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25-510: Their tradition, as described in ancient Greek historiography , traced their origins to Argos , of Peloponnese in Southern Greece, hence the name Argeads or Argives . Initially rulers of the tribe of the same name, by the time of Philip II they had expanded their reign further, to include under the rule of Macedonia all Upper Macedonian states. The family's most celebrated members were Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander

50-469: A further 2000 hoplites and 40 ships. However, as the Athenians were besieging Pydna, they received news that Corinth had sent a force of 1600 hoplites and 400 light troops to support Potidaea. In order to combat this new threat, Athens made an alliance with Perdiccas, and proceeded to Potidaea. Perdiccas immediately broke the treaty and marched to Potidaea. While the Athenians were eventually victorious,

75-599: A prime example in his descriptions of the Egyptians , Scythians , and others. Perdiccas II of Macedon Perdiccas II ( Greek : Περδίκκας , romanized :  Perdíkkas ) was the king of Macedonia from 454 BC until his death in 413 BC. During the Peloponnesian War , he frequently switched sides between Sparta and Athens . Perdiccas II was the oldest son of Alexander I . He had four brothers: Alcetas , Amyntas, Menelaus, and Philip. Menelaus

100-428: A town called Lebaea , where they served the king. The latter asked them to leave his territory, believing in an omen that something great would happen to Perdiccas. The boys went to another part of Macedonia , near the garden of Midas , above which mount Bermio stands. There they made their abode and slowly formed their own kingdom. Herodotus also relates the incident of the participation of Alexander I of Macedon in

125-590: A well when he was seven years old because he was considered the legitimate heir. There is strong evidence to suggest that Cleopatra married Archelaus, her step-son, following the death of Perdiccas, but this has been disputed by historians like Nicholas Hammond . The unexpected death of Alexander I in 454 precipitated a dynastic crisis In Macedonia. Perdiccas ascended to the throne as the oldest son, but at least two of his four brothers, Philip and Alcetas, obtained their own local realms ( arkhai ). He annexed Alcetas' territory at some unknown date, but Philip's control of

150-560: Is accused by Plato , through his interlocutors in Gorgias , of having been a slave of Alcetas. It is doubtful, however, that Archelaus would have been treated as legitimate if his mother had been a slave and therefore Simache was most likely a member of the Macedonian elite (albeit nonroyal). Cleopatra, possibly a Lyncestian or even Argead, bore one presently unnamed son to Perdiccas. According to Plato, Archelaus drowned this son in

175-497: Is known about the history and politics of Athens than of most other contemporary cities. Their scope is further limited by a focus on political, military and diplomatic history, generally ignoring economic and social history. However, while works approaching modern ethnography arose primarily amongst the Romans , some Greeks did include ancillary material describing the customs and rituals of different peoples, Herodotus himself being

200-773: Is that the Argead dynasty actually came from Argos Orestikon . According to Thucydides , in the History of the Peloponnesian War , the Argeads were originally Temenids from Argos, who descended from the highlands to Lower Macedonia, expelled the Pierians from Pieria and acquired in Paionia a narrow strip along the river Axios extending to Pella and the sea. They also added Mygdonia in their territory through

225-575: Is widely known as the "father of history," his Histories being eponymous of the entire field. Written between the 450s and 420s BC, the scope of Herodotus' work reaches about a century in the past, discussing 6th century BC historical figures such as Darius I of Persia , Cambyses II , and Psamtik III and alludes to some 8th century BC ones such as Candaules . Herodotus was succeeded by authors such as Thucydides , Xenophon , Demosthenes , Plato , and Aristotle . Most of these authors were either Athenians or pro-Athenians, which explains why far more

250-668: The Greek Ἀργεῖος ( Argeios meaning "of or from Argos "), which is first attested in Homer where it was also used as a collective designation for the Greeks ( "Ἀργείων Δαναῶν" , Argive Danaans ). The Argead dynasty claimed descent from the Temenids of Argos, in the Peloponnese , whose legendary ancestor was Temenus , the great-great-grandson of Heracles . In the excavations of

275-535: The Olympic Games in 504 or 500 BC where the participation of the Macedonian king was contested by participants on the grounds that he was not Greek. The Hellanodikai , however, after examining his Argead claim confirmed that the Macedonian kings were Greeks and allowed him to participate. Another theory supported by the Greek historian Miltiades Hatzopoulos, following the opinion of the ancient author Appian ,

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300-487: The 5th century BC, it became an integral part of ancient Greek literature and held a prestigious place in later Roman historiography and Byzantine literature . The historical period of ancient Greece is exclusive in world history as the first period attested directly in proper historiography , while earlier ancient history or proto-history is known by much more circumstantial evidence, such as annals , chronicles , king lists , and pragmatic epigraphy . Herodotus

325-596: The Great , under whose leadership the kingdom of Macedonia gradually gained predominance throughout Greece, defeated the Achaemenid Empire and expanded as far as Egypt and India . The mythical founder of the Argead dynasty is King Caranus . The Argeads claimed descent from Heracles through his great-great-grandson Temenus , also king of Argos . The words Argead and Argive derive (via Latin Argīvus ) from

