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Philip II of Macedon[1] (‹See Tfd›Greek: Φίλιππος B' ό Μακεδών, Fílippos ó Makedõn; 382–336 BCE) was the king (basileus) of the kingdom of Macedon from 359 BCE until his assassination in 336 BCE.[2] He was a member of the Argead dynasty of Macedonian kings, the third son of King Amyntas III of Macedon, and father of Alexander the Great and Philip III. The rise of Macedon, its conquest and political consolidation of most of Classical Greece during the reign of Philip II was achieved in part by his reformation of the Ancient Macedonian army, establishing the Macedonian phalanx that proved critical in securing victories on the battlefield. After defeating the Greek city-states of Athens and Thebes at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE, Philip II led the effort to establish a federation of Greek states known as the League of Corinth, with him as the elected hegemon and commander-in-chief[3] of Greece for a planned invasion of the Achaemenid Empire of Persia. However, his assassination by a royal bodyguard, Pausanias of Orestis, led to the immediate succession of his son Alexander, who would go on to invade the Achaemenid Empire in his father's stead.

Biography

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Youth and accession

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Philip was the youngest son of King Amyntas III and Eurydice I. After the assassination of his eldest brother, Alexander II, Philip was sent as a hostage to Illyria by Ptolemy of Aloros.[4][5] Philip was later held in Thebes (c. 368–365 BCE), which at the time was the leading city of Greece. While in Thebes, Philip received a military and diplomatic education from Epaminondas, became eromenos of Pelopidas,[6][7] and lived with Pammenes, who was an enthusiastic advocate of the Sacred Band of Thebes.

In 364 BCE, Philip returned to Macedon. In 359 BCE, Philip's other brother, King Perdiccas III, died in battle against the Illyrians. Before leaving, Perdiccas had appointed Philip as regent for his infant son Amyntas IV, but Philip succeeded in taking the kingdom for himself.[4]

Philip's military skills and expansionist vision of Macedonia brought him early success. He first had to remedy a predicament which had been greatly worsened by the defeat against the Illyrians in which King Perdiccas himself had died. The Paeonians and the Thracians had sacked and invaded the eastern regions of Macedonia, while the Athenians had landed, at Methoni on the coast, a contingent under the Macedonian pretender Argaeus II.[8]

Military Career

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Improvements to the army

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Philip II made many notable contributions to the Macedonian army. The cavalry and infantry, which were the primary source of the army's strength, roughly doubled from the battles with the Illyrians to 334 BCE.[9] The discipline and training of the soldiers increased as well, but the Macedonian soldiers under Philip were provided with rewards and bonus wages for exceptional service and the possibility of promotion through the ranks. In addition to these changes, Philip created the Macedonian phalanx, an infantry formation that consisted of soldiers all armed with a sarissa. Philip is credited for adding the sarissa to the Macedonian army, where it soon was the common weapon used by most soldiers.[9]

Early military career

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Using diplomacy, Philip pushed back the Paeonians and Thracians promising tributes, and defeated the 3,000 Athenian hoplites (359).

Philip married Audata, the great-granddaughter of the Illyrian king of Dardania, Bardyllis. However, this marriage did not prevent him from marching against the Illyrians in 358 BCE and defeating them in a battle in which some 7,000 Illyrians died (357).

After securing the western and southern borders of Macedon, Philip went on to siege Amphipolis in 357 BCE. The Athenians had been unable to conquer Amphipolis, which commanded the gold mines of Mount Pangaion. So Philip reached an agreement with Athens to lease the city to them after his conquest, in exchange for Pydna (which was lost by Macedon in 363). However, after conquering Amphipolis, Philip captured Pydna for himself and kept both cities (357). Athens soon declared war against him, and as a result, Philip allied Macedon with the Chalcidian League of Olynthus. He subsequently conquered Potidaea, this time keeping his word and ceding it to the League in 356 BCE.[10]

In 357 BCE, Philip married the Epirote princess Olympias, who was the daughter of the king of the Molossians. Their son, Alexander, was born in 356 BCE, the same year Philip's racehorse won at the Olympic Games.[11]

During 356 BCE, Philip conquered the town of Crenides and changed its name to Philippi. He then established a powerful garrison there to control its mines, which yielded much of the gold he later used for his campaigns. In the meantime, his general Parmenion defeated the Illyrians again.[12]

From 355 to 354 BCE, Philip besieged Methone, the last city on the Thermaic Gulf controlled by Athens. During the siege, Philip was injured in his right eye, which was later removed surgically.[13] Despite the arrival of two Athenian fleets, the city fell in 354 BCE. Philip also attacked Abdera and Maronea, on the Thracian coast (354–353).[14]

