THE MACEDONIA, PART OF A MULTINATIONAL EMPIRE

The historical importance of the advent of Alexander III The Great (336 BC) and of his Greek policy is considerable, less however than that of its conquests in Asia, which they, had conséquences of worldwide range.

The time which separates these two évenements had besides the appearance of an interlude since the end of the preparations for the Eastern countryside coincide with the death of Philip II and that Alexander was, consequently, almost entirely occupied by the measures intended to put Makedonia safe from any possible danger before leaving it, with the " cream " of its army. To outline the personality of Alexander when, twenty years, it reaches the royalty, the specialists turn as well to his past as towards its future. initially, it endeavours to know in its formation the weight of its héredity, of the mediums family, social, cultural and idéological, to measure the influence of Philip II anxious to prepare his son to assume his héritage. They hold also account in their analysis of the features of characters of Alexander become king .

The results are with the image of its search: they bring a number of more or less probable assumptions, which remain more or less unprovable. Fault of being able to spread out all the elements of the file, let us hold with the some essential evidences. For the éducation of young prince, Philip called upon Aristote the sixteen year old to teenager, it left the seal of the kingdom whereas itself left to shift; to the eighteen year old young man, it entrusted the responsibility of lead the Macédonian cavalry to the battle of Chéronae charges of which this one outstanding discharged. Meanwhile, Alexander had lived at least a Balkan campaign close to his father, and, of another with dimensions, this one had pushed it (like the other children of the Macedonian aristocracy) with interresser in Asia. The historian, Théopompos, who wrote a summary of Hérodotus work had made a stay at the Macédonian court, and Alexander for its part, to be given sometimes for familiar of the accounts of the history father: one can thus suppose that Alexander initially knew Hérodote through the summary of Théopompos which would have been ordered by Philip.

Thus, with died of Philip II, Alexander it had of exceptional private means, natural gifts, certainly, but also of the experiment which it had acquired in the military businesses and of the prestige which it enjoyed, consequently, near notable and of the people. It burned to undertake the countryside in Asia which his father had prepared, but it started by regulating the most urgent problems. Immediately, it made carry out the suspected people, wrongly or rightly, of complicity in the assassination of PhilipII got rid of potential rivals, will sourround oneself honest men, qualified, tested, such Antipatros and Parménion and took again the drive of its army. It could then deal with southernmost Greece. Under the terms of treaties imposed by Philip his successor was to assume àprès him them functions of president of Thessalian delphic confédération, member of Amphictionia and commander as a head of the forces armed with the Hellenic league. Alexander ensured his authority by crushing some resistances and by leaving garrisons in the places provided for in the treaties of his father. Then it undertook a long campaign through the balkans during which it gained victories under often difficult conditions. It thus showed its military qualities of head to the men whom it was going soon to carry out in Asia, and discouraged by advance Thracians or Ilyrians to bénéfit from its absence. That, moreover, was not to prevent Thébans, by learning death from the king, to raise itself against the garrison Macédonian which held to them acropôle, distorts new, quickly contradicted by Alexander himself :borrowing from forced march an inexpected road, it managed to occupy Thermôpyles before Thébans were not joined by their allies, seized the city rebels and shaved it.

Before leaving for Asia, Alexander entrusted the government and the defense of Makedonia and its territories annex to the one of the Générals of his father, old Antipatros It left under its commands 12000 infantrymen of the phalanx and 1500 riders, either about half of Macédonians manpower, but reserved the " cream " of youth, or 12000 infantrymen of the phalanx and 1100 riders. In addition to the Macédonians the army of Alexander counted 7 000 infantrymen of the Hellenic League, 1800 Thessalians riders, 600 riders of the Hellenic League, 900 Balkans riders (Péonians), and 1000 archers: in all, 32000 infantrymen and 4400 riders approximately.

Thessalian rider.

The forwarding of Alexander in Asia overflows by far the framework of the history Macedonian. She was not determined by the national needs but by mailmen of a personal nature. Decided by Philip II within the framework of a project panhellenic, it was primarily the work of Alexander and is explained only by certain aspects of its character and its ideology. It is him which carry away its army always ahead in the vast deep of Asia. The military exploits achieved by its troops had been impossible without its exceptional gifts of tacticians and born leader: in a few months, it seizes Asia Minor (battle of Granicus May 23, 334), puts in rout, in Cilicia, Darius III king of Persians in person ( battle of Issos November 12, 333 ) shaves Tyr is accomodated by Egypt as a liberator, again crushes Darius III in Arbèla (battle of Gaugamèla- October 1, 331) , conquers Babylon, Susa, Persépolis and arrives at Indus. Consequently, Alexander releases itself from his public image of Macedonian king to present themselves and act as Eastern despot, even towards the Macedonians who express their disapproval. Worse still, far from attaching the countries conquered to the State of Makedonia, it provides the foundations of a personal and multinational empire. Its personality, the vastness of the achieved task, the consequences of its conquests for most of humanity, make of Alexander a great historical, single figure of Antiquity.

Alexandros Argeades III The Great: Pella (Greece) October 06, 356 BC - Babylon ( Irak) June 10, 323 BC.

The Macedonian history, it, are also related to with Asian forwarding, and for several reasons: Alexander, his Generals and his soldiers were sharp forces of the Macedonian nation; in addition, the political initiatives of the king modified the constitutional Macedonian command intégrate Makedonia in a system which largely exceeded the geographical limits of them, national and political traditional. These changes belong truly to the Makedonia history of the years 334-323.

