CHAPTER 6

THE KINGDOM OF MACEDONIA AND THE CHALCIDIC LEAGUE

S. Psoma

The signifijicance of the Chalcidic League for the Macedonian kingdom is revealed by the alarm of Antigonus Monophthalmus when he heard that Cassander was founding Cassandreia. Diodorus (19.52.2–3) reports that Antigonus accused him of refounding Olynthus. For Antigonus, a contem- porary of Philip II, the League headed by Olynthus was the most signifiji- cant threat to the kingdom in northern Greece. When Philip dissolved the League and destroyed Olynthus, the kingdom was freed from the danger posed by its most powerful neighbour.1 Although Philip II or Alexander III refounded Stageira, one of the league’s cities, at Aristotles’ request, the refoundation of Olynthus was unthinkable for a Macedonian king.2

The Poteidaiatika and the Peloponnesian War

The kingdom of Macedonia was responsible both for the creation of the Chalcidic League and for its destruction.3 It was the expansion of the Athenian empire that brought the Macedonian king Perdiccas II and the Chalcidians together. The cities of the Chalcidians were members of the Athenian League, and the Macedonian king, who exported timber to Athens, was an ally of Athens at the beginning of his reign.4 After the

1 The author wishes to thank Edward M. Harris for discussion and advice. The incor- poration of most of the League’s territories into the kingdom was followed by the estab- lishment of Macedonian power in the whole area: see M. B. Hatzopoulos, Macedonian Institutions under the Kings. A Historical and Epigraphic Study, (ΜΕΛΕΤΗΜΑΤΑ) 22 (Athens, 1996), pp. 200–201. See also id., “Le statut de Cassandrée à l’époque hellénistique,” Ancient Macedonia 5, 1 (Thessaloniki, 1993), pp. 575–584. 2 Plut., Alex. 7.–3. For Stageira see M. Zahrnt, Olynth und die Chalkidier. Untersuchungen zur Staatenbildung auf der Chalkidischen Halbinsel im 5. und 4. Jahrhundert v. Chr., (Ves- tigia) 14 (Munich, 1971), p. 243 with n. 388. 3 For the foundation of the League immediately after the anoikismos see S. Psoma, Olynthe et les Chalcidiens de Thrace: etudes de numismatique et d’histoire (Stuttgart, 2001), pp. 203–221. 4 Thuc. 1.57.2–3. 114 s. psoma

Athenian foundation of Amphipolis (437 bc) and alliance with the king’s bitter enemy, his own brother Philip, Perdiccas II realized that Athenian plans for the north included a weak Macedonian kingdom ruled by a dif- ferent member of the vast royal family.5 Thucydides believes that the king’s endless intrigues were responsible for the revolt of the Chalcidians in 432 bc,6 but other explanations are more plausible. The Argead king was not the only power in the area that was hostile to the Athenians. Potidaea, the Corinthian colony on the isth- mus of Pallene, received an ultimatum from Athens, which Thucydides mentions, and a dramatic increase of its phoros, which Thucydides does not mention.7 The cities of the Bottiaeans, whose amount of tribute was increased, also had reason to be hostile to Athens. Finally, the cities of the Chalcidians may have felt threatened by the Athenian decision to send a military colony to the small city of Brea on the Crousis near Olynthus.8 Perdiccas II encouraged the Chalcidians, the Bottiaeans and Potidaea to revolt and promised help in 432 bc. He advised the Chalcidians to abandon their small cities, all situated on the coast, and move to Olyn- thus. The Chalcidians of Thrace, who had arrived from Euboea before the creation of the polis, lived in small urban settlements in Sithonia and at the foot of the Toronean gulf.9 In 479 bc, they were granted Olynthus, a former Bottiaean city, by the Persians. By abandoning their small cities and moving to Olynthus, they could avoid the immediate threat from the Athenian fleet.10 Perdiccas II granted them land around Lake Bolbe where they founded Apollonia.11 As a result of the simultaneous abandonment of

5 For literary sources and discussion see E. Badian, From Plataea to Potidaea: Studies in the History and Historiography of the Pentecontaetia (Baltimore, 1993), pp. 171–185. 6 Thuc. 1.57.5. 7 Zahrnt, Olynth und die Chalkidier, pp. 215–216. 8 H. B. Mattingly, “The Foundation of Brea (IG2 I, 45 = ML, 49),” Appendix B of “The Lan- guage of Athenian Imperialism,” Epigraphica 36 (1974) 33–56 (= Harold B. Mattingly, The Athenian Empire Restored: Epigraphic and Historical Studies (Michigan, 1996) pp. 361–385, esp. pp. 381–385); S. Psoma, “Thucydide, I,61.4: Béroia, la nouvelle localisation de Bréa et les Potidaeatika.” REG 122.2 (2009.2) 263–280. See also D. Erdas, “Forme e stanziamento militare e organizzazione del territorio nel mondo greco: i casi di Casmene e Brea”, in M. A. Vaggioli, ed., Guerra e pace in Sicilia e nel Mediterraneo antico (viii–iii sec. a. C.), Arte, prassi e teoria della pace e della guerra, vol. I, (Pisa, 2006), 45–55. 9 For the early colonisation of this area see J. Vokotopoulou, “Greek Colonisation in the Littoral of Chalcidice and Lower Macedonia,” in J. Vokotopoulou, ed., Ηπειρωτικά και Μακεδονικά, (ΜΕΛΕΤΗΜΑΤΑ) 2 (Athens, 2001). See also Zahrnt, Olynth und die Chalkidier, pp. 27–48 for Olynthus before the Poteidaiatika. 10 Thuc. 1.58.2. 11 Thuc. 1.58.2. For Apollonia see M. B. Hatzopoulos, “Apollonia λληνίς,” in I. Worthington, ed., Ventures into Greek History. Essays in hounour of N. G. L. Hammond (Oxford, 1994), pp. 159–183.