Philip III of Macedon
Encyclopedia
Philip III Arrhidaeus was the king of Macedonia from after June 11, 323 BC until his death. He was a son of King Philip II of Macedonia by Philinna of Larissa
, allegedly a Thessalian
dancer, and a half-brother of Alexander the Great. Named Arrhidaeus at birth, he assumed the name Philip when he ascended to the throne.
As Arrhidaeus grew older it became apparent that he was mildly retarded. In Plutarch
's report, he became disabled by means of pharmaka (drugs/spells) attempt by Philip II's wife, Queen Olympias
, who wanted to eliminate a possible rival to her son Alexander. However, this claim is unlikely to be true. Alexander was very fond of him, and took him on his campaigns, both to protect his life and to ensure he would not be used as a pawn in a challenge for the throne. After Alexander's death in Babylon, Arrhidaeus was proclaimed king by the Macedonian army in Asia. However, he was a mere figurehead, and a pawn of the powerful generals, one after the other. His reign and his life did not last long.
The crater Ariadaeus
on the Moon
is named after him.
of Caria
Pixodarus
proposed his daughter in marriage to Philip, who offered Arrhidaeus as husband, Alexander thought it prudent to block the operation, with considerable irritation of his father (337 BC). Arrhidaeus' whereabouts under the reign of his brother Alexander are unclear; what is certain is that no civil or military command was given him in those thirteen years (336 BC–323 BC).
He was at Babylon
at the time of Alexander's death, the 11 June 323 BC. A succession crisis erupted: Arrhidaeus was the most obvious candidate, but he was mentally unfit to rule. A conflict exploded between Perdiccas
, leader of the cavalry
, and Meleager
, who commanded the phalanx
: the first wanted to wait to see if Roxana
, Alexander's pregnant wife, would deliver a male baby, while the second objected that Arrhidaeus was the closest relative living and so should be chosen king. Meleager was killed, and a compromise was engineered: Arrhidaeus would become king with the name of Philip, and he would be joined by Roxana's son as co-sovereign should he prove a male, as he did, and joined his uncle with the name of Alexander
. It was immediately decided that Philip Arrhidaeus would reign, but not rule: this was to be the prerogative of the new regent
, Perdiccas.
When news arrived in Macedonia that Arrhidaeus had been chosen as king, Cynane
, a daughter of Philip II, matured the design to travel to Asia and offer the new king her daughter Eurydice for wife. This move was an obvious affront to the regent, whom Cynane had completely bypassed: to prevent the move Perdiccas sent his brother Alcetas
to kill Cynane, but reactions among the troops generated by this murder was such that the regent had to give up and accept the marriage. From that moment on Philip Arrhidaeus was to be under the sway of his bride, a proud and determined woman bent on substantiating her husband's power.
Eurydice's chance came when the first war of the Diadochi
sealed the fate of Perdiccas, making a new settlement necessary; settlement that was made at Triparadisus in Syria
in 320 BC. Eurydice moved deftly enough to obtain the removal of the first two designed regents, Peithon
and Arrhidaeus
, but was powerless to block the too powerful Antipater
: the latter was made new regent and Philip Arrhidaeus and his wife were forced to follow him to Macedonia.
The regent died of natural causes the following year, nominating as his successor not his son Cassander
, but a friend of his, Polyperchon
. Cassander's refusal to accept his father's decision sparked the second war of the Diadochi, in which Eurydice saw once again a chance to free Philip from the control of the regent. An opportunity presented itself in 317 BC, when Cassander expelled Polyperchon from Macedonia: Eurydice immediately allied herself with him and made her husband nominate him new regent, and Cassander reciprocated by leaving her in full control of the country when he left to campaign in Greece
.
But all this was to prove exceedingly volatile: that same year (317) Polyperchon and Olympias
, allied with the king of Epirus
Aeacides
, invaded Macedonia. The Macedonian troops refused to fight Olympias, the mother of Alexander. Philip and Eurydice had no choice but to escape, only to be captured at Amphipolis
and thrown into prison. It soon became clear that Philip was too dangerous to be left alive, as many enemies of Olympias saw him as a useful tool against her, and so on December 25 317 BC she had him executed, while his wife was forced to commit suicide.
