334 BC and Greek power in Southern Italy is under threat. Powerful neighbouring tribes have descended on the Hellenic cities, intent on expansion and plunder. Yet all hope is not lost; heeding their plea, one king has answered the call.

His name is Alexander, ruler of a kingdom on the harsh frontier of North-West Greece. Landing with a powerful army, Alexander has arrived eager for fame, glory and conquest. Yet achieving his towering ambitions would not be easy. And little did he know, his fate had already been decided. This is his story.

Background: Central Greece 359 BC

In 359 BC, the Greek mainland was entering a period of great change. Its ‘Golden Age’ that had spanned most of the past 120 years – a time when powers such as Athens, Sparta and Thebes had reached their zenith – was at an end.

No longer were these great cities all-powerful and a dominant force in the Central Mediterranean; by 359 BC, they had become weak, divided and a shadow of their former strength. Now more than ever, young Greeks ambitious for wealth and glory, would leave their home shores, travelling abroad to serve as mercenaries in armies elsewhere. The military make-up of the Aegean was transforming.

Yet this period of great change was not happening solely in the prestigious cities of Southern Greece. To the North, other more-peripheral Greek realms had also started to transform. From relative obscurity, their rises would be unprecedented. One such realm was the Kingdom of Molossia.

Molossia

Situated in the rugged region of Epirus in North-West Greece was the Kingdom of Molossia, the alleged home to the descendants of Achilles. Molossia had acted as a frontier region of the Greek World for centuries. The threat of barbarians descending from the North, hungry for plunder and booty, was a constant all-too-real threat. On many occasions it would become harsh reality. The Molossians had sufferred from such raids for centuries; they were no strangers to war.

To many Greeks, Molossia was therefore merely a volatile frontier region – its people’s own suffering protecting the more wealthy and ‘civilised’ Greek cities further south from the threat of pillaging barbarians; that, along with possessing the famed Oracle of Zeus at Dodona, was as far as the region’s importance then stretched. Living in Molossia was far from a blessing.

All this, however, was about to change. By the mid-4th Century B.C, power in the Greek World was shifting. Molossia would not be slow to take advantage.

The Alliance

In 358 BC, an agreement was signed that would catapult Molossia from its past of relative obscurity to become one of the most powerful Greek kingdoms of the time. Hoping to gain more power, Arybbas, the then King of Molossia, agreed to form an alliance with a neighbouring, ambitious, young king to the North-East. His name was Philip II, ruler of the Kingdom of Macedonia and a man whose deeds would completely alter the Greek World.

Philip II of Macedon

Just as with Arrybas and his Molossians, Philip and his Macedonians had also been suffering from devastating barbarian incursions for decades before 358 BC. Both kings therefore controlled kingdoms experiencing constant hardship from this ever-present threat; and both desired to be rid of it. Realising their similar aims, they quickly realised the benefits of Molossian-Macedonian cooperation to combat this threat. Becoming allies seemed the obvious solution.

Wasting no time, the Molossians and Macedonians quickly formed an alliance of the strongest calibre. Uniting their royal houses through blood, both kings agreed that Philip would marry Olympias, the beautiful, young niece of Arrybas. In this act the alliance was sealed.

Yet Olympias was not the only royal Molossian that this new alliance deeply affected. For one other was this new alliance with Macedonia a pivotal moment towards his future greatness.

Alexander of Molossia

His name was Alexander, the nephew of King Arybbas and brother of Olympias. As with his sister, Alexander would also become closely associated with Philip and Macedonia following 358 BC. This association, however, would not be nearly as easy or amiable as it had been with his sister.

The alliance falters

Not long after the sealing of the marriage alliance, relations between Philip and Arrybas started to turn sour. A great quarrel quickly erupted (we do not know the cause), showing no signs of calming. War between these two former allies appeared only a matter of time. Philip made sure to act first.

