Philip II of Macedon

Philip II of Macedon was king of Macedon from 359 to 336 BC and father of Alexander the Great. He transformed Macedon into the dominant power in Greece through military reform, diplomacy and victory at Chaeronea.

Philip II of Macedon also held the offices or ranks of King of Macedonia. Philip II of Macedon belonged to the Argead dynasty and operated within Kingdom of Macedonia. Philip II of Macedon was born in Pella, Kingdom of Macedonia and died in Aigai, Kingdom of Macedonia.

In Mary Renault’s Fire from Heaven, Alexander grows up inside the divided court of Philip II of Macedon and Olympias, learning early that family affection, dynastic survival and political loyalty cannot be separated. In Diodorus Siculus’ The Library, Books 16-20, Robin Waterfield’s translation brings together Books 16–20 of Diodorus Siculus’s Bibliotheca historica. Book 16 traces Philip II’s transformation of Macedon from a vulnerable kingdom into the dominant power of Greece, placing the Sacred War, the struggle for Greek alliances and the Battle of Chaeronea beside upheavals in Sicily. Book 17 follows Alexander the Great from his accession and invasion of the Achaemenid Empire through the Granicus, Issus, Tyre, Gaugamela, Persepolis, the campaigns in Central Asia and India, and his death at Babylon. Books 18–20 preserve an exceptionally important account of the first generation of Successor conflicts. Philip II of Macedon is treated fictionally in Steven Pressfield’s Alexander, Valerio Massimo Manfredi’s Child of a Dream, David Gemmel’s Lion of Macedon, and Harry Sidebottom’s The Shadow King.