Family issues resolved, the advance guard of Philip's army marched into Asia Minor. While the campaign began successfully, Philip would never make it there in person. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With the Greek states forced into a union under his leadership, Philip was all set to declare war on the Great King of Persia. Then a spectacular family scandal put these plans on hold. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

We take a brief detour from the story to cover the short meteoric career of a figure touted by some as the man who could have united Greece before Philip, but whose career was unexpectedly cut short. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The Sacred War saw Philip hegemon of Greece in all but name. But the war party in Athens led by Demosthenes regretted the peace ending the Sacred War as soon as it was signed. A final showdown was inevitable and it led to the greatest victory in Philip's career.For the orations of Demosthenes including his Philippics click here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

An attempt by Thebes to use the Amphictyonic League as a cudgel to punish Phokis kicked off an exhausting decade long war that involved all of Greece. It also provided Philip II and Macedon the ability to interfere and confirmed Macedon as the dominant power in Greece. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

After stabilizing the situation following the death of his brother Perdikkas III, Philip II engineered his rise to the throne. The next year he started a remarkable five year run that totally flipped Macedon's strategic situation - uniting his Kingdom, creating the new Macedonian military machine and emerging as the strongest power in Greece. The rest of Greece just did not know yet. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In 364 BC, Philip returned to the court of his brother Perdikkas III. Five years later came the great Illyrian disaster with the King killed along with 4,000 of his men. As regent for his nephew Amyntas IV it was up to Philip to prevent the total collapse of Macedonia. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

The troubled aftermath following the death of King Amyntas III of Macedon saw one of his sons assassinated and another a hostage in Thebes. In Thebes the young Philip of Macedon would have the advantage of learning the arts of war and diplomacy from Epaminondas, the statesman who destroyed Spartan hegemony and in his lifetime raised Thebes to the supreme power in Greece. The young prince would implement these lessons after he returned home. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

He was King for only 13 years and died aged just before he turned 33. However, in that short period Alexander the Great left an enduring mark in his life and in posterity. In June 323 BC, Alexander died in his palace in Babylon. He left no obvious successor and his death initiated 40 years of war.The coin in the cover art today is one of the seminal coin types of ancient coinage. These coins continued for centuries after his death and while it is debated whether they actually show a portrait of Alexander as Hercules, it is likely that later generations felt this was the case. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With the conquest of Lydia, the Persians were introduced to coinage. The Lydians did not take to the shipment of their hard won treasure east meekly. After bringing the Lydians to heel Cyrus finished his last great conquest Babylon, before heading to his doom on the Steppes. By conquering Babylon and freeing the Jews from their Babylonian Captivity he earned himself a lot of good press for posterity. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.