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New Approaches to the Hellenistic World
Peter Green
Section 1. The Macedonian Imprint on the Hellenistic World
N. G. L. Hammond
What was the relationship between the king and the native peoples on the spear-won land? Within the Macedonian kingdom Philip and Alexander left these peoples—Illyrians, Thracians, Paeonians, and Greeks—to run their internal affairs as before, whether in a tribal system, or under a monarchy, or as a polis. They paid taxes to the king, and they worked the land which he chose to give or to let to them. They were no part of the Macedonian State. They had to accept that State's foreign policy, and they had to obey the king's commands. But they enjoyed great advantages: security; prosperity; freedom of language, law, and religion; no large expenditure on armaments and mercenaries; and the right of appeal to the king. A very few served in the King's Army as light cavalry and light-armed troops. The main function of these native peoples was to promote the economy of the kingdom and thus to enable it to maintain its regular army of Macedones. As need arose, the number of peoples on the land was increased by the transplantation of Illyrians, Gauls, Thracians, and Getae to work the lands of Lower Macedonia especially. We do not know of any risings by the native peoples or by the transplanted peoples.
The Macedonian policy of coexistence, cooperation, and joint military service succeeded both in the Macedonian kingdom and overseas. “Philip created one kingdom and people out of many tribes and nations.” [49] Alexander created another kingdom, the Kingdom of Asia, by applying the same Macedonian principle but over a vastly greater area. Yet even at his early death there was no rising by the native peoples. The extent to which the Successors imitated Alexander cannot be exaggerated. “The kings imitated Alexander with their purple robes, their bodyguards, the inclination of their necks, and their louder voices in conversation,” wrote Plutarch.[50] They imitated him in policy also. Let us take as an example Eumenes, a Greek of Cardia, who might have organized his satrapy on some Greek model. But he was more Macedonian than the Macedonians: he relied on his Friends, exacted an oath of loyalty from the Macedones in his army, gave them purple hats and cloaks, formed for himself a Cavalry Guard of 300, and an Infantry Guard of 1,000 men chosen by a dogma of his Macedones.[51] He had his own system of Pages, of whom two squadrons of fifty each served close to him in battle (Alexander too, according to Diodorus, had had Pages to guard him in Asia).[52] But Eumenes owed his successes equally to the native troops whom he recruited, especially in Cappadocia.
Next, the king and the city. In the seventh and sixth centuries the Macedones destroyed or expelled the previous inhabitants of the rich coastal plain west of the Axius, and most Macedones then abandoned the pastoral way of life and settled in tight communities, based on the “companies” (παρέαι) of their pastoral life. These communities called themselves poleis, cities, self-managing centers of local loyalty. Aegeae, Alorus, Pella, Ichnae, and Heracleum were certainly poleis at the turn of the sixth century, and each had its own distinctive citizenship and territory. The Macedonian State created new cities of Macedones within the expanding kingdom, as we have seen at Kalindoia. Such a city was created not by attracting individuals (as a new town would do today) but by transplanting a community of Macedones; for example, the Macedones of Balla were transplanted to Pythium, a town of Perrhaebia. Philip V carried out just such a policy: “He uprooted the citizen men with their women and children from the most distinguished coastal cities and planted them in the area now called Emathia.” [53] It was a two-way process, the displaced population of Emathia being transferred elsewhere. Such transplants of populations were used by Philip II in order to mix old and new populations together in both Macedonia proper and Upper Macedonia.
The Macedonian cities within the kingdom, old and new, managed their own affairs—financial, religious, diplomatic, and military—and in the last war against Rome the cities sent envoys to the king, offering their own money and their own reserves of grain for the campaign.[54] In physical terms the kingdom consisted of two parts: αἱ πόλεις καὶ ἡ χώρα, “the cities and the countryside” (so divided by Pyrrhus and Lysimachus, according to Plutarch).[55] But it was, rather, the cities which formed the basis of *Macedonia's* military and economic strength.
Similar developments were promoted in the Kingdom of Asia by Alexander and then by his successors. The already established cities, both Greek and non-Greek, received favored treatment in terms of land and taxation. Populations were transferred (e.g., for refounding Tyre and Gaza, and for many Seleucid foundations); and expanding trade brought prosperity to these cities. They managed their own affairs, like the cities in the Macedonian kingdom, but within the overall authority of the king. New cities were founded with a modicum of Macedonians and Greeks, who were directed initially by Alexander and then were welcomed by the Successors. These cities included within their territory a large element of local indigenous people, like the villagers attached to Macedonian Kalindoia. It is important to stress that these were not Greek cities in any political sense; for the Greek city was a city-state, fiercely independent, riven by stasis, racially exclusive, and intolerant of royal rule. Their function, as in the Macedonian kingdom, was to produce the military and economic resources which the Hellenistic kingdoms required for survival. The history of what A. H. M. Jones called the “Greek City” of the Hellenistic and Roman periods in Asia[56] was rather the history of the Macedonian city—perhaps the greatest contribution which the Macedonian State made to human civilization.
