Summary

The Antigonids (in ancient Greek Ἀντιγονίδαι

Under the Antigonids, the institutions of the Kingdom of Macedonia remained stable compared to those established by the Arigades, while the economy enjoyed a certain prosperity and the cities of Pella and Thessalonica flourished.

Demetrios Poliorcete, short-lived king of Macedonia

The dynasty's founder, Antigonus the One-eyed, "King of Asia" around 305, never ruled Macedonia. ...

Under the Babylonian Accords governing the succession to Alexander the Great, who died in 323, Antipater retained the regency of Macedonia as strategist. When Antipater died in 319, Polyperchon succeeded him, leading to a long conflict with Cassander, who had been excluded from his father's political will. Cassander was finally proclaimed king around 305, after having had Olympias and Alexander IV, the last of the Argeades, executed. Cassander's death in 297 plunged the kingdom into a long period of political instability. The kingship was entrusted to his eldest son, Philip IV, then aged 18. He soon died, and was succeeded jointly by his two brothers, Alexander V and Antipater. Antipater, however, wishing to reign alone, had their own mother, Thessaloniké (daughter of Philip II), murdered on the pretext that she had favored Alexander in the partition. Alexander then called upon Pyrrhos, King of Epirus, and Demetrios Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus, to help him. Pyrrhos quickly re-established the situation in Alexander's favor, and was granted important border provinces. So when Demetrios appeared, Alexander tried to get rid of him. Demetrios anticipated the assassination plot by having Alexander killed at Larissa in Thessaly in 294, and had himself proclaimed king in his place. As for Antipater, he was finally assassinated by Lysimachus, king of Thrace, after his victory over Demetrios in 288, when the kingship passed into the hands of Pyrrhos. In 285, Lysimachus defeated Pyrrhos and was proclaimed king.

Following Lysimachus' death at the battle of Courupedion in 281 to Seleucus, he was briefly succeeded by Ptolemy Kerunos, a repudiated son of Ptolemy, who died fighting the Galatians during their Great Expedition in 279. Ptolemy Kerunos' brother Meleager reigned for two months, before being replaced by Antipater II Aesias, a grandson of Antipater. However, judging him unfit to defend Macedonia against the Celtic bands, Sosthenes, proclaimed strategist of the Macedonians, deposed him without accepting the royal title. Sosthenes ruled the country firmly from 279 to 277. His death reawakened the royal ambitions of Ptolemy of Telmessos, son of Lysimachus, and Antigonus II Gonatas, son of Demetrios Poliorcetes, then established in Thrace. The latter took advantage of his dazzling victory over the Galatians at the battle of Lysimacheia to establish the Antigonid dynasty in power from 277 onwards, the short-lived line of Antipaterides coming to an end with the assassination of Antipater II.

Antigone II Gonatas and the rise of the Antigonids

After his resounding victory over the Celts at the battle of Lysimacheia in 277 BC, Antigonus II Gonatas gained sufficient prestige to establish himself as king of a Macedonia weakened by two decades of civil war. Rejecting the adventurous Asian policies of his predecessors, he devoted himself to rebuilding the kingdom, which was now free from major conflicts. As a symbol of his return to tradition, he immediately moved the royal capital back to Pella de Cassandreia and Demetrias, where it had been successively relocated, away from the historic heart of the kingdom. To maintain Macedonian influence in Greece, Antigonus maintained strong garrisons throughout Greece, supporting puppet governments and incurring heavy financial outlays that penalized Macedonia's military reconstruction.

Antigonos' power was first threatened by Pyrrhos, King of Epirus, who returned from Italy in 275, but was killed in 272. Macedonian domination of Greece was soon threatened, however: one of the leaders of the anti-Macedonian party in Athens, Chremonides, successfully maneuvered for a rapprochement with Sparta in 268. Numerous cities in the Peloponnese and Crete joined this alliance supported by Ptolemy II, marking the start of the Christian-Monidian War, whose operations took place mainly around Corinth, the stronghold of the Macedonian stronghold held by his half-brother Cratere, and in Attica. Antigone laid siege to Athens, which found a brief respite in a diversion caused by the attack on Macedonia by the Epirus king Alexander II in 262. Antigonus had to wage a rapid campaign to drive him out of Macedonia and Epirus, before returning to lay siege to Athens, which, starving, capitulated in 261.

