LE SYMPOSIUM INTERNATIONAL LE LIVRE. LA ROUMANIE. L ...

the Campaign of Alexander the Great in the Balkans:
the year 335 BC in the Writings of Arrianus
and plutarchus
DAn tuDor IoneSCu
I intend to discuss here, in my short communication, some aspects of
the military expedition led by the young king Alexander of Macedon in the
central and northern area of the Balkans, at the very beginning of his reign.
In the summer of 336 BC, Alexander’s father, King philip II of Macedon
was assassinated in the theatre of Aegae by a former member of his body
guard, the young Macedonian aristocrat pausanias. the occasion of this
event was, ironically, the wedding of philip’s daughter, Cleopatra, with
the king Alexander of epirus, and the formal reconciliation of philip with
his son, prince Alexander of Macedon. the motive of this crime appeared
to be (at least officially) a private vendetta of pausanias’ against his king:
nevertheless, the narrative sources implied other darker and more sinister
causes; a conjuration led by the gold and spies of the Great King of persia,
or even a domestic conspiracy led by the main wife (the term queen is not
appropriate for the polygamous reality of Macedonian royalty) of late king
philip, the epirote princess olympias, the mother of prince Alexander, son
of philip. philip’s murderer, pausanias, was promptly and conveniently
killed by the warriors of philip’s personal guard, so there was none left
to confess. however, olympias’ actions following philip’s assassination
spoke at least for her involvement in the killing; the swift and efficient
extermination by Alexander’s and olympias’ henchmen of all potential
rivals and competitors for the crown of Macedon dealt a heavy blow to all
the potential contenders of Alexander’s throne and was a dire warning of
things to come 1 .
1 Green, peter, Alexander of Macedon 356-323 B.C. A Historical Biography