Chapter IV: Look East For Your Freedom
Part XI: Aftermath
[FONT="]The Hellenic army faced a great conundrum in the aftermath of their victory. The major question facing them at the moment was what to do now. The had conquered lands from Ionia to Susiana, and had just defeated the army of the Achaemenid Great King and had accomplished all they had hoped for and then some. Yet their basileus was dead and a new Persian army from Baktria was likely to amass and set out to take them on as soon as word spread there.
Tiribazosthreatened to rewind the clock and undo everything the Hellenes had accomplished in the past year and a half. It was a truly awkward situation to be in.
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[FONT="]But what to do about it?
Kleitos Redbeard, having been chiliarchos under Jason, tried to assert his authority and wished to withdrawal to Babylon and deal with events from there. Few of Jason’s former bodyguard or other staff were content to take orders from him, and regardless, there was a significant portion of them;
Olympiodoros chief among them; that advocated for taking the fight further east. The argument went that their best chance of victory lie with maintaining the initiative. As sound as this argument may have been, it was unpractical for a host of reasons, not least because it was readily apparent to everyone that the leaders of the army would not come together to allow anyone to have the supreme authority to lead it. Still others; mainly the Makedonians; pointed out that only
Philippos Argead, still in Babylon, had the authority to make a decision.
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[FONT="]They convened a council in the camp among them to settle these matters, hoping to reach at least some short term consensus so they could finally move out. The council was not as divisive and confrontational as expected-the egos and personal ambition of Jason’s former staff were overshadowed by the threat posted just over the horizon from Tiribazos in the east. A compromise drawn up by the politically savvy chief secretary
Attalos of Amphipolis was reached, in order to mollify the Makedonians and Thessalians; both Philippos Argead and Artemisia’s infant son would be proclaimed joint kings. This was only a temporary measure, as the Thessalians knew very well that as an adult Philippos could actually exercise and solidify his power while Jason II would obviously be incapable of doing so and likely never be allowed to grow old enough to have that opportunity. Furthermore, aside from confirming all the current satraps in their positions and appointing
Demetrios to transfer the Susa treasury to Babylon, they did not settle anything regarding disputes over who would receive what satrapy. All that mattered was that some measure was in place long enough for them to deal with Tiribazos.[/FONT]
[FONT="]There were three more things they did do however, one of which would have profound effects later on. The first was sending a peace offer to Tiribazos, which would recognize all of Jason’s conquests up to Susiana. This was hardly expected to be accepted-indeed, Tiribazos would reply with an even more absurd response, demanding they hand over all their conquests except for Ionia-but it was a nice propaganda measure to say they had tried to negotiate but had been rebuffed.
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[FONT="]The second measure they enacted was sending orders to
Memnon of Rhodes in Babylon-note how they sent it to Memnon and not Philippos- to levy Babylonian troops and begin drilling them in order to bolster the numbers of their army to prepare for Tiribazos. They could hardly have expected them to be effective, being newly raised levies, but they were at least on par quality wise with Persian infantry. That they ordered them to be raised at all however shows the precarious position they believed themselves to be in. Under normal circumstances, they would have balked at allowing sizable numbers of easterners to serve as equals in their army; but the Babylonians had been some of the most enthusiastic supporters of the new regime, and the army needed more manpower. Recognizing that forces in Hellas would likely be tied down dealing with revolts, it made the most sense in the circumstances. [/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]Finally, the third measure was not an order by the council but a secret order by Kleitos sent with the messengers to Memnon, to order him to assassinate Philippos Argead. Kleitos wanted him out of the way and knew that once he was back in Babylon, removing him from the picture would be extremely difficult. It should be noted that this is highly speculative; we cannot be sure that Philippos did not indeed die of a serious illness. Babylon surely was not the healthiest place to be, and it’s not an unheard of occurrence, particularly in the ancient world. But the timing is too convenient to ignore. It is my opinion that Memnon, having received the order to assassinate Philippos (and no doubt seeing the benefit removing him from the picture may bring him in the future), gave him a slow acting poison in order to make it look like his death was an unfortunate result of a serious illness. Regardless, what is important is that Philippos was dead by the time the army returned to Babylon, and Kleitos had maneuvered himself into the position of regent for Jason II. [/FONT][FONT="]
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[FONT="]Before they departed, the council faced a near mutiny by the foot soldiers, who had demanded they march on Persepolis first, to allow them to sack it in revenge for Jason’s death. The phalangarch
Meleagros, an opportunist if there ever was one, became their most vocal advocate, threatening to lead the foot soldiers on his own to Persepolis. Disaster was averted by hefty bribes from the gold and silver already at the council’s disposal, and promises of more money later on should they agree to return to Babylon immediately. Still, this was a worrying development, and the council no doubt kept an eye on Meleagros from this point forward, recognizing him as a threat to all of their ambitions. [/FONT]
[FONT="]They arrived in Babylon by mid-October, and it would not be long after that when Tiribazos’ response arrived. War was now certain, and so despite protests over Philippos’ death, many were eager to not cause confrontation and division until after Tiribazos was dealt with. By now word of Jason and Artaxerxes’ deaths would have spread all across the empire, and nowhere would it have a more explosive effect early on than in Hellas. [/FONT]
