Philip II of Macedon

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Philip II of Macedon (382 BC–336 BC; Greek: ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΣ) was the King of Macedon from 359 BC until his death. He was the father of Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon) and Philip III of Macedon.

Born in Pella, Philip was the youngest son of King Amyntas III and Queen Eurydice. In his youth (ca. 368 BC–365 BC) Philip was a hostage in Thebes, the leading city of Greece at that time. During his captivity in Thebes, Philip received a military and diplomatic education from Epaminondas, was involved in a pederastic relationship with Pelopidas and lived with Pammenes, who was an enthusiastic advocate of the Sacred Band of Thebes. In 364 BC, Philip returned to Macedonia. The deaths of Philip's elder brothers, King Alexander II and Perdiccas III, allowed him to take the throne in 359 BC. Originally appointed regent for his infant nephew Amyntas IV, who was the son of Perdiccas III, Philip managed to take the kingdom for himself that same year.

Philip's military skills and expansionist vision of Macedonian greatness brought him early success. The hill tribes were broken by a single battle in 358 BC, and Philip established his authority inland as far as Lake Ohrid. In 357 BC, he took the Athenian colony of Amphipolis, which commanded the gold mines of Mount Pangaion. That same year Philip married the Epirote princess Olympias, who was the daughter of the king of the Molossians. In 355 BC, Philip conquered the town of Crenides and changed its name to Philippi. Philip also attacked Abdera and Maronea, on the Thracian sea-board. He took Methone in 354 BC, a town which had belonged to Athens. During the siege of Methone, Philip lost an eye.

Not until his armies were opposed by Athens at Thermopylae in 352 BC did Philip face any serious resistance. Philip did not attempt to advance into central Greece because the Athenians had occupied Thermopylae. Also in 352 BC, the Macedonian army won a complete victory over the Phocians at the Battle of Crocus Field. This battle made Philip tagus of Thessaly, and he claimed as his own Magnesia, with the important harbour of Pagasae.

Hostilities with Athens did not yet take place, but Athens was threatened by the Macedonian party which Philip's gold created in Euboea. From 352 to 346 BC, Philip did not again come 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 (Maritza). For the chief of these coastal cities, Olynthus, Philip continued to profess friendship until its neighboring cities were in his hands.

In 349 BC, Philip started the siege of Olynthus. Olynthus at first allied itself with Philip, but later shifted its allegiance to Athens. The Athenians did nothing to help Olynthus. Philip finally took Olynthus in 348 BC and razed the city to the ground. In 346 BC, he intervened effectively in the war between Thebes and the Phocians, but his wars with Athens continued intermittently.

Macedonia and the regions adjoining it having now been securely consolidated, Philip celebrated his Olympic games at Dium. In 347 BC, Philip advanced to the conquest of the eastern districts about the Hebrus, and compelled the submission of the Thracian prince Cersobleptes. Meanwhile, Athens had made overtures for peace, and when Philip, in 346 BC, again moved south, peace was sworn in Thessaly. With key Greek city-states in submission, Philip turned to Sparta; he sent them a message, "You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city." Their reply, "If." Philip and Alexander would both leave them alone. Later, the Macedonian arms were carried across Epirus to the Adriatic Sea. In 342 BC, Philip led a great military expedition north against the Scythians.

In 340 BC, Philip started the siege of Perinthus. Philip began another siege in 339 BC of the city of Byzantium. After unsuccessful sieges of both cities, Philip's influence all over Greece was compromised. However, Philip successfully reasserted his authority in the Aegean by defeating an alliance of Thebans and Athenians at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. He erected a memorial of a marble lion to the Sacred Band of Thebes for their bravery that still stands today. Philip created and led the League of Corinth in 337 BC. Members of the League agreed never to wage war against each other, unless it was to suppress revolution. Philip was elected as leader (hegemon) of the army of invasion against the Persian Empire. In 336 BC, when the invasion of Persia was in its very early stage, Philip was assassinated by an ex-lover named Pausanias.

Primary sources on Philip's assassination

According to Aristotle (Politics) and Diodorus Siculus (Diodorus), According to Diodorus (16.93.1-94.4), Pausanias had been a lover of Philip, but became jealous when Philip turned his attention to a younger man. His taunting of the new lover caused the youth to throw away his life, which turned his friend, Attalus, against Pausanias. Attalus took his revenge by inviting Pausanias to dinner, getting him drunk, then subjecting him to sexual assault.

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. He was also preparing to marry Attalus’ niece, Cleopatra/Eurydice (Diodorus mistakenly says that she was Attalus’ aunt). So he tried to mollify Pausanias, and elevated him within the 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. (The details are basically the same in Justin 9.4.)

Whether this was sufficient motive for murdering the king, it is the only motive that the sources give us for Pausanias’ dissatisfaction; although it is possible that his anger with Philip made him a pliable tool for others—and suspicion fell on Olympias and Alexander from an early date. (Valerius Maximus does provide another explanation for the murder; but it is extremely suspect as the same story occurs in at least two other places in the history of Alexander, let alone in those of other persons.)

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, which is in the public domain.

Archaelogical findings

On November 8, 1977, Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos found, among other royal tombs, the unopened tomb of Philip II at Vergina in the prefecture of Pieria. The finds from this tomb were later included in the traveling exhibit The Search for Alexander displayed at four cities in the United States from 1980 to 1982. The find was of course disputed, but disputations relied on contradictions between "the body" or "skeleton" of Philip II and reliable historical accounts of his life (and injuries). However, interestingly, no body or skeleton were ever found. All that remains of Philip II is ash, contained in a magnificent golden larnax, decorated with the Vergina sun, within his stone sarcophagus.[1]

External links

• A more detailed biography of Philip
• A family tree focusing in his ancestors
• A family tree focusing in his descedants
• Plutarch: Life of Alexander
• 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica:Philip (kings of Macedonia)
• www.livius.org:Philip II of Macedonia

Preceded by: Amyntas IV

King of Macedon 359-336

Succeeded by: Alexander III