Philip II

  •  reformed the army (fully professional), elite units called companions, 25,000 more men
  • introduced new 13 foot thrusting spear
  • funded military expenditures by seizing Mount Pangaeus gold and silver mines
  • unified and modernized country by redistributing population into new urban centers
  • ushered Macedon into Greek culture
  • principal instrument of foreign policy was warfare or the very threat
  • secured good relations with neighboring states through dynastic marriages, half dozen
  • murdered in 336 by a disgruntled member of the royal bodyguard

 Alexander the Great

  • came to power at age 19
  • trained in athletics and weapons during youth
  • had scientific curiosity, Aristotle was his tutor
  • treated Athens leniently out of respect for cultural history and naval power
  • began campaign against Persia in 334 BCE with crossing the Hellespont
  • conquered Persian empire during the next decade
  • married the Sogdian princess Roxanne
  • promoted plan of race fusion of Macedonians and Persians but it failed
  • died in 323 from a fever in Babylon, and both Roxanne and his son were murdered
  • his death wish of giving the kingdom “to the strongest” led a division of the empire into three parts: Macedon and Greece, Seleucid Empire (from Asia Minor to India) and the Ptolemaic kingdom (Egypt and parts of Palestine