THEME: Hellenistic diplomacy THEME CELTS AND HELLENISTIC PROPAGANDA
For the Classical period, the Persians were an ever-present threat to the Hellenic world, invading mainland Greece in the early fifth century BC and then financing Greek to fight amongst themselves. However, after the conquests of Alexander the Great, the Greco-Macedonian successor kingdoms had replaced the Persians as the dominant powers in the eastern Mediterranean. Yet a new threat soon arrived from the north, as tens of thousands of Celts marched south through Thrace and into Macedonia. The new Macedonian king, Ptolemy Ceraunus, marched out to meet the Celts with a small force and was massacred, leaving Macedonia to be fought over by several pretenders for the throne (Diodorus, 22.3–4), and Greece open to the Celts. Led by Brennus, the Celts moved south, raiding as they went. Learning of the Celts’ desolation of Thessaly, a coalition of Greeks assembled at Thermopylae. However, being
