Michael's Page

By attacking Perinthus on the Sea of Marmara and Byzantium on the Bosphorus, Philip had threatened the Athenian grain route. The Athenians, spurred on by the agitations of Demosthenes, were finally roused into action. They sent aid to the besieged cities and frustrated Philip's efforts there. The Athenians were eventually able to win Thebes over to their cause, but when the decisive battle came at Chaeronea in 338 the Macedonians were victorious.

No surviving, ancient author tells us whether Pt… Continue

Ptolemy was often rumored to be the illegitimate son of Philip II. His mother Arsinoe was probably the king's cousin, and it is entirely possible that her marriage to Lagus was a marriage of convenience, since Lagus seems to have been from a relatively obscure family. The Suda preserves the legend that Lagus, angry over the child's paternity, exposed him. Ptolemy then, according to this story, would have died had he not been saved by an eagle.

On the other hand, it is possible that Ptolemy, or… Continue

Ptolemy, son of Lagus, seems to have been the first of Alexander's successors to understand that the empire would not last as an entity and could not be governed by one man. He alone of the major figures in the first years after Alexander's death seems to have intuitively grasped the idea that this vast creation of the charismatic general would splinter into smaller kingdoms. He chose Egypt as his personal satrapy and never gave way to the temptation to risk his hold on Egypt for a larger share… Continue

When Alexander the Great died in 323, Ptolemy, one of his field marshals, was about 44 years old. His impact upon the world at this time could hardly be described as profound. He had lived most of his life in the shadow of his great contemporary. Ptolemy could not have been expected to do otherwise. While Alexander was alive, Ptolemy and all his fellow generals could only play their supporting roles in the revolution that was changing the face, not only of Greece and the eastern Mediterranean, b… Continue