Alexander II (; 368 BC) was king of the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

kingdom of

Macedon Macedonia ( ; , ), also called Macedon ( ), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, which later became the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by the royal ...

from around 370 BC until his death in 368 BC. He was a member of the

Argead dynasty The Argead dynasty (), also known as the Temenid dynasty (, ''Tēmenídai'') was an Ancient Macedonians, ancient Macedonian royal house of Dorians, Dorian Greek provenance. They were the founders and the ruling dynasty of the kingdom of Macedoni ...

through his father Amyntas III.

Family

He was the eldest of the three sons of king Amyntas and Queen Eurydice I. His brothers were

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...

and

Perdiccas III Perdiccas III (Ancient Greek, Greek: Περδίκκας Γ΄) was king of the Hellenic kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedonia from 365 BC to 360 BC, succeeding his brother Alexander II of Macedon, Alexander II. Son of Amyntas III of ...

King of Macedonia

Although he had already attained his majority, Alexander was very young when he ascended to the throne in 369 BC. This caused immediate problems for the new king as enemies of the dynasty resumed war. Alexander simultaneously faced an

Illyria In classical and late antiquity, Illyria (; , ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; , ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyrians. The Ancient Gree ...

n invasion from the north-west and an attack from the east by the pretender Pausanias. Pausanias quickly captured several cities and threatened the queen mother, who was at the palace in

Pella Pella () is an ancient city located in Central Macedonia, Greece. It served as the capital of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. Currently, it is located 1 km outside the modern town of Pella ...

with her young sons. Alexander defeated his enemies with the help of the

Athenian Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

general Iphicrates, who had been sailing along the Macedonian coast on the way to recapture Amphipolis. At the request of the Thessalian Aleuadae, Alexander intervened in a civil war in

Thessaly Thessaly ( ; ; ancient Aeolic Greek#Thessalian, Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic regions of Greece, geographic and modern administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient Thessaly, a ...

. He successfully gained control of

Larissa Larissa (; , , ) is the capital and largest city of the Thessaly region in Greece. It is the fifth-most populous city in Greece with a population of 148,562 in the city proper, according to the 2021 census. It is also the capital of the Larissa ...

and several other cities but, betraying a promise he had made, put garrisons in them. This provoked a hostile reaction from Thebes, the leading military power in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

at the time. The Theban general

Pelopidas Pelopidas (; ; died 364 BC) was an important Theban statesman and general in Greece, instrumental in establishing the mid-fourth century Theban hegemony. Biography Athlete and warrior Pelopidas was a member of a distinguished family and p ...

drove the Macedonians from Thessaly. He then neutralized Alexander by favoring the ambitions of Alexander's brother-in-law Ptolemy of Aloros, and forced Alexander to abandon his alliance with Athens in favor of Thebes. As part of this new alliance, Alexander had to hand over hostages, including his younger brother

. He would coin the name of the king's personal guard; the Pezhetairos, or the infantry companions. The name would be retooled under Philip II as the name of his pike infantry. Alexander was assassinated during a performance of the ''telesias'', a war dance, at the instigation of

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

. Although Alexander's brother

became the next king, he was under age, and Ptolemy became regent and effectively the ruler.

References

Citations

{{MacedonKings 4th-century BC Macedonian monarchs Argead kings of Macedonia Murdered royalty of Macedonia (ancient kingdom) Theban hegemony Old Macedonian kingdom Year of birth unknown