, modern Vergina, and celebrated funeral games to their honour.
In 1977 important excavations were made near Vergina leading to the discovery of a two-chambered royal tomb, with an almost perfectly conserved male skeleton. Manolis Andronikos
, the chief archaeologist on the ground and the majority of archaeologists, decided it was the skeleton of Philip II, but many have disputed this attribution and instead proposed it to be the remains of Philip Arrhidaeus.
Subsequent forensic reconstruction of the skull contained in the gold Larnax (cremains container) clearly demonstrates damage to the right eye socket of the skull in keeping with historical accounts that Philip II had been struck by an arrow in the right eye and as a consequence, had been severely disfigured. See Prag, John and Richard Neave: Making Faces: Using Forensic and Archaeological Evidence (British Museum Press: 1997).
. In Renault's version, the villainous Cassander slows down his advance on Macedonia to give Olympias enough time to kill Arrhidaeus and Eurydice.
Arrhidaeus is also a main character in Annabel Lyon
's novel The Golden Mean. In it, the young Arrhidaeus is tutored by Aristotle while he also mentors his younger half-brother, the future Alexander the Great. Alexander, who is initially disgusted with his brother's inferior intellect, learns to love him before he sets out to conquer the world.
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Larissa
Larissa is the capital and biggest city of the Thessaly region of Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is a principal agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos, the city of Thessaloniki and Athens...
, allegedly a Thessalian
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
dancer, and a half-brother of Alexander the Great. Named Arrhidaeus at birth, he assumed the name Philip when he ascended to the throne.
As Arrhidaeus grew older it became apparent that he was mildly retarded. In Plutarch
Plutarch
Plutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
's report, he became disabled by means of pharmaka (drugs/spells) attempt by Philip II's wife, Queen Olympias
Olympias
Olympias was a Greek princess of Epirus, daughter of king Neoptolemus I of Epirus, the fourth wife of the king of Macedonia, Philip II, and mother of Alexander the Great...
, who wanted to eliminate a possible rival to her son Alexander. However, this claim is unlikely to be true. Alexander was very fond of him, and took him on his campaigns, both to protect his life and to ensure he would not be used as a pawn in a challenge for the throne. After Alexander's death in Babylon, Arrhidaeus was proclaimed king by the Macedonian army in Asia. However, he was a mere figurehead, and a pawn of the powerful generals, one after the other. His reign and his life did not last long.
The crater Ariadaeus
Ariadaeus (crater)
Ariadaeus is a small, bowl-shaped lunar impact crater on the western shores of Mare Tranquillitatis. It lies to the north of the crater Dionysius, and to the west-southwest of Arago. The crater is joined along the northeast rim by the slightly smaller Ariadaeus A, and the two form a...
on the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
is named after him.
Biography
He appears never to have been a danger for Alexander's succession to Philip II, notwithstanding their being of about the same age; all the same, when the satrapSatrap
Satrap was the name given to the governors of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as the Sassanid Empire and the Hellenistic empires....
of Caria
Caria
Caria was a region of western Anatolia extending along the coast from mid-Ionia south to Lycia and east to Phrygia. The Ionian and Dorian Greeks colonized the west of it and joined the Carian population in forming Greek-dominated states there...
Pixodarus
Pixodarus of Caria
Pixodarus was a prince or king of Caria.-Biography:He was the youngest of the three sons of Hecatomnus, all of whom successively held the sovereignty of their native country...
proposed his daughter in marriage to Philip, who offered Arrhidaeus as husband, Alexander thought it prudent to block the operation, with considerable irritation of his father (337 BC). Arrhidaeus' whereabouts under the reign of his brother Alexander are unclear; what is certain is that no civil or military command was given him in those thirteen years (336 BC–323 BC).
He was at Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
at the time of Alexander's death, the 11 June 323 BC. A succession crisis erupted: Arrhidaeus was the most obvious candidate, but he was mentally unfit to rule. A conflict exploded between Perdiccas
Perdiccas
Perdiccas was one of Alexander the Great's generals. After Alexander's death in 323 BC he became regent of all Alexander's empire.Arrian tells us he was son of Orontes, a descendant of the independent princes of the Macedonian province of Orestis...