The following decade saw Antigonus Gonatas pursue an aggressive policy in the islands and become involved in the conflicts between Seleucids and Lagids, as a loyal ally of the former. He scored a major victory at Cos, around 255, during the Second Syrian War. Around 250, however, a Lagid fleet decisively defeated the Macedonians and undermined their influence in the Cyclades, until Antigonus won another victory off Andros in 245.

The end of Antigonus Gonatas' reign was marked by the revolt of Cratere's son and successor (his half-brother), Alexander, and the rise of the Achaean League in the Peloponnese. Alexander, initially confirmed in his command of Corinth, rebelled in 249, taking Euboea with him. This secession was short-lived, as Alexander died suddenly in 245, and his widow, Nicea, accepted Antigonus' proposal to marry his son Demetrios. During the wedding preparations, Antigonus seized Acrocorinth, restoring his dominion over the isthmus and Evia. But in 243, Aratos of Sicyone seized Corinth, leading to the defection of the Megarides to the Achaean side. Antigonus did not react to the loss of this vital link, and was content to make peace with the Etolian League, which he encouraged to attack the Achaeans. When he died in 239, after a reign of forty years, Macedonia had not regained its position in central Greece, and had to contend with the two powerful confederations of Aetolia and Achaia.

Demetrios II and the Greek Leagues

Demetrios II came to the throne at the end of the reign of his father, Antigonus II Gonatas. He was already a mature man when he came to power. In 240 BC, right at the start of his reign, he had to fight against a coalition of the Etolian and Achaean leagues, which went to war against Macedonia. At the same time, he strengthened his relations with Epirus by marrying Alexander II's daughter Phthia. He switched from a defensive strategy, forged by his father, to an offensive one, with the aim of regaining control of Corinth. At the end of the Demetriac War (239-235), he succeeded in maintaining Macedonian positions against the Aetolians and Achaeans, even though the latter managed to expand into the Peloponnese. Moreover, the fall of the Epirote monarchy encouraged the Aetolians to attack Acarnania, which called on Demetrios for help. Demetrios asked the Illyrians to intervene: the Illyrians drove out the Aetolians in 231, then ravaged Elid and Messinia; on their return, they seized Phœnicè, while another army invaded Epirus. Attacked by those charged with helping them, the Epirotes turned to the Aetolians and Achaeans, who agreed to come to their aid. The Illyrians had to recall their army to face a threat from the Dardanians. Before leaving, however, the Illyrians obtained a further U-turn from the Epirotes, who renounced the Achaean and Etolian alliance. In 229, a new Illyrian army ravaged the cities of the Epirote coast, defeated an Achaean and Etolian fleet at Paxos and took Corcyra, where an Illyrian garrison was stationed. But the Illyrians had attracted the attention of the Roman Senate, and the First Illyrian War ended in 228 with their defeat.

Dardanian incursions were not confined to Illyria. On the border with Peonia, the kingdom of Macedonia suffered a surprise invasion by the Dardanians, a Thraco-Illyrian tribe. The Macedonians were defeated and Demetrios was killed in battle in 229, ushering in a period of uncertainty. His son, the future Philip V, was not old enough to reign, and his cousin Antigone III Doson assumed the regency.

Antigone III Doson and the victory over Sparta

Cousin of Demetrios II, Antigonus III Doson was initially appointed strategist and tutor (epitropos) to the young king Philip V, whom he adopted after marrying his mother, Chryseis. In 227 BC, he probably received the royal title. He first put an end to the Dardanian threat, although it is likely that northern Peonia remained under their domination. He also launched an offensive into Caria in the Gulf of Iasos. The motives behind this Asian expedition remain unclear. It was undoubtedly to demonstrate Macedonian maritime power in the islands, or even to challenge the influence of the Lagids, since Ptolemy III was still supporting the Achaean League at this time. He succeeded in extending his influence over Priene and Samos, and took control of Caria. These territories probably sought to protect themselves from the ambitions of Attalus I of Pergamon, who had just defeated the Seleucid Antiochos Hierax. However, Caria was not the object of permanent Macedonian occupation or administration.