Somewhere during these deteriorating relations, Philip made his move. Desiring to keep Arrybas in check, the Macedonian king invaded Molossia in 350 BC, seizing Alexander – who at that time was still only a teenager – as a royal hostage. With the young Alexander in tow Philip then returned to Macedonia, his main objective achieved. For the time being, Arrybas had been put back in check.

Captivity in Macedonia

Reaching Philip’s royal court at Pella, there Alexander reunited with his sister Olympias and began his time as a hostage. Far from treating him poorly however, Philip ensured his subjects treated his brother-in-law as his royal title deserved, providing him with a Greek education.

Alexander would remain detained in the heartlands of Macedonia for the rest of his teenage years, observing and learning from the heroised actions of Philip and his greatest generals – men such as Parmenion, Coenus and Cleitus – the art of charismatic and clever kingship first-hand.

The years Alexander spent as a ‘captive’ at the Macedonian court would prove to be some of the greatest in his life. Witnessing the glories Philip had gained through war, the young Molossian prince soon desired to gain his own great fame through conquest. Philip, his military mentor, had set the bar high; Alexander aimed one day to have the chance to surpass it. That day would come soon enough.

343 BC: upheaval in Molossia

As Alexander was learning the art of war in Macedonia, back in Molossia his uncle, Arrybas, was in dire straits. The seizing of Alexander as a hostage by Philip had only temporarily calmed his quarrel with the Macedonian king. Soon enough relations once again, turned toxic; and this time, there would be no attempt by Philip to avert it. War erupted.

From being a strong ally barely fifteen years before, in 343 BC, Arybbas found himself fighting against Philip for the very control of his kingdom. It proved to no avail. In 343 BC, Philip defeated the Molossian king, driving him off the throne into exile in Athens. There he would remain for the rest of his days.

A new king

Philip had successfully ousted Arrybas; Molossia was his. But who could Philip entrust to manage this important kingdom? Fortunately for him, there was one young royal Molossian who was perfect for the role!

Alexander had come a long way from the young teenager he had been when he first arrived in Macedonia. After witnessing the multiple successes of Philip and his companions for many years, on his return, the young Molossian had developed into a very capable leader.

Not only did he have a very close (possibly even intimate) link to Philip, but Alexander had also developed into a charismatic war leader with a burning desire for conquest; his ethos had become very similar to that of Philip. He was ready to rule.

Alexander, King of Molossia

Ending his time as a hostage, Philip established Alexander on the Molossian throne. Yet Philip’s generosity to Alexander did not stop there. Wanting to strengthen his western border as much as possible, Philip endowed one more ‘gift’ on Alexander: three key coastal cities in southern Epirus: Pandosia, Bucheta and Elatria.

Thanks to Philip, Alexander therefore found himself inheriting a kingdom stronger than ever before in its history. No longer was Molossia simply an inland kingdom on an unstable frontier of the Greek World. Now, Alexander ruled a kingdom not only allied to a rapidly rising Greek power, but that also for the first time, had a direct link to the Mediterranean Sea. With this came great opportunity.

The possibility of conquest across the Ionian Sea in Italy and Sicily now appeared open to Alexander. Envisaging himself as the protégé to his mentor, Philip, he prepared his own great plans of conquest. The West he saw as his oyster. Yet before he could even dare to attempt such a formidable expedition, he needed allies. Fortunately, he knew exactly where to look.

Uniting the Tribes

At that time, the region of Epirus was fragmented between many smaller ‘Greek’ kingdoms. Molossia was just one of these. Two others also controlled large amounts of this unstable territory: The Kingdoms of Thesprotia and Chaonia.

If Alexander wanted to launch an ambitious campaign in the West then having an alliance with these two immediate neighbours was critical. Alexander believed that this may not be as improbable as others thought.

Although each of these kingdoms treasured their own tribal identity, an overriding realisation of Epirote uniformity also existed. In the past, Chaonians, Thesprotians and Molossians had fought side by side, linked by this shared Epirote identity; and it was this sense of commonality that Alexander knew he would need to take advantage of.

