The Macedonians were a
Greek people that populated the south central Balkan Peninsula. In 338
BC, King Philip II of Macedonia conquered the Greek city-states.
Philip’s son, Alexander the Great, conquered nearly every civilization
from Egypt to India, building a huge empire in which culture and art
flourished. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, his empire went through
many years of turmoil as his senior generals and family members vied for
control. By 301 BC, Alexander's mother, wife, son, and half brother had
all been murdered. Following the battle of Ipsus that year in Asia
Minor, the empire was divided into four kingdoms—Macedonia, Thrace,
Egypt, and Persia. Although Egypt and Persia both initially claimed
Syria, Persia annexed it by 281 BC. In 277 BC, Antigonos Gonatas (a
descendent of Antigonos, one of Alexander's generals) became king of the
Greek Kingdom of Macedonia and established the ruling Antigonid dynasty,
which reigned until its conquest by the Romans. Together with Syria and
Egypt, Macedonia became one of the three great kingdoms of the
Hellenistic world. Macedonia's attempt to expand its territories met
opposition from Pyrrhus and the confederation of the city-states of
central and southern Greece. (Athens bribed its way out of the
confederation and became a neutral state, but never regained its past
prominence.)
During the 3rd century BC,
Pyrrhus came to the aid of the Greek colonies in southern Italy and
Sicily that were fighting the Romans in Italy. The early victories by
Pyrrhus were so costly and had so little effect (thus the expression,
"Pyrric victories") that the Greeks were forced to withdraw by
275 BC. During the Second Punic War the Greeks actively aided Hannibal
against the Romans. In this same period, the Greeks fought the Romans,
who had invaded Illyria (northeast Adriatic coast from modern north
Albania to Croatia) to put an end to piracy in the Adriatic.
By 202 BC, the kingdom of
Macedonia was struggling to maintain control of the city-states of the
Greek Peninsula, which were joining together in rebellion. A small Roman
army came to their aid and, by 196 BC, defeated the Macedonian army.
Macedonia's power revived and the Romans invaded again in 172 BC,
defeated the kingdom of Macedonia at the battle of Pydna in 168 BC, and
removed the Antigonids from power. The Romans attempted to leave the
other Greek city-states on their own, but the kingdom of Macedonia took
up arms again. The Romans invaded in 149 BC and made the kingdom of
Macedonia a Roman province. Roman patience with the other Greek
city-states was exhausted by unrest in Corinth in 147 BC, so they
besieged and sacked that city in 146 BC. As a lesson to the other
city-states, the citizens of Corinth were sold into slavery, the
buildings were torn down, and anything of value was shipped home to
Rome.
