1When Callimedes was
archon at Athens, the one hundred fifth celebration of the Olympian games was held at which
Porus of Cyrene won the stadion race, and the Romans elected as consuls Gnaeus Genucius and
Lucius Aemilius. During their term of office Philip, the son of Amyntas and father of Alexander
who defeated the Persians in war, succeeded to the Macedonian throne in the following manner.
[2]
After Amyntas had been defeated by the Illyrians2 and forced to pay tribute to his conquerors, the Illyrians, who had
taken Philip, the youngest son of Amyntas, as a hostage, placed him in the care of the
Thebans.3 They in turn entrusted the lad to
the father of Epameinondas and directed him both to keep careful watch over his ward and to
superintend his upbringing and education.
[3]
Since Epameinondas
had as his instructor a philosopher of the Pythagorean school,4 Philip, who was reared along with him,
acquired a wide acquaintance with the Pythagorean philosophy. Inasmuch as both students showed
natural ability and diligence they proved to be superior in deeds of valour. Of the two,
Epameinondas underwent the most rigorous tests and battles, and invested his fatherland almost
miraculously with the leadership of Hellas, while Philip, availing himself of the same initial
training, achieved no less fame than Epameinondas.
[4]
For after
the death of Amyntas, Alexander,5
the eldest of the sons of Amyntas, succeeded to the throne. But Ptolemy of Alorus6 assassinated him and succeeded to the
throne and then in similar fashion Perdiccas7 disposed of him and ruled as king. But when he was defeated in a great battle
by the Illyrians8 and fell in
the action, Philip his brother, who had escaped from his detention as a hostage, succeeded to
the kingdom,9 now in a bad way.
[5]
For the Macedonians had lost more than four thousand men in the battle,
and the remainder, panic-stricken, had become exceedingly afraid of the Illyrian armies and had
lost heart for continuing the war.
[6]
About the same time the
Paeonians, who lived near Macedonia, began to pillage their territory, showing contempt for the
Macedonians, and the Illyrians began to assemble large armies and prepare for an invasion of
Macedonia, while a certain Pausanias,10 who was related to the royal line of Macedon, was
planning with the aid of the Thracian king11
to join the contest for the throne of Macedon. Similarly, the Athenians too, being hostile to
Philip, were endeavouring to restore Argaeus12 to the throne and had
dispatched Mantias as general with three thousand hoplites and a considerable naval force.
1 360/59 B.C.
2 This defeat occurs on two occasions according to Diodorus, at the beginning of his reign (Book 14.92.3-4) and again about 383 (Book 15.19.2). Beloch (Griechische Geschichte （2）, 3.2.58) thinks the first mention erroneous.
3 Since Philip was born about 383 he was an infant when given to the Illyrians. Justin 7.5.1 states that he was ransomed by Alexander II and later sent by him as hostage to Thebes. Diodorus likewise has Alexander send him to Thebes (Book 15.67.4) as does Plut. Pelopidas 26.4). Modern historians, e.g. Beloch (op. cit. 3.1.182, note), Glotz (Hist. gr. 3.227), and the author of the article on Philip in P.-W. (Realencyclopädie, 19.2266) agree that Ptolemy of Alorus, paramour and later husband of Eurydice, widow of Amyntas III, was the monarch who sent Philip to Thebes, basing their account on Aeschines (Aeschin. 2.26 ff.), who places Philip at the court of Ptolemy when he succeeded Alexander II (369). Philip was probably in Thebes 368-365. His adoption of the "oblique order of battle" from Epameinondas is probably the most striking result of his sojourn in Thebes (see Wilcken, Alexander the Great, translated by G. C. Richards, 30).
4 Lysis of Tarentum (see Nepos Epaminondas 2.2). But Wesseling quotes Plut. De Genio Socratis 584b, to show that Lysis died shortly before the deliverance of Thebes. For the education of Epameinondas see Book 15.39.2. According to Plut. Pelopidas 26.5, Philip was a hostage in the house of Pammenes (see Books 15.94.2 and 16.34.1-2) and not in the house of Epameinondas' father, whose name was Polymnus (Nepos Epaminondas 1.1). Certainly Epameinondas had passed his student days when Philip was a hostage, since he had already won the battle of Leuctra.
5 See Book 15.60.3.
6 See Book 15.71.1.
7 See Book 15.77.5.
8 Bardylis was the name of their formidable king (Pickard-Cambridge, Cambridge Ancient History, 6.205).
9 He was only ἐπίτροπος, regent, for Perdiccas' son Amyntas III (P.-W. Realencyclopädie, 19.2266-2267). Under Perdiccas, after his return from Thebes, he had administered a district of Macedonia. (See Pickard-Cambridge, Cambridge Ancient History, 6.204.)
10 See Aeschin. 2.26-27. He had striven for the crown at the death of Alexander II. (See F. Geyer, Makedonien bis zur Thronsbesteigung Philipps II, Beiheft 19 der Historischen Zeitschrift, 1930, 132.)
11 Berisades (?), Beloch, Griechische Geschichte （2）, 3.1.225, note 1.
12 See Book 14.92.4 and Beloch, l.c., also p. 102. Also Geyer, op. cit. 139.
Diodorus Siculus. Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes with an English Translation by C. H. Oldfather. Vol. 4-8. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1989.
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