Perdiccas III: King of Macedon in the Fourth Century BC

Introduction

Perdiccas III, son of Amyntas III and Eurydice of the Argead house, was king of Macedon in the fourth century BC. He was a minor when his elder brother Alexander II was slain in 369 BC and Ptolemy of Aloros governed as regent; in 365 BC Perdiccas removed Ptolemy and took the kingship himself. One modern account places his independent reign c. 365–360 BC, while some sources extend the terminal date to 359 BC.

Surviving evidence records little detailed governance, but Perdiccas was involved in the Macedonian struggle with Athens over Amphipolis and in the wider Greek diplomacy of the period, at times forcing and at other times yielding to Athenian pressure. He cultivated letters and philosophy, notably patronizing Euphraeus of Oreus, a follower of Plato who is reported to have exercised strong influence at court. Perdiccas also acted as theorodokos at the Panhellenic Games held at Epidaurus around 360/359 BC.

In 360/359 BC Perdiccas mounted a campaign to recover Upper Macedonia from the Illyrian king Bardylis; the expedition ended in rout and the king was killed. Ancient authority Diodorus records some four thousand Macedonian dead from the action. Perdiccas was succeeded by his infant son Amyntas IV; the kingship soon passed to his younger brother Philip, who assumed the regency and then the throne. Perdiccas’s reign is remembered chiefly for his patronage of philosophers and for the military collapse against the Illyrians that brought an abrupt end to his rule.