Philip of Macedon

The internal reforms that took place under Philip, strengthened Macedonia and enabled him to conquer the Greek states. Philip used the League of Corinth to consolidate and maintain his power through terms of peace.

To test the validity of this hypothesis we must look at three things:

· The major reforms in Macedonia under Philip

· How Philip went about conquering the Greek states

· The policies and terms under which the League of Corinth operated

Following the death of Perdiccas, Philip came to the throne in the autumn of 360B.C. He realised that great reforms were essential if he intended to remain the King of Macedonia. Macedonia underwent a major reconstruction at the hands of Philip but it was his military and political reforms that truly strengthened his kingdom.

Due to Philip's intentions of immediate expansion, there was a large emphasis placed on the reforms of his military. Philip made vast improvements in his cavalry and siege engines, both of which were widely exploited by his son and successor, Alexander the Great. These two improvements may have been important, but according to Tritle (1997:179), the most telling tactical innovation of the famous Macedonian phalanx was the introduction of the s

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However the League was successful, and in fact, Philip used the strength of the now unified Greece (except Sparta, who refused to attend the congress at Corinth and was therefore not a member of the Greek Community) combined with his own forces to launch an attack on Persia.

Bibliography

Tritle, L. He used these forces to great effect in the Sacred War. Tritle (1997:183) says that in 352B.

As Macedonia's power grew, Athens was the main force in creating opposition to the hegemony of Philip. The significance of the Community is outlined in Hammond's (1994:163) following statement: "To call the Greek Community the 'League of Corinth', as modern scholars have done, is to misrepresent its nature and belittle its importance. C Philip ended the Sacred War and established himself as hegemon over Greece.

Although Philip was elected hegemon, Macedonia remained free of the League and its conditions despite initiating its creation. The main difference between the two was the Macedonian cities were more dependent on royal control (Starr 1971:150). The Aleuads made Philip tagos, leader of the Thessalian League and commander of its forces. C was only via alliance to the Aleuads of Larissa, it was a major factor in Philip's eventual hegemony over the Greek peninsula. London : Oxford University Press

Ellis, J.

Approximate Word count = 1474
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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