Demetrius II, son of Antigonus II, his accession was followed almost at once by several major changes in areas affecting Macedonia. This chapter discusses movements of Demetrius in the first half of the social war against the Achaean leagues. The political revolution in Epirus had consequences as significant for Rome as they were for Greece and Macedonia. Confronted with an ultimatum to join the Aetolian League, the Acarnanians in Medeon sent an appeal to Demetrius to which, probably owing to trouble on his northern frontiers, he was unable to respond. The Spartan revolution carried out in the autumn of 227 and consolidated during the following winter increased the manpower available to Cleomenes and clearly rendered him a more formidable opponent to the Achaean League. The naval expedition which Antigonus led against Caria in the spring or summer of 227 was a striking reaffirmation of Macedonian naval interests, dormant since the reign of Antigonus II.

This chapter reviews the environment in which the Greek settlers found themselves and makes a somewhat inconclusive evaluation of their response on the plane of human geography. The Greek settlements for the most part were planted in bays and at little coastal plains; and it is only on the Halicarnassus peninsula that archaeological investigation has given us any impression of native settlement coexisting with the emerging Greek civilization. The north-east of Caria has the advantage of possessing larger basins of agricultural land that can be approached from up the Maeander valley, and some substantial settlements there date from prehistoric times. The Greek cities of the mainland coast were for the most part well situated to provide for their own needs. The Ionians' addiction to city life and development of its potentialities must have been an important factor in the historical evolution of ancient Greek life.