Peter Green
Section 1. The Macedonian Imprint on the Hellenistic World
N. G. L. Hammond
What was the relationship between the king and the native peoples on the spear-won land? Within the Macedonian kingdom Philip and Alexander left these peoples—Illyrians, Thracians, Paeonians, and Greeks—to run their internal affairs as before, whether in a tribal system, or under a monarchy, or as a polis. They paid taxes to the king, and they worked the land which he chose to give or to let to them. They were no part of the Macedonian State. They had to accept that State's foreign policy, and they had to obey the king's commands. But they enjoyed great advantages: security; prosperity; freedom of language, law, and religion; no large expenditure on armaments and mercenaries; and the right of appeal to the king. A very few served in the King's Army as light cavalry and light-armed troops. The main function of these native peoples was to promote the economy of the kingdom and thus to enable it to maintain its regular army of Macedones. As need arose, the number of peoples on the land was increased by the transplantation of Illyrians, Gauls, Thracians, and Getae to work the lands of Lower Macedonia especially. We do not know of any risings by the native peoples or by the transplanted peoples.
The Macedonian policy of coexistence, cooperation, and joint military service succeeded both in the Macedonian kingdom and overseas. “Philip created one kingdom and people out of many tribes and nations.” [49] Alexander created another kingdom, the Kingdom of Asia, by applying the same Macedonian principle but over a vastly greater area. Yet even at his early death there was no rising by the native peoples. The extent to which the Successors imitated Alexander cannot be exaggerated. “The kings imitated Alexander with their purple robes, their bodyguards, the inclination of their necks, and their louder voices in conversation,” wrote Plutarch.[50] They imitated him in policy also. Let us take as an example Eumenes, a Greek of Cardia, who might have organized his satrapy on some Greek model. But he was more Macedonian than the Macedonians: he relied on his Friends, exacted an oath of loyalty from the Macedones in his army, gave them purple hats and cloaks, formed for himself a Cavalry Guard of 300, and an Infantry Guard of 1,000 men chosen by a dogma of his Macedones.[51] He had his own system of Pages, of whom two squadrons of fifty each served close to him in battle (Alexander too, according to Diodorus, had had Pages to guard him in Asia).[52] But Eumenes owed his successes equally to the native troops whom he recruited, especially in Cappadocia.
Next, the king and the city. In the seventh and sixth centuries the Macedones destroyed or expelled the previous inhabitants of the rich coastal plain west of the Axius, and most Macedones then abandoned the pastoral way of life and settled in tight communities, based on the “companies” (παρέαι) of their pastoral life. These communities called themselves poleis, cities, self-managing centers of local loyalty. Aegeae, Alorus, Pella, Ichnae, and Heracleum were certainly poleis at the turn of the sixth century, and each had its own distinctive citizenship and territory. The Macedonian State created new cities of Macedones within the expanding kingdom, as we have seen at Kalindoia. Such a city was created not by attracting individuals (as a new town would do today) but by transplanting a community of Macedones; for example, the Macedones of Balla were transplanted to Pythium, a town of Perrhaebia. Philip V carried out just such a policy: “He uprooted the citizen men with their women and children from the most distinguished coastal cities and planted them in the area now called Emathia.” [53] It was a two-way process, the displaced population of Emathia being transferred elsewhere. Such transplants of populations were used by Philip II in order to mix old and new populations together in both Macedonia proper and Upper Macedonia.
The Macedonian cities within the kingdom, old and new, managed their own affairs—financial, religious, diplomatic, and military—and in the last war against Rome the cities sent envoys to the king, offering their own money and their own reserves of grain for the campaign.[54] In physical terms the kingdom consisted of two parts: αἱ πόλεις καὶ ἡ χώρα, “the cities and the countryside” (so divided by Pyrrhus and Lysimachus, according to Plutarch).[55] But it was, rather, the cities which formed the basis of *Macedonia's* military and economic strength.
Similar developments were promoted in the Kingdom of Asia by Alexander and then by his successors. The already established cities, both Greek and non-Greek, received favored treatment in terms of land and taxation. Populations were transferred (e.g., for refounding Tyre and Gaza, and for many Seleucid foundations); and expanding trade brought prosperity to these cities. They managed their own affairs, like the cities in the Macedonian kingdom, but within the overall authority of the king. New cities were founded with a modicum of Macedonians and Greeks, who were directed initially by Alexander and then were welcomed by the Successors. These cities included within their territory a large element of local indigenous people, like the villagers attached to Macedonian Kalindoia. It is important to stress that these were not Greek cities in any political sense; for the Greek city was a city-state, fiercely independent, riven by stasis, racially exclusive, and intolerant of royal rule. Their function, as in the Macedonian kingdom, was to produce the military and economic resources which the Hellenistic kingdoms required for survival. The history of what A. H. M. Jones called the “Greek City” of the Hellenistic and Roman periods in Asia[56] was rather the history of the Macedonian city—perhaps the greatest contribution which the Macedonian State made to human civilization.
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