History

Open menu

Literature

Open menu

Other

Open menu
three pairs of lovers with space

PHILIP II (382-336 BC), KING OF THE MACEDONIANS

 

Philip Φίλιππος II, King of the Macedonians from 359 BC and, as Leader of Hellas from 338 BC, the first man ever to bring almost all of Greece under his control, would probably be regarded as the greatest Greek king or general if he had not been overshadowed by his son Alexander. Presented here is everything recorded by the ancients about his sexual liaisons with boys. That from Justin’s Epitome is given first because it takes the story back further.

 

Justin, Epitome of the Philippic Histories of Pompeius Trogus

Philip II. Roman copy of 4th BC nbkg
Philip II (Roman copy of Greek original)
Philip II Roman copy from a Greek original bust from the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Copenhagen nbkg U
Philip II (Roman copy of Greek original)

Gnaius Pompeius Trogus wrote, late in the 1st century BC, a universal history in forty-four books, which he called Historiae Philippicae et Totius Mundi Origines et Terrae Situs (Philippic Histories and the Origin of the Whole World and the Places of the Earth). It is lost, but it was paraphrased in the 2nd century AD by an otherwise unknown M. Junianius Justinus as the Epitoma Historiarum Philippicarum Pompei Trogi (Epitome of the Philippic Histories of Pompeius Trogus).

The translation is by J. C. Yardley, publshed by Scholars Press, Atlata, Georgia in 1994.

VIII 6 iv-viii

He did not even keep his hands from kindred brother either; for he decided to drive from his throne Arrybas, king of Epirus, who was a very close blood-relation of his wife, Olympias, and then he summoned to Macedonia Arrybas’ stepson Alexander, a good-looking and virtuous young boy and the brother of his own wife, Olympias. Philip summoned him in his sister’s name and then made every effort to seduce him, holding out the promise of his stepfather’s throne and pretending to be in love with him, until he drove the boy into a homosexual liaison with him. His motive was to gain greater submissiveness from the boy, either from a guilty conscience or the prospect of the throne. So when Alexander reached the age of twenty, Philip gave him, though he was hardly more than a boy, the throne which he had taken from Arrybas, and thus was villainous in his dealings with both. For in the case of the man from whom he took the throne he failed to respect the rights of kinship; as to the other to whom he gave it, he made him a catamite first, and then a king.[1] [iv] Sed nec a proximis manus abstinet; siquidem Arrybam, regem Epiri, uxori suae Olympiadi artissima cognatione iunctum, pellere regno statuit atque Alexandrum, [v] privignum eius, uxoris Olympiadis fratrem, puerum honestae pul-chritudinis, in Macedoniam nomine sororis arcessit, [vi] omnique studio sollicitatum spe regni simulato amore ad stupri consuetudinem perpulit, maiora in eo obsequia habiturus sive conscientiae pudore sive regni beneficio. [vii] Cum igitur ad XX annos pervenisset, ereptum Arrybae regnum puero admodum tradit, scelestus in utroque. [viii] Nam nec in eo ius cognationis servavit, cui ademit regnum, et eum, cui dedit, inpudicum fecit ante quam regem.

 

Philip II medallion  Olympias 

 

IX 6 i-viii

In the theatre at Aigai in Macedon in October 336 BC:

In the meantime, as the auxiliary troops from Greece were assembling, Philip celebrated the marriage of his daughter Cleopatra to the Alexander whom he had made king of Epirus. The day was remarkable for its sumptuous preparations which befitted the greatness of the two kings, the one giving away a daughter and the other taking a wife. There were also splendid games. Philip was hurrying to see these, flanked by the two Alexanders, his son and his son-in-law, without bodyguards, when Pausanias, a young Macedonian nobleman whom no one suspected, took up a position in a narrow alleyway and cut Philip down as he went by, thus spoiling with the sorrow of a funeral a day intended for merriment. In the early years of puberty Pausanias had been sexually outraged[2] by Attalus, and to that indignity had been added a further outrage: Attalus had taken him to a banquet, made and him drunk  and subjected him not only to his own carnal desires but, like a prostitute, to those of his fellow-diners as well, so making the boy an object of universal ridicule amongst his peers. Outraged by this treatment, Pausanias had frequently complained to Philip, only to be put off by various excuses, not without ridicule as well, while he could at the same time see his enemy honoured with the rank of general. He then directed his rage against Philip himself, and exacted from the unfair judge the vengeance he could not exact from his enemy.[3]  Interea, dum auxilia a Graecia coeunt, nuptias Cleopatrae filiae et Alexandri, quem regem Epiri fecerat, celebrat. [ii] Dies erat pro magnitudine duorum regum, et conlocantis filiam et uxorem ducentis, apparatibus insignis. [iii] Sed nec ludorum magnificentia deerat; ad quorum spectaculum Philippus cum sine custodibus corporis medius inter duos Alexandros, filium generumque, contenderet, [iv] Pausanias, nobilis ex Macedonibus adulescens, nemini suspectus, occupatis angustiis Philippum in transitu obtruncat diemque laetitiae destinatum foedum luctu funeris facit. [v] His primis pubertatis annis stuprum per iniuriam passus ab Attalo fuerat, cuius indignitati haec etiam foeditas accesserat. [vi] Nam perductum in convivium solutumque mero Attalus non suae tantum, verum et convivarum libidini velut scortorum iure subiecerat ludibriumque omnium inter aequales reddiderat. [vii] Hanc rem aegre ferens Pausanias querelam Philippo saepe detulerat. [viii] Cum variis frustrationibus non sine risu differretur et honoratum insuper ducatu adversarium cerneret, iram in ipsum Philippum vertit ultionemque, quam ab adversario non poterat, ab iniquo iudice exegit. 
Philips assassination by Pausanias in The Story of the Greatest Nations
        The assassination of Philip II from The Story of the Greatest Nations by Sylvester & Home (1900)

