Il ‘nemico alle porte’: Filippo II e I Persiani nella propaganda ateniese,

The pro or anti Macedonian Athenian propaganda portraits the Persians in a double way. In the speeches of the Attic orators they are presented (depending from the political orientation of the speaker) like the traditional enemies or the untraditional allies of the Greeks. Demosthenes, for instance, shows them in this latter way; he calls Philip II ‘the enemy at the door’ and urges his fellow citizens to fight him with the support of Persia. This positive image of the Persians, nevertheless, was soon discredited by the force of tradition and, above all, by the political events that resulted in the struggle at Chaeronea. The military success gave again Philip the opportunity to denounce the Persians as barbarians and enemies of the Greeks, and so they became the target of an expedition that was presented as an act of revenge in the name of Greek freedom.