Philip III of Macedon

Uncommon card · No. 96750

Philip III Arrhidaeus (Ancient Greek: Φίλιππος Ἀρριδαῖος, romanized: Phílippos Arrhidaîos; c. 357 BC – 317 BC) was king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 323 until his execution in 317 BC. He was a son of King Philip II of Macedon by Philinna of Larissa, and thus an elder half-brother of Alexander the Great. Named Arrhidaeus at birth, he assumed the name Philip when he ascended to the throne. The ancient sources describe Arrhidaeus as having some kind of intellectual impairment, although historians have noted that the Ancient Greeks viewed deafness and muteness as an intellectual disability, and therefore we cannot rule out that Arrhidaeus was not physically disabled. Plutarch was of the view that he became disabled by means of an attempt on his life by Philip II's wife, Queen Olympias, who wanted to eliminate a possible rival to her son, Alexander, through the employment of pharmaka (drugs/spells); however, most modern authorities doubt the truth of this claim. Alexander...

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