King Philip II
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Born
in 382 B.C. Philip II of Macedon was the father of Alexander the
Great.
Philip was the son of Amyntas II. In his late twenties
Philip was appointed regent of Macedon as the king, Philip's nephew,
was only an infant. Philip overthrew his infant nephew and crowned
himself king in 359 B.C.
Philip had been a Macedonian hostage living in Thebes
during his twenties and grew to think of himself as a Greek rather
than as a Macedonian. Here he learned the politics and military
strategy that enabled him to become a great General, Conqueror and
King. After entering on an ambitious career of expansion by conquest
and diplomacy he became king of Greece and was poised to conquer
Persia when he was assassinated. Philip's consolidation of his
kingdom and his reduction of Greece to relative peace made possible
the campaigns of his son, Alexander the Great
Philip II and Alexander the Great never got on well with each other.
Although Philip was proud of Alexander for taming Bucephalus, Alexander
was closer to his mother Olympias and made no secret of this fact.
Philip was a philanderer and Olympias became a very jealous and
bitter woman. The family was essentially split when Philip married
his second wife, Cleopatra, a Macedonian. It was once said of Philip
that he cared more for his troops abroad than for his family at
home.
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