ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with what most contemporaries would have recognized as a turning-point in their internal and external histories, the foundation by Philip of the organization known to us as the League of Corinth. ‘From the impasse of fourth-century politics’, it has been well said, ‘with the crisis of interstate relations after Mantinea, the revived impact of Macedon, and the social and economic problems of the Greek mainland, sprang Macedonian hegemony, the plan to conquer Persia, and the Hellenistic Age with its new values’. In 335 or 334 Agis had been indirectly involved in negotiations with Memnon, the Rhodian Greek who commanded Darius’ navy. Precise numbers are as usual unknowable. On the most optimistic interpretation (Badian’s) of the figures given by the ancient sources Agis commanded somewhat in excess of 30,000 men. At the outset the united Greeks had a far better hope of eventual success than Agis.