Antigonus Doson then masterfully restored Macedonian hegemony in the Peloponnese, where he was called to the rescue in 224 by the Achaeans, his former adversaries, who were worried about the progressive reforms of the Spartan king, Cleomenes III. Antigonus took advantage of the situation to restore the League of Corinth, uniting half of Greece in a coalition. This confederation, of which he proclaimed himself hegemon, included the Kingdom of Macedonia, the Achaean League, Epirus, Phocis, Boeotia, Acarnania, Thessaly and Evia. He defeated Cleomenes at the battle of Sellasia in 222, marking the end of Cleomenes' war. He entered Sparta, which had never before been desecrated by a victorious enemy. Celebrated as "Benefactor of the Greeks" after his victory over Sparta, he died of illness the following year, after a victory over the Illyrians.

Philip V and Macedonian expansion

The reign of Philip V was marked by Rome's increasing intervention in the affairs of the Hellenistic world. Philip V was an energetic young monarch, who first took part in a war between the Aetolians and Achaeans, the War of the Allies, which ended in 217 BC. In 215, he concluded an alliance with Hannibal Barca, one of the most significant of the Hellenistic era, marking his willingness to fight a common adversary, Rome. For example, Philip sought to occupy Illyria by taking advantage of Roman difficulties during the Second Punic War. The First Macedonian War resulted in the division of Illyria between Rome and Macedonia in 205, following the Treaty of Phoenice. Philip V then intervened in the First Cretan War with piracy operations. At Ladè, off Miletus, he won a naval victory over Rhodes. He then marched against Pergamon. The Macedonian fleet was defeated by a coalition including Rhodes and Pergamum at the Battle of Chios in 201, putting an end to Philip V's thalassocratic ambitions, even though he still held the Hellespontic straits.

In 200, Philip V turned against Athens to regain a foothold in Piraeus, which had been lost under Antigone III Doson. Pergamon and Rhodes came to the aid of the Athenians and declared war on Philip V. It was against this backdrop that the Roman Senate decided to intervene, issuing a first ultimatum in 200. The Romans enjoined Philip to refrain from attacking any Greek state, while at the same time complaining about the wrongs done to Pergamum. Rome took on the role of protector of Greece against Philip, who became the aggressor. Roman army operations began in autumn 200, marking the start of the Second Macedonian War, when virtually all Greek states allied themselves with Rome. After an initial period of indecisive conflict, during which Philip V conducted operations in Attica, Thrace and the Straits, the Macedonian army was defeated at Cynoscephales in 197. The following year, Rome imposed a drastic peace on Philip V, who had to give up his strongholds in Greece and Anatolia.

Perseus and defeat at the hands of Rome

In 179 BC, Perseus, son of Philip V, inherited a kingdom whose cohesion had been strengthened after his defeat by the Romans: the army had been reorganized and finances reconstituted. He immediately asked the Senate to recognize him as the legitimate sovereign, his brother Demetrios, close to Roman interests, having been eliminated, and to renew the peace of 196. Perseus sought to re-establish Macedonian hegemony in Greece at a time of economic and social crisis in Thessaly and Aetolia. He used this situation to combat the pro-Roman oligarchic party in favor of an indebted "proletariat".

Faced with the rise of the kingdom of Pergamon under Eumenes II, who had emerged victorious from his conflict with Prusias of Bithynia and Pharnaceus I of Pontus, Perseus drew closer to the Seleucids: around 177, he married Laodicea V, a daughter of Seleucus IV, while his sister Apama married Prusias. Perseus also drew closer to Rhodes, worried about the new Pergamonian power. He even sent an embassy to Carthage. This policy of alliance worried the Roman Senate enough to send a first embassy to Greece in 174, but it returned without meeting Perseus. In 173, a new embassy arrived in Thessaly after the Thessalians had complained about Macedonian ambitions, forcing Perseus to reduce his influence in that country. At the same time, Perseus concluded an alliance with the Boeotian League.

The struggle against Rome resumed in 172, as Eumenes II of Pergamon, a loyal Roman ally, felt threatened. The Third Macedonian War began in 171, following the Roman declaration of war. Perseus receives the support of Cotys II, king of the Odryses. The first major battle took place in Thessaly near Larissa in the spring of 171: Perseus almost crushed the Roman legions at the Battle of Callinicos. Some of the Epirotes, including the Molossi, rallied to Perseus. The war then shifted to Illyria, whose dynast Genthios eventually joined Perseus' cause. The arrival in 168 of Paul-Émile, an experienced general, changed the situation. After landing at Delphi, he advanced towards southern Macedonia, where the decisive battle took place: the Macedonian phalanxes were crushed at the Battle of Pydna. Perseus was eventually captured by Paul Emilius, who took him to Rome for his triumph. The kingdom was then divided into four republics under the tutelage of Rome.

