Reasons Why Philip II Engaged In Hellenic Affairs

In this essay I will examine the two main reasons why Phillip II engaged in Hellenic affairs. These were the desire to gain the necessary stronghold required for an attack on Persia, as well as the desire to stabilise his own country by stabilizing those around him and thus securing his newly conquered borders and territories. I will also explain what some of the Greek city-states could/could not have done to prevent Philip II’s engagement in Hellenic affairs. Which was by …

This is a particularly important issue as the decisions made by Philip during his rule to engage in Hellenic affairs helped to shape the history of that region and created a whole new Pan-Hellenic region. Yet these are also a problematic questions to discuss. Neither modern

scholars nor our ancient sources are able to know the thought process of Philip II. Also in such a political matter as this our sources are all subject to bias. Philip II and his supporters would have wished to portray only positive and selfless motivations, while his enemies would have done the opposite. Furthermore a full understanding these issues and Philip’s foreign policy, requires a better chronology of events than it is possible to get from our current sources, as well as a thorough understanding of the situation in North Aegean before Philip II even came to the throne Philip’s.
The Greeks were not made up by a singly ruled natation, but was made up of many city-states, all of which constitute as Hellenic, and the affairs of all of which count as Hellenic affairs.

Philip would not have had to involve himself with every single city-state to engage himself in Hellenic affairs. Furthermore when discussing whether the Greeks could have prevented Philip II from either wanting to, or physically being able to, involve himself in Hellenic affairs; it is not the Greeks as a collective that would have done this. Instead I will examine the actions of Greek city- states such as Athens and Thebes to determine whether they could have prevented Philip’s

involvement.

One reason as to why Philip II wished to engage in Hellenic affairs was to get a stronghold from which he could pursue a campaign into Asia Minor and conquer Persia. Scholar J.R. Ellis argues this was Philips primary goal in engaging the Greeks and that all of his moves were carefully structured to achieve this end. It is widely acknowledged that that control of Greece would be necessary to attack Asia and he wanted to use the Athenian navy to help do it.
More details as to why this would have been useful/necessary. Diodorus first reference to it dates to 346BC. Give other sources and evidence. Past conflict?
However it has been speculated as to whether Philip II’s was in Asia was part of his initial plan, or whether he devised of it after he had already engaged in Hellenic affairs. If this were the case then scholars would have to dismiss the theory that gaining a stronghold for his attack was his main motivation for involving himself in Greece. The earliest mention we have for this plan of Philips came from Diodorus in 346BC. E, Borza makes the argument that this goal of Philip could not have originated long before this. One piece of evidence he puts forwards for this is the lack of evidence in contemporary sources such as the Athenian orators. No a single one of Demosthenes’ speeches mentions the Persians and Philips’s intentions with the region. However Demosthenes, and other Athenians at this time, make bias sources. Demosthenes wished to persuade Athens to go to war against Philip, therefore his representation of Philip’s aims are what he wanted the Athenian’s to see, not what was actually true . Athens’s history of disputes with Persia may have caused more sympathy for Philip II’s plight and as such Demosthenes omission of a Persian plan may simply be due to his desire to portray him as negatively as possible to his fellow citizens.
His other key reasoning for Borza’s argument is that there is no clear evidence of a conflict between Macedonia and Persia prior to the King of Persia’s attempt to thwart the Macedonian campaign against Perinthus in 340BC, after which Philip had already engaged himself in Hellenic affairs. While this is true that there had been no recent conflict prior to this time, Macedonia and its surrounding region had been conquered and ruled by the Persians during the late 6th and early 5the century BC, so Philip may could have pushed for the idea of a revenge attack as a way to legitimize his rule and demonstrate his success as king.

An alternative reason for Philip II’s desire to engage in Hellenic affairs may have been to protect his borders.

Philip II spend the earliest years of his reign working to expand Macedonia’s control over surrounding regions by securing the Paionians and Thracian border and dominating regions such as Amphipolis, the Illyrians and the Pydna. These conquests would have been an important part of Philip’s legitimizing of his rule, and it would have been equally as important for him to maintain these new territories. Since Philip had expanded further south, this placed his domain closer to the Hellenistic city-states. Therefore the numerous Social and Sacred wars created an instability that could threaten his territory. In particular The Third Sacred War could have been a threat to this, yet it also acted as an ideal opportunity for Philip to gain control within Greece and attempt creating Pan-Hellenic

stability.
Diodorus emphasis how Philip’s success arose through diplomacy rather than through blunt force. For example he gained power in Greece through peace treaty which created what we call The League of Cornith in 338/7. The Hellenistic city-states that signed this peace settlement were not all coerced through direct military influence. This suggests that Philip was intending to build sustainable peace through the region. The fact that he only placed 4 strategic garrisons throughout Greece emphasis his disinterest in military conquest of the region, but rather his motivation for Hellenic involvement lay in creating stable neighbouring countries.
ANAYLSI DIODORUS AS A SOURCE.
Historian Errington shares Borza’s view that Philip II’s incursions into Asia were not the reason for his engagement in Hellenic affairs, but rather a by-product. He suggests that Philip’s decision to attack Persia was the result of the failing stability in Greece. Diodorus dates the first mention of Philip’s intentions towards Persia to 346BC, the same year as the end of the Third Sacred War. Yet it only took six years before The Fourth Sacred War began. Errington theorises that Philip was preparing a war against Persia to create a ‘Hellenistic-crusade’ which would, in theory, reconcile the city-states and create a lasting peace. If this truly was Philip’s ideas then not only does it discount the idea that gaining a stronghold against Persia the motivator for getting involved with Hellenistic affairs, but it suggests that Philip’s priorities were creating stability in his neighbouring lands. This enforces the idea that he got involved to protect Macedon and its new borders.

There are even more theories as to why Philip got involved in Hellenic affairs, however they are less widely supported and so cannot be focused on in depth in this essay. They include However 57 – Buckler thinks Philip did not intend to be an invader, but as the champion of the sanctuaries god when he established his power with a seat on the Amphictyony league. However this is likely just the view that he wanted the greeks to see. Religious motivations is unlikely. He calls himself ‘protector of automony’. While all polis are subordinate to Philip he lets them all keep their own government. Also he took no wealth from Greece. He was already wealthy so this was not a motivator.

Could the greeks have prevented this –
The Third Sacred War played an intrinsic role in Philip II gaining power in Greece. As this was a war started by and fought by the Greeks this is the aspect to Philip’s involvement in Hellenistic affairs that they could have most easily affected. Out of all the Greek city-states, it is the actions of Thebes that most affects the war and thus Philip’s plans. Thebes started the war by bringing an indictment against Sparta and Phocis and fining them both for a sum of money they could not pay. It was this action that pushed the Phocians into attacking Delphi and declaring war. Had Thebes not abused its power to get revenge against the Phocians for not helping them during Epaminondas’ expeditions then they would not have provided Philip II with the perfect way to gain diplomatic power in Greece
As well as starting the Third Sacred War, Thebes was also responsible for a missed chance at ending the war almost as soon as it began. Thebes won The Battle of Neon in 355BC, only a year after the war broke out. If they had followed up on this battle then Thebes could have won the war. However instead they assumed that the Phocians would give up and so they retreated home and even sent a large number of men to fight in Asia Minor. Had the Thebes won the war at this time it would have prevented Philip II from finishing it nine years later and securing a peace treaty with Hellenic city-states in the process.