Amyntas IV of Macedon

Introduction

Amyntas IV of Macedon, of the Argead dynasty, was born about 365 BC as a son of King Perdiccas III. On his father’s death in 359 BC he was proclaimed king while still a child; his uncle Philip II was appointed his tutor and regent and in the same year assumed the kingship, displacing the boy. An inscription from Lebadeia names “Amyntas son of Perdiccas, king of the Macedonians,” but ancient testimony and modern scholarship disagree on whether Amyntas ever exercised independent rule or held only a ceremonial, religious status during a brief, contested succession.

Kept at the Macedonian court, Amyntas was later married to Philip’s daughter Cynane and became the father of a daughter attested in the sources (referred to as Eurydice or Adea). He survived Philip’s consolidation of power but was executed in 336 BC after Philip’s murder, accused of involvement in plots against the new king, Alexander. Amyntas’ life and fate illustrate the vulnerability of a child heir amid the dynastic and military crises that accompanied Philip II’s rise and Alexander’s accession.