King Philip II of Macedon: The Life and Legacy of the Greek Hegemon Who Revolutionized Ancient Warfare

Alexander the Great is one of the most famous figures of antiquity, but everything he accomplished was made possible by his father, Philip II of Macedon. When Philip II came to power in 360 B.C., he was only 23 and had spent most of his adult life as the hostage of an Illyrian tribe. Philip II’s ascension to the Macedonian throne took place in the midst of great chaos in Macedonia, with the Illyrians continually raiding the kingdom from the north while other Greeks took advantage of this by taking even more Macedonian land. The problem was further exacerbated by Athenian attempts to influence the throne. 

In 338 B.C., Philip II’s victory at the Battle of Chaeronea gave the Macedonians hegemony over the Greek world, and from that point on, there was very little organized or active resistance to Macedonian control of the Hellenic League due to Philip II’s command of the modern and sizable Macedonian army. In the process, Philip II introduced new battlefield technologies and techniques revolutionizing ancient warfare and giving Macedonians the edge over the other Greeks, and moreover, he started a practice that continued to be employed by his son, his son’s successors, and even by the Romans. When Philip II brought armies onto the battlefield, they were usually comparable in size to their enemies, and constantly fielding such large armies would have been impossible with Macedonians alone, so Philip II began conscripting non-Greek soldiers from among the peoples he conquered. 

Philip II seems to have genuinely wanted to have Alexander succeed him, so much so that he wanted him by his side at a royal wedding celebration in 338 B.C. It was during those festivities that Pausanias, the captain of Philip II’s royal bodyguard, stabbed the king in the heart and killed him. With Philip II dead, Alexander was proclaimed king by Philip II’s generals and the leading men in Macedonia. At age 20, he was ruler of Macedon and Hegemon of the League of Corinth.