Archelaus of Macedon

Archelaus (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx; died 399 BC) was king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon from 413 to 399 BC. He was a capable and beneficent ruler, known for the sweeping changes he made in state administration, the military, and commerce. By the time that he died, Archelaus had succeeded in converting Macedon into a significantly stronger power. Thucydides credited Archelaus with doing more for his kingdom's military infrastructure than all of his predecessors together.<ref>Thucydides, Peleponnesian War II, 100.</ref>

Family

Archelaus was the son of Perdiccas II and his wife, Simache, who is thought to have been once enslaved by Archelaus' uncle, Alcetas.<ref>Claudius Aelianus, Varia historia 12, 43.</ref> Plato, through his interlocutors in Gorgias, wrote that Archelaus murdered both his uncle Alcetas and his unnamed seven year old half-brother to gain the throne, but this can not be confirmed.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> There is evidence to suggest that Cleopatra, the boy's mother and Archelaus' step-mother, was in fact the same person as Archelaus' wife. For example, Aristotle refers to a wife of Archelaus as Cleopatra in Politics.<ref name=":0">Aristotle. "Politics". Aristotle in 23 Volumes. Vol. 21. Translated by Rackham, H. Harvard University Press, 5.1311b.</ref> Historian Nicholas Hammond argued that this is only coincidence and that Cleopatra was a common name for girls in Macedonia.<ref name=":1">Hammond, N.G.L. (1979). A History of Macedonia Volume II: 550–336 B.C. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 169.</ref> However, there is little evidence to suggest that it was actually a frequent name in the fifth-century.<ref>Carney, Elizabeth (2000). Women and Monarchy in Macedonia. University of Oklahoma Press, p.22. Template:Isbn</ref> Nevertheless, Archelaus had at least one child with a woman called Cleopatra.Template:Cn

Archelaus had at least two daughters. Aristotle reports that Archelaus gave his eldest daughter to the king of Elimea while in a war against the Lyncestae and the younger to the future ruler Amyntas II (whom he labels Archelaus' son).<ref name=":0" /> His actual son, Orestes, would go on to be king, but there is confusion over whether or not Archelaus is the father of Argaeus II and Amyntas. Theopompus of Chios wrote that "they call both Argaios and Pausanias Archelaos [sic]" which Hammond emends to read, "they call both Argaeus and Pausanias the son of Archelaus."<ref>Hammond 1979, p. 175.</ref> The possibility that Argaeus was an Argaed is likely and, moreover, scholars are able to account for almost all other descendants of Alexander I.<ref>March 1995, p.281.</ref> This line of thinking would also have the later royal challenger<ref>Diodorus Siculus. "Library". Diodorus of Sicily in Twelve Volumes. Vol. 4–8. Translated by Oldfather, C.H. Harvard University Press, 16.2.6.</ref> to Ptolemy of Aloros and Philip II, Pausanias (not the son of Aeropus II nor the assassin of Philip), be the son of Archelaus. However, not all historians are in agreement and the claim remains largely unverifiable.<ref name=":2">Roisman 2010, p. 158.</ref><ref name=":3">Carney 2000, p. 250.</ref>

Amyntas was most likely the son of Menelaus, Alexander I's second son, but he could have also been the son of Archelaus. The prevailing view, advanced by Hammond, is that Archelaus married his younger daughter to Amyntas or Amyntas' son in order to stave off a future power struggle with the line of Menelaus.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /> The argument is based in part on a line from Aelian's Varia Historia about an Amyntas being Menelaus' son.<ref>Claudius Aelianus. "Various History". Claudius Aelianus His Various History. Book XII. Translated by Stanley, Thomas (1665), 12.43.</ref> The alternative theory holds that the polygamous Archelaus married his son (Amyntas) to his daughter to cement the branch lines: a half-brother and a half-sister.<ref>Fox, Robin Lane (2011). "399–369 BC". In Fox, Robin Lane (ed.). Brill’s Companion to Ancient Macedon: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Macedon, 650 BC–300 AD. Boston: Brill. pp. 216–217.</ref>

Reign

Almost immediately after he took power, Archelaus was faced with a situation which allowed him to completely reverse Macedon's relationship with Athens, which had been a major threat for the past half century. The Athenians experienced a crushing defeat at Syracuse in late 413 during which most of their ships were destroyed. This left the Athenians in desperate need of a huge amount of timber to build new ships and Archelaus in a position to set the price. Archelaus generously supplied the Athenians with the timber they needed. In recognition of this, the Athenians honored Archelaus and his children with the titles of proxenos and euergetes.<ref>In the shadow of Olympus by Eugene N. Borza, page 163 .Template:ISBN</ref>

Archelaus went on to institute many internal reforms. He issued an abundance of good quality coinage. He built strongholds, cut straight roads (important for movement of the military), and improved the organization of the military, particularly the cavalry and hoplite infantry.Template:Cn

Culture

File:Euripides Pio-Clementino Inv302.jpg

The bust of Euripides, who was hosted by Archelaus

Archelaus was also known as a man of culture and extended cultural and artistic contacts with southern Greece. In his new palace at Pella (where he moved the capital from the old capital at Aegae), he hosted great poets, tragedians, including Agathon and Euripides (who wrote his tragedies Archelaus and The Bacchae while in Macedon), musicians, and painters, including Zeuxis (the most celebrated painter of his time).Template:Sfn Archelaus reorganized the Olympia, a religious festival with musical and athletic competitions honoring Olympian Zeus and the Muses at Dion, the Olympia of Macedon. The greatest athletes and artists of Greece came to Macedon to participate in this event. In addition, Archelaus competed and won in Tethrippon in both Olympic and Pythian Games.<ref>Solinus, 9.16. Pythias et Olympiacas palmas quadrigis adeptus (Hammond and Griffith. A History of Macedonia, 150n5).</ref>

Death

According to Aelian, Archelaus was killed in 399 BC during a hunt, by one of the royal pages, Crateuas.<ref>Aelian. Varia Historia, 8.9.</ref> According to Constantine Paparrigopoulos,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> there were three accomplices: two Thessalians (Crateuas and Ellanokratis) and one Macedonian, Decamnichos. The latter used to be Archelaus' favorite (Aristotle says all three were, at some point.<ref>Aristotle, Politics, 1311a.</ref>) However Decamnichos once insulted, in front of Archelaus, the tragic poet Euripides for the smell of the poet's alleged bad breath. This outraged Archelaus who allowed Euripides to flog Decamnichos (or have him flogged) in punishment. Decamnichos was permitted to remain in the court of Archelaus; however, he did not forget about this treatment and thus participated in the killing of his king a few years later. Other versions of the king's death are reported by differing sources.

Sources

• {{#if: |

   |{{#ifeq: Archelaus, King of Macedonia |
                |{{#ifeq: |
                             |
                             |
                           }}
                |
               }}
  }}{{#ifeq:  |
   |{{#ifeq:  |
                                    |This article
                                    |One or more of the preceding sentences
                                   }} incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: 
  }}{{#invoke:template wrapper|{{#if:|list|wrap}}|_template=cite EB1911
   |_exclude=footnote, inline, noicon, no-icon, noprescript, no-prescript, _debug

   | noicon=1
  }}{{#ifeq:  ||}}

External links

• Coinage of Archelaus