Hi there. You're listening to the Hellenistic Age podcast, Episode 64, Antigid Mascadon of Revolutions and reforms.

The nearly 40 years of rule by Antigonus II Gannatus was a time of general order and stability for Macedonia.

Antigonus' victories over the roving bands of Celts and rivals rivals like Pyrrhus of Epiottos had restored

some semblance of peace to the kingdom after decades of civil wars and invasion.

For the Greeks, the Macedonian noose only fell tighter.

Despite Gannatus' alleged claim that kingship was but a noble servitude, Bolivia states that

Antigonus had set up more tyrants in Greece

than any of his predecessors, a testament to the extent to which the king would maneuver to keep

the Hellenic cities in check. However, the Greeks began to reassert their political autonomy,

primarily through the rise of the federations, above all else, the Itolean and Achaean

leagues. The Creminidian War of the 260s was a severe shake-up, and despite Gannatus ultimately

triumphing over Athens and Sparta, it was a taste of what was to come. A Rattus of Sikian, an up-and-coming

leader of the Akean League, proved to be the Macedonian's chief

adversary in his later career. The Sikionian seizure of Corinth from under Antiginus's nose

brought the Akean's great renown, and several cities overthrew their tyrants and opted to join

the League as well. The Itolians were nominally allied with Macedonia, but their reputation

for brigandage and opportunism made them unreliable partners at best. In addition, the newest

king of Egypt, Ptolemy III, was keen to disrupt the Antiginate control of Greece as much as

his father by bankrolling any potential dissidence to Macedonian power.

This is the situation that the new King of Macedonia found himself in by 239.

Demetrius II, son of Antigonus, had likely been joint king during the final years of his father's reign.

We know little about the man and his career. Perhaps he was 36 at the time of Gannatus' death.

...