Third Sacred War

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Philip's involvement in the Third Sacred War (356-346) began in 354 BCE. At the request of the Thessalian League, Philip and his army traveled to Thessaly in order to capture Pagasae, resulting in an alliance with Thebes. A year later in 353 BCE, Philip was once again asked to assist in battle, but this time against the tyrant Lycophron who was supported by Onomarchus. Philip and his forces invaded Thessaly, defeating 7,000 Phocians and forcing Phayllus, the brother of Onomarchus, to leave.[10]

That same year, Onomarchus and his army defeated Philip in two succeeding battles. Philip returned to Thessaly the next summer, this time with an army of 20,000 infantry, 3,000 cavalry, and the additional support of the Thessalian League's forces. At the Battle of Crocus Field, 6,000 Phocians fell and 3,000 were taken as prisoners and later drowned. This battle earned Philip immense prestige. He was made the leader (archon) of the Thessalian League and was able to claim Magnesia and Perrhaebia, which expanded his territory to Pagasae.[10]

There were no hostilities with Athens yet, but Athens was threatened by the Macedonians. From 352 to 346 BCE, Philip did not again travel south. He was active in completing the subjugation of the Balkan hill-country to the west and north, and in reducing the Greek cities of the coast as far as the Hebrus. To the chief of these coastal cities, Olynthus, Philip continued to profess friendship until its neighboring cities were in his hands.[15]

In 348 BCE, Philip started the siege of Olynthus, which, apart from its strategic position, housed his half-brothers, Arrhidaeus and Menelaus, pretenders to the Macedonian throne. Olynthus had at first allied itself with Philip, but later shifted its allegiance to Athens. The latter, however, did nothing to help the city because its expeditions held back by a revolt in Euboea. The Macedonian king took Olynthus in 348 BCE and razed the city to the ground. The same fate was inflicted on other cities of the Chalcidian peninsula, resulting in the Chalcidian League dissolving.[10]

Macedon and the regions adjoining it having been securely consolidated, Philip celebrated his Olympic Games at Dium. In 347 BCE, Philip advanced to the conquest of the eastern districts about Hebrus, and compelled the submission of the Thracian prince Cersobleptes. In 346 BCE, he intervened effectively in the war between Thebes and the Phocians, but his wars with Athens continued intermittently. However, Athens had made overtures for peace, and when Philip again moved south, peace was sworn in Thessaly.[15]

Later campaigns (346–336 BCE)

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In 345 BCE, Philip conducted a hard-fought campaign against the Ardiaioi (Ardiaei), under their king Pleuratus I, during which Philip was seriously wounded in the lower right leg by an Ardian soldier.[16]

In 342 BCE, Philip led a military expedition north against the Scythians, conquering the Thracian fortified settlement Eumolpia to give it his name, Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv).

In 340 BCE, Philip started the siege of Perinthus, and in 339 BCE, began another siege against the city of Byzantium. As both sieges failed, Philip's influence over Greece was compromised.[17] He successfully reasserted his authority in the Aegean by defeating an alliance of Thebans and Athenians at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE, and in the same year, conquered Amfissa because the residents had illegally cultivated part of the Crisaian plain which belonged to Delphi. These decisive victories led to Philip being recognized as the military leader of the League of Corinth, a Greek confederation allied against the Persian Empire, in 338/7 BCE.[18][19] Members of the league agreed never to wage war against each other, unless it was to suppress revolution.[20]

Asian campaign (336 BCE)

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Philip II was involved quite early against the Achaemenid Empire. From around 352 BCE, he supported several Persian opponents to Artaxerxes III, such as Artabazos II, Amminapes or a Persian nobleman named Sisines, by receiving them for several years as exiles at the Macedonian court.[21][22][23][24] This gave him a good knowledge of Persian issues, and may even have influenced some of his innovations in the management of the Macedonian state.[21] Alexander was also acquainted with these Persian exiles during his youth.[22][25][26]

In 336 BCE, Philip II sent Parmenion, with Amyntas, Andromenes and Attalus, and an army of 10,000 men into Asia Minor to make preparations for an invasion to free the Greeks living on the western coast and islands from Achaemenid rule.[27][28] At first, all went well. The Greek cities on the western coast of Anatolia revolted until the news arrived that Philip had been assassinated and had been succeeded as king by his young son Alexander. The Macedonians were demoralized by Philip's death and were subsequently defeated near Magnesia by the Achaemenids under the command of the mercenary Memnon of Rhodes.[28][27]

Marriages (moving this section above "Assassination") Move statue of Philip below Olympias.

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Roman medallion with Olympias, the fourth wife of Philip II and mother of Alexander the Great. From the Museum of Thessaloniki.
Roman medallion of Olympias, the fourth wife of Philip II and mother of Alexander the Great. From the Museum of Thessaloniki.

