ABSTRACT
Philip II, who by military strength and diplomacy had raised his kingdom out of subservience to its Balkan neighbours, had overturned its role as pawn in the power plays of the Greek city-states, and had elevated it to the greatest power in all of Europe, would be a hard act to follow. Philip was twenty-three years old and possibly in command of the Macedonian garrison at Amphipolis when he got word that his brother the king and more than 4,000 men lay dead somewhere on the western frontier. By midsummer 356 Philip had begun his intervention in Crenides, the Thassian colony founded just a few years earlier east of Mount Pangaion. Philip's power now thoroughly alarmed the Athenians. His interests clashed with theirs not only in the north Aegean but also in central Greece, had entered the Third Sacred War on the side opposing Athenian interests, and furthermore he was suspected of having supported or even instigated unrest in Euboea.
