Philip II King of Macedonian Kingdom 359-336BC Biography OLYMPIC GAMES
Ancient Greek Coins
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Example Authentic Ancient
Coin of:
Greek King Philip II of Macedon 359-336 B.C.
Bronze Struck 359-336 B.C. in the Kingdom of Macedonia
Commemorating his Olympic Games Victory
Head of Apollo right, hair bound with tainia.
Nude athlete on horse prancing right, ΦIΛIΠΠΟΥ
above.
* Numismatic Note: Authentic ancient Greek coin of
King Philip II of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great. Intriguing
coin referring to his Olympic victory.
History Behind the Coin
Horse racing was an Olympic event of great prestige and intense
competition. It was a great honor for Philip II of Macedon to gain entry
to the games, since they were open only to Greeks. Prior to that time,
the Macedonians were considered by other Greeks as barbarians. It was an
even greater honor for Philip's horses to win the prize. In 356 BC his
entry won the single horse event, and in 348 the two horse chariot
event. Both of these victories were proudly announced (should we say
propagandized) by placing references to them on the reverses of his
coins struck in gold, silver and bronze. Plutarch tells us that this was
indeed his intention: "[Philip] ...had victories of his chariots at
Olympia stamped on his coins."
 In
Greek and
Roman mythology,
Apollo, is one of the most important and diverse of the
Olympian deities. The ideal of the
kouros (a beardless youth), Apollo
has been variously recognized as a god of light and the sun; truth and
prophecy;
archery; medicine and healing; music,
poetry, and the arts; and more. Apollo is the son of
Zeus and
Leto, and has a
twin sister, the chaste huntress
Artemis. Apollo is known in
Greek-influenced
Etruscan mythology as Apulu.
Apollo was worshiped in both
ancient Greek and
Roman religion, as well as in the
modern
Greco-Roman
Neopaganism.
As the patron of
Delphi (Pythian Apollo), Apollo
was an
oracular god — the prophetic deity of
the
Delphic Oracle. Medicine and healing
were associated with Apollo, whether through the god himself or mediated
through his son
Asclepius, yet Apollo was also seen as
a god who could bring ill-health and deadly
plague as well as one who had the
ability to cure. Amongst the god's custodial charges, Apollo became
associated with dominion over
colonists, and as the patron defender
of herds and flocks. As the leader of the
Muses (Apollon Musagetes) and
director of their choir, Apollo functioned as the patron god of music
and
poetry.
Hermes created the
lyre for him, and the instrument became
a common
attribute of Apollo. Hymns sung to
Apollo were called
paeans.
In Hellenistic times, especially during the third century BCE, as
Apollo Helios he became identified among Greeks with
Helios,
god of the sun, and his sister Artemis
similarly equated with
Selene,
goddess of the moon. In Latin texts, on
the other hand, Joseph Fontenrose declared himself unable to find any
conflation of Apollo with
Sol among the
Augustan poets of the first century,
not even in the conjurations of
Aeneas and
Latinus in
Aeneid XII (161–215). Apollo and
Helios/Sol remained separate beings in literary and mythological texts
until the third century CE.
Philip II of Macedon, (Greek:
Φίλιππος Β' ο Μακεδών —
φίλος = friend + ίππος =
horse — transliterated
 Philippos
382 – 336 BC, was an ancient
Greek king (basileus)
of
Macedon from 359 BC until his
assassination in 336. He was the father of
Alexander the Great and
Philip III.
Born in
Pella, Philip was the youngest son of
the king
Amyntas III and
Eurydice I. In his youth, (c. 368–365
BC) Philip was held as a hostage in
Thebes, which was the leading city of
Greece during the
Theban hegemony. While a captive there,
Philip received a military and diplomatic education from
Epaminondas, became
eromenos of
Pelopidas, and lived with
Pammenes, who was an enthusiastic
advocate of the
Sacred Band of Thebes. In 364 BC,
Philip returned to Macedon. 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. He had however first to
re-establish a situation which had been greatly worsened by the defeat
against the
Illyrians in which King Perdiccas
himself had died. The
Paionians and the
Thracians had sacked and invaded the
eastern regions of the country, while the
Athenians had landed, at
Methoni on the coast, a contingent
under a Macedonian pretender called
Argeus. Using diplomacy, Philip pushed
back Paionians and Thracians promising tributes, and crushed the 3,000
Athenian
hoplites (359). Momentarily free from
his opponents, he concentrated on strengthening his internal position
and, above all, his army. His most important innovation was doubtless
the introduction of the
phalanx infantry corps, armed with the
famous
sarissa, an exceedingly long spear, at
the time the most important army corps in Macedonia.