, leader of the cavalry
Companion cavalry
The Companions were the elite cavalry of the Macedonian army from the time of king Philip II of Macedon and reached the most prestige under Alexander the Great, and have been regarded as the best cavalry in the ancient world and the first shock cavalry...
, and Meleager
Meleager (general)
Meleager was a Macedonian officer of distinction in the service of Alexander the Great.Meleager, son of Neoptolemus, is first mentioned in the war against the Getae . At the Granicus in the following year , he commanded one of the divisions of the phalanx, a post which he afterward held...
, who commanded the phalanx
Phalanx formation
The phalanx is a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar weapons...
: the first wanted to wait to see if Roxana
Roxana
Roxana sometimes Roxane, was a Bactrian noble and a wife of Alexander the Great. She was born earlier than the year 343 BC, though the precise date remains uncertain....
, Alexander's pregnant wife, would deliver a male baby, while the second objected that Arrhidaeus was the closest relative living and so should be chosen king. Meleager was killed, and a compromise was engineered: Arrhidaeus would become king with the name of Philip, and he would be joined by Roxana's son as co-sovereign should he prove a male, as he did, and joined his uncle with the name of Alexander
Alexander IV of Macedon
Alexander IV Aegus was the son of Alexander the Great and Princess Roxana of Bactria.-Birth:...
. It was immediately decided that Philip Arrhidaeus would reign, but not rule: this was to be the prerogative of the new regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
, Perdiccas.
When news arrived in Macedonia that Arrhidaeus had been chosen as king, Cynane
Cynane
Cynane was half-sister to Alexander the Great, and daughter of Philip II by Audata, an Illyrian princess....
, a daughter of Philip II, matured the design to travel to Asia and offer the new king her daughter Eurydice for wife. This move was an obvious affront to the regent, whom Cynane had completely bypassed: to prevent the move Perdiccas sent his brother Alcetas
Alcetas
Alcetas , the brother of Perdiccas and son of Orontes from Orestis, is first mentioned as one of Alexander the Great's generals in his Indian expedition...
to kill Cynane, but reactions among the troops generated by this murder was such that the regent had to give up and accept the marriage. From that moment on Philip Arrhidaeus was to be under the sway of his bride, a proud and determined woman bent on substantiating her husband's power.
Eurydice's chance came when the first war of the Diadochi
Diadochi
The Diadochi were the rival generals, family and friends of Alexander the Great who fought for the control of Alexander's empire after his death in 323 BC...
sealed the fate of Perdiccas, making a new settlement necessary; settlement that was made at Triparadisus in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
in 320 BC. Eurydice moved deftly enough to obtain the removal of the first two designed regents, Peithon
Peithon
Peithon or Pithon was the son of Crateuas, a nobleman from Eordaia in western Macedonia. One of the bodyguards of Alexander the Great, later satrap of Media and one of the diadochi....
and Arrhidaeus
Arrhidaeus
Arrhidaeus , one of Alexander the Great's generals, was entrusted with the conduct of Alexander's funeral to Egypt in 323 BC...
, but was powerless to block the too powerful Antipater
Antipater
Antipater was a Macedonian general and a supporter of kings Philip II of Macedon and Alexander the Great. In 320 BC, he became Regent of all of Alexander's Empire. Antipater was one of the sons of a Macedonian nobleman called Iollas or Iolaus and his family were distant collateral relatives to the...
: the latter was made new regent and Philip Arrhidaeus and his wife were forced to follow him to Macedonia.
The regent died of natural causes the following year, nominating as his successor not his son Cassander
Cassander
Cassander , King of Macedonia , was a son of Antipater, and founder of the Antipatrid dynasty...
, but a friend of his, Polyperchon
Polyperchon
Polyperchon , son of Simmias from Tymphaia in Epirus, was a Macedonian general who served under Philip II and Alexander the Great, accompanying Alexander throughout his long journeys. After the return to Babylon, Polyperchon was sent back to Macedon with Craterus, but had only reached Cilicia by...
