PHILIP IL (n.c. 382-336). King of Mace donia and father of Alexander the Great. He was born at Pella and was the youngest son of Amyntas II. and Eurydice. When a youth he was taken by Pelopidas a hostage to Thebes, where several years. After the murder of his eldest brother, Alexander, by Ptolemy Alorites. he appointed by his brother Per when the latter. having slain Ptolemy, came to the throne, to the governorship of a separate district of the country. About B.C. 359 Perdieeas was slain in battle. while fighting with the and Philip assumed the govern ment as guardian of his young nephew, Amyntas, the son of Perdiecas; but lie soon set aside Amyntas and took the crown himself. At this time Maeedonia was attacked on one side by the Illyrians. Pannonian:. and other tribes, and on the other by the Athenians. while within she was torn by the dissensions of several pretend ers to the throne: but. buying off the Thra clans. who were supporting the pretender Pau sanias; conciliating the Athenians, who had taken up the cause of another pretender, Argxus; kill ing or otherwise disposing of the remaining pre tenders. and defeating in battle the threatening tribes. Philip in less than two years firmly estab lished himself on his throne. Henceforward his policy was one of aggression, and the Greek towns on the coast of Macedonia were the first objects of attack. Amphipolis. Pydna, and Po tidira, Athenian possessions or allies on the coast of Macedonia, were the earliest places to fall into hi, hands. he then secured possession of the rich and valuable gold mines of Thrace. together with the town of Crenides, which he enlarged and called by the name of Philippi. These victories had all been obtained before 355: in 354 he took Methone, on the Thermaic Gulf, after a long siege, in the course of which he lost an eye, and then advanced into Thessaly, to aid the Aletutd:e against Lyeophron, the tyrant of Pherce. Defeating the force that was sent to oppose him. he established his supremacy throughout Thessaly and advanced as far south as the pass of, Thermopyhe. The pass being guarded by a strong force of Athenians, who had been aroused by the eloquent warnings of Demosthenes. he returned and directed his arms
against Thrace. where he succeeded in establishing his aseendeney. In 349 he began his attacks on the Chaleidian cities. and in 347 completed the conquest of the Chaleidic peninsula by taking the I city of Olynthus. In 346 he succeeded in gaining a further foothold in Greece. being called in by the Thebans to assist in the Sacred War against the Phocians. All the towns of Phocis, twenty two in number, together with the pass of Ther mopylte, surrendered to Philip without resis tance. The place which the Phocians bad occu pied in the Amphictyonic Council was transferred to him, and he was appointed. jointly with the Thebans and Thessalians, president of the Pythian games. In the following years he was again in Thrace. endeavoring to bring the cities in that country under his rule. He was unsuc cessful in his attempt on Perinthus and Byzan tium, and then turned attention once more to the northern tribes. In B.C. 339 he was again invited into Greece, this time by the Amphietyonic Council. to take charge of the army that was to oppose the Locrians. Alarmed at his continued successes and his entrance into Greece, the Athenians formed a coalition with Thebes and other Greek States to oppose his advance. but the united army was utterly defeated at the battle of ChaTonea in 338. This battle marks the end of Greek independence: Philip was now mas ter of Greece. He at once began preparations for the invasion of Persia on a grand seale. and in 337. deputies from all the different States of Greece except Sparta assembling at Corinth, he was chosen commander-in-ehief of the Greek forces. In the midst of his preparations. how ever, he was assassinated at -Ewe by a youth of noble blood named Pausanias, while attending a celebration in honor of the marriage of his daughter with Alexander of Epirus (n.c. 336). The motive for the deed, as stated by Aristotle, was private resentment for neglect on Philip's part to punish Attains for a gross insult offered to Pausanias.