Alexander II of Macedon: A Brief Reign in Ancient Macedon

Introduction

Alexander II of Macedon, an Argead, was the eldest son of Amyntas III and Eurydice I and ruled Macedon for a brief period around 370–368 BC. He succeeded his father and immediately faced external and internal dangers: an Illyrian invasion from the northwest and a challenge from the eastern pretender Pausanias, who seized several cities and threatened the royal household at Pella. Alexander checked these threats with the aid of the Athenian general Iphicrates.

At the request of the Thessalian Aleuadae he intervened in a Thessalian civil war, capturing Larissa and other towns; by placing garrisons there he violated earlier undertakings and thus drew the intervention of Thebes. The Theban general Pelopidas expelled the Macedonians from Thessaly, then undermined Alexander by promoting Alexander’s brother-in-law Ptolemy of Aloros and compelling Alexander to abandon his alliance with Athens and hand over hostages, among them his younger brother Philip.

Alexander instituted the king’s personal guard known as the Pezhetairos, a name later applied by Philip II to a pike infantry formation. His reign ended when he was assassinated during a performance of the telesias, reportedly at the instigation of Ptolemy of Aloros; his brother Perdiccas III succeeded as king while Ptolemy assumed the regency and effective control. Alexander’s short rule is marked by acute military crises, a failed Thessalian intervention, the origin of the Pezhetairos name, and a succession that left the kingdom in the hands of a regent.