Creating Greek identity: how Philip II of Macedon used the third sacred war to infiltrate Greek politics and establish Macedonia as a Greek State

In roughly 590 BCE, a "league of neighbors" developed in central Greece. The Amphictyony at Pylae joined together with Delphi to create the Delphic Amphictyonic League. The league gained political prowess throughout Greece through its protection of the sacred space of Delphi. Meanwhile in Macedonia, Macedonian kings sought Greek identity with the implementation of Greek culture in the Macedonian court. When the Thebans took Philip II of Macedon hostage as a teenager, they trained him in the central Greek military, political, and cultural tactics. This upbringing resulted in Philip's understanding of the importance of the Delphic Amphictyony to not only the central Greeks, but to the Greeks as a whole. Philip used the Third Sacred War, fought at Delphi, and the Amphictyonic votes he was thereafter given to solidify Macedonia as a Greek state.