winning the peloponnesian war. However, this title didnt last too long. In the aftermath of their victory over the Athenians, as Sparta went about asserting its domination over the whole of Greece, the city state of Thebes in modern central Greece began taking on a new role that had been previously occupied by Athens as the counterweight to spartan power. Being that there were numerous cities, both former foes and allies alike, that were disaffected with how the Spartans were conducting their foreign policy, the Thebans had long been respected for their military prowess. As such, the Spartans, not ones to take a wait and see what happens type of attitude or entertain a challenge to their supremacy, promptly declared war on the Thebans.

However, in an unexpected turn of events, shockwaves were sent throughout Greece. When Thebes decisively defeated the legendary spartan army at the Battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE, largely as a result of their gifted general epaminondas and their elite infantry known as the Sacred Band, the theban victory shattered spartan dominance over the greek peninsula, with Thebes now emerging as the new greek hegemon. And while this may be the case on how it was considered at the time. Im convinced that Thebes was just one of the contenders or temporary leaders that were ultimately consumed in the power vacuum that emerged in the wake of the peloponnesian war, as that war had done much more bad than good even for the victors, who were a shell of their former selves, an essential piece of the puzzle that would later give the space for the rise of Macedon under Philip to eventually occur. Although for the Macedonians no one would have reasonably imagined this as a potential possibility at the point in time when Philips eldest brother, Alexander II, assumed the macedonian throne in 370 BCE.

Not that he was a poor leader, although maybe quite young, inexperienced, and boldly aggressive. It was just that Macedon for so long had been struggling just to keep its head above water, much less challenge the powers that be for supremacy. Either way, Thebes was clearly at the helm as the leading state for now, but in truth that mattered very little to the Macedonians that had much greater problems closer to home under their new king. Shortly after Alexander II assumed power, the neighboring foreign powers began swooping in, eager to take advantage of this inexperienced and young macedonian monarch and his weakened kingdom. Their old foe, King Bardellus of the Dardanians and Illyrians that we were introduced to earlier entered into Macedonia from the west and began occupying a sizable portion of the upper macedonian lands, humiliation that was compounded by also having to offer up yearly financial tributes to Bardilis in order to prevent a more complete takeover, including, according to some accounts, holding Philip as a hostage or bargaining chip for a short time until the initial payments were rendered, which, luckily for Philip, were promptly handed over.

While this disaster was unfolding on the western front, on the eastern border of Macedon, another disaster in the making was emerging, courtesy of the Thracians, who are backing a pretender to the macedonian throne name Pausanias. Thrace is the historical region of southeastern Europe that corresponds with modern day Bulgaria, southeastern Romania, northeastern Greece, and the european part of Turkey. Similar to Illyria, it was inhabited by a collection of independent tribes. However, a sizable and unified kingdom had arisen following the departure of the achaemeonid Persians back in 479, called the odrysian kingdom in southeastern Thrace that had become the dominant power in these lands. In fact, at that time, the aggressive odrygian king Cotys I had quite the expansionistic agenda and was looking to macedonian lands as the next place to exert his influence, leveraging Pausanias, who had some type of ancestral link to the Argeiads.

Although it probably mattered very little how justified Pausanias claim was being that it provided the ideal cause for Cotys to launch a campaign against the struggling nation. Pausanias, supported by the Adrisians, invaded eastern Macedonia and managed to capture some of its territories. However, Eurydice, mother to the reigning king of Macedon, the savvy political survivor that she was, was able to temporarily enlist the aid of the Athenians, who still held a number of coastal settlements in the area to bolster Alexanders response. This show of force being enough to drive the Thracians back into their lands with Pausianus remaining at large. After this event, King Alexander had managed to establish an uneasy balance in Macedon, but was eager to build forward momentum, having pushed the Thracians out of eastern Macedonia in the following year, in 368 BCE, an opportunity arose to do just that, with a civil war breaking out in Thessaly, just south of Macedon.

The leading family in northern Thessaly, called the aloe Vera from their power base in the city of Larissa, had revolted against the tyrannical rule of the thessalian leader, also known as the Tagus, in southern Thessaly. Understanding that a military backlash from the tyrant was coming their way, they requested military assistance from Macedon to help fend off the impending attack, which doesnt really surprise me, being that the Macedonians and northern Thessalians had established somewhat of a tradition of helping each other out, such as when the Thessalians had helped Amyntas regain his throne back in 390 BCE. With Thessaly being one of the few peaceful neighbors that the Macedonians possessed, King Alexander II agreed to jump in and provide assistance, entering Thessaly at the head of his army, with his forces welcomed as saviors into the city of Larissa and several others in the area, but then betraying the Alodve family by firming up his grasp on these cities, claiming them as the newest additions to the kingdom of Macedon. This audacious act provoked a hostile reaction from Thebes that we covered earlier in the episode had recently become the dominant power in Greece. The Thebans quickly mustered their army and marched into northern Thessaly, easily defeating and routing Alexander and his army, pushing them back into Macedon.

So thoroughly defeated, in fact, that Alexander desperately began seeking peace with the hegemons of Greece. Thankfully, Thebes had other fires burning that required their attention, so they ultimately agreed to opening negotiations, but reportedly not before imposing heavy penalties on Macedonia. And although we dont have a detailed account of the terms of the ensuing peace agreement, one condition that we do know of was a demand for 50 young nobles from the leading families in Macedon to be sent as hostages in Thebes to ensure Macedons good behavior. Included among these 50 hostages was King Alexanders youngest brother, the 14 year old Philip.

In the next episode, well learn more about Philips three year long captivity in Thebes, which sounds ominous but ended up being of immense benefit to Philip, soaking up valuable military lessons from these massive masters of war. This happening all the while, chaos and mayhem continues to permeate his homeland leading up to his eventual return to Macedonia in 365 at the age of 17, where he is immediately set to work by the new king, his second eldest brother, Perdiccas III, stationed in eastern Macedonia. Philip immediately starts to leverage his recent military education education and begins playing with his own innovations, the very beginning of his revolutionization of the macedonian army, showing glimmers of future brilliance fighting off incursions of the Thracians to the east and the Paeonians to the north, whereas in the west, macedonian territory losses continue to mount, foreign nations taking more and more land, in particular their old adversary, Bardullus of the Dardanians, who devastates Macedonia and kills Perdiccas III in battle, leaving the throne to his infant son. Viewing the vulnerability of the kingdom of macedon, the macedonian nobility calls upon the promising young Philip to assume the regency to pull them out of the fire that threatens to consume them. This is where Philips story becomes the stuff of legends and much, much more to come in the next episode of the Warlords of History podcast.

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Saturday Matinee: Warlords of History

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1: Introduction to Philip II

2: Rise of a Warlord

3: Military and Diplomatic Mastery

4: Conclusion and Legacy

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