WHO WAS PHILIP II OF MACEDON (359 – 336) (3)
PART OF THE BOOK “SELECTED PAPERS FOR MACEDONIA”
BY SLAVÉ KATIN
Philip II of Macedon was born in 382 BC, in Pella, the capital of the ancient Macedonian kingdom, as the youngest son of king Amyntas III. After his father`s death, Macedonia slowly disintegrated. His elder brothers and future kings Alexander II and Perdiccas III, unsuccessfully fought against the continuous attacks of the neighboring Thracians, Illyrians, and Anciant Greeks.
Philip II of Macedon was himself a hostage of the Antiant Greeks at Thebes, between 368 and 365 BC. But while in captivity there, he observed the military techniques of then the greatest power in Greece. When he returned to Macedonia he immediately set forth in helping his brother Perdiccas III, who became king of Macedonia after the death of Alexander II, to strengthen and reorganize the Macedonian army.
Philip II was twenty-four years old when he acceded to the throne in 359 BC. Through the use of deft diplomacy, he was able to convince the Thracians under Berisades to cease their support of Pausanians, a pretender to the throne, and the Athenians to halt their support of another pretender. He achieved these by bribing the Thracians and their Paeonian allies and establishing a treaty with Athens that relinquished his claims to Amphipolis. He was also able to make peace with the Illyrians who had threatened his border.
Philip ascended on the Macedonian throne in the most difficult times; the country was virtually at the brink of collapse, its neighbors ready to put an end to its existence. The Macedonian state was further weakened by internal turmoil, Paeonia was independent of Macedonian control, and additional claimants to the throne now supported by foreign powers were a serious threat to Philip's reign.
He bought off the Thracian king with gifts and persuaded him to put to death the first Macedonian pretender to the throne who had found a refuge at the Thracian court. Then he defeated in battle the second pretender who was supported by the Anciant Greek power of Athens. Careful not to upset the Athenians, he made a treaty with them, ceding the city of Amphipolis on the Macedonian coast to them. Thus in little more than a year he removed the internal treats and secured the safety of his kingdom by firmly establishing himself on the throne.
Philip provided his Macedonian solders in the phalanx with sarissa, a spear which was long 6 meters, about 18 feet. The sarissa, when held upright by the rear rows of the phalanx (there were usually eight rows), helped hide maneuvers behind the phalanx from the view of the enemy. When held horizontal by the front rows of the phalanx, it was a brutal weapon for people could be run through from 20 feet away.
Philip made the military a way of life for the Macedonian men. It became a professional occupation that paid well enough that the soldiers could afford to do it year-round, unlike in the past when the soldiering had only been a part-time job, something the men would do during the off peak times of farming. This allowed him to count on his man regularly, building unity and cohesion among his men.
Philip marched into northern Greece. In Thessaly he defeated his enemies and by 352, he was firmly in control of this northern Anciant Greek region. The Macedonian army advanced as far as the pass of Thermopylae which divides Anciant Greece in two parts, but it did not attempt to take it because it was strongly guarded by a joint Anciant Greek force of Athenians, Spartans, and Achaeans.
Philip returned to Macedonia and begun preparations for a complete expulsion of the remaining Anciant Greek colonies on Macedonian land. In 348 BC, the Macedonian army attacked the Chalcidice peninsula and defeated the city-state of Olynthus. Like Methone, Olynthus and the other 31 Anciant Greek cities in Chalcidice were utterly demolished and razed to the ground, their Greek citizens sold as slaves, and their land distributed to the Macedonians. Among these Anciant Greek cities was Stageira, the birthplace of the Anciant Greek philosopher Aristotle. The whole of Chalcidice peninsula was annexed to Macedonia, marking an end of Anciant Greek settlements on Macedonian soil.
The Macedonian king spent most of 345 subduing the rebellions of the conquered nations. He led the Macedonian army against the Illyrians, Dardanians, and the Thracians. In 344 the Anciant Greeks in Thessaly rebelled, but their uprisings was also swiftly put down. The same year he marched into Epirus and pacified the country.
Ordering the Macedonian troops to lift the sieges of the two Greek cities, Philip led the army northward across Thrace. In the spring of 339 the Macedonians clashed with the Scythians near Danube, who had recently crossed the river with large army. Philip won a stunning victory in which the Scythian king Areas was killed and took 20,000 Scythian women and children as slaves. But on the return to Macedonia, the Thracian Triballians attacked the Macedonian convoy. The booty was lost, Philip suffered a severe injury which left him permanently lame, and the army returned home empty-handed.
Philip appointed himself "Commander of the Anciant Greeks", as he was already commander of the conquered Illyrians and Thracians. The Anciant Greeks, like the Illyrians and Thracians before them, were now obligated to support and obey the commands of the Macedonian king. Philip already had plans for invasion of the Persian Empire, which would crown his career as world conqueror.
Meanwhile Philip had begun the preparations for the Persian invasion. It is now that he made what the ancient historians considered to be the greatest mistake of his life. Having married 6 times before (all non-Macedonian women save Phila), he now married Cleopatra, a Macedonian girl from of high nobility. The ancients say that he married her 'out of love'. This marriage led to a break with Olympias and his son Alexander.
At the wedding banquet, Cleopatra's uncle general Attalus made a remark about Philip fathering a "legitimate" heir, i.e., one that was of pure Macedonian blood. Alexander threw his cup at the man, blasting him for calling him 'bastard child. Philip stood up, drew his sward, and charged at Alexander, only to trip and fall on his face in his drunken stupor.
In the spring of 336 BC, Philip begun the invasion of Persia. He sent generals Attalus and Parmenio with an advance force of 10,000 Macedonian troops, to cross over into Asia Minor and pave the way for the later advance of the main army. And while the Macedonians were crossing the Hellespont, in Macedonia everything was ready for the grand celebration for the wedding of Philip's daughter Cleopatra to prince Alexander of Epirus, brother of Olympias.
The first day of the celebrations the guests saw a lavish entertained of every sort. But on the second day of the celebration, while entering the theater passing between his son Alexander and his new son-in-law Alexander, Philip was struck with a dagger and killed on the spot. The assassin Pausanias, a young Macedonian noble, attempted to escape but tripped and was killed on the spot by few close friends of Philip's son Alexander. The great Macedonian conqueror was dead, the men who liberated his country from foreign occupation and brought if from the edge of the abyss into a world power during his reign from 359 to 336 BC.
Philip's dream for conquering the Persian Empire now lays on his successor, his son king Alexander But both ancient and modern historians recognize that without the military and political efforts of Philip, Alexander would have never been as successful as he was. After all, it was Philip who created the powerful Macedonian army and turned Macedonia into a strong nation in arms.
To be continue
By Slave Nikolovski-Katin
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