Philip and Olympias: A Novel of Ancient Macedon

by Peter Messmore

  He and his agents had much to do in five days.

  The ancient capital of Macedonia was not Pella, but Aigai. Three hundred years before these events, an ostracized Temenid family from Peloponnesian Argos had immigrated to the land bordering the Haliacmon River. Under their leader, Perdiccas I, the group had carved a home for themselves by taking it from the Illyrians they found there. The Illyrian site at Vergina was chosen as their capital. It was renamed Aigai, the place of goats. It had remained the capital of Macedonian kings for centuries. During the reign of Archelaos, the administrative seat of government had been moved to Pella. But Aigai, since it was where Macedonian kings were buried, remained the spiritual capital of Macedon.

  It was a peaceful place, atop a high hill, affording Macedonian royalty a lofty, unobstructed view of the lower Macedonian plain below and beyond. Immediately to Aigai’s west were the Pieria Mountains. They sheltered the site from winter’s fierce storms, yet provided pleasant coolness during the summer months.

  The assembly of fighting Macedonians began gathering at Aigai. Informal meetings around campsites and in the old palace started the process of selecting a king well before the formal assembly. Ancient prerogatives were recalled. Demands were made and bargains struck among the uncultivated group that would soon decide Philip's fate. Philip's officers and agents were everywhere during these critical days. Promises were made. Land recently captured from mountain-dwelling rebels was promised to royalist supporters. Small amounts of gold and silver found its way into the pockets of provincial chieftains and high ranking officers. Philip’s agents used a combination of bribes, appeals to family loyalty, and persuasive, nationalistic logic about quickly saving Macedonia to influence the chieftains. For the Macedonian king did not rule absolutely—he had to be chosen. He was sustained in his royal office according to the tenets of ancient law.

  Philip's supporters reported that they had done all that they could do. The rest was up to the gods and him. The aspiring prince arrived in Aigai the evening before the assembly and completed arrangements for Perdiccas's cremation and burial. His mother was placed under house arrest. She would not be allowed to complicate these delicate matters. He did visit the temple his mother had built and made offerings to Eukleia and the Olympian gods. For the first time in his life, he genuinely offered prayers. He was ready for whatever fate they had planned for him.

  Elaborate plans had been made for the cremation and burial of Perdiccas before the assembly's action. His body, its vital organs removed and placed in beautifully wrought gold urns, was placed on a royal bier. The former king's cloak bore the starburst coat of arms of his royal line. Logs of cornel wood, the hard wood that Macedon’s army used for their spears, were stacked around the bier.

  After leaving Eukleia's temple, Philip walked to Perdiccas's cremation site and checked everything. “Leave me alone with him,” he ordered his bodyguards. He looked at his brother’s corpse. Sorrow welled up within him and he nearly wept. Getting control of his emotions, he couldn’t help feeling fear. If he made the wrong moves in the next days, he would soon look as Perdiccas now did. Who would be moved to tears at the sight of his dead body? He rubbed his eyes and inhaled deeply. Emotions such as these were a luxury that would get him killed. Put this behind you. Keep Perdiccas’s ashen image before you as you do what you must do. His resolve was comforting as he looked up and told his brother goodbye. Then he turned and strolled pensively to the royal suite in the old palace.

  Following him were Parmenio and five bodyguards. He retired to the bedchamber, saying nothing to his protectors. This was a time to be alone.

  The sun's eastern rays catapulted across the lower Macedonian plain and found the Macedonian army gathered in an enormous circle around Perdiccas's bier. Soldiers were in full field dress. Many wore the fluted Macedonian hats that caused the Persians to call them yona takabara: Greeks who wear shields on their heads. Each carried weapons that he normally carried in battle. Officers and chieftains occupied the front ranks, followed by middle-level and lower-level hoplites. Six hundred cavalrymen whom Philip had only started to train sat astride their horses before Perdiccas's body. Each held his sarissa spear at the vertical.

