The period of Theban supremacy, which now began. lasted nearly ten years, to the battle of Mantinea, in B.C. 362, and was the supremacy principally of one man, Epaminondas. Democ racy was once more predominant. The Pelopon nesus was invaded, Arcadia was formed into one State, with a new city, Megalopolis, as the head, and Messenia was made independent of Sparta. Athens united with Sparta in resisting Thebes, and in the battle of Mantinea (B.c. 362), though the Thebans were victorious, Epaminondas was killed. Athens now tried to reestablish her em pire over her former allies, but without success; the Social War (c.357-355 B.c.) secured the independence of nearly all the States.
In the meantime there was coming into promi nence north of Greece a new power, which was destined to absorb within itself all the Grecian lands. This power was that of the Macedonians, a race akin to the Greeks, but looked upon as barbarian. Philip, the son of Amyntas II., be came King of Macedonia in B.c. 359, and, after establishing himself firmly on his throne, at once proceeded to annex the Greek colonies on the coast of Macedonia and Thrace. One by one they fell into his hands—Amphipolis, Pydna, Potidna, Methone, and the others. He next took steps to gain a footing in Greece, and the oppor tunity was offered him by the Sacred War be tween Thebes and Phocis, which broke out about B.c. 357. The Amphictyonic Council influenced by Thebes, inflicted a heavy fine on the Phocians for having tilled certain waste ground belonging to Apollo, and the latter obtained the support of the tyrants of Pheroe in Thessaly. Thereupon the noble Thessalians invited Philip to enter Greece and lend them his aid, an invitation he was only too ready to accept. Entering Thessaly, he went as far south as Thermopylae, but was there met by an Athenian force and prevented from proceed ing farther. Returning to Thrace, and continuing his conquests in that direction, he in u.c. 347 took the Chalcidian town of Olynthus, and soon after the whole Chalcidian peninsula fell into his hands. Though opposed by a party at Athens, led by the orator Demosthenes, he advanced al most unchecked, accomplishing as much by brib ery and deception as by force of arms. He re ceived at the hands of the Amphictyons the two votes in their assembly to which the Phocians had been entitled, but of which they had been de prived, and also a share in the presidency of the Pythian Games. Being once more invited into Greece, this time by the Amphictyons to take part against the Locrians, he advanced into Bceo tia, and was met by the Bceotians and Athenians at Chaeronea B.c. 338; this battle was a victory for Philip and the death-knell of Grecian inde pendence. A congress of Greek States, held at
Corinth in the next year, recognized Macedonian supremacy in Greece, and appointed Philip com mander-in-chief of the Greek forces. Philip im mediately began preparations for invading Per sia, but was assassinated in B.C. 336, and his son, Alexander, twenty years of age, succeeded him.
At the death of Philip a general rising against the power of Macedonia was threatened, but it was quickly suppressed by the energy of the new King. Having made an example of Thebes, which he razed to the ground, he set out in B.C. 334 on his famous invasion of Persia. The conquests of Alexander in the East extended Grecian in fluence and Grecian civilization and language throughout a great part of Asia. He 'founded Alexandria, which, under the Greek dynasty of the Ptolemies, soon rose to be the greatest centre of civilization in the world. Alexander died at Babylon in B.C. 323, and his empire was divided among his generals. Among those who shared in this partition of power were Perdiceas, Antipater, Crateras, Antigonus, Eumenes, Ptolemy Lagi, Ly simaehus, Polysperchon, Cassander, Seleucus, and Demetrius Poliorcetes. Of the States established by the successors of Alexander, the so-called Dia dochi, the most important were the Greek King dom of Egypt (the realm of the Ptolemies) and the Kingdom of Syria (the realm of the Selena di). Later the Kingdom of Pontus rose to great power under the Greek dynasty. An effort was made by Greece to throw off the yoke of Mace donia, and the war, called the Lamian War, was ended by the victory of Antinater, Regent of Ma cedonia, at Crannon in n.e. 322. In the wars of the successors of Alexander, Greece was often the battlefield of the contending forces. Two attempts were made in this period at federation. The Achcran League was formed about B.C. 280, and included Athens and other cities of Northern Greece, and Corinth, as well as much of the Peloponnesus. The abilities and patriotism of Aratus and Philopa-men (the latter styled the ' last of the Greeks ') shed lustre upon this con federacy, which for many years maintained the cause of Grecian independence against foreign con querors. The dEtolian League was formed in Cen tral Greece, but was less famous than the Acluran. In n.e. 197 Philip V. of Macedon was defeated at Cynoeephalte by the Romans, and in B.C. 196 the freedom of Greece was proclaimed by the victorious general Flaminius at Corinth. In B.C. 168, by the battle of Pydna, and in B.c. 146, with the destruction of Corinth by the Roman general Mummius, Greece passed completely into the hands of the Romans, who made of it a province, under the name of Aehaia.