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I thought you might return. Now, where were we?
I told you about the folly of Aristagoras, and the Great King's wrath…
There was Themistocles, the defence of Greece, and the rise of Athens…
Ah yes, Brasidas, and Lysander, and the great war that tore Greece apart.
My my… We really did cover quite a lot. Perhaps this time I'll stick to a single subject.
While the Greeks squabbled endlessly, to their north there lay the entirely unremarkable kingdom of Macedon.
A poor, rugged land, its borders beset by belligerent neighbors, and riven from within by feuding nobles.
For centuries, the kings of Macedon had done all they could to hold this fragile fiefdom together; glorious expansion was out of the question.
All this changed when Philip took the throne.
His was an improbable kingship — the crown only passed to Philip after both of his older brothers had their turns on the throne cut short, one slain in battle and the other by an assassin's blade.
Determined not to meet the same fate, Philip immediately set to reforming the Macedonian military, arming his soldiers with pikes as long as four men laid head to toe.
As for those troublesome nobles, the prospect of prize commands in Philip's new army provided a tempting incentive to good behaviour.
When Philip marched against the Scythians, his eyes set on yet more plunder to feed his growing realm, there was a new commander among his forces.
His teenage heir, Alexander: a boy of little experience, but tremendous ambitions. Philip was about to give his son a first, alluring taste of glory.