Macedonian king who created the military,
political & cultural order that his son, Alexander, used to transform
the history of the eastern Mediterranean & western Asia. Philip was
himself personally responsible for reversing the crumbling political power
of Macedonia in the central Balkan peninsula through his reorganization of
the army & invention of the long pike [sarissa], a weapon that
gave his phalanx a formidable advantage over enemy forces. Though
initially regarded by Greeks as a barbarian, Philip--a master of diplomacy
as well as military tactics--became the self-appointed peace-keeper among
the feuding city states of Greece. As champion of a Pan Hellenic order, he
forged a league to expel Persians from Greek cities in western Asia Minor.
Though Philip himself was killed before achieving that goal, Alexander
quickly turned his father's achievements & vision into a whirlwind
campaign that gave Macedonians control of the whole Persian empire.
Prior to his unexpected accession to the
Macedonian throne in 359
BCE, none would have anticipated such a pivotal
role for the third son of Amyntas III, a ruler whose kingdom was
disintegrating due to insubordination & invasions. Philip had himself spent
the previous decade (370-360
BCE) as a hostage in Thebes, the strongest
Greek city state at the time, where he learned Greek military
tactics. Soon after his return to Pella [the capitol of Macedonia]
at age 22, Philip had to use experiences learned from the Greeks to
retrain & rebuild a Macedonian army that had suffered a defeat in
which their king [Philip's older brother] had been killed. In the
following decade he not only regained control of territory lost by his
predecessors but he intervened in Greece to resolve the so-called
"sacred war" between Greek city states over the control of the
temple of Apollo & oracle of Delphi (346
BCE). As reward for
having established peace at the religious center of the Greek world, he
was not only admitted to membership in the Delphic confederacy but elected
leader of its council--an unprecedented honor for a foreigner. Some,
including the Athenian Isocrates, urged him to lead a Greek coalition
against Persia.
Philip's growing influence in Greece,
however, earned the resentment of Athenian leaders who saw him as a threat
to their preeminent role in Greek politics. Inflamed by the
anti-Macedonian rhetoric of Demosthenes, Athens declared war on Philip in
340 BCE.
When Thebes joined the Athenians to block Philip's army from
reaching Athens, Philip crushed their combined forces at Chaeronea (2
August 338
BCE), due in part to the young Alexander's shrewd deployment of
the cavalry to outflank the larger Greek army. Though a triumphant Philip occupied
Thebes [only a dozen years after his release as its hostage], he spared
Athens. To commemorate his victory
Philip erected a shrine [called the Philippeon] at Olympia containing gold &
ivory statues of himself & his family, to claim a place among
the heroes & gods of Greek myth. Instead of seeking reprisals against Greek opponents, he
formed the Corinthian League (337
BCE), a council with representation from
all Greek city states [except Sparta] with himself as its leader [hegemon].
Yet this peace-making role of the Corinthian
league was only a means for Philip to unite Greek forces to drive the
Persians out of Ionia [Greek Asia Minor]--a plan he devised but did not
live to realize.
Unfortunately, Philip's impressive military &
political achievements demonstrating his uncommon restraint &
foresight in public policy were offset by incautious folly in his personal
life. In 338
BCE he repudiated Alexander's non-Macedonian mother,
Olympias, to marry the younger Cleopatra, the daughter of a powerful Macedonian noble.
Alexander left Macedonia with his mother, jeopardizing the line of
succession.
A lusty bon vivant noted for
excessive drinking & debauchery, Philip's end came unexpectedly at a lavish
celebration he had staged for his daughter's wedding to the king of
Epirus--Alexander's uncle. The wedding
feast concluded with a festal procession bearing statues of the 12 Olympian
gods followed by a statue of Philip himself enthroned. Ironically, the
procession that implied his inclusion among the Greek pantheon of
immortals had barely concluded, when Philip was
assassinated by Pausanius, a disgruntled favorite, as he entered the theater.
Though rumors that Olympias and/or Alexander instigated Philip's
murder were accepted by some ancient biographers [e.g., Satyrus], modern
critical historians generally consider such a conspiracy to be improbable.
References:
Josephus,
Antiquities
11.304, 12.354.
_____,
War 2.360.
Justin, Epitome 7.4-9.8
Other resources on line: