Tra Egeo e Mediterraneo occidentale: assi geopolitici del mondo greco nel V e IV secolo a.C.

The history of the Greek world, devoid of political unity, witnesses the emerging of different geopolitical axes in the various periods. In the Archaic period, a Balkan axis prevailed in the motherland and a Tyrrhenian axis in the West. In the fifth century, with the advent of the power of Athens, we witness the prevalence of an Aegean axis, more or less oriented towards the East, depending on the different phases of the Greek-Persian and intra-Greek relations: but the magnitude of the geopolitical perspectives includes secondary axes too, which can be identified throughout the Mediterranean area, tending sometimes to come to the fore (as in the case of the western axis). In the fourth century, the unique hegemony of Sparta and the ephemeral Theban hegemony reaffirmed an Aegean-Balkan axis. Finally, with Dionysius I of Syracuse in the West and Philip II of Macedonia in the motherland and in the East, there is a widening in European and even in ecumenical perspective. The analysis of these geopolitical phenomena reveals the significant role of the "innovative" powers, such as Athens and Dionysius I.