Philip and Alexander | Warrior Kings

Описание: Macedonian royal dynasty that claimed direct descent from Zeus and Hercules
Philip and Alexander: Kings and Conquerors

The culture of the ancient Macedonian people, who originated as herding and hunting tribes north of Mount Olympus,
became more Greek under Temenid rule.
They spoke a dialect of the Greek language and worshiped Greek gods.

When Philip was growing up at the Macedonian court—based at the administrative capital of Pella,
with Aigai reserved for royal weddings, funerals and other ceremonial occasions—he learned to hunt,
ride and fight in combat. He also studied Greek philosophy, drama and poetry, and
absorbed the necessity for ruthlessness in politics.
The palace was a viper’s nest of treachery and ambition, and royal children were frequently murdered
by rivals to the throne.
Macedonia was a violent, unstable, hypermasculine society surrounded by enemies.

Like a traditional Macedonian warrior-king, Philip always led from the front in battle,
charging toward the enemy on horseback. In addition to minor wounds, he lost an eye to an arrow,
shattered a collarbone, maimed a hand and suffered a near-fatal leg wound,
which left him limping for the rest of his life.
The Roman historian Plutarch tells us that “he did not cover over or hide his scars, but displayed
them openly as symbolic representations, cut into his body, of virtue and courage.”

The School of Aristotle, where Philip II sent Alexander to be tutored.
It was Philip’s idea. Alexander, the son of his fourth wife, Olympias, was a bold, headstrong boy of unusual intelligence.
When Alexander reached age 13, Philip summoned Aristotle to the Macedonian court.
There was a connection between the two families: Aristotle’s father had been a friend and court physician to Philip’s
father, Amyntas III. There was also bad blood:
Philip had razed Aristotle’s hometown of Stagira six years previously and sold most of its inhabitants into slavery.
Nonetheless, the two men came to an agreement.
Aristotle would instruct Alexander, and in return Philip would rebuild Stagira and resettle its citizens there.

Aristotle’s fascination with nature, and his belief in the scientific method,
exerted a strong influence on Alexander, who took naturalists with him as he marched his army across Asia.
Alexander apparently sent their reports back to Aristotle, accompanied by flora and fauna samples. He also included scientists, engineers and philosophers in his retinue, and opened up intellectual contacts between East and West. When their student-teacher relationship ended in 340 B.C., Aristotle gave his own, annotated copy of the Iliad to Alexander, who carried the book to Asia and famously placed it under his pillow,
next to his dagger, while he slept.

On the facade of Philip’s tomb,
a frieze depicting Macedonian nobles at the hunt includes a rare portrait of the young Alexander,
painted during his lifetime, on horseback, clad in a purple chiton.

At Lefkadia, 20 miles from Aigai, the Tomb of Judgment pays tribute to Macedonian valor. The great painted facade
incorporates images of a warrior conducted into the underworld by the god Hermes.

Philip’s stunning iron-and-gold armature is the most complete and best-preserved panoply from ancient Greece.
The body armor would have been carefully fitted to his frame.

Detail of the ceremonial gold-ivory war shield of King Philip II.

Treasures in Philip’s tomb: a golden larnax that held his ashes and his wreath, partially melted in the pyre.

Fragments of a frieze, discovered inside Philip’s tomb, included ivory figurines.
Second from left, an arresting likeness of Philip. Far right, Alexander.


theater of Aigai, where Philip II was assassinated.

After Philip’s murder, an oracle’s prophecy came true:
The king’s legacy was carried on by a “son whose nature would be bold and lionlike.”

Alexander threw the biggest funeral in Macedonian history for his father.
After burning the body on a pyre, attendants retrieved the bones, washed them in wine,
wrapped them in purple cloth and laid them in a golden larnax.
The larnax was then placed in a sarcophagus and the tomb was sealed.

Alexander, facing a revolt in Greece, marched out to crush it,
and when he returned to Aigai a year later he threw a party.
He invited many of the same dignitaries who had attended Cleopatra’s wedding,
and he presented a nine-day drama at the theater where they had witnessed his father’s murder.
After the celebrations, he launched his invasion of the Persian Empire,
carrying out his father’s plan with his father’s army, siege machinery and many of the same generals.

Philip and Alexander | Warrior Kings | AI Trailer