Perdiccas II of Macedon

Macedon has begun to fall apart after the death of Alexander I in 454.

Macedonian tribes become almost completely autonomous, and are only loosely allied to the king.

Alcetas, the eldest son of Alexander I and an unknown queen, is a grandson of Amyntas I and Eurydice.

His brothers are Perdiccas II and Prince Philip(pus).

He is known for his alcohol dependence.

After six years as king, he is killed, together with his son Alexander, by his nephew Archelaus, a son of Perdiccas by an enslaved woman.

Alcetas's younger brother (Archelaus' father) Perdiccas then takes over the Macedonian throne.

Perdiccas’s son, a child of seven years, becomes the legitimate heir.

Philip, having enlisted the support of Athens and King Derdas of Elimea, is challenging his older brother Perdiccas for the Macedonian throne by 434 BCE.

Perdiccas responds by stirring up rebellion in a number of Athenian tribute cities, including Potidaea.

Athens responds with force, sending one thousand hoplites and thirty ships to Macedonia where they capture Therma.

They go on to besiege Pydna, where they are met by reinforcements of a further two thousand hoplites and forty ships.

However, as the Athenians are besieging Pydna, they receive news that Corinth has sent a force of sixteen hundred hoplites and four hundred light troops to support Potidaea.

In order to combat this new threat, Athens makes an alliance with Perdiccas, and proceeds to Potidaea.

Perdiccas immediately breaks the treaty and marches to Potidaea, while the Athenians are eventually victorious, the battle (along with the Battle of Sybota) directly leads to the Peloponnesian War.

Perdiccas, after asserting his succession against various brothers, unites the Greek cities of Chalcidice in a federation centering on the city of Olynthus.

Athens enters into an alliance with King Sitalces of Odrysian Thrace in 431 BCE after Nymphodorus, an Athenian, marries Sitalces’ sister.

Nymphodorus then negotiates an agreement between Athens and Perdiccas, where Perdiccas regains Therma.

As a result of this, Athens withdraws her support for Philip, and the Thracians promise to assist Perdiccas in capturing him.

In return, Perdiccas marches on the Chalcidians, the people he had originally persuaded to revolt.

Perdiccas betrays the Athenians once again and sends one thousand troops to support a Spartan assault on Acarnania in 429 but they arrive too late to help (Thucydides 2.80).

In response to this, Sitalkes of the Thracian Odrysian state invades Macedonia with the promise of support from Athens.

This support never materializes, and Perdiccas once again uses diplomacy to ensure the survival of Macedonia.

He promises the hand of his sister in marriage to the nephew of Sitalkes, who then persuades Sitalkes to leave.

After this, Perdiccas is allied to the Spartans.

Perdiccas helps the Spartan Brasidas in 424 BCE to take Amphipolis from the Athenians, one of her most important colonies, mainly for its ready access to timber for her fleets.

This is a severe blow to Athens, and will tie them to Macedonian timber for years to come, which strengthens Macedonia’s bargaining power considerably.

In return for this, the Spartans help Perdiccas secure his borders, by leading an assault on King Arrhabaeus of Lyncestis, with the promise of support from the Illyrians.

However, the Illyrians switch sides and attack Perdiccas and his Spartan allies.

The poorly trained Macedonian troops flee, and so the Spartans also retreat and attack the Macedonian baggage train in anger.

This sours relations between Macedonia and the Peloponnese for years to come, and pushes Perdiccas closer to Athens, with whom he will ally Macedon in 423.

Perdiccas had left the Athenians by 417 BCE and joined the Spartan-Argive alliance.

Bowing to Athenian pressure just four years later, Perdiccas breaks with the Peloponnese, and aids Athens in their attack on Amphipolis.

He dies in 413 BCE, leaving his son Archelaus as heir.

Archelaus, almost immediately after he takes power, is faced with a situation that allows him to completely reverse Macedon's relationship with Athens, which has been a major threat for the past half century.

The Athenians had experienced a crushing defeat at Syracuse in late 413 during which most of their ships were destroyed.

This leaves 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 supplies the Athenians with the timber they need.

In recognition of this, the Athenians honor Archelaus and his children with the titles of proxenos and euergetes.