Philip

Also known as: king Philip · Family: Macedonian · Role: king · First appears: Pericles

Philip, king of Macedon, became the opponent of Titus Quintius Flamininus, who was assigned the war against him. At Cynos Cephalae, Titus Quintius Flamininus defeated his army, killing eight thousand and capturing five thousand; Philip then submitted, and the war ended when Titus Quintius Flamininus reinstated him under harsh terms: he had to leave Greece, pay one thousand talents, surrender his shipping except for ten vessels, and send Demetrius Poliorcetes hostage to Rome. Titus Quintius Flamininus nevertheless preserved his royal dignity and freed the Greeks, while Phocion later drove Philip from the Hellespont.

Philip was the parent of Alexander, Arrhidaeus, and, in the dynastic accounts, Perseus and Demetrius Poliorcetes; Demetrius Poliorcetes died and left a young son called Philip. Philip married Olympias and Cleopatra, and his relationship with Olympias became hostile as her jealousy exasperated Alexander against him. He sent for Aristotle to instruct Alexander, was pleased with Eumenes and took him into his service, and received Bucephalas from Philonicus.

In other struggles, Philip opposed Demosthenes, Philopoemen, Alcaeus, and Titus Quintius Flamininus, and privately employed men to assassinate Philopoemen. He was associated with the rich oligarchs Archias and Leontidas, urged Phoebidas to seize the Cadmea, employed Phillidas as secretary, and faced Charon and Melon as enemies. He turned to friendship with Aratus, whom he later ordered Taurion to poison, while also being said to have injured the younger Aratus in his wife; Pompey was his freedman.