Philip V of Macedon

Philip V became king of Macedon in 221 BC and sought to restore the kingdom’s influence in Greece and the Adriatic. His alliance with Hannibal during the Second Punic War drew Rome into the First Macedonian War. A later conflict ended with Philip’s defeat at Cynoscephalae in 197 BC, demonstrating the effectiveness of the Roman legion against the Macedonian phalanx under those conditions. He remained king under restrictions and spent his later reign rebuilding resources.

Philip appears in historical fiction about the Hellenistic world and Rome’s expansion eastward, though he is rarely the central figure of a widely known English-language novel. His career gives writers a bridge between the age of Alexander’s successors and the rise of Roman power. Fiction can explore whether his ambitions were reckless aggression or a rational response to a rapidly changing balance of power.

In Ben Kane’s Clash of Empires, in the aftermath, the ambitious commander Titus Quinctius Flamininus turns Rome’s attention towards Macedon and Greece, where King Philip V is determined to preserve his power. In Christian Cameron’s The Last Greek, in 210 BCE, the Greek world is divided among leagues, oligarchs and kings while Macedon and Rome contest control of the wider Mediterranean. Other novels featuring Philip V of Macedon include Ben Kane’s The Falling Sword.