Philip had married
Audata, great-granddaughter of the
Illyrian king of
Dardania,
Bardyllis. However, this did not
prevent him from marching against them in 358 and crushing them in a
ferocious battle in which some 7,000 Illyrians died (357). By this move,
Philip established his authority inland as far as
Lake Ohrid and the favour of the
Epirotes.
He also used the
Social War as an opportunity for
expansion. He agreed with the Athenians, who had been so far unable to
conquer
Amphipolis, which commanded the
gold mines of
Mount Pangaion, to lease it to them
after its conquest, in exchange for
Pydna (lost by Macedon in 363).
However, after conquering Amphipolis, he kept both the cities (357). As
Athens declared war against him, he allied with the
Chalkidian League of
Olynthus. He subsequently conquered
Potidaea, this time keeping his word
and ceding it to the League in 356. One year before Philip had married
the
Epirote princess
Olympias, who was the daughter of the
king of the
Molossians.
In 356 BC, Philip also conquered the town of
Crenides and changed its name to
Philippi: he established a powerful
garrison there to control its mines, which granted him much of the gold
later used for his campaigns. In the meantime, his general
Parmenion defeated the Illyrians again.
Also in 356
Alexander was born, and Philip's race
horse won in the
Olympic Games. In 355–354 he besieged
Methone, the last city on the
Thermaic Gulf controlled by Athens.
During the siege, Philip lost an eye. Despite the arrival of two
Athenians fleets, the city fell in 354. Philip also attacked
Abdera and Maronea, on the
Thracian seaboard (354–353).
Map of the territory of Philip II of
Macedon
Involved in the
Third Sacred War which had broken out
in Greece, in the summer of 353 he invaded
Thessaly, defeating 7,000
Phocians under the brother of
Onomarchus. The latter however defeated Philip in the two succeeding
battles. Philip returned to Thessaly the next summer, this time with an
army of 20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry including all Thessalian
troops. In the
Battle of Crocus Field 6,000 Phocians
fell, while 3,000 were taken as prisoners and later drowned. This battle
granted Philip an immense prestige, as well the free acquisition of
Pherae. Philip was also tagus of
Thessaly, and he claimed as his own
Magnesia, with the important harbour of
Pagasae. Philip did not attempt to
advance into
Central Greece because the Athenians,
unable to arrive in time to defend Pagasae, had occupied
Thermopylae.
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. To 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,
which, apart from its strategic position, housed his relatives
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, its expeditions held back by a revolt in
Euboea (probably paid by Philip's gold). The
Macedonian king finally took Olynthus
in 348 BC and razed the city to the ground. The same fate was inflicted
on other cities of the Chalcidian peninsula. Macedon 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 Hebrus, and compelled the
submission of the
Thracian prince
Cersobleptes. 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 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
laconic 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, conquering the Thracian
fortified settlement Eumolpia to give it his name, Philippopolis
(modern
Plovdiv).
In 340 BC, Philip started the siege of
Perinthus. Philip began another siege
in 339 of the city of
Byzantium. After unsuccessful sieges of
both cities, Philip's influence all over Greece was compromised.
However, he successfully reasserted his authority in the
Aegean by defeating an alliance of
Thebans and Athenians at the
Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, while in
the same year, Philip destroyed
Amfissa because the residents had
illegally cultivated part of the Crisaian plain which belonged to
Delphi. 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,
and was succeeded on the throne of Macedon by his son
Alexander III.
