Argead dynasty
| Country | Ancient Greece |
|---|---|
| Titles | Basileus of Macedonia |
| Final sovereign | Antigonus I Monophthalmus |
| Founding | 808 BCE |
| Dissolution | 310 BCE |
The Argead dynasty (Greek: Ἀργεάδαι) was an ancient Greek royal house. They were the ruling dynasty of Macedonia from about 700 to 310 BCE. Their tradition, as described in ancient Greek historiography, traced their origins to Argos, in southern Greece (hence the name Argeads).[1][2] Initially, the rulers of the homonymous tribe,[3] 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 Macedonia and Alexander 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.
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Origin[edit]
The Argeads 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 the royal Palace at Aegae Manolis Andronikos discovered in the "tholos" room (according to some scholars "tholos" was the throne room) an inscription relating to that belief.[4] 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 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 gradually formed their own kingdom.[5] Herodotus also relates the incident of the participation of Alexander I of Macedon in the Olympic Games in 504 or 500 BCE 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 Macedonians were in fact Greek and allowed him to participate.[6]
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 by the expulsion of the Edoni, Eordaea and Almopia expelling the Eordians and Almopians respectively.[7]
Monarchs[edit]
- Karanus (808–778 BCE)
- Koinos (778–750 BCE)
- Tyrimmas (750–700 BCE)
- Perdiccas I (700–678 BCE)
- Argaeus I (678–640 BCE)
- Philip I (640–602 BCE)
- Aeropus I (602–576 BCE)
- Alcetas I (576–547 BCE)
- Amyntas I (547–498 BCE)
- Alexander I (498–454 BCE)
- Perdiccas II (454–413 BCE)
- Archelaus (413–399 BCE)
- Orestes and Aeropus II (399–396 BCE)
- Archelaus II (396–393 BCE)
- Amyntas II (393 BCE)
- Pausanias (393 BCE)
- Amyntas III (393 BCE)
- Argaeus II (393–392 BCE)
- Amyntas III (restored) (392–370 BCE)
- Alexander II (370–368 BCE)
- Ptolemy I (368–365 BCE)
- Perdiccas III (365–359 BCE)
- Amyntas IV (359–356 BCE)
- Philip II (359–336 BCE)
- Alexander III (the Great) (336–323 BCE)
- Antipater, Regent of Macedonia (334–323 BCE)
- Philip III Arrhidaeus (323–317 BCE), only titular king
- Alexander IV (323–310 BCE), only titular king
- Perdiccas, Regent of Macedonia (323–321 BCE)
- Antipater, Regent of Macedonia (321–319 BCE)
- Polyperchon, Regent of Macedonia (319–317 BCE)
- Cassander, Regent of Macedonia (317–306 BCE)
References[edit]
- ^ Hammond 1986, p. 516: "In the early 5th century the royal house of Macedonia, the Temenidae was recognised as Greek by the Presidents of the Olympic Games. Their verdict considered themselves to be of Greek descent from Heracles son of Zeus."
- ^ Howatson & Harvey 1989, p. 339: "In historical times the royal house traced its descent from the mythical Temenus, king of Argos, who was one of the Heracleidae, and more immediately from Perdiccas I, who left Argos for Illyria, probably in the mid-seventh century BCE, and from there captured the Macedonian plain and occupied the fortress of Aegae (Vergina), setting himself up as king of the Macedonians. Thus the kings were of largely Dorian Greek stock (see PHILIP (1)); they presumably spoke a form of Dorian Greek and their cultural tradition had Greek features."
- ^ Rogers 2004, p. 316: "According to Strabo, 7.11 ff., the Argeadae were the tribe who were able to make themselves supreme in early Emathia, later Macedonia."
- ^ Andronikos 2004, p. 38. Inscription found in the tholos room of the Agai Palace: "Η επιγραφή αυτή είναι: «ΗΡΑΚΛΗΙ ΠΑΤΡΩΙΩΙ», που σημαίνει στον «Πατρώο Ηρακλή», στον Ηρακλή δηλαδή που ήταν γενάρχης της βασιλικής οικογένειας των Μακεδόνων." [Translation: "The inscription is: «ΗΡΑΚΛΗΙ ΠΑΤΡΩΙΩΙ», which means "Father (Ancestor) Hercules", dedicated to Hercules who was the ancestor of the Royal family of the Macedonians."]
- ^ Herodotus. Histories, 8.137.
- ^ Herodotus. Histories, 5.22.
- ^ Thucydides. History of the Peloponnesian War, 2.99.
Sources[edit]
- Andronikos, Manolēs (2004). Vergina: The Royal Tombs. Athens, Greece: Ekdotikē Athēnōn. ISBN 960-213-128-4.
- Hammond, Nicholas Geoffrey Lemprière (1986). A History of Greece to 322 BC. Oxford, United Kingdom: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0-19-873095-0.
- Howatson, M. C.; Harvey, Sir Paul (1989). The Oxford Companion to Classical Literature. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-866121-5.
- Rogers, Guy MacLean (2004). Alexander: The Ambiguity of Greatness. New York: Random House Publishing Group. ISBN 1-4000-6261-6.
Further reading[edit]
- March, Duane A. (1995). "The Kings of Makedon: 399–369 BC". Historia: Zeitschrift für Alte Geschichte (Franz Steiner Verlag) 44 (3): 257–282. JSTOR 4436380.
External links[edit]
- "Argead Dynasty". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 26 April 2008. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