The Fourth Macedonian War saw the defeat of Andriscos, who proclaimed himself the son of Perseus, at the Second Battle of Pydna in 148. From then on, Macedonia became a Roman province, Roman Macedonia. In 142, another adventurer, calling himself Philip, stirred up another insurrection. Defeated by the quaestor Lucius Tremellius, Philip was captured and put to death.

Organization of powers

The Antigonids inherited the political structures established by the Arigades. The king, or basileus, of the Macedonians (not of Macedonia, at least officially) held supreme authority as warlord, high priest and head of administration. He was supported by a royal council, the Synedrion of Macedonia, made up of the Friends (philois) and leading generals. The Council's continued existence is attested to by Titus Livius (who quotes Polybius) when he describes Paul Emile's settlement of Macedonian affairs at Amphipolis in 167 BC.

The king's power is tempered by the Assembly of Macedonians, the hypothetical holder of sovereignty. Composed of citizen-soldiers, it was responsible for matters of royal succession and justice. This is how Antigonus II Gonatas was proclaimed king by the Assembly after his victory over the Celts in 277, or how Antigonus III Doson, then regent, received the royal title in 227. The appointment of regents (epitropoi) and major administrators of the kingdom (epimeletai) followed the same procedure as the acclamation of kings, requiring the Assembly to be convened.

Unlike the Lagid and Seleucid monarchies, there was no royal cult or deification of kings as part of a state ideology.

The role of philoi

Although the philoi (friends) of the Antigonid kings are less well known than their Ptolemaic and Seleucid counterparts due to a lack of sources concerning them, they nonetheless played an important role in the kings' politics. The sources, though fragmentary, provide us with the names of several of them. Under Demetrios II, we know of a man called Autokles; under Philip V, thirteen philoi served him, including : Alexandros, Appellès, Chrysogonos, Didas, Hérakleidès, Onomastos and Philoklès; and the last of the Antigonid kings, Perseus, had six philoi: Andronicos, Evandros, Hippias, Médon, Nikias and Pantauchos.

The philoi tou basileos played an important role in the Antigonid monarchy:

Territorial administration

The Kingdom of Macedonia, whose administration was reorganized by Philip II, was both a national state (Macedonians formed a civic body) and a territorial state (local communities, cities or ethnos, were autonomous). It was a relatively small, homogeneous territory that also included conquered peoples (Thracians, Peonians, Illyrians, etc.). The territory is divided into three categories:

The kingdom was divided into four districts or meridians according to the division made by Philip II; examination of numismatic and epigraphic sources shows that they continued under the Antigonids. There are the meridians of Amphipolis, Amphaxitide (with Thessalonica as capital), Bottiée (with Pella as capital) and Upper Macedonia (capital unknown). These districts served as territorial bases for army recruitment. The possible existence of a coinage specific to these districts would presuppose financial autonomy (embodied by money workshops) and particular political institutions, but the latter are poorly known. It is assumed that each meridian had an assembly bringing together all the Macedonians in the region, and elected a strategist annually whose function was to represent the assembly and the central power.

In Lower Macedonia (Bottiaea, Pieria, Emathia), there were numerous cities with institutions comparable to those in the rest of Greece. Urbanization continued under the Antigonids. Upper Macedonia, on the other hand, was less urbanized; the inhabitants were grouped into village communities (or ethnè ). In Thrace, the territory was divided into village associations, or sympolities. Finally, Thessaly, "vassalized" under the reign of Philip II, retained its own institutions.

The cities have their own autonomy and institutions, while remaining strongly linked to the central power through royal regulations ratified by a vote of each city. The king's representative is the epistate, not a governor but an elected citizen. The cities had substantial civic revenues of their own. Epigraphy testifies to the existence of a specialized administration headed by special magistrates, the tamiai ("treasurers"). Numismatics show that from the reign of Philip V, the cities of Pella, Amphipolis and Thessalonica were able to mint copper coins.

