Philip of Macedon Unifies Greece

King Amyntas III of Macedonia and his wife, Queen Eurydice, had a son named Phillipe. He was born in 383 BCE, and after his father passed away, his elder brother became king. He was sent as a captive to Thebes, which was briefly the preeminent power in Greece, in order to secure his brother's good behaviour. Later, a brother who had risen to the position of king was able to obtain his freedom.

Phillip's brother, King Peridiccas, was killed by an Illyrian army during an invasion of his country. Phillip was named regent of his brother's eldest son, who was crowned King of Macedonia when he reached the age of maturity. Phillip was the most powerful man in the realm, while not being the king.

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Early Life and Accession of Philip II

Amyntas III had a son named Philip. His elder brothers Alexander II and Perdiccas III, who each reigned for a short years, fought unsuccessfully against insubordination of their regional vassal rulers, interference of the strong Greek city Thebes, and invasion by the Illyrians of the northwest frontier during his childhood.

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Philip himself was kept hostage in Thebes (370–360 BCE), the leading city of the decade (together with Athens), where the great Epaminondas, the most inventive tactician of all Greek generals till then, was in charge of Greece's best army. These were probably Philip's most formative years in college. Perdiccas, his brother, found him ready for a command when he returned to Macedonia.

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The phalanx was improved by Macedonian King Philip II and his son Alexander the Great's battle formation.

When Perdiccas was killed in battle against an Illyrian invasion in 359, Philip ascended to the throne quickly and unexpectedly. The Illyrians were preparing to close in, while the Paeonians raided from the north and two claimants to the throne were backed by foreign powers. During this time, Philip showed a good sense of priorities by buying off his hostile neighbours and ceding Amphipolis to Athens through a treaty. He put the time he had saved into military preparations.

The army that later conquered Persia was built during the course of his reign, but the decisive innovations in arms—the sarissa, a nearly one-and-a-half-times-longer pike than the Greek spear—tactics, and training are thought to have occurred during this first year.

Macedonian Expansion

Invading Paeonia in 358, he then decisively defeated the Illyrians in a fight that already suggests a master of war. His marriage to Olympias, the Molossian princess of Epirus (mother of Alexander the Great) the next year helped to secure his western frontier. Now he set out to enrage Athens by recapturing Amphipolis, the strategic key safeguarding the eastern frontier and providing access into Thrace; and in 356 he captured the west Thracian Crenides (renamed Philippi by him), a town established to exploit new silver and gold discoveries in Mount Pangaeus.

These successes frightened his neighbours, prompting them to create a coalition against him, which included Athens, but it has achieved nothing.

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The 10-year "battle for Amphipolis" with Athens showed that, despite their naval power, the Athenians were unable to harm Macedonia's continental and military dominance, or even to save their own allies from Philip's attacks. Meanwhile, he went far into Thrace twice. And in the south, a split Thessaly provided him with a way into Greece. Central Greece was immersed in the Sacred War to free Delphi from the Phocians' occupation, allowing Philip to act as an ally of Thebes and the Thessalian League of city states.

In the field, his only major defeat was in Thessaly in 353, owing to overconfidence and a lack of reconnaissance. He retrieved it the following year with a brilliant victory, compelling the Athenians to hold Thermopylae and block his path south.

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Philip II of Macedon

Although he is best known as Alexander the Great's father, Philip II of Macedon (reigned 359 BCE - 336 BCE) was a competent king and military commander in his own right, preparing the ground for his son's triumph over Darius III and conquest of Persia. Philip inherited a poor, backward kingdom with an ineffective, undisciplined army, which he turned into a formidable, effective military force capable of subduing the areas surrounding Macedonia as well as most of Greece.

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Fig: In the late 1970s, claimed to have found this tomb of Philip of Macedon in Virginia, Greece, and decided that it was the grave of Philip II of Macedon. According to new evidence, his remains were laid in a nearby tomb (which is called the tomb of Philip of Macedon).

To keep his empire safe, he used bribery, warfare, and threats. However, history would have never heard of Alexander if it hadn't been for his vision and determination.

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How did Philip of Macedon Unify Greece?

Philip defeated two of the three major Greek-speaking powers: Thebes and Athens. He united several other Greek / Hellenic nations, like Sparta, who were often at the mercy of the major three. Thessaly, Macedonia's neighbor to the south, for example, was a close ally. As long-time maritime competitors to Athens, Corinth benefited greatly from Phillips' rise to power, while the latter was reduced as a power.

Being in league with Phillip increased their prosperity and status. It's also worth noting that Phillip was a member of the Argead dynasty, who ruled Macedon from around 700 to 310 BC. The name Argeads comes from the ancient Greek city of Argos in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece.

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