Assassination
The murder occurred during October of 336 BC, at
Aegae, the ancient capital of the
kingdom of Macedon. The court had gathered there for the celebration of
the marriage between
Alexander I of Epirus and Philip's
daughter, by his fourth wife
Olympias,
Cleopatra. While the king was entering
unprotected into the town's theater (highlighting his approachability to
the Greek diplomats present), he was killed by
Pausanias of Orestis, one of his seven
bodyguards. The assassin immediately tried to escape and reach his
associates who were waiting for him with horses at the entrance of
Aegae. He was pursued by three of Philip's bodyguards and died by their
hands.
The reasons for Pausanias' assassination of Phillip
are difficult to fully expound, since there was controversy already
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 of
Attalus, the king's father-in-law.
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. In the sixteenth book of Diodorus' history,
Pausanias had been a lover of Philip, but became jealous when Philip
turned his attention to a younger man, also called Pausanias. 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 also
married Attalus's niece, or daughter,
Eurydice. Rather than offend Attalus,
Phillip attempted to mollify Pausanius by elevating 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, and some time after the alleged rape, while Attalus was
already in Asia fighting the Persians, put his plan in action. Other
historians (e.g.,
Justin 9.7) suggested that Alexander
and/or his mother
Olympias were at least privy to the
intrigue, if not themselves instigators. The latter seems to have been
anything but discreet in manifesting her gratitude to Pausanias, if we
accept Justin's report: he tells us that the same night of her return
from exile she placed a crown on the assassin's corpse and erected a
tumulus to his memory, ordering annual sacrifices to the memory of
Pausanias.
The entrance to the "Great Tumulus"
Museum at
Vergina.
Many modern historians have observed that all the
accounts are improbable. 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 machine personally
loyal to Philip. What appears to be recorded in this are the natural
suspicions that fell on the chief beneficiaries of the murder; their
actions after the murder, however sympathetic they might appear (if
actual), cannot prove their guilt in the deed itself. Further
convoluting the case is the possible role of propaganda in the surviving
accounts: Attalus was executed in Alexander's consolidation of power
after the murder; one might wonder if his enrollment among the
conspirators was not for the effect of introducing political expediency
in an otherwise messy purge (Attalus had publicly declared his hope that
Alexander would not succeed Philip, but rather that a son of his own
niece Eurydice, recently married to Philip and brutally murdered by
Olympias after Philip's death, would gain the throne of Macedon).
Marriages
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:
Archaeological
findings
On November 8, 1977, Greek archaeologist
Manolis Andronikos found, among other
royal tombs, an unopened tomb at
Vergina in the Greek prefecture of
Imathia. 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.
Initially identified as belonging to Philip II, Eugene Borza and others
have suggested that the tomb actually belonged to Philip's son,
Philip Arrhidaeus. Disputations often
relied on contradictions between "the body" or "skeleton" of Philip II
and reliable historical accounts of his life (and injuries).
The initial 'proof' that the tomb may belong to
Philip II was indicated by the greeves (leg armor to protect the tibia
('shin') bone), one of which indicated that the owner had a leg injury
which distorted the natural alignment of the tibia (Philip II was
recorded as having broken his tibia).
What is now viewed as final proof that the tomb
indeed did belong to Philip II and that the surviving bone fragments are
in fact the body of Philip II comes from forensic reconstruction of the
scull of Philip II by the wax casting and reconstruction of the scull
which shows the damage to the right eye caused by the penetration of an
object (historically recorded to be an arrow). See John Prag and Richard
Neave's report in Making Faces: Using Forensic and Archaeological
Evidence, published for the Trustees of the British Museum by the
British Museum Press, London: 1997.
Cult
The
heroon at
Vergina in Greek Macedonia (the ancient
city of Aigai - Αἶγαι), is thought to have been dedicated to the worship
of the family of Alexander the Great and may have housed the cult statue
of Philip. It is probable that he was regarded as a hero or deified on
his death. Though the Macedonians did not consider Philip a god, he did
receive other forms of recognition by the Greeks, such as at
Eresos (altar to Zeus Philippeios),
Ephesos (his statue was placed in the
temple of Artemis), and at Olympia,
where the
Philippeion was built. Moreover,
Isocrates wrote to Philip that if he defeated Persia, there was nothing
left for him to do to but become a god while
Demades proposed that Philip be
regarded as the thirteenth god. However, there is no clear evidence that
Philip was raised to divine status like that of his son
Alexander.
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