Philip II Alexander the Great Dad OLYMPIC GAMES Ancient Greek Coin Horse i18315

Item: i18315

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek King Philip II of Macedon 359-336 B.C.

Bronze 16mm (6.39 grams) Struck 359-336 B.C. in the Kingdom of Macedonia

Commemorating his Olympic Games Victory

Head of Apollo right, hair bound with tainia.

Nude athlete on horse prancing leftt, ΦIΛIΠΠΟΥ

above.

* Numismatic Note: Authentic ancient Greek coin of King Philip
II of Macedonia, father of Alexander the Great. Intriguing coin referring to his
Olympic victory.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

History Behind the Coin

Horse racing was an Olympic event of great prestige and intense competition. It

was a great honor for Philip II of Macedon to gain entry to the games, since

they were open only to Greeks. Prior to that time, the Macedonians were

considered by other Greeks as barbarians. It was an even greater honor for

Philip’s horses to win the prize. In 356 BC his entry won the single horse

event, and in 348 the two horse chariot event. Both of these victories were

proudly announced (should we say propagandized) by placing references to them on

the reverses of his coins struck in gold, silver and bronze. Plutarch tells us

that this was indeed his intention: “[Philip] …had victories of his chariots

at Olympia stamped on his coins.”

Philip II of Macedon, (Greek:

Φίλιππος Β’ ο Μακεδών — φίλος

= friend + ίππος =

horse

— transliterated

Philippos 382 – 336 BC, was an ancient

Greek

king (basileus)

of

Macedon

from 359 BC until his assassination in 336. He was the father of

Alexander the Great

and

Philip III

.

Born in

Pella
, Philip was

the youngest son of the king

Amyntas III

and

Eurydice I

. In his youth, (c. 368–365 BC) Philip was held as a hostage in

Thebes

, which was the leading city of

Greece
during

the

Theban hegemony

. While a captive there, Philip received a military and

diplomatic education from

Epaminondas

, became

eromenos
of

Pelopidas
,

and lived with

Pammenes

, who was an enthusiastic advocate of the

Sacred Band of Thebes

. In 364 BC, Philip returned to Macedon. The deaths of

Philip’s elder brothers,

King Alexander II

and

Perdiccas III

, allowed him to take the throne in 359 BC. Originally

appointed regent

for his infant nephew

Amyntas IV

, who was the son of Perdiccas III, Philip managed to take the

kingdom for himself that same year.

Philip’s military skills and expansionist vision of

Macedonian greatness brought him early success. He had however first to

re-establish a situation which had been greatly worsened by the defeat against

the Illyrians

in which King Perdiccas himself had died. The

Paionians

and the

Thracians

had sacked and invaded the eastern regions of the country, while the

Athenians
had

landed, at

Methoni

on the coast, a contingent under a Macedonian pretender called

Argeus
. Using

diplomacy, Philip pushed back Paionians and Thracians promising tributes, and

crushed the 3,000 Athenian

hoplites

(359). Momentarily free from his opponents, he concentrated on strengthening his

internal position and, above all, his army. His most important innovation was

doubtless the introduction of the

phalanx

infantry corps, armed with the famous

sarissa
, an

exceedingly long spear, at the time the most important army corps in Macedonia.

Philip had married

Audata
,

great-granddaughter of the Illyrian king of

Dardania

, Bardyllis

. However, this did not prevent him from marching against them in

358 and crushing them in a ferocious battle in which some 7,000 Illyrians died

(357). By this move, Philip established his authority inland as far as

Lake Ohrid

and the favour of the

Epirotes

.

He also used the

Social War

as an opportunity for expansion. He agreed with the Athenians,

who had been so far unable to conquer

Amphipolis
,

which commanded the

gold

mines
of

Mount Pangaion

, to lease it to them after its conquest, in exchange for

Pydna
(lost by

Macedon in 363). However, after conquering Amphipolis, he kept both the cities

(357). As Athens declared war against him, he allied with the

Chalkidian League

of

Olynthus
.

He subsequently conquered

Potidaea
,

this time keeping his word and ceding it to the League in 356. One year before

Philip had married the

Epirote

princess

Olympias
,

who was the daughter of the king of the

Molossians
.

In 356 BC, Philip also conquered the town of

Crenides

and changed its name to

Philippi
:

he established a powerful garrison there to control its mines, which granted him

much of the gold later used for his campaigns. In the meantime, his general

Parmenion

defeated the Illyrians again. Also in 356

Alexander

was born, and Philip’s race horse won in the

Olympic Games

. In 355–354 he besieged

Methone

, the last city on the

Thermaic Gulf

controlled by Athens. During the siege, Philip lost an eye.

Despite the arrival of two Athenians fleets, the city fell in 354. Philip also

attacked

Abdera

and Maronea, on the

Thracian

seaboard (354–353).

