ABSTRACT
In this chapter the rise of Macedonia is traced, down to Alexander’s expedition. Alexander’s death thirteen years later led to a period of military conflicts during which power lay with a sequence of sometimes more, sometimes less ‘legitimate’ successors, until by 276 the kingdom settled under Antigonid rule. The Macedonians’ sphere of influence extended far south into mainland Greece, but they could not control every area. Cities such as Athens periodically escaped from Antigonid control, sometimes with Ptolemaic assistance. Sparta provided a focus for revolt and was not suppressed until 222. The indirect effects of Macedonian rule can be seen even in the far-off Peloponnese; they may include the rise of the Achaean league as a military power. After 222 further Spartan attempts at recovery and reform were curtailed by Rome’s Macedonian wars (211–168), the ‘liberation’ of Greece (197), and the incorporation of Sparta into the Achaean league (192).
