Philip II. 359-336 BC. Silver 1/5 th Tetradrachm. Kingdom Of Macedon. NGC F

Description: Philip II. 359-336 BC. Silver 1/5 th Tetradrachm. Kingdom Of Macedon. NGC F.Philip II of Macedon (Greek:Philippos; 382 21 October 336BC) was the king (basileus) of the ancient kingdom ofMacedoniafrom 359 BC until his death in 336 BC.He was a member of theArgead dynasty, founders of the ancient kingdom, and the father ofAlexander the Great. Therise of Macedonits conquest and political consolidation of most ofClassical Greeceduring his reignwas achieved by his reformation of thearmy(the establishment of theMacedonian phalanxthat proved critical in securing victories on the battlefield), his extensive use of siege engines, and his use of effective diplomacy and marriage alliances. After defeating theGreek city-statesofAthensandThebesat theBattle of Chaeroneain 338 BC, Philip II led the effort to establish afederationof Greek states known as theLeague of Corinth, with him as the electedhegemonandcommander-in-chief[4]ofGreecefor a planned invasion of theAchaemenid EmpireofPersia. However, his assassination by a royal bodyguard,Pausanias of Orestis, led to the immediate succession of his son Alexander,who would go on to invadethe Achaemenid Empire in his father's stead. Philip was the youngest son of KingAmyntas IIIandEurydice I. After the assassination of his eldest brother,Alexander II, Philip was sent as ahostageto Illyria byPtolemy of Aloros.Philip was later held inThebes(c. 368365 BC), which at the time was theleading city of Greece. While in Thebes, Philip received a military and diplomatic education fromEpaminondas, and lived withPammenes, who was an enthusiastic advocate of theSacred Band of Thebes. In 364 BC, Philip returned toMacedon. In 359 BC, Philip's other brother,King Perdiccas III, died in battle against theIllyrians. Before leaving, Perdiccas had appointed Philip asregentfor his infant sonAmyntas IV, but Philip succeeded in taking the kingdom for himself. Philip's military skills and expansionist vision of Macedonia brought him early success. He first had to remedy the woes over Macedonian territory faced by his throne's government. This was a predicament that had greatly worsened through Macedonia's defeat by theIllyrians, a struggle in which King Perdiccas himself had died. ThePaeoniansand theThracianshad sacked and invaded the eastern regions of Macedonia, while theAthenianshad landed atMethonion the coast with a contingent under the Macedonian pretenderArgaeus II. Using diplomacy, Philip pushed back the Paeonians and Thracians promising tributes, and defeated the 3,000 Athenianhoplites(359 BC). Momentarily free from his opponents, he concentrated on strengthening his internal position and, above all, his army. 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 time of the battles with the Illyrians to 334 BC.The discipline and training of the soldiers increased as well, and the Macedonian soldiers under Philip were provided with the possibility of promotion through the ranks and rewards and bonus wages for exceptional service. In addition to these changes, Philip created theMacedonian phalanx, an infantry formation that consisted of soldiers all armed with asarissa.Philip is credited for adding thesarissato the Macedonian army, where it soon was the common weapon used by most soldiers. Philip had marriedAudata, daughter or granddaughter of theIllyriankingBardyllis. However, this marriage did not prevent him from marching against the Illyrians in 358 BC and defeating them in a battle in which some 7,000 Illyrians died (357). By this move, Philip established his authority inland as far asLake Ohridand earned the favour of theEpirotes. After securing the western and southern borders of Macedon, Philip went on to besiegeAmphipolisin 357 BC. The Athenians had been unable to conquer Amphipolis, which commanded thegold minesofMount Pangaion, so Philip reached an agreement with Athens to lease the city to them after his conquest, in exchange forPydna(which was lost by Macedon in 363 BC). However, after conquering Amphipolis, Philip captured Pydna for himself and kept both cities (357 BC). Athens soon declared war against him, and as a result, Philip allied Macedon with theChalcidian LeagueofOlynthus. He subsequently conqueredPotidaea, this time keeping his word and ceding it to the League in 356 BC. In 357 BC, Philip married theEpiroteprincessOlympias, who was the daughter of the king of theMolossians.Alexanderwas born in 356 BC, the same year as Philip's racehorse won at theOlympic Games. During 356 BC, Philip conquered the town ofCrenidesand changed its name toPhilippi. 