 

Aristotle, Politics 1311a-b

The allusion here to the assassination of Philip II was the latest event mentioned in the Politics of the philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) and thus approximately dates it. He is here describing something he had narrowly missed witnessing as the tutor a few years earlier to Philip’s son Alexander.

The translation is by H. Rackham for the Loeb Classical Library 264, published by the Harvard University Press in 1932.

Risings provoked by insolence are aimed against the person; and though insolence has many varieties, each of them gives rise to anger, and when men are angry they mostly attack for the sake of revenge, not of ambition. For example […] the attack on Philip by Pausanias was because he allowed him to be insulted by Attalus and his friends […][4] [a] τῆς δ᾿ ὕβρεως οὔσης πολυμεροῦς, ἕκαστον αὐτῶν αἴτιον 35γίγνεται τῆς ὀργῆς, τῶν δ᾿ ὀργιζομένων σχεδὸν οἱ πλεῖστοι τιμωρίας χάριν ἐπιτίθενται ἀλλ᾿ οὐχ ὑπεροχῆς· οἷον [… b]ἡ δὲ Φιλίππου10 ὑπὸ Παυσανίου διὰ τὸ ἐᾶσαι ὑβρισθῆναι αὐτὸν ὑπὸ τῶν περὶ Ἄτταλον.

 

Philip II stater ca. 338 BC. Apollo on obv. charioteer 
                   Gold stater of Philip II, ca. 338 BC, with Apollo on the obverse and a chariteer on the reverse

 

Diodoros of Sicily, Library of History XVI 93-95

Diodoros of Agyrion in Sicily wrote his history of the world known to him between 60 and 30 BC. His is here and in general the most thorough account of the period.

XVI 93-4

At Aigai, the former capital of his kingdom, in October 336 BC, Philip II King of the Macedonians celebrated the wedding of his daughter Cleopatra to his wife’s younger brother, Alexander King of Epirus, determined to make it a grand celebration of his recent acceptance as the Leader of Hellas. Naturally, games were to be held …

Every seat in the theatre was taken when Philip appeared wearing a white cloak, and by his express orders his bodyguard held away from him and followed only at a distance, since he wanted to show publicly that he was protected by the goodwill of all the Greeks, and had no need of a guard of spearmen. Such was the pinnacle of success that he had attained, but as the praises and congratulations of all rang in his ears, suddenly without warning the plot against the king was revealed as death struck. We shall set forth the reasons for this in order that our story may be clear.

There was a Macedonian Pausanias who came of a family from the district Orestis. He was a bodyguard of the king and was beloved of him because of his beauty. When he saw that the king was becoming enamoured of another Pausanias (one[5] of the same name as himself), he addressed him with abusive language, accusing him of being a hermaphrodite and prompt to accept the amorous advances of any who wished. Unable to endure such an insult, the other kept silent for the time, but, after confiding to Attalos, one of his friends, what he proposed to do, he brought about his own death voluntarily and in a spectacular fashion. For a few days after this, as Philip was engaged in battle with Pleurias, king of the Illyrians,[6] Pausanias stepped in front of him and, receiving on his body all the blows directed at the king, so met his death.

