Philip II of Macedon

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Philip II (382 BC - 336 BC), King of Macedon (359 BC - 336 BC) Olympionike, was the father of Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon) and Philip III of Macedon.

Coin with likeness of Philip II

Born in Pella in 382 BC, he was King Amyntas III of Macedon and Queen Eurydice's youngest son, but the deaths of his elder brothers Kings Alexander II of Macedon and Perdiccas III of Macedon allowed him to take the throne in 359 BC. He was originally appointed as Regent till his infant nephew King Amyntas IV of Macedon, Perdiccas' son, reached adulthood, but soon he managed to make himself king. His military skills and expansionist vision of Macedonian greatness brought him early success, and it was not until his armies were opposed by Athens at Thermopylae in 352 BC that he faced any serious resistance. In 346 BC, he intervened effectively in the war between Thebes and Phocis, but his war with Athens continued intermittently. Having defeated an alliance of Thebans and Athenians at the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, he created and led the League of Corinth.

Two years later, in 336 BC, when he was about to embark on an invasion of Persia, Philip was assassinated by a servant/lover named Pausanias.

His wife, and mother of Alexander, was Epirote princess Olympias.

On November 8, 1977, Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos announced that he had found unopened the tomb of Philip II at Vergina in the prefecture of Pieria. The finds from this tomb were later included in the travelling exhibit The Search for Alexander displayed at four cities in the United States from 1980 to 1982. While the discovery is of great archeological importance, the identification of the tomb with Philip has been disputed.

External links

• A more detailed bio of Philip
• A family tree focusing in his ancestors
• A family tree focusing in his descedants
• Plutarch: Life of Alexander