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 generalParmeniondefeated the Illyrians again. In 355354 BC he besiegedMethone, the last city on theThermaic Gulfcontrolled by Athens. During the siege, Philip was injured in his right eye, which was later removed surgically.Despite the arrival of two Athenian fleets, the city fell in 354 BC. Philip also attackedAbderaand Maronea, on theThraciancoast (354353 BC). Philip's involvement in theThird Sacred War(356346 BC) began in 354 BC. At the request ofthe Thessalian League, Philip and his army traveled toThessalyin order to capturePagasae, resulting in an alliance with Thebes. A year later in 353 BC, Philip was once again asked to assist in battle, but this time against the tyrant Lycophron who was supported byOnomarchus. Philip and his forces invaded Thessaly, defeating 7,000Phociansand forcing Phayllus, the brother of Onomarchus, to leave. 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 theBattle of Crocus Field, 6,000 Phocians fell and 3,000 were taken as prisoners and later drowned. This battle earned Philip immense prestige as well as the free acquisition ofPherae. He was made the leader (archon) of the Thessalian League and was able to claim Magnesia and Perrhaebia, which expanded his territory to Pagasae.Philip did not attempt to advance intoCentral Greecebecause the Athenians, unable to arrive in time to defend Pagasae, had occupiedThermopylae. There were no hostilities with Athens yet, but Athens was threatened by the Macedonians. From 352 to 346 BC, Philip did not again travel south. He was active in completing the subjugation of theBalkanhill-country to the west and north, and in reducing the Greek cities of the coast as far as theHebrus. To the chief of these coastal cities,Olynthus, Philip continued to profess friendship until its neighboring cities were in his hands. In 348 BC, Philip started the siege of Olynthus, which, apart from its strategic position, housed his half-brothers, Arrhidaeus andMenelaus, 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 were held back by a revolt inEuboea. The Macedonian king took Olynthus in 348 BC and razed the city to the ground. The same fate was inflicted on other cities of the Chalcidian peninsula, resulting in theChalcidian Leaguedissolving.Macedon and the regions adjoining it having now been securely consolidated, Philip celebrated hisOlympic GamesatDium. In 347 BC, Philip advanced to the conquest of the eastern districts about Hebrus, and compelled the submission of theThracianprinceCersobleptes. In 346 BC, 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.With key Greek city-states in submission, Philip II turned toSparta, warning them "If I invade Laconia, I shall turn you out."The Spartans'laconicreply was one word: "If." Philip proceeded to invade Laconia, devastate much of it and eject the Spartans from various parts. In 345 BC, Philip conducted a hard-fought campaign against the Ardiaioi (Ardiaei), under their kingPleuratus I, during which Philip was seriously wounded in the lower right leg by an Ardian soldier. In 342 BC, Philip led a military expedition north against theScythians, conquering the Thracian fortified settlement Eumolpia to give it his name,Philippopolis(modernPlovdiv). In 340 BC, Philip started the siege ofPerinthus, and in 339 BC, began another siege against the city ofByzantium. As both sieges failed, Philip's influence over Greece was compromised.He successfully reasserted his authority in theAegeanby defeating an alliance of Thebans and Athenians at theBattle of Chaeroneain 338BC, and in the same year, destroyedAmfissabecause the residents had illegally cultivated part of the Crisaian plain which belonged toDelphi. These decisive victories led to Philip being recognized as themilitary leaderof theLeague of Corinth, a Greekconfederationallied against thePersian Empire, in 338/7BC.Members of the league agreed never to wage war against each other, unless it was to suppressrevolution. Philip II was involved quite early against the Achaemenid Empire. From around 352 BC, he supported several Persian opponents toArtaxerxes III, such asArtabazos II,Amminapesor a Persian nobleman namedSisines, by receiving them for several years as exiles at the Macedonian court.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.Alexander was also acquainted with these Persian exiles during his youth.[28][31][32] In 336 BC, Philip II sentParmenion, withAmyntas, Andromenes andAttalus, and an army of 10,000 men intoAsia Minorto make preparations for an invasion to free the Greeks living on the western coast and islands from Achaemenid rule.