  Philip waited in the tholos throne room of his forefathers while the army gathered. Only Parmenio attended him. When he heard the discordant beating of thousands of swords on shields, he smiled and ejected a great sigh. "It’s time, Parmenio. Let's see if you've backed the right man."

  "If I've erred, it will cost me my life," Parmenio answered. "I'm not ready to die. By the gods, I think you have it."

  The friends embraced, walked out of the tholos through the Doric colonnade, and stood on the long veranda on the palace's north side. The army, assembled on the drill field, was just becoming visible in the increasing light below. Philip and Parmenio waited for the shield beating noise to build. Then, with calculated deliberation, they made their way down the hillside east of the palace to the drill field. Philip approached the outer ring of soldiers and stood there unnoticed. Suddenly he broke the outer circle with his wrestler's forearms and ran to the gathering center. He mounted a wooden platform behind Perdiccas's bier and stared at the horde. Slowly, the multitude grew silent.

  Philip used the silence, and then began. "I'm Philip of Macedon," he shouted, careful to use the guttural dialect of rural Macedonia and not the standard Attic Greek spoken in Thebes and occasionally in Pella's court. "You know me. I'm the last son of Amyntas, who ruled you for twenty-two years. I was held hostage in Thebes for three years. During that time, I never betrayed my family or my country. I speak to you both as a mourner and as one who would be your king. We have two functions here this morning. If you acclaim me as your king, there will be a single cremation. My brother will join his fathers in the great afterlife. If I'm rejected, I'll accompany him. For I only want to live to serve you and this land."

  The rising sun, as if sensing that Philip needed stage lighting, broke from behind a bank of clouds and bathed the would-be king in soft light. This made the superstitious soldiers stare in awe of the man addressing them. "You know of my accomplishments during the short time I've been Macedon's youngest general and provincial governor. I've raised and improved the army. I've built roads and made our land more secure against attack. I've worked closely with most of you and my brother. Now, we're faced with challenges and threats that must be addressed immediately. Not soon, or in a month, but immediately. Macedon can't wait for Perdiccas's infant son to come of age; nor can an inexperienced regent rule in his place for twenty years."

  The pace of Philip's speech slowed markedly as he pronounced the name of Macedon's enemies with artificial syllabication. "Ath-ens, Thrace, Thebes, the Il-lyr-i-ans and the Pae-o-ni-ans pray for such a suicidal course of action. If I'm rejected, I'll die here today. You all will die in the days and months ahead. Following our ancient law, the decision is yours."

  Again, Philip fell silent. Using the lull, he looked as many men in the eye as he could see, rotating his body in a semi-circle. Then he left the platform and slowly circled the attentive men in the front ranks. With a drama that would have made Aeschelis proud, he managed the silence. Then he walked to Perdiccas' bier. Theatrically, he jerked a spear from it with one hand and lit a torch with the other. He walked gravely back to the platform.

  "So, Macedonians, now you vote. Not in the manner of effeminate Greeks, but as fighting men. If you support me as your king, signify it when I raise my spear. If I hear nothing, or only limited support, Parmenio will take the spear and plunge it into my heart. He's given me his word that he'll do it. You can place my corpse beside my brother's and cremate both of us. Macedonia and Philip are in your hands."

  The still was deafening. Philip again manipulated the silence. Suddenly, he thrust his right hand into the air. Without an interval, a tumultuous roar and clattering swords on shields broke the hush. In one shattering moment, Philip was affirmed king of Macedonia. The circle constricted and the new king found himself on
shoulders of earthy, smiling, roaring men. They carried their new monarch to the bier of his brother, where Philip lit the cornel wood. The flames grew and eventually consumed the fleshy parts of Perdiccas's body.

  A cavalryman brought a live dog into the inner circle. While two soldiers held its head and hindquarters, the cavalrymen cut it in half. The profusely bleeding animal was laid on the ground in front of King Philip. The length of a sarissa separated its body pieces. According to ancient tradition, every soldier walked between the two halves of the dead animal and hailed their new monarch. The primordial ceremony took half of the day to complete.

