Alexander, a man born approximately 2,300 years ago, lived a story that demanded to be told and retold. The men agreed, passing down the Alexander legend orally for decades until the first surviving sources were written down. Echoes of Alexander's influence can be heard today and his legend will live on for centuries. Many followers (literally and figuratively) of this great conqueror mention his legacy in passing without examining it in detail. King Philip II of Macedon, a man best known as the father of Alexander the Great, left his son that legacy most boys will never see: an empire. King Philip considered Macedonia a citizen-soldier pile and made it Europe's first territorial nation-state. Philip II was greater than Alexander the Great, not least because Alexander's legacy, too often overlooked, was essential to his own success. Alexander's opportunity for greatness was facilitated by Philip's formation of the first territorial nation-state in Europe. Before King Philip arrived on the Macedonian scene, his people were more tribal and more disparate. Philip II urbanized Macedonia, accumulated its wealth, and quickly made it the richest and most powerful state in ancient Greece. It is ridiculous to imagine Macedonia of 360 BCE launching a military campaign in Asia Minor; King Philip left Macedonia with the food, money, troops, political unity, and civic institutions needed to facilitate a successful conquest. King Philip created a political environment necessary for Alexander's greatness. He formed the first European empire under a single constitution and unified the hundreds of independent Greek city-states under Macedonian rule. Any scholar of ancient or classical Greece is clearly impressed by this unif...... middle of paper ... uh, it turns out that Philip was the greatest man. For half a century, two kings conquered respective territories. Philip did so slowly, thus forging Europe's first nation-state. He united hundreds of distinct city-states into a federally administered proto-empire, using force where he felt compelled and diplomacy where he could. He established a complex system of power and logistics that made future conquest possible. Alexander, in turn, conquered all of the Levant, Bactria, Anatolia, Persia and Egypt in the space of a decade. He slaughtered thousands and defeated the most powerful armies known. He personally felled his enemies in battle, diving into the fray so often that he was seriously wounded seven times. Yet Alexander's empire collapsed within weeks of his death; Philip's empire made Alexander's success possible. Greatness breeds greatness.