. Cassander's refusal to accept his father's decision sparked the second war of the Diadochi, in which Eurydice saw once again a chance to free Philip from the control of the regent. An opportunity presented itself in 317 BC, when Cassander expelled Polyperchon from Macedonia: Eurydice immediately allied herself with him and made her husband nominate him new regent, and Cassander reciprocated by leaving her in full control of the country when he left to campaign in Greece
Hellenistic Greece
In the context of Ancient Greek art, architecture, and culture, Hellenistic Greece corresponds to the period between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the annexation of the classical Greek heartlands by Rome in 146 BC...
.
But all this was to prove exceedingly volatile: that same year (317) Polyperchon and Olympias
Olympias
Olympias was a Greek princess of Epirus, daughter of king Neoptolemus I of Epirus, the fourth wife of the king of Macedonia, Philip II, and mother of Alexander the Great...
, allied with the king of Epirus
Epirus
The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...
Aeacides
Aeacides of Epirus
Aeacides , king of Epirus , was son of Arymbas and grandson of Alcetas I. He succeeded to the throne of Epirus on the death of his cousin Alexander, who was slain in Italy. Aeacides married Phthia, the daughter of Menon of Pharsalus, by whom he had the celebrated Pyrrhus and two daughters, Deidamia...
, invaded Macedonia. The Macedonian troops refused to fight Olympias, the mother of Alexander. Philip and Eurydice had no choice but to escape, only to be captured at Amphipolis
Amphipolis
Amphipolis was an ancient Greek city in the region once inhabited by the Edoni people in the present-day region of Central Macedonia. It was built on a raised plateau overlooking the east bank of the river Strymon where it emerged from Lake Cercinitis, about 3 m. from the Aegean Sea. Founded in...
and thrown into prison. It soon became clear that Philip was too dangerous to be left alive, as many enemies of Olympias saw him as a useful tool against her, and so on December 25 317 BC she had him executed, while his wife was forced to commit suicide.
Tomb
The following year, when Cassander reconquered Macedonia and avenged Philip's death, he interred the bodies of Philip and Eurydice with royal pomp at AegaeVergina
Vergina is a small town in northern Greece, located in the peripheral unit of Imathia, Central Macedonia. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Veroia, of which it is a municipal unit...
, modern Vergina, and celebrated funeral games to their honour.
In 1977 important excavations were made near Vergina leading to the discovery of a two-chambered royal tomb, with an almost perfectly conserved male skeleton. Manolis Andronikos
Manolis Andronikos
Manolis Andronikos was a Greek archaeologist and a professor at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. He was born on October 23, 1919 at Bursa . Later, his family moved to Thessaloniki....
, the chief archaeologist on the ground and the majority of archaeologists, decided it was the skeleton of Philip II, but many have disputed this attribution and instead proposed it to be the remains of Philip Arrhidaeus.
Subsequent forensic reconstruction of the skull contained in the gold Larnax (cremains container) clearly demonstrates damage to the right eye socket of the skull in keeping with historical accounts that Philip II had been struck by an arrow in the right eye and as a consequence, had been severely disfigured. See Prag, John and Richard Neave: Making Faces: Using Forensic and Archaeological Evidence (British Museum Press: 1997).
Arrhidaeus in fiction
He appears as one of the main characters in the novel Funeral Games by Mary RenaultMary Renault
Mary Renault born Eileen Mary Challans, was an English writer best known for her historical novels set in Ancient Greece...
. In Renault's version, the villainous Cassander slows down his advance on Macedonia to give Olympias enough time to kill Arrhidaeus and Eurydice.
Arrhidaeus is also a main character in Annabel Lyon
Annabel Lyon
Annabel Lyon is a Canadian novelist and short story writer. She's published two collections of short fiction, two young adult novels, and an adult historical novel, The Golden Mean.-Life and work:...
's novel The Golden Mean. In it, the young Arrhidaeus is tutored by Aristotle while he also mentors his younger half-brother, the future Alexander the Great. Alexander, who is initially disgusted with his brother's inferior intellect, learns to love him before he sets out to conquer the world.
External links
- Livius.org: Arridaeus by Jona Lendering
- Wiki Classical Dictionary: Arrhidaeus
- Page about coinage during his reign
- An archaeological report about his grave and remains
- A National Geographic article about the group of tombs, one of which is now said to be his (April 2008)
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