The kings of Macedon practiced polygamy. Philip II had seven wives throughout his life, all members of royalty from foreign dynasties. All of Philip's wives were considered queens, making their children royalty as well.[10] The dates of Philip's multiple marriages and the names of some of his wives are contested. Below is the order of marriages offered by Athenaeus, 13.557b–e:

Assassination

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The gilded silver diadem of Philip II, found in his tomb at Vergina

King Philip was assassinated in October 336 BCE at Aegae, the ancient capital of the kingdom of Macedon. Philip and his royal court were gathered in order to celebrate the marriage of Alexander I of Epirus and Cleopatra of Macedon—Philip's daughter by his fourth wife Olympias. While the king was entering into the town's theatre—he was unprotected in order to appear approachable to the Greek diplomats that were present at the time—Philip was slain by Pausanias of Orestis, one of his seven bodyguards. After Philip was killed, the assassin then immediately tried to escape & to reach his getaway associates who were waiting for him with horses at the entrance to Aegae. The assassin was pursued by three of Philip's other bodyguards, and during the chase, he accidentally tripped on a vine. He was then subsequently stabbed to death and murdered by the bodyguards.[30]

Statue of Philip II, 350-400 BCE. Rheinisches Landesmuseum Trier.

The reasons for the assassination are difficult to expound fully. There was already controversy among ancient historians; the only contemporary account in our possession is that of Aristotle who states, rather tersely, that Philip was killed because Pausanias had been offended by the followers Philip's uncle-in-law, Attalus.[31] Attalus was the uncle of Philip's wife Cleopatra (renamed Eurydice upon marriage).

Cleitarchus' analysis

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Fifty years later, the historian Cleitarchus expanded and embellished the story. Centuries later, this version was to be narrated by Diodorus Siculus and all the historians who used Cleitarchus. According to the sixteenth book of Diodorus' history,[32] Pausanias of Orestis had been a lover of Philip, but became jealous when Philip turned his attention to a younger man, also called Pausanias. The elder Pausanias' taunting of the new lover caused the younger Pausanias to throw away his life in battle, which turned his friend Attalus against the elder Pausanias. Attalus took his revenge by getting Pausanias of Orestis drunk at a public dinner and then raping him.[32]

When Pausanias complained to Philip, the king felt unable to chastise Attalus, as he was about to send him to Asia with Parmenion, to establish a bridgehead for his planned invasion. Philip also was recently married to Attalus' niece, Cleopatra Eurydice. Rather than offend Attalus, Philip tried to mollify Pausanias by elevating him within his personal bodyguard. Pausanias' desire for revenge seems to have turned towards the man who had failed to avenge his damaged honour, so he planned to kill Philip. Some time after the alleged rape, while Attalus was away in Asia fighting the Persians, he put his plan in action.[32]

Modern analysis

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Assassination of Philip of Macedon. 19th century illustration.

Many modern historians have observed that none of the accounts are probable: In the case of Pausanias, the stated motive of the crime hardly seems adequate. On the other hand, the implication of Alexander and Olympias seems specious – to act as they did would have required brazen effrontery in the face of a military personally loyal to Philip. What seems to be recorded are the natural suspicions that fell on the chief beneficiaries of the assassination, however their actions in response to the murder cannot prove their guilt in the crime itself – regardless of how sympathetic they might have seemed afterward.[33]

Whatever the actual background to the assassination, it may have had an enormous effect on later world history, far beyond what any conspirators could have predicted. As asserted by some modern historians, had the older and more settled Philip been the one in charge of the war against Persia, he might have rested content with relatively moderate conquests, e.g., making Anatolia into a Macedonian province, and not pushed further into an overall conquest of Persia and further campaigns in India.[33]

Need to update picture descriptions and information panel to BCE as well.