The incident was widely discussed and Attalos, who was a member of the court circle and influential with the king, invited the first Pausanias to dinner and when he had plied him till drunk with unmixed wine, handed his unconscious body over to the muleteers to abuse in drunken licentiousness. So he presently recovered from his drunken stupor and, deeply resenting the outrage to his person, charged Attalos before the king with the outrage. Philip shared his anger at the barbarity of the act but did not wish to punish Attalos at that time because of their relationship, and because Attalos’s services were needed urgently. He was the nephew of the Cleopatra[7] whom the king had just married as a new wife and he had been selected as a general of the advanced force being sent into Asia, for he was a man valiant in battle. For these reasons, the king tried to mollify the righteous anger of Pausanias at his treatment, giving him substantial presents and advancing him in honour among his bodyguards.

[93 i] Τοῦ δὲ θεάτρου πληρωθέντος αὐτὸς ὁ Φίλιππος ᾔει λευκὸν ἔχων ἱμάτιον καὶ προστεταχὼς τοὺς δορυφόρους μακρὰν ἀφεστῶτας ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ συνακολουθεῖν· ἐνεδείκνυτο γὰρ πᾶσιν ὅτι τηρούμενος τῇ κοινῇ τῶν Ἑλλήνων εὐνοίᾳ τῆς τῶν δορυφόρων φυλακῆς οὐκ ἔχει χρείαν. [ii] τηλικαύτης δ᾽ οὔσης περὶ αὐτὸν ὑπεροχῆς καὶ πάντων ἐπαινούντων ἅμα καὶ μακαριζόντων τὸν ἄνδρα παράδοξος καὶ παντελῶς ἀνέλπιστος ἐφάνη κατὰ τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπιβουλὴ καὶ θάνατος. [iii] ἵνα δὲ σαφὴς περὶ τούτων γένηται λόγος, προεκθησόμεθα τὰς αἰτίας τῆς ἐπιβουλῆς.

Παυσανίας ἦν τὸ μὲν γένος Μακεδὼν ἐκ τῆς Ὀρεστίδος καλουμένης, τοῦ δὲ βασιλέως σωματοφύλαξ καὶ διὰ τὸ κάλλος φίλος γεγονὼς τοῦ Φιλίππου. [iv] οὗτος ὁρῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως ἀγαπώμενον ἕτερον Παυσανίαν ὁμώνυμον ἑαυτῷ ὀνειδιστικοῖς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐχρήσατο λόγοις, φήσας ἀνδρόγυνον εἶναι καὶ τοὺς τῶν βουλομένων ἔρωτας ἑτοίμως προσδέχεσθαι. [v] δὲ τὴν ἐκ τῆς λοιδορίας ὕβριν οὐκ ἐνέγκας τὸ μὲν παρὸν κατεσιώπησεν, Ἀττάλῳ δέ τινι τῶν φίλων ἐπικοινωσάμενος περὶ τῶν μελλόντων πράττεσθαι ἑκουσίως καὶ παραδόξως ἑαυτὸν ἐκ τοῦ ζῆν μετέστησεν. [vi] μετ᾽ ὀλίγας γὰρ ἡμέρας τοῦ Φιλίππου πρὸς Πλευρίαν τὸν τῶν Ἰλλυριῶν βασιλέα διαγωνιζομένου πρὸ τοῦ βασιλέως στὰς ἁπάσας τὰς φερομένας ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν πληγὰς ἀνεδέξατο τῷ ἰδίῳ σώματι καὶ μετήλλαξεν.

[vii] διαβοηθείσης δὲ τῆς πράξεως μὲν Ἄτταλος, εἷς ὢν τῶν ἐξ αὐλῆς καὶ πολὺ δυναμένων παρὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ, ἐκάλεσεν ἐπὶ δεῖπνον τὸν Παυσανίαν καὶ πολὺν ἐμφορήσας ἄκρατον παρέδωκεν αὐτοῦ τὸ σῶμα τοῖς ὀρεωκόμοις εἰς ὕβριν καὶ παροινίαν ἑταιρικήν. viii] δὲ ἀνανήψας ἐκ τῆς μέθης καὶ τῇ τοῦ σώματος ὕβρει περιαλγὴς γενόμενος τοῦ Ἀττάλου κατηγόρησεν ἐπὶ τοῦ βασιλέως. δὲ Φίλιππος παρωξύνθη μὲν ἐπὶ τῇ παρανομίᾳ τῆς πράξεως, διὰ δὲ τὴν πρὸς Ἄτταλον οἰκειότητα καὶ τὴν εἰς τὸ παρὸν αὐτοῦ χρείαν οὐκ ἐβούλετο μισοπονηρεῖν: [ix] ἦν γὰρ Ἄτταλος τῆς μὲν ἐπιγαμηθείσης γυναικὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ βασιλέως Κλεοπάτρας ἀδελφιδοῦς, ἐπὶ δὲ τῆς προαπεσταλμένης δυνάμεως εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν στρατηγὸς προκεχειρισμένος, ἐν δὲ τοῖς πολεμικοῖς ἀγῶσιν ἀνδρεῖος. διόπερ βασιλεὺς πραῧναι βουλόμενος τοῦ Παυσανίου τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ πάθει γεγενημένην δικαίαν ὀργὴν δωρεὰς ἀξιολόγους ἀπένειμεν αὐτῷ καὶ κατὰ τὴν σωματοφυλακίαν προῆγεν αὐτὸν ἐντίμως.

