Greeks who stood against Alexander the Great
Not all – or even most – Greeks accepted Alexander the Great’s insistence that he had inherited the title of hegemon (overlord) that his father, Philip, had claimed after his victory at Chaeronea (338 BC). The famed Athenian orator, Demosthenes, for example, continued to foment and support unrest throughout Greece. As noted in my novel Throne of Darius: A Captain of Thebes, when rumors flew of Alexander’s death in battle against the northern tribes in 335 BC, Demosthenes sent agitators, money and arms to Thebes to support an uprising against the Macedonians. Also as described in the novel, that revolt was crushed when Alexander (who survived his wounds in the north) rushed south, stormed and then razed the city to the ground. The principal protagonist of the novel, Dimitrios, survived but never gave up the cause of fighting Alexander.
(Bust of Demosthenes, currently on display in the Louvre)
Alexander demanded the heads or at least exile of Demosthenes and other Athenian leaders as punishment. A very smooth-talking diplomat (and pro-Macedonian collaborator), Phocion, however, convinced Alexander to instead settle for the exile of a single minor conspirator as well as substantial financial “contribution” (along with the loan of 20 Athenian warships and their crews).
Almost immediately after Alexander crossed over the Hellespont to begin the war on Persia, however, Demosthenes renewed his clandestine campaign. He enlisted the Spartan king, Agis III , who came to the throne after his father’s death on the field of Chaeronea, in this cause. The Athenian orator also sent four envoys to seek money and aid from the Persian emperor, Darius. (All four were captured at the battle of Issus in 333 BC). (These and other incidents will appear in the second novel in the series: Throne of Darius: A Princess of Persia).
Agis raised a coalition army to confront Antipater, a Macedonian general Alexander had left to police the Greek city states. Antipater defeated and killed Agis at Megalopolis in 331 BC. Antipater then sent agents to hunt down Demosthenes, who rather than suffer torture and death took poison in 322 BC.
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