MACEDONIAN EMPIRE, the name generally given to the empire founded by Alexander the Great of Macedon in the coun tries now represented by Greece and European Turkey, Asia Minor, Egypt, Syria, Persia and eastwards as far as northern India. The present article falls naturally into two main divisions—I. The reign of Alexander. II. The period of his successors, the "Diadochi" and their dynasties.
At the beginning of the 4th century B.C. two types of political association confronted each other in the lands of the Eastern Mediterranean—the Persian monarchy with its huge agglomera tion of subject peoples, and the Greek city-state. Each had a dif ferent principle of strength. The Persian monarchy was strong in its size, in the mere amount of men and treasure it could dis pose of under a single hand ; the Greek state was strong in its moral, in the energy and discipline of its soldiery. But the small ness of the single city-states and their unwillingness to combine prevented this superiority in quality from telling destructively upon the bulk of the Persian empire. The future belonged to any power that could combine the advantages of both systems, could make a state larger than the Greek city, and animated by a spirit equal to that of the Greek soldier. This was achieved by the kings of Macedonia. The work, begun by his predecessors, of consolidating the kingdom internally and making its army a fight ing-machine of high power was completed by the genius of Philip II. B.c.), who at the same time by war and diplomacy brought the Greek states of the Balkan peninsula generally to recognize his single predominance. At the synod of Corinth (337) Philip was solemnly declared the captain-general (orparnyos rotcparcop) of the Hellenes against the king of Persia, and in 334 his son and successor Alexander delivered his attack at the head of an army composed both of Macedonians and contingents from the allied Greek states. Before this force the Persian monarchy went down, and when Alexander died eleven years later (323) a Macedonian empire which covered all the territory of the old Persian empire, and even more, was a realized fact.
Alexander had at first trusted Persian grandees more freely in this capacity, till the ingrained oriental tradition of misgovern ment so declared itself that to three more provinces at least Mac edonians had been appointed before his death. In the case of cer
tain provinces, possibly in the empire generally, Alexander estab lished a double control. The financial administration was en trusted to separate officials; we hear of such in Lydia, Babylonia and notably in Egypt. Higher financial controllers seem to have been over groups of provinces, and Harpalus over the whole fi nances of the empire, with his seat in Babylon. Again, the garri sons in the chief cities, such as Sardis, Babylon, Memphis, Pelu sium and Susa, were under commands distinct from those of the provinces. The old Greek cities of the motherland were not f or mally subjects of the empire, but sovereign states, which assem bled at Corinth as members of a great alliance, in which the Mac edonian king was included as a member and held the office of captain-general. Of course, in fact, the power of the king was so vastly superior that the Greek cities were in reality subject to his dictation, even in so intimate a matter as the readmission of their exiles, and might be obliged to receive his garrisons. Within the empire itself, the various communities were allowed, subject to the interference of the king or his officials, to manage their own affairs. Alexander is said to have granted the Lydians to be "free" and "to use the laws of the ancient Lydians," whatever exactly these expressions may mean. So too in Egypt, the native monarchs were left as the local authorities. Especially to the gods of the conquered peoples Alexander showed respect. In Egypt and in Babylon he appeared as the restorer of the native religions to honour after the unsympathetic rule of the Persians. The temple of Marduk in Babylon which had fallen began to rise again at his command. It is possible, but not probable, that he offered sacri fice to Yahweh in Jerusalem. In Persia, the native aristocracy retained their power, and the Macedonian governor adopted Per sian dress and manners. A new factor introduced by Alexander was the foundation of Greek cities at all critical points of inter course in the conquered lands. These, no doubt, possessed munici pal autonomy with the ordinary organization of the Greek state; to what extent they were formally and regularly controlled by the provincial authorities we do not know. The empire included large tracts of mountain or desert, inhabited by tribes, which the Persian government had never subdued.