  After each man completed the act, he walked up Aigai hill to the palace, where a celebration was underway. Awaiting them was food, uncut wine, and women. Reveling continued into the night and would be recalled fondly in years to come by everyone who attended.

  King Philip participated joyfully in the drinking and started to measure the mettle of his officers by their endurance that first night of his reign.

  The new king returned to Pella after he had recovered from the all night celebration. He was establishing a pattern that was to be life-long: drink all night, sleep briefly, and then launch into the next day ready for new challenges. Everyone around him was expected to mimic his behavior or remove himself from the king's presence.

  A multitude of desperate measures were put into place within twenty days of Philip assuming the throne. Agents were sent to Illyrian King Bardylis with instructions to cede much of Northwestern Macedonia in return for temporary peace. Other agents took bribes to the Paeonians in return for them staying where they were. Parmenio was sent to Thrace. He carried an offer of gold to King Cotys. Thracian acceptance would mean that Athens might be undercut in their support of one of Philip's most serious military rivals, Pausanius.

  Time was being bought with what little remained of the national treasury that Perdiccas had so successfully increased. The Macedonian army had been reduced by over one third with Perdiccas's defeat. The king set up a crash program to restore both the numbers and efficiency of his army. He estimated that this would take a year. Philip's efforts focused entirely on improving himself and his besieged country that year.

  Macedon's most deadly threat came from Athens and the remaining pretender to the Macedonian throne, Argaeus. Philip couldn't confront Argaeus while Athens and her invincible navy stood behind him.

  "What's he doing now?” the king asked his spies who had just returned from Argaeus's stronghold, Methone.

  "His strength grows daily," one of them answered. "He's purchased hundreds of mercenaries with Athenian owls. An Athenian general arrived two days ago with three thousand hoplites. Soon they'll exceed our army protecting Pella."

  King Philip dismissed the agents and called an immediate meeting of his royal companion council. It was agreed that a trusted noble should be sent to meet with the Athenian admiral, Mantias, off the coast of Methone. His mission was to propose a course of action that would benefit both Athens and Macedon. Survival of Macedon’s new king depended on the outcome of this action.

  As he waited, Philip began training Macedon's defeated army. The officers’ corps was reorganized. Before Philip, Macedonian kings had relied heavily on the royal companions, both to stay in power and to occupy critical leadership roles in battles. These royal companions were made up of 600 feudal barons who formed an insubstantial cavalry unit within the army. They were the ancient landowners who had influenced both the king and Macedonian life for centuries. They formed the nobility of the country and resisted all change that would diminish their influence.

  These companions controlled common hoplites, who were mostly free farmers of the Macedonian countryside. These farmers had been bound to the barons for centuries and this condition had become institutionalized in both the army's organization and the structure of Macedonian society. Philip broke this ancient tradition and effected a social revolution in the process. He created another group of companions, the foot companions, and bound them to the service of the king. This was the beginning of a national military and social policy that changed the age-old balance between common soldiers, the aristocracy, and the king. These were dangerous decisions and could only have been done under the state of a national emergency that Macedon now found itself.

  The king led his soldiers on forced thirty-mile marches out of Pella. Each hoplite carried provisions on his back for thirty days in the field. Bathing was only allowed in cold water that rushed from the rich rivers and streams north of the capital. Once, a young member of the royal companion nobility was stripped of his command and sent back to Pella because he attempted to bathe in heated water.

  Macedon's developing army slowly became fit, strong, and mobile. The number of wheeled wagons that accompanied the army was greatly reduced. Only a few slaves and servants were allowed. To set an example, Philip never took his palace servants with him on these exercises. Often he was seen marching at the head of the foot companions, exchanging obscene barbs with soldier-farmers who loved him.

