While these things were going on, Jason,1 tyrant of Pherae, because of his superior shrewdness as a general and his success in attracting many of his neighbours into an alliance, prevailed upon the Thessalians to lay claim to the supremacy in Greece; for this was a sort of prize for valour open to those strong enough to contend for it. [2] Now it happened that the Lacedaemonians had sustained a great disaster at Leuctra; that the Athenians laid claim to the mastery of the sea only; that the Thebans were unworthy of first rank; and that the Argives had been brought low by civil wars and internecine slaughter. So the Thessalians put Jason forward as leader2 of the whole country, and as such gave him supreme command in war. Jason accepted the command, won over some of the tribes near by, and entered into alliance with Amyntas king of the Macedonians. [3]
A peculiar coincidence befell in this year, for three of those in positions of power died about the same time. Amyntas,3 son of Arrhidaeus, king of Macedonia died after a rule of twenty-four years, leaving behind him three sons, Alexander, Perdiccas, and Philip. The son Alexander4 succeeded to the throne and ruled for one year. [4] Likewise Agesipolis, king of the Lacedaemonians, died after ruling a year, the kingship going to Cleomenes his brother who succeeded to the throne and had a reign of thirty-four years.5 [5] Thirdly, Jason of Pherae, who had been chosen ruler of Thessaly and was reputed to be governing his subjects with moderation, was assassinated,6 either, as Ephorus writes, by seven young men who conspired together for the repute it would bring, or, as some historians say, by his brother Polydorus. This Polydorus himself also, after succeeding to the position of leader, ruled for one year. [6] Duris7 of Samos, the historian, began his History of the Greeks at this point.
These then were the events of this year.
