CHAPTER XCI - First Period of the Reign of Alexander the Great—Siege and Capture of Thebes

Summary

My last preceding volume ended with the assassination of Philip of Macedon, and the accession of his son Alexander the Great, then twenty years of age.

State of Greece at Alexander's accession—dependence on the Macedonian kings

It demonstrates the altered complexion of Grecian history, that we are now obliged to seek for marking events in the succession to the Macedoian crown, or in the ordinances of Macedonian kings. In fact, the Hellenic world has ceased to be autonomous. In Sicily, indeed, the free and constitutional march, revived by Timoleon, is still destined to continue for a few years longer; but all the Grecian cities south of Mount Olympus have descended into dependents of Macedonia. Such dependence, established as a fact by the battle of Chseroneia and by the subsequent victorious march of Philip over Peloponnesus, was acknowledged in form by the vote of the Grecian synod at Corinth. While even the Athenians had been compelled to concur in submission, Sparta alone, braving all consequences, continued inflexible in her refusal. The adherence of Thebes was not trusted to the word of the Thebans, but ensured by the Macedonian garrison established in her citadel, called the Kadmeia. Each Hellenic city, small and great,-maritime, inland, and insular- (with the single exception of Sparta), was thus enrolled as a separate unit in the list of subjectallies attached to the imperial headship of Philip.