Money Makes the World Go Round? Financial Resources as Instruments of Power in the Macedonia of Philip V

In 218, Philip V, King of Macedonia, faced a dangerous mutiny. His elite corps, the Peltasts and Agema, felt they were being treated unfairly and were unhappy with their share of the spoils. In protest, they pulled down the doors and broke through the roof of the royal apartments, and the riot destroyed the quarters closest to the king’s friends and the king himself, according to Polybius 5.25.1-3. The episode was the latest in a series of riots and acts of insubordination in the Macedonian army involving soldiers and some senior officers, Megaleas and Crinon, protected by Philip’s philos, Leontios. In order to manage the growing tensions, Philip used various instruments of power. This paper is an analysis of these instruments, and in particular of the financial one. Philip used it in accordance with the common military code of the Macedonian army. However, he deliberately took it to an extreme. By applying to the episode theoretical instruments borrowed from modern political studies, the paper shows that the king resorted to a purposeful and multifaceted exercise of power to overcome incompatibility and secure compliance among the political actors involved.