  The first of the king's overtures started to produce results. His Illyrian emissaries reported that Bardylis had accepted his offer of Macedonian land for peace. The cost in Macedonian territory was even more severe than Philip had feared, but there was no alternative. He authorized a treaty signing at a remote border fort that would become Illyrian territory with the treaty's signing. Bardylis made one additional demand. Philip was forced to take as his concubine the sixteen-year-old niece of the Illyrian king. Her name was Audata and she was renowned for her beauty. Philip knew Bardylis's strategy. He had used it himself in dominating the Elimiote royal family while governor there. But he consented to the demand and made preparations to travel to the border for the treaty signing. After the treaty signing, he returned to Pella with his new concubine.

  Audata was a stunning and sexy young woman. Unlike Phila, who Philip barely knew, she was a dark, green-eyed beauty with fabulous breasts and buttocks. The king, as was the ancient practice, renamed her Eurydice and proudly displayed her before the court. Eurydice dressed to show her enticing sexual qualities and enjoyed watching the young royal companions when she entered the banquet hall. The young woman had a fire that Philip found irresistible for a time. She was the incarnation of Aphrodite's beauty to the sex-craved monarch. Their love-making everywhere in the palace, with Philip's bear-like ejaculatory screams ringing out at regular intervals during the day and night, scandalized even the jaded royal Macedonian court. Soon Eurydice was pregnant.

  Bardylis's age-old strategy was working well.

  "Parmenio," Philip yelled across the room as his friend approached. The dust and mud of Thrace still covered Parmenio’s uniform. "Have you been successful?"

  Parmenio beamed. "The Thracians accepted our gold. They openly told me that it would help them strengthen their pitiful army in the face of Athenian aggression in the Chalcidice. The traitor Pausanius no longer threatens." Then Parmenio spoke of an unexpected Athenian contact. "It came when we had stopped for the night at a foul seaside town, a day from Pella. Apparently, Mantias the Greek was impressed enough with your proposal that he sailed to Athens immediately after receiving it. He awaited me aboard his trireme, where I was summoned for a meeting. I was told to tell you that Athens has accepted your offer. He made it clear that the agreement must be kept secret and that no written document must ever be produced."

  "How did Mantias know you were in Thrace? Are their agents that good?"

  "That's the only way they could have known I was returning. Mantias had been there for two days."

  Philip walked slowly around the room in silence. Parmenio, in delivering the Athenian response, still didn't know the proposal's terms. It was time to bring him in on the plan. "I've offered to withdraw Macedonian forces from Amphipolis in return for Athenian concessions critical to us. We'll declare it a free city and let events take their course. The Athenians want it desperately. It's vital to their plans in the Northern Aegean. In return for our withd
rawal, I demanded that they stop supporting Argaeus in Methone. I've insisted too that our port at Pydna be returned."

  Parmenio had surmised nearly everything that his king told him. The stratagem was deviously clever—essential for Macedon's survival. His admiration and trust of his friend, both as king and now as politician, were increasing. Perhaps Macedon did have a chance.

  "Go back to Amphipolis,” Philip continued, “and organize the withdrawal of our garrison there. We need those troops to be retrained in our new tactics. They'll be used when we're ready. When you return, take up a position north of Methone. We'll grab that bastard Argaeus when the Athenians withdraw. I'll have his head!"

  "I will, Philip." He turned and started to leave, then looked back. "We're in this to the death. I'll be your strong right hand, always at your side."

  Parmenio's words were heartfelt and Philip was moved. If he could only have more officers like Parmenio. The two parted. Philip then received a provincial baron from the northern territory, land just lost to the Paeonians. The baron told him that he had learned that King Agis, of the Paeonians was gravely ill and was not expected to live. The two discussed the implications of the northern king's death for much of the afternoon. Philip swore the noble to secrecy and dismissed him. Here was an opportunity, but first he would have to complete his move against Argaeus. It would take fourteen or fifteen days for Parmenio to move the withdrawing Macedonian forces from Amphipolis into position north of Methone. Then his trap would be sprung.