Involved in the

Third Sacred War

which had broken out in Greece, in the summer of 353 he

invaded Thessaly

, defeating 7,000

Phocians
under

the brother of Onomarchus. The latter however defeated Philip in the two

succeeding battles. Philip returned to Thessaly the next summer, this time with

an army of 20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry including all Thessalian troops. In

the

Battle of Crocus Field

6,000 Phocians fell, while 3,000 were taken as

prisoners and later drowned. This battle granted Philip an immense prestige, as

well the free acquisition of

Pherae
. Philip

was also tagus of Thessaly, and he claimed as his own

Magnesia
,

with the important harbour of

Pagasae
.

Philip did not attempt to advance into

Central Greece

because the Athenians, unable to arrive in time to defend

Pagasae, had occupied

Thermopylae

.

Hostilities with Athens did not yet take place, but Athens

was threatened by the Macedonian party which Philip’s gold created in

Euboea
. From

352 to 346 BC, Philip did not again come south. He was active in completing the

subjugation of the

Balkan

hill-country to the west and north, and in reducing the Greek cities of the

coast as far as the

Hebrus
. To

the chief of these coastal cities, Olynthus, Philip continued to profess

friendship until its neighboring cities were in his hands.

In 349 BC, Philip started the siege of Olynthus, which, apart

from its strategic position, housed his relatives

Arrhidaeus

and Menelaus, pretenders to the Macedonian throne. Olynthus had

at first allied itself with Philip, but later shifted its allegiance to Athens.

The latter, however, did nothing to help the city, its expeditions held back by

a revolt in Euboea (probably paid by Philip’s gold). The

Macedonian

king finally took Olynthus in 348 BC and razed the city to the

ground. The same fate was inflicted on other cities of the Chalcidian peninsula.

Macedon and the regions adjoining it having now been securely consolidated,

Philip celebrated his

Olympic Games

at

Dium

. In 347 BC, Philip advanced to the conquest of the eastern districts

about Hebrus, and compelled the submission of the

Thracian

prince

Cersobleptes

. In 346 BC, he intervened effectively in the war between Thebes

and the Phocians, but his wars with Athens continued intermittently. However,

Athens had made overtures for peace, and when Philip again moved south, peace

was sworn in Thessaly. With key Greek city-states in submission, Philip turned

to Sparta
; he

sent them a message, “You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I

bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and

raze your city.” Their

laconic

reply: “If”. Philip and Alexander would both leave them alone.

Later, the Macedonian arms were carried across Epirus to the

Adriatic Sea

. In 342 BC, Philip led a great military expedition north

against the Scythians

, conquering the Thracian fortified settlement Eumolpia to give it

his name, Philippopolis (modern

Plovdiv
).

In 340 BC, Philip started the siege of

Perinthus

. Philip began another siege in 339 of the city of

Byzantium
.

After unsuccessful sieges of both cities, Philip’s influence all over Greece was

compromised. However, he successfully reasserted his authority in the

Aegean

by defeating an alliance of Thebans and Athenians at the

Battle of Chaeronea

in 338 BC, while in the same year, Philip destroyed

Amfissa

because the residents had illegally cultivated part of the Crisaian plain which

belonged to Delphi
.

Philip created and led the

League of Corinth

in 337 BC. Members of the League agreed never to wage war

against each other, unless it was to suppress

revolution
.

Philip was elected as leader (hegemon)

of the army of invasion against the

Persian Empire

. In 336 BC, when the invasion of Persia was in its very early

stage, Philip was assassinated, and was succeeded on the throne of Macedon by

his son

Alexander III

.

 Assassination

The murder occurred during October of 336 BC, at

Aegae
, the

ancient capital of the kingdom of Macedon. The court had gathered there for the

celebration of the marriage between

Alexander I of Epirus

and Philip’s daughter, by his fourth wife

Olympias
,

Cleopatra

. While the king was entering unprotected into the town’s theater

(highlighting his approachability to the Greek diplomats present), he was killed

by

Pausanias of Orestis

, one of his seven bodyguards. The assassin immediately

tried to escape and reach his associates who were waiting for him with horses at

the entrance of Aegae. He was pursued by three of Philip’s bodyguards and died

by their hands.

The reasons for Pausanias’ assassination of Phillip are

difficult to fully expound, since there was controversy already among ancient

historians. The only contemporary account in our possession is that of

Aristotle
,

who states rather tersely that Philip was killed because Pausanias had been

offended by the followers of

Attalus

, the king’s father-in-law.

Fifty years later, the historian

Cleitarchus

expanded and embellished the story. Centuries later, this

version was to be narrated by

Diodorus Siculus

and all the historians who used Cleitarchus. In the

sixteenth book of Diodorus’ history, Pausanias had been a lover of Philip, but

became jealous when Philip turned his attention to a younger man, also called

Pausanias. His taunting of the new lover caused the youth to throw away his

life, which turned his friend, Attalus, against Pausanias. Attalus took his

revenge by inviting Pausanias to dinner, getting him drunk, then subjecting him

to sexual assault.

