The Death of Philip II: Perception and Context

[Alexandria]

The Death of Philip II: Perception and Context
Elizabeth CarneyThe focus of this paper is not the much-discussed question of whether Pausanias acted alone or as part of a larger conspiracy when he killed Philip II. This paper is not about what really happened, but about what was perceived and believed at the time in Macedonia and elsewhere and about how these perceptions affected events just before and after the death of Philip. Carney (GÇ£Regicide in Macedonia,GÇ¥ PP 210 (1983) 260-72) observed some years ago that Macedonian kings tended to die as the victims of conspiracies. She identified two forms of Macedonian regicide and attempted regicide: usurpation by another member of the Argead clan (with or without foreign backing) and another form that included no Argeads and had as its sole object the removal of the current ruler and no particular interest in determining his successor. Carney failed, however, to notice that though both forms of regicide plots existed prior to the death of Philip II, there is only one known case of the second form, the assassination of Archelaus c. 399 (Diod. 14.37.6; Arist. Pol 1311b) whereas, throughout the first half of the fourth century, usurpation attempts were extremely common. Indeed, in the reign of Philip himself, there were two foreign-backed attempts to replace Philip with another Argead as well as an apparent attempt by one or more of PhilipGÇÖs half-brothers to do the same. The accession of an Argead was often followed by the elimination of other Argeads, on the apparent grounds that they were either plotting against the incumbent or might in the future. Thus the assassination of Philip by a non-Argead who did not want to be king went counter to much recent political experience, particularly since, in the case of Ptolemy Alorites, though some sources implicated him directly (Diod. 15.71.1, 16.2.4) in the murder of Alexander II, others have him acting through agents or a faction (Marsyas FGrH 135/6 F 11; Dem.19.194). Past Macedonian political experience led Macedonians and Greeks, automatically, to suspect that Pausanias had killed Philip with the help and support of Argeads, most obviously Alexander and his mother. Though JustinGÇÖs hyperbolic narrative of OlympiasGÇÖ implausible actions around the tomb of Philip may well have been influenced by anti-Olympias propaganda in the post Alexander years, the suspicions about Alexander and Olympias (e.g. Plut. Alex. 10.4) are almost certainly contempor

[smittysmitty]

?

[Nicator]

Interesting indeed, could you finish the post so we can read the rest? So often the public viewpoint after such an event is not taken into account, that we forget how important it is. Yours, Nick