References

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  1. ^ Worthington, Ian. 2008. Philip II of Macedonia. New Haven: Yale University Press, ISBN 0300164769, 9780300164763
  2. ^ Cosmopoulos, Michael B. 1992. Macedonia: An Introduction to its Political History. Winnipeg: Manitoba Studies in Classical Civilization, p. 30 (TABLE 2: The Argeiad Kings).
  3. ^ Diodorus Sicilus, Book 16, 89.[3] «διόπερ ἐν Κορίνθῳ τοῦ κοινοῦ συνεδρίου συναχθέντος διαλεχθεὶς περὶ τοῦ πρὸς Πέρσας πολέμου καὶ μεγάλας ἐλπίδας ὑποθεὶς προετρέψατο τοὺς συνέδρους εἰς πόλεμον. τέλος δὲ τῶν Ἑλλήνων ἑλομένων αὐτὸν στρατηγὸν αὐτοκράτορα τῆς Ἑλλάδος μεγάλας παρασκευὰς ἐποιεῖτο πρὸς τὴν ἐπὶ τοὺς Πέρσας στρατείαν...καὶ τὰ μὲν περὶ Φίλιππον ἐν τούτοις ἦν»
  4. ^ a b Green, Peter (2013). Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B. C. : A Historical Biography. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 9780520954694.
  5. ^ Howe, T. (2017), "Plain tales from the hills: Illyrian influences on Argead military development", in S. Müller, T. Howe, H. Bowden and R. Rollinger (eds.), The History of the Argeads: New Perspectives. Wiesbaden, 99-113.
  6. ^ Dio Chrysostom Or. 49.5
  7. ^ Murray, Stephen O. Homosexualities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, page 42
  8. ^  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Mason, Charles Peter (1870). "Argaeus". In Smith, William (ed.). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. Vol. 1. p. 279.
  9. ^ a b Hatzopoulos, Miltiades B. (1980). Philip of Macedon. Athens: Ekdotike Athenon S.A.
  10. ^ a b c d e Hammond, N.G.L. (1994). Philip of Macedon. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4927-6.
  11. ^ Green, Peter (2013). Alexander of Macedon, 356-323 B. C. : A Historical Biography. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 39. ISBN 9780520954694.
  12. ^ Hammond, N.G.L. (1966). "The Kingdoms in Illyria circa 400-167 B.C." The Annual of the British School at Athens. 61: 239–266. doi:10.1017/S0068245400019043. JSTOR 30103175. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  13. ^ A special instrument known as the Spoon of Dioclese was used to remove his eye.
  14. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bevan, Edwyn Robert (1911). "Philip II., king of Macedonia". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 377.
  15. ^ a b  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bevan, Edwyn Robert (1911). "Philip II., king of Macedonia". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 377.
  16. ^ Ashley, James R., The Macedonian Empire: The Era of Warfare Under Philip II and Alexander the Great, 359–323 BCE., McFarland, 2004, p. 114, ISBN 0-7864-1918-0
  17. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bevan, Edwyn Robert (1911). "Philip II., king of Macedonia". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 21 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 377.
  18. ^ Cawkwell, George (1978). Philip II of Macedon. London, United Kingdom: Faber & Faber. p. 170. ISBN 0-571-10958-6.
  19. ^ Wells, H. G. (1961) [1937]. The Outline of History: Volume 1. Doubleday. pp. 279–80. ... in 338 B.C. a congress of Greek states recognized him as captain-general for the war against Persia.
  20. ^ Rhodes, Peter John; Osborne, Robin (2003). Greek Historical Inscriptions: 404–323 BC. Oxford University Press. p. 375. ISBN 978-0-19-815313-9.
  21. ^ a b Morgan, Janett (2016). Greek Perspectives on the Achaemenid Empire: Persia Through the Looking Glass. Edinburgh University Press. p. 271. ISBN 978-0-7486-4724-8.
  22. ^ a b Cawthorne, Nigel (2004). Alexander the Great. Haus Publishing. pp. 42–43. ISBN 978-1-904341-56-7.
  23. ^ Briant, Pierre (2012). Alexander the Great and His Empire: A Short Introduction. Princeton University Press. p. 114. ISBN 978-0-691-15445-9.
  24. ^ Jensen, Erik (2018). Barbarians in the Greek and Roman World. Hackett Publishing. p. 92. ISBN 978-1-62466-714-5.
  25. ^ Howe, Timothy; Brice, Lee L. (2015). Brill's Companion to Insurgency and Terrorism in the Ancient Mediterranean. BRILL. p. 170. ISBN 978-90-04-28473-9.
  26. ^ Carney, Elizabeth Donnelly (2000). Women and Monarchy in Macedonia. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-8061-3212-9.
  27. ^ a b Briant, Pierre (2002). From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Eisenbrauns. p. 817. ISBN 978-1-57506-120-7.
  28. ^ a b Heckel, Waldemar (2008). Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire. John Wiley & Sons. p. 205. ISBN 978-1-4051-5469-7.
  29. ^ Goldsworthy, Adrian (2020). Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 9781541646698.
  30. ^ Wells, H. G. (1961) [1937]. The Outline of History: Volume 1. Doubleday. p. 282. The murderer had a horse waiting, and would have got away, but the foot of his horse caught in a wild vine, and he was thrown from the saddle by the stumble, and slain by his pursuers.
  31. ^ Aristotle. Politics. pp. 5.10, 1311b.
  32. ^ a b c Diodorus Siculus. "The Library of History". 16.91-95. Archived from the original on 4 March 2010.
  33. ^ a b Hatzopoulos, Miltiades B. (1980). Philip of Macedon. Athens: Ekdotike Athenon S. A. pp. 170–175.
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