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When Alexander the Great ascended to the Macedonian throne in 336 b.c.e., he probably did not have the goal of becoming the greatest conqueror of history. After suppressing insurrections in Greek states, however, he relatively quickly took over the imperial governments of Asia Minor, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Persia. Each victory increased his appetite for additional conquests. When conquering a community, Alexander brutally crushed all opposition, sold many of the local people into slavery, and insisted on the payment of taxes. He appointed a satrap (or local administrator) that he could trust and attempted to involve as many local personnel as possible. Increasingly, he recognized the importance of respecting local customs. In his new capital Babylon, therefore, he introduced Asian court ceremonies, causing discomfort among some of his Greek and Macedonian officers.

Philip II, during his reign of more than twenty years, consolidated the Macedonian kingdom and achieved hegemony over the Greek city-states of Europe, thus making possible the famous exploits of his son, Alexander the Great. Philip’s success was due in part to his skillful diplomacy, but even more important was his reorganization of the army into an effective killing machine. Rather than amateurs, Philip’s soldiers were well-paid and well-trained professionals. Fighting in phalanx formations of eight to sixteen rows, they were armed with the sarisa, a 15-foot-long (4.5-meter-long) wooden spear with a metal tip. Philip supplemented the phalanx with many archers and a large cavalry. When these components worked together as intended, Philip’s army was almost invincible.

Macedonia was an unstable band of feuding rural clans, loosely united under a hereditary kingship, when Philip II of the Argead Dynasty came to power. Historians debate the actual date of Philip’s assumption of Macedonian leadership. Traditionally, historians set the date at 359 b.c.e., but some scholars, such as Eugene Borza, have moved the date back to 360 b.c.e. as they refine knowledge of the Macedonian calendar. Also clouding the issue is the debate, in which historians are about equally divided, regarding whether Philip first served as regent for his infant nephew before assuming kingship in his own right.

In 334 b.c.e., Alexander the Great invaded Persia, fulfilling the plans laid by his father Philip II of Macedonia. Close to the Hellespont (Dardanelles), the invader was met by a Persian army.

The northernmost city of Boeotia (central Greece), strategically located in the narrow Cephisus plain between Mounts Acontium and Thurium, astride the main invasion route from the north. Chaeronea belonged to Orchomenus until at least 424 BC. In the fourth century it was a member of the Boeotian League.

The Peloponnesian War (431-404 b.c.e.) ended Athens’ hegemony in Greece and marked the beginning of Spartan dominance. The result was the outbreak of new destructive wars aimed at the overthrow of Sparta. At the Battle of Leuctra in 371 b.c.e., the Thebans, allies of Athens, inflicted a decisive defeat on the Spartans, and Greece passed to the hegemony of Thebes. This hegemony proved to be exceedingly short-lived. Athens changed sides and, in concert with Sparta and other states, overcame Thebes in the closely fought Battle of Mantinea in 362 b.c.e. Meanwhile, Athens had revived the Delian confederacy, but most of its allies successfully revolted against Athens in the Social War of 357-355, and Athenian power was badly shaken.