Neither Philip nor Macedon has representatives on the council, but the knowledge that the hegemon has the power of Macedon in his hand makes this organization effective.

In the constitutional details of his settlement of Greece, Philip may well have had the help of Aristotle, free from his recent duties as tutor of the young Alexander.

Philip's marriage to a young Macedonian noblewoman, Cleopatra, in 338, had led to a final break with Olympias, his queen, who left the country for her native Epirus accompanied by the crown prince Alexander, who will later goe to Illyria.

Ptolemy, the son of the nobleman Lagus, a native of the Macedonian district of Eordaea whose family is undistinguished, and of Arsinoe, who is related to the Macedonian Argead dynasty, was probably educated as a page at the royal court of Macedonia, where he has become closely associated with Alexander.

He is exiled in 337, along with other companions of the crown prince.

Although Olympias had been unpopular at court and though Cleopatra's connections are powerful and important, it had not been “politic” to put the succession in jeopardy.

Philip shows that he had never intended this result, by taking trouble to be reconciled with Alexander.

He does not, however, restore his son to favor, and Alexander, his position as heir in jeopardy, remains isolated and insecure.