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 nearMagnesiaby the Achaemenids under the command of the mercenaryMemnon of Rhodes. King Philip was assassinated in October 336 BC atAegae, the ancient capital of the kingdom of Macedon. Philip and his royal court were gathered in order to celebrate the marriage ofAlexander I of EpirusandCleopatra of Macedon Philip's daughter by his fourth wifeOlympias. While the king was entering into the town's theatre, he was unprotected in order to appear approachable to the Greek diplomats and dignitaries who were present at that time. Philip was suddenly approached byPausanias of Orestis, one of his seven bodyguards, and was stabbed in his ribs. After Philip was killed, the assassin immediately tried to escape and 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, his horse accidentally tripped on a vine. He was subsequently stabbed to death by the bodyguards.The reasons for the assassination are difficult to ascertain. There was controversy even among ancient historians; the only known surviving contemporary account is that ofAristotle, who states simply that Philip was killed because Pausanias had been offended byAttalus(Philip's uncle-in-law) and his friends.Attalus was the uncle of Philip's wifeCleopatra(renamed Eurydice upon marriage).Fifty years later, the historianCleitarchusexpanded and embellished the story. And centuries after that, this version was propagated byDiodorus Siculusand other historians who relied on Cleitarchus. According to the sixteenth book of Diodorus' history,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. When Pausanias complained to Philip, the king felt unable to chastise Attalus, as he was about to send him to Asia withParmenionto establish a bridgehead for an invasion he was planning. Also, Philip had recently married Attalus' niece,Cleopatra Eurydice. Rather than offend Attalus, Philip tried to mollify Pausanias by elevating him within his personal bodyguard. Pausanias then seems to have redirected his desire for revenge towards the man who had failed to avenge his damaged honour, and accordingly to plan to kill Philip. Some time after the alleged rape, while Attalus was away in Asia fighting the Persians, he put his plan into action. Other historians (e.g.,Justin9.7) suggested that Alexander and/or his motherOlympiaswere at least privy to the intrigue, if not themselves instigators. Olympias seems to have been anything but discreet in manifesting her gratitude to Pausanias, according to Justin's report: He writes that the same night of her return from exile, she placed a crown on the assassin's corpse, and later erected atumulusover his grave and ordered that annual sacrifices be made to the memory of Pausanias.Some modern historians have claimed that none of the accounts are probable: They say that in the case of Pausanias, the purported motive for the crime hardly seems adequate. Furthermore they claim that implicating Alexander and Olympias in the plot seems specious to act as they did would have required them to act with an improbable degree of brazen effrontery in the face of a military whose members were personally loyal to Philip. What seems to have been recorded, rather, are simply suspicions that were naturally directed towards the chief beneficiaries of the assassination; however, their actions in response to the murder are hardly evidence of their guilt with respect to the crime itself regardless of how sympathetic they might have seemed afterward. Whatever the actual background to the assassination, it may have had an enormous effect on later world events, 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 been content to make relatively moderate conquests, e.g., makingAnatoliainto a Macedonian province, and, unlike his son Alexander, not have wanted to push further into an overall conquest of Persia and further campaigns in India.In 1977, Greek archaeologistManolis Andronikosstarted excavating the Great Tumulus at Aigai near modernVergina, the capital and burial site of the kings of Macedon, and found that two of the four tombs in the tumulus were undisturbed since antiquity. Moreover, these two, and particularly Tomb II, contained fabulous treasures and objects of great quality and sophistication. Although there was much debate for some years,as suspected at the time of the discovery Tomb II has been shown to be that of Philip II as indicated by many features, including thegreaves, one of which was shaped consistently to fit a leg with a misaligned tibia (Philip II was recorded as having broken his tibia). Also, the remains of the skull show damage to the right eye caused by the penetration of an object (historically recorded to be an arrow). Two scientists who studied some of the bones claimed in 2015 that Philip was buried in Tomb I, not Tomb II.On the basis of age, kneeankylosis, and a hole matching the penetrating wound and lameness suffered by Philip, the authors of the study identified the remains of Tomb I in Vergina as those of Philip II. Tomb II instead was identified in the study as that of KingArrhidaeusand his wifeEurydice II.TheGreek Ministry of Culturereplied that this claim was baseless, and that the archaeological evidence shows that the ankylotic knee belongs to another body which was thrown or put into Tomb I after this had been looted, and probably between 276/5 and 250 BC.Besides this, the theory that Tomb I belonged to Philip II had previously been shown to be false. More recent research gives further evidence that Tomb II contains the remains of Philip II.

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