The Macedonian state was made up, by the king and the " Macedonians ", namely the men of the Macedonian nation, politically credits when they were joined together as an Assembly. However, the countryside in Asia created a new institutional situation. First of all, the " Macedonians " were necessarily divided into two since the ones had remained in Makedonia, and the others made countryside. Then the being exerted capacity where the king and the Assembly were, it moved capital of the kingdom towards the successive military camps. Lastly, Alexander was brought to take, without the knowledge of the " Macedonians " who followed it, and even against their feeling, of the decisions which modified the institutional statu-quo: he reinforced the rights of the crown towards those of the Macedonians.

A certain number of Alexander initiatives went still further, since they made of the sovereign Master of an empire which tended to integrate the Macedonian state. After its input in the country of Parthea in autumn 330 ,Alexander in an indisputable way its will expresses to become an Asian king: it carries from now on in clothing of pageantry, according to the persian fashion, except however clothes which the Greeks found strange, even cruel. If it also avoids being capped tiara, preferring to him a diadem with two ribbons, its audiences, the label of the persian court is respected, the visitors being held to incline itself (proskynésis) before receiving from the king, the favour of an accodance.

However, Alexander will proceed by stages. He shows himself initially in his new costume only in deprived and abstains from for a time still to require of his companions the proskynésis knowing extremely well that those, like all the Greeks, saw in this gesture, a homage reserved by free men to the only gods: returned with a king, it would have made them slaves honouring a despot. But Alexander had in heart which this constraint applied to the Macedonians as with the Asian, ones: after having broken their reserves and to have come to end from the mutiny from its army at Opis in 324 it obtained profit of cause. By requiring its soldiers that it honour it as it is appropriate to an Asian despot, it meant that it did not intend any more to be only the king of the Macedonians and that their State was to be integrated in an effective way, if not formal, with the empire which it had create.

In the same spirit, Alexander, as of 330 reinstated some satraps in the functions which they had occupied under Darius, still a measure intended to ensure the good of the administration fonctionnment. But, in 327 it issued that 30 000 Persians young people would receive a Macedonian military drive and would learn the Greek, because they had to be useful in the army with dimensions of the Macedonians and to constitute a reserve of future officers, administrators and dignitaries of the court.

Three years later, the king issued that they were enroled to replace the Macedonians, old or invalid returning in their homes, decision which will be one of the causes of the mutiny at Opis. However, the ascending one of Alexander on his army was such as its men, taken remorse, had to yield.

The king, seizing the occasion, offered a banquet of reconciliation to 9 000 guests, Macedonians, Persians and others. Significant détails, the Macedonians accepted the places closest to their king, Persians the following places. The suitable rites were execute by Greek soothsayers and Persian magi, and all the plain guests drank and start singing the song of victory. Then, Alexander pronounced a prayer " for the prosperity of all and, especially, for the harmony between Macedonians and Persians, and for the sharing of the capacity ".

Alexander undoubtedly wished that his empire was multinational, but organized around the Macedonians and Persians, and that all the people live there in harmony. On the other hand, the idea of a sharing of the capacity should not be taken with the letter, because all the authority returned to Alexander and him only. It simply intended to recall that Macedonians and Persians were to profit from same the rights. Once established the principle of equality out of political and legal matter, Alexander endeavoured to link by matrimonial links the elites of the people. So that the empire was controlled, even firmly held, it needed, for strategic and administrative reasons obvious, of a capital occupying a central place and at the same time near to the greatest concentration of source of supply and financing. Babylon had all these advantages and the king granted his preference to him. The Macedonian capital, Pella (Greece) lost its row thus, at the same time as Makedonia was found in a peripheral surface of the empire. The soldiers were not mistaken there understanding, that Alexander thus decided to establish for always in Asia the center of the kingdom.

Alexander III The Great empire map

But in June 10, 323 BC after a few anguish days, Alexander III The Great died in Babylon less thirty three years, under badly given conditions.

In a little more than twelve years of reign, it had upset the face of the world.

Alexander of Macedon I : 5-

They at once, hearing this, made haste to the outpost, where they found Alexander, who addressed them as follows:

"Men of Athens, that which I am about to say I trust to your honour; and I charge you to keep it secret from all excepting Pausanias, if you would not bring me to destruction. Had I not greatly at heart the common welfare of Greece, I should not have come to tell you; but I am myself a Greek by descent, and I would not willingly see Greece exchange freedom for slavery. Know then that Mardonius and his army cannot obtain favourable omens; had it not been for this, they would have fought with you long ago. Now, however, they have determined to let the victims pass unheeded, and, as soon as day dawns, to engage in battle. Mardonius, I imagine, is afraid that, if he delays, you will increase in number. Make ready then to receive him. Should he however still defer the combat, do you abide where you are; for his provisions will not hold out many more days. If ye prosper in this war, forget not to do something for my freedom; consider the risk I have run, out of zeal for the Greek cause, to acquaint you with what Mardonius intends, and to save you from being surprised by the barbarians. I am Alexander of Macedon. "

Hérodotus Book, The Histories, IX ,45

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Alexander the Great of Macedon
f r o m h i s t o r y t o e t e r n i t y
by John J. Popovic