Alexander I of Macedon

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Alexander I
King of Macedon
Reignc. 498/497–454 BC
PredecessorAmyntas I
SuccessorPerdiccas II
Born?
Died454 BC
Spouseunknown
Issue
more...
  • Perdiccas II
  • Alcetas
DynastyArgead
FatherAmyntas I

Alexander I (

romanized: Alexandros; died 454 BC), also known as Alexander the Philhellene (Ancient Greek: φιλέλλην; lit.'loving of Greece' or 'Hellenic patriot'),[1][2] was king[a] of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 498/497 BC until his death in 454 BC. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Perdiccas II
.

Biography

Coin of Alexander I in the decade following the Second Persian invasion of Greece (struck in 480–470 BC).
Silver tetradrachm of Alexander I, struck at the end of his reign, circa 465–460 BC.

Alexander was the only son of Amyntas I and an unknown spouse,[5] whose name was perhaps Eurydice.[6] He had a sister named Gygaea (Greek: Γυγαίη).[7]

According to Herodotus, Alexander married his sister to the Persian general Bubares while a vassal of the Achaemenid Empire as a bribe to cover up his murder of a Persian embassy.[8] However, this story is widely regarded as a fiction invented by Herodotus or, at least, hearsay from his time spent in Macedonia.[9] It is more likely that Amyntas arranged the marriage himself around 510, or that Alexander handled it after his father died.[10]

Alexander came to the throne during the era of the kingdom's vassalage to

Mardonius' campaign.[9] Alexander acted as a representative of the Persian governor Mardonius during peace negotiations after the Persian defeat at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. In later events, Herodotus several times mentions Alexander as a man who was on Xerxes' side and followed his orders.[9]

From the time of Mardonius' conquest of Macedon,

Persian Wars
.

Athenians, informed by Alexander I that delaying the encounter with the Persians would help further diminish their already low supplies. Battle of Plataea
, 479 BC.

Alexander claimed descent from

proxenos, who lived during the time of the Persian wars (c. 490 BC), is that of Alexander I.[18] It was around this point that Alexander was given the epithet "philhellene".[19][b]

Issue

Alexander and his unnamed spouse[5] had at least six children:[23]

Family tree

Modern historians disagree on a number of details concerning the genealogy of the Argead dynasty. Robin Lane Fox, for example, refutes Nicholas Hammond's claim that Ptolemy of Aloros was Amyntas II's son, arguing that Ptolemy was neither his son nor an Argead.[25] Consequently, the chart below does not account for every chronological, genealogical, and dynastic complexity. Instead, it represents one common reconstruction of the early Argeads advanced by historians such as Hammond, Elizabeth D. Carney, and Joseph Roisman.[26][27][28][5]

Family and descendants of Alexander I
Individuals with disputed parentage or Argead ancestry are italicized.


See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ While Greeks such as Demosthenes and Aristotle referred to them as such, there is no evidence that any Macedonian ruler prior to Alexander III used an official royal title (basileus).[3][4]
  2. ^ The term "Philhellene" was occasionally used in Antiquity to describe Greeks who patriotically defended their culture.[20][21][22]

References

  1. ^ Ferrary, Jean-Louis (2006). "Philhellenism". In Cancik, Hubert; et al. (eds.). Brill's New Pauly. Translated by Salazar, Christine F.; Gentry, Francis G. Brill Reference Online.
  2. ^ Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert (1940) [1843]. "φιλέλλην". In Jones, Henry Stuart; McKenzie, Roderick (eds.). A Greek–English Lexicon (9th ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  3. S2CID 162629292
    .
  4. .
  5. ^ a b c Carney 2000, p. 250.
  6. Genealogics
    . 2003
  7. ^ Herodotus, Book 5: Terpsichore, 21
  8. ^ "Herodotus, The Histories, Book 5, chapter 21, section 2". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 2023-03-01.
  9. ^ a b c d Sprawski, Sławomir (2010). "The Early Temenid Kings to Alexander I". In Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (eds.). A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Blackwell. pp. 134–138. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  10. ^ Carney 2000, p. 16.
  11. ^ Olbrycht, Marek Jan (2010). "Macedonia and Persia". In Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (eds.). A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Blackwell. p. 343. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  12. .
  13. ^ A History of Macedonia. Τom. 2 Review: John Cole
  14. ^ Malcolm Errington, "A History of Macedonia", University of California Press, 1993, p.4: "Ancient allegations that the Macedonians were non-Greeks all had their origin in Athens at the time of the struggle with Philip II. Then as now, political struggle created the prejudice. The orator Aeschines once even found it necessary, in order to counteract the prejudice vigorously fomented by his opponents, to defend Philip on this issue and describe him at a meeting of the Athenian Popular Assembly as being 'Entirely Greek'. Demosthenes' allegations were lent an appearance of credibility by the fact, apparent to every observer, that the life-style of the Macedonians, being determined by specific geographical and historical conditions, was different from that of a Greek city-state. This alien way of life was, however, common to western Greeks of Epiros, Akarnania and Aitolia, as well as to the Macedonians, and their fundamental Greek nationality was never doubted. Only as a consequence of the political disagreement with Macedonia was the issue raised at all."
  15. ^ Herodotus 5.22
  16. ^ Justin-7.2.14
  17. .
  18. ^ Plato, Republic, 5.470e, Xenophon Agesilaus, 7.4 (in Greek)
  19. ^ Xenophon, Agesilaus, 7.4
  20. ^ Isocrates, To Philip, 5.22
  21. ^ Plato, Republic, 470e
  22. ^ Roisman, Joseph (2010). "Classical Macedonia to Perdiccas III". In Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (eds.). A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Blackwell. pp. 134–138. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  23. ^ Carney 2000, p. 20.
  24. ^ Fox, Robin Lane (2011). "399–369 BC". In Fox, Robin Lane (ed.). Brill's Companion to Ancient Macedon: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Macedon, 650 BC – 300 AD. Boston: Brill. pp. 231–232.
  25. ^ Hammond, N. G. L.; Griffith, G. T. (1979). A History of Macedonia Volume II: 550–336 B.C. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 176.
  26. ^ Roisman, Joseph (2010). "Classical Macedonia to Perdiccas III". In Roisman, Joseph; Worthington, Ian (eds.). A Companion to Ancient Macedonia. Blackwell. pp. 134–138. Retrieved 25 July 2023.
  27. ^ Psoma, Selene (2012). "Arepyros or A(u)re(lius) Pyros?". Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik. 180: 202–204.

Bibliography

Alexander I
Born:  ? Died: 454 BC
Royal titles
Preceded by
King of Macedon

c. 498/497–454 BC
Succeeded by
Perdiccas II