Philip II Becomes King of Macedon

In 359 BC, Philip II became ruler of Macedon, a kingdom on the northern edge of the Greek world that many southern Greeks considered backward. He took power at a moment of crisis. His brother, King Perdiccas III, had just been killed in battle against the Illyrians along with thousands of Macedonian soldiers, and rival claimants were threatening the throne. As a young man, Philip had spent several years as a hostage in Thebes, where he likely studied the military methods of Epaminondas. He used this knowledge to transform the Macedonian army. He trained a professional infantry phalanx armed with the sarissa, a pike around five to six meters long, and combined it with powerful heavy cavalry, the Companions. Through war, diplomacy, bribery and marriage alliances, he secured his borders, captured Amphipolis and gained control of the rich gold and silver mines of Mount Pangaion. Within two decades, Philip had turned Macedon into the most powerful state in Greece. His reforms created the army that his son, Alexander the Great, would lead across Asia.