 

Pella. Royal Palace mid 4th BC 
                                                     The Royal Palace at Pella in the mid-4th century BC

Pausanias, nevertheless, nursed his wrath implacably,[8] and yearned to avenge himself, not only on the one who had done him wrong, but also on the one who failed to avenge him. In this design he was encouraged especially by the sophist Hermokrates. He was his pupil, and when he asked in the course of his instruction how one might become most famous, the sophist replied that it would be by killing the one who had accomplished most, for just as long as he was remembered, so long his slayer would be remembered also. Pausanias connected this saying with his private resentment, and admitting no delay in his plans because of his grievance he determined to act under cover of the festival in the following manner. He posted horses at the gates of the city and came to the entrance of the theatre carrying a Celtic dagger under his cloak. When Philip directed his attending friends to precede him into the theatre, while the guards kept their distance, he saw that the king was left alone, rushed at him, pierced him through his ribs, and stretched him out dead; then ran for the gates and the horses which he had prepared for his flight. Immediately one group of the bodyguards hurried to the body of the king while the rest poured out in pursuit of the assassin; among these last were Leonnatos and Perdikkas and Attalos.[9] Having a good start, Pausanias would have mounted his horse before they could catch him had he not caught his boot in a vine and fallen. As he was scrambling to his feet, Perdikkas and the rest came up with him and killed him with their javelins.[10]

Such was the end of Philip, who had made himself the greatest of the kings in Europe in his time, and because of the extent of his kingdom had made himself a throned companion of the twelve gods.[11]

[94 i] δὲ Παυσανίας ἀμετάθετον φυλάττων τὴν ὀργὴν ἔσπευδε μὴ μόνον παρὰ τοῦ πράξαντος λαβεῖν τιμωρίαν, ἀλλὰ καὶ παρὰ τοῦ μὴ τιμωροῦντος αὐτῷ. συνεπελάβετο δὲ ταύτης τῆς προαιρέσεως μάλιστα σοφιστὴς Ἑρμοκράτης. τοῦ γὰρ Παυσανίου σχολάζοντος αὐτῷ καὶ κατὰ τὴν διατριβὴν πυθομένου πῶς ἄν τις γένοιτο ἐπιφανέστατος, σοφιστὴς ἀπεκρίθη εἰ τὸν τὰ μέγιστα πράξαντα ἀνέλοι: τῇ γὰρ περὶ τούτου μνήμῃ συμπεριληφθήσεσθαι καὶ τὸν τὴν ἀναίρεσιν αὐτοῦ ποιησάμενον. [ii] ἀνενέγκας δὲ πρὸς τὴν ἰδίαν ὀργὴν τὸν λόγον καὶ διὰ τὸν θυμὸν οὐδεμίαν τῆς γνώμης ὑπέρθεσιν ποιησάμενος ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς ὑποκειμένοις ἀγῶσι τὴν ἐπιβουλὴν συνεστήσατο τοιῷδέ τινι τρόπῳ. [iii] ἵππους παραστησάμενος ταῖς πύλαις παρῆλθε πρὸς τὰς εἰς τὸ θέατρον εἰσόδους ἔχων κεκρυμμένην Κελτικὴν μάχαιραν. τοῦ δὲ Φιλίππου τοὺς παρακολουθοῦντας φίλους κελεύσαντος προεισελθεῖν εἰς τὸ θέατρον καὶ τῶν δορυφόρων διεστώτων, ὁρῶν τὸν βασιλέα μεμονωμένον προσέδραμε καὶ διὰ τῶν πλευρῶν διανταίαν ἐνέγκας πληγὴν τὸν μὲν βασιλέα νεκρὸν ἐξέτεινεν, αὐτὸς δ᾽ ἐπὶ τὰς πύλας καὶ τοὺς ἡτοιμασμένους πρὸς τὴν φυγὴν ἔθεεν ἵππους. [iv] εὐθὺς δὲ τῶν σωματοφυλάκων οἱ μὲν πρὸς τὸ σῶμα τοῦ βασιλέως ὥρμησαν, οἱ δ᾽ ἐπὶ