The Assassination of Philip II: An Elusive Mastermind

Abstract

The article analyzes the circumstances surrounding the assassination of the King of Macedon, Philip II, in 336 BC, focusing on the potential role that the Persian Empire might have played in the conspiracy. The author challenges the current, dominant scholarly theories that point to Alexander the Great or Olympias as the masterminds, or treat the assassin Pausanias as a lone madman. By presenting numerous historical and political arguments, the researcher argues that it was the newly crowned Persian king, Darius III, who had the greatest motive, financial resources, and network of contacts to order the murder as a calculated element of his defensive strategy.