When Pausanias complained to Philip the king felt unable to

chastise Attalus, as he was about to send him to Asia with Parmenion, to

establish a bridgehead for his planned invasion. He also married Attalus’s

niece, or daughter,

Eurydice

. Rather than offend Attalus, Phillip attempted to mollify Pausanius

by elevating him within the bodyguard. Pausanias’ desire for revenge seems to

have turned towards the man who had failed to avenge his damaged honour; so he

planned to kill Philip, and some time after the alleged rape, while Attalus was

already in Asia fighting the Persians, put his plan in action. Other historians

(e.g.,

Justin

9.7) suggested that Alexander and/or his mother

Olympias

were at least privy to the intrigue, if not themselves instigators. The latter

seems to have been anything but discreet in manifesting her gratitude to

Pausanias, if we accept Justin’s report: he tells us that the same night of her

return from exile she placed a crown on the assassin’s corpse and erected a

tumulus to his memory, ordering annual sacrifices to the memory of Pausanias.

Many modern historians have observed that all the accounts

are improbable. In the case of Pausanias, the stated motive of the crime hardly

seems adequate. On the other hand, the implication of Alexander and Olympias

seems specious: to act as they did would have required brazen effrontery in the

face of a military machine personally loyal to Philip. What appears to be

recorded in this are the natural suspicions that fell on the chief beneficiaries

of the murder; their actions after the murder, however sympathetic they might

appear (if actual), cannot prove their guilt in the deed itself. Further

convoluting the case is the possible role of propaganda in the surviving

accounts: Attalus was executed in Alexander’s consolidation of power after the

murder; one might wonder if his enrollment among the conspirators was not for

the effect of introducing political expediency in an otherwise messy purge

(Attalus had publicly declared his hope that Alexander would not succeed Philip,

but rather that a son of his own niece Eurydice, recently married to Philip and

brutally murdered by Olympias after Philip’s death, would gain the throne of

Macedon).

 Marriages

The dates of Philip’s multiple marriages and the names of

some of his wives are contested. Below is the order of marriages offered by

Athenaeus, 13.557b-e:

• Audata
  , the

  daughter of

  Illyrian

  King Bardyllis

  . Mother of

  Cynane
  .

• Phila, the sister of

  Derdas
  and

  Machatas of

  Elimiotis
  .

• Nicesipolis

  of

  Pherae
  ,

  Thessaly
  ,

  mother of

  Thessalonica

  .

• Olympias

  of

  Epirus

  , mother of

  Alexander the Great

  and

  Cleopatra

• Philinna of

  Larissa
  ,

  mother of Arrhidaeus later called

  Philip III of Macedon

  .

• Meda of Odessa

  , daughter of the king Cothelas, of

  Thrace
  .

• Cleopatra, daughter of Hippostratus and niece of general

  Attalus of Macedonia

  . Philip renamed her

  Cleopatra Eurydice of Macedon

  .

 Archaeological

findings

On November 8, 1977, Greek archaeologist

Manolis Andronikos

found, among other royal tombs, an unopened tomb at

Vergina
in

the Greek prefecture of

Imathia

. The finds from this tomb were later included in the traveling

exhibit The Search for Alexander displayed at four cities in the

United States

from 1980 to 1982. Initially identified as belonging to Philip

II, Eugene Borza and others have suggested that the tomb actually belonged to

Philip’s son,

Philip Arrhidaeus

. Disputations often relied on contradictions between “the

body” or “skeleton” of Philip II and reliable historical accounts of his life

(and injuries).

The initial ‘proof’ that the tomb may belong to Philip II was

indicated by the greeves (leg armor to protect the tibia (‘shin’) bone), one of

which indicated that the owner had a leg injury which distorted the natural

alignment of the tibia (Philip II was recorded as having broken his tibia).

What is now viewed as final proof that the tomb indeed did

belong to Philip II and that the surviving bone fragments are in fact the body

of Philip II comes from forensic reconstruction of the scull of Philip II by the

wax casting and reconstruction of the scull which shows the damage to the right

eye caused by the penetration of an object (historically recorded to be an

arrow). See John Prag and Richard Neave’s report in Making Faces: Using Forensic

and Archaeological Evidence, published for the Trustees of the British Museum by

the British Museum Press, London: 1997.

 Cult

The

heroon
at

Vergina
in

Greek Macedonia (the ancient city of Aigai – Αἶγαι), is thought to have been

dedicated to the worship of the family of Alexander the Great and may have

housed the cult statue of Philip. It is probable that he was regarded as a hero

or deified on his death. Though the Macedonians did not consider Philip a god,

he did receive other forms of recognition by the Greeks, such as at

Eresos
(altar

to Zeus Philippeios),

Ephesos

(his statue was placed in the

temple of Artemis

), and at Olympia, where the

Philippeion

was built. Moreover, Isocrates wrote to Philip that if he

defeated Persia, there was nothing left for him to do to but become a god

while Demades

proposed that Philip be regarded as the thirteenth god. However, there is no

clear evidence that Philip was raised to divine status like that of his son

Alexander

.