How big was Philip ii of Macedonia's empire?

Answer 1

Thucydides (II 99) defined ancient Macedonia as the area extending to the east as far as the lands of mountain Paggaion, east of river Strymon, to the south to the Thermaikos Bay, Chalcidice, river Pineios (the border with Thessaly) and the Kambounia mountains, to the north up to (including) the city of Pella, south of the lands of Paeonians, and to the west to the mountains (Pindos, Tymfe etc) that separate Macedonia from Epeiros and ancient Illyria (today's Albania). Macedonia, as defined by Thucydides, coincides with the region of Macedonia of modern Greece minus some lands of the Chalcidice prefecture.

In later dates the borders of the Macedonian State (that is, the lands ruled by the Macedonian Kings) varied and depending on the circumstances it extended westwards up to the Adriatic Sea, eastwards up to river Evros and beyond, and to the north up to the city of Lychnidon between the lakes

of Brygies and Lyhnetis [the translation of some Greek names into English may seem weird. Blame me for this.]. References pointing to the borders of the Macedonian state can be found in Strabo, VII.

Answer 2

There was no Greek empire. The Greek world comprised hundreds of independent city-states stretching from Massilia (present Marseilles) around the Mediterranean and Black Seas. From time to time some of these city-states formed defensive alliances, but there was no overall ruler or cohesive 'empire'.

The nearest to an empire was the anti-Persian league organised by Athens, which incorporated about 180 city-states around the Aegean Sea and its islands. Athens became more and more authoritarian in enforcing collection of contributions to the league, and after the treaty with Persia rendered the league as fairly superfluous, Athens took the treasury to Athens and squandered the funds on beautifying the city (Parthenon etc) and maintaining half its citizens on the public payroll, including its unmatched navy which collected the tibute by force where necessary.

In consequence this is referred to as the Athenian Empire, and was a Greek empire, but not THE Greek Empire as it comprised a fraction of Greek city-states.

Answer 3

Well, it was exactly 45974957945794579457409.4545780457407504750475047540583030.0 square metres. The centre of the Empire was the Tomb of McGee, who was a holy figure to them.

Your Sincerely,

Tommy Uggboot

Answer 4

It was almost as big as the Persian Empire