350-533: The battle (along with the Battle of Sybota ) directly led to the Peloponnesian War . In autumn 431, Athens entered into an alliance with the Odyrisian king Sitalces following the diplomatic efforts of his Greek brother-in-law, Nymphodorus of Abdera . Nymphodorus then arranged a deal between Athens and Perdiccas in which Macedonia regained Therma in exchange for Perdiccas agreeing to march alongside them against

375-410: The charts below do not account for every chronological, genealogical, and dynastic complexity. Instead, they represent one common reconstruction of the Argeads advanced by historians such as Hammond, Elizabeth Carney , and Joseph Roisman. Greek historiography Hellenic historiography (or Greek historiography ) involves efforts made by Greeks to track and record historical events . By

400-461: The expulsion of the Edoni , Eordians , and Almopians . The death of the king almost invariably triggered dynastic disputes and often a war of succession between members of the Argead family, leading to political and economic instability. These included: Additionally, long-established monarchs could still face a rebellion by a relative when the former's kingship was perceived to be weak. An example

425-438: The invasion faltered for a number of reasons. Firstly, supplies began to run low as it was winter and a promised Athenian fleet never materialized. Although they were ostensibly allies, the Athenians were likely concerned about the prospect of a Thracian client on the Macedonian throne following the rapid advance of the ambitious Sitalces. Furthermore, Seuthes , an influential nephew and officer of Sitalces, successfully persuaded

450-657: The king to return home after Perdiccas had secretly promised him a large dowry and the marriage of his sister Stratonice. Thucydides states that Sitalces left after ''a stay of thirty days in all, eight of which were spent in Chalcidice .'' After this, Perdiccas was allied to the Spartans and, in 424, helped the Spartan Brasidas to take Amphipolis from the Athenians, one of her most important colonies, mainly for its ready access to timber for her fleets. This

475-556: The rebel Chalcidians. It was at this point that Athens finally abandoned Philip and he fled to Thrace with his son Amyntas. However, Thucydides then reports that Sitalces invaded Macedonia in 429 with a large army and Amyntas in tow, apparently upset with Perdiccas for an unfulfilled (and thus far unknown) promise made in 431. Attacking ' Lower Macedonia from the top,' Sitalces marched through Mt. Cercine (now Mt. Ograzden ) and entered Philip's former territory via Valandovo , supposedly with an army of 150,000 men. A number of cities in

500-710: The region, with the notable exception of Europus , went over to the Thracians and the Macedonians were forced to retreat to their strongholds. That they were unprepared for the invasion is possibly a consequence of Perdiccas having earlier sent 1000 Macedonians to support the Spartan general Cnemus ' invasion of pro-Athenian Acarnania . Macedonian resistance proved limited, and Sitalces freely ravaged Mygdonia , Crestonia , and Anthemus , save for an ineffective cavalry attack by Perdiccas' Orestian allies. Nevertheless,

525-531: The royal palace at Aegae , Manolis Andronikos discovered in the "tholos" room (according to some scholars "tholos" was the throne room) a Greek inscription relating to that belief. This is testified by Herodotus , in The Histories , where he mentions that three brothers of the lineage of Temenus, Gauanes , Aeropus and Perdiccas , fled from Argos to the Illyrians and then to Upper Macedonia , to

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550-628: The strategically important Axios Valley around Amphaxitis proved more difficult to overcome. In 433, Philip formed an alliance with King Derdas I of Elimiotis in Upper Macedonia and Athens, promising to defend each other and refrain from aiding Philip's enemies. Perdiccas responded by stirring up rebellion in a number of Athenian tribute cities, including Potidaea . Athens responded with force, and sent 1000 hoplites and 30 ships to Macedonia where they captured Therma . They went on to besiege Pydna , where they were met by reinforcements of

575-466: Was Philip's rebellion against his older brother, king Perdiccas II , in the prelude to the Peloponnesian War (433–431 BCE). 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. Consequently,

600-598: Was a severe blow to Athens, and would tie them to Macedonian timber for years to come, which strengthened Macedonia's bargaining power considerably. In return for this, the Spartans helped Perdiccas secure his borders, by leading an assault on King Arrhabaeus of Lyncestis , with the promise of support from the Illyrians ( Battle of Lyncestis ). However, the Illyrians switched sides and attacked Perdiccas and his Spartan allies. The poorly trained Macedonian troops fled, and so

625-485: Was the father of the future king Amyntas II while Amyntas' grandson would be king Amyntas III . Around 429/428 BC, Perdiccas successfully negotiated an end to a Thracian invasion of Macedonia by arranging for his sister Stratonice to marry Seuthes , nephew of the Thracian king Sitalces . During his reign, Perdiccas married at least two women: Simache and Cleopatra. The former, mother of Archelaus and Aeropus II ,

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