Central Greece and the Politics of Power in the Fourth Century BC

John Buckler, Hans Beck0521837057, 9780521837057, 9780511457265

The streams of Greek history in the fourth century are highly controversial. Sandwiched between the Classical fifth century and the Hellenistic period, the era has invited various readings, most prominently the verdict of decrepitude and decline. Recent discoveries, however, indicate that the period was not simply illustrative of the political, social, and economic weaknesses of the Greek city-state. This book examines the fourth century from an area with its own regional dynamics: central Greece, a region often considered as a backwater for macro-politics. The authors disclose a vivid tension between regional politics in Boeotia and its adjacent territories and Greek affairs. They provide a meticulous and, at times, microscopic investigation into the region’s military and political history, together with detailed analyses of the topography of the places ‘where history was made.’ The result is a dazzling account of Greece’s power transition crisis on the eve of the Macedonian conquest.

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Table of contents :
Cover……Page 1
Half-title……Page 3
Title……Page 5
Copyright……Page 6
Dedication……Page 7
Contents……Page 9
Maps……Page 11
Preface……Page 13
Acknowledgments……Page 15
Abbreviations……Page 17
Prologue Power politics in fourth-century Greece……Page 23
A short century……Page 26
Interstate equilibrium and its obstacles: bipolarity, hegemony, multiplicity……Page 29
Federalism and the limits of integration……Page 34
Changing environments: resources, interstate structures, human agency……Page 38
How (and why) cattle lead to system-wide wars……Page 45
PART I Alliance……Page 53
CHAPTER 1 A survey of Theban and Athenian relations between 403–371 bc……Page 55
CHAPTER 2 The incident at Mt. Parnassus, 395 bc……Page 66
The battlefield……Page 81
The battle……Page 85
History and historiography……Page 89
CHAPTER 4 The King’s Peace, alliance, and Phoebidas’ strike (382 bc)……Page 93
CHAPTER 5 Sphodrias’ raid and the evolution of the Athenian League……Page 101
PART II Hegemony……Page 107
CHAPTER 6 The re-establishment of the boiomacrtarchia (378 bc)……Page 109
CHAPTER 7 The battle of Tegyra, 375 bc……Page 121
Topography……Page 123
The battle……Page 128
CHAPTER 8 Plutarch on Leuctra……Page 133
Pelopidas’ position……Page 134
Cleombrotus’ maneuvers……Page 138
Plutarch and Xenophon……Page 145
CHAPTER 9 Alliance and hegemony in fourth-century Greece: the case of the Theban Hegemony……Page 149
The Common Peace and hegemony……Page 150
Hegemony in fact……Page 155
CHAPTER 10 Xenophon’s speeches and the Theban Hegemony……Page 162
Xenophon and composition……Page 163
The speeches and history……Page 170
Conclusions……Page 185
CHAPTER 11 The phantom synedrion of the Boeotian Confederacy, 378–335 bc……Page 187
The case of Euphron of Sicyon……Page 188
Epigraphy and its literary neighbours……Page 195
CHAPTER 12 Boeotian Aulis and Greek naval bases……Page 202
The harbors……Page 207
Criteria for Greek naval bases: theory and practice……Page 211
Conclusion……Page 219
CHAPTER 13 Epaminondas and the new inscription from Cnidus……Page 221
PART III Domination……Page 233
CHAPTER 14 Thebes, Delphi, and the outbreak of the Sacred War……Page 235
CHAPTER 15 Pammenes, the Persians, and the Sacred War……Page 246
CHAPTER 16 Philip II, the Greeks, and the King, 346–336 bc……Page 255
CHAPTER 17 A note on the battle of Chaeronea……Page 276
CHAPTER 18 Philip II’s designs on Greece……Page 281
Epilogue……Page 299
Glossary……Page 306
References……Page 309
Index……Page 327