Army composition

Under the Antigonids, the Macedonian army remained the bedrock of kingship, with kings acclaimed by the Assembly of Macedonians "in arms" in times of war. The main strength of this "national army" still lay in the combination of the phalanx of Sarissophores and the heavy cavalry of the Companions. Recruitment was carried out at meridian (district) and city level, so that every citizen could contribute according to his or her income: the wealthiest served in the cavalry, the "middle classes" in the phalanx, and the poorest in the light infantry. Each household sent the most able of its men, aged between 15 and 50, while the others were incorporated into reserve contingents. Young recruits were trained in gymnasiums, which Philip V turned into public and civic institutions. It should be noted that during the Third Macedonian War, Philip V had to recruit men who were too young or too old by default. The Antigonids also used mercenaries, often Illyrians, Celts or Thracians from the kingdom of Odryses, as these barbarian mercenaries were cheaper than Greek hoplites.

Armaments and tactics did not undergo any major upheavals, but there were some adaptations. Firstly, phalangite equipment (called chalkaspides "bronze shields", as in Seleucid times) became heavier. In some cases, phalanx ranks were doubled from 16 to 32, to the detriment of maneuver, as at the battle of Pydna. Metal armor and wraparound helmets became widespread, while the size of the sarissa increased from 5 to 7.5m. These changes, and in particular the lengthening of the sarissa, were intended to provide more effective opposition to other Macedonian-type armies, at a time when the need for an effective army against flexible troops such as the Roman legions was not yet felt. The phalanx's rigidity meant that, to be effective, it had to be deployed on flat ground, as Polybius well noted. The phalanx's heaviness ultimately led to its demise when faced with the Roman legions of Cynoscephalus.

A contingent of 2,000 to 3,000 elite infantrymen formed the Royal Guard (or agema) on the model of the hypaspists or argyraspids, although the latter disappeared as a fighting unit in the Antigonid army. At the time, the term "hypaspist" ("shield-bearer") referred only to the king's direct bodyguards.

The peltasts' equipment became heavier with the use of metal helmets and a long oval shield inherited from the Celts (the thuréos), which replaced the peltè. This shield was probably imported to Greece by the Thracians and Illyrians. The Antigonids also made the thureophores' equipment heavier, turning them into thorakitai, protected by chainmail or a linothorax. Under Perseus, an infantry unit was specially trained and equipped to fight the elephants employed by the Romans, but without success.

The heavy cavalry, equipped like the Companions of Alexander's time, is divided into squadrons (ilai). There are 10 at Pydna, including the Guard (or agema), two sacred squadrons and seven royal squadrons. The army also included light Macedonian or Thracian cavalry, mounted archers and javelin throwers (or akontists). Perseus trained his cavalry to fight elephants using life-size models.

Kingdom finances

As in the Age of the Arigades, the king was the guardian of the Macedonian treasury and royal revenues (basilika), which in theory belonged to the Macedonians. The tributes provided for in treaties with conquered peoples were thus owed to the Macedonians and not to the king. According to Polybius and Titus Livius, the basilika included the following sources of revenue:

As in Ptolemaic Egypt, these revenues were most often exploited through leasing. Titus Livius writes that mines and forests were leased for a fixed sum during the reign of Philip V. Apart from royal land subject to tribute, land in Macedonia was free: Macedonians were free men and paid no taxes on private land. Nor were there any extraordinary wartime taxes in Macedonia. Even when he found himself in a perilous financial situation, as Perseus did in 168, the king did not resort to taxation but raised funds by borrowing, notably from his Friends, or by increasing the proceeds of leasing.

Sources

1. Antigonid dynasty
2. Antigonides
3. L'Eubée se voit accorder une large autonomie comme en témoigne l'apparition d'un monnayage indépendant.
4. À l'époque romaine, la capitale est Pélagonia en Péonie.
5. Ethnos est dans ce contexte souvent traduit en « tribu ».
6. ^ Grant, Michael (1988). The Rise of the Greeks. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 978-0-684-18536-1. It was the descendants of these Dorians [...] who formed the upper class among the Macedonians of subsequent epochs.
7. ^ Nicholson, Emma (2023-01-20). Philip V of Macedon in Polybius' Histories: Politics, History, and Fiction. Oxford University Press. pp. 2–4. ISBN 978-0-19-269212-2.
8. ^ a b "Antigonid dynasty | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2023-12-08.
9. J. Spielvogel, Jackson (2005). Western Civilization: Volume I: To 1715. [S.l.]: Thomson Wadsworth. pp. 89–90. ISBN 0-534-64603-4
10. Encyclopædia Britannica, Antigonid dynasty, 2008