The Epirote Alliance

By appealing to this sense of shared identity and tempting his neighbours with his intended, glorious campaign to the West, Alexander convinced the Chaonians and Thesprotians to join him. At Passaron an alliance was agreed; Alexander would be their leader.

For the first time ever, Epirus was united and its borders secure; the constant worry and threat of barbarian raids from the North seemed a distant memory. Alexander’s preparation for his great conquest was taking shape.

Alexander made sure that the Epirotes would not regret selecting him as their commander. His time learning the art of war from formidable generals such as Philip, Parmenion and Cleitus in Macedonia had turned him into an ambitious, charismatic and, most of all, a skilled young leader.

All Alexander had to do now was prove himself to the Greek world; gaining great success on an intrepid military campaign was therefore a must. Yet for him to gain this success, Alexander knew he had to first address one other issue.

The Epirote army

Disorganised, ill-disciplined and backward. Three words that summed up the state of the Epirote forces upon Alexander’s accession. Having suffered decades of raids from northern barbarians in the past, Epirus was very much the ‘left-behind’ region in the Greek World. And it clearly showed.

There were no beautiful, rich cities, adorned with jaw-dropping architecture or magnificent temples in that region – buildings that had so effectively evoked the splendour of the Greek cities further south (cities such as Athens, Corinth or Thebes for example).

Instead, the Epirotes had remained sparsely populated in this rugged region, its military power severely hindered by its past lack of unity and austerity; no wonder they had been easy pickings for northern raiders in the past.

Transforming Epirus

Yet Macedonia too had been regarded as similarly backward before Philip; now, within 20 years of his accession, that northern ‘left-behind’ Greek kingdom was quickly becoming supreme – its armies proving unstoppable to any that opposed it. If Philip could transform Macedonia, Alexander likely thought, then surely, he could do the same with Epirus. Only time would tell. Setting his sights on this goal, Alexander got to work.

Gathering together a large army from across the newly-united Epirus, Alexander set about introducing his men to a new style of warfare – a style that soon became the mainstay of every powerful nation in the Eastern Mediterranean for the next 150 years.

The Macedonian Phalanx

From his time in Macedonia, Alexander had been able to watch first-hand the creation of this radical new development in Greek warfare. He had already witnessed its deadly effectiveness in battle and its critical role in Philip’s quick ascendancy to dominance in mainland Greece. This military innovation was proving its ingenuity.

Alexander therefore began instructing his forces in this revolutionary form of warfare, arming his core infantry with the iconic twenty-foot-long sarissas. Equipped in such a fashion, his modernised Epirote soldiers were then arranged into large, deep, phalanx formations. His cavalry, too, Alexander also started to transform, turning them into the powerful shock arm of his new-look army.

Ready for war

Soon enough, Alexander had completely transformed the Epirote army. Before Alexander, it had been no greater than a rabble of crudely-armed levies. Now, having been trained in the image of Philip’s powerful Macedonians, Alexander had turned his soldiers into a force ready for war.

All Alexander wanted now was an opportunity; he yearned for the chance for a great conquest where he could show off his talent on the field of battle. He had set his eyes on the West for a long time, to Italy and the great riches that awaited him there.

Now, he waited for a reason – the convincing pretext that he could use to explain to his fellow Greeks why he was undertaking such an intrepid expedition. It would come soon enough.

Notes and Further Reading

Huge thanks to Johnny Shumate and his fantastic illustrations! Click here for Johnny’s website.

Johnny’s Etsy page, check it out here.

Information is from:

Justin Book VII. 6 (On the Alliance of Arrybas and Philip and Arrybas’ subsequent downfall) here.

Champion, J. 2009, Pyrrhus of Epirus. Pen and Sword Books Ltd.

Hammond, N. G. L. 1967, Epirus. Oxford University Press.

Meyer, E. A. 2013, The Inscriptions of Dodona and a New History of Molossia. Steiner.

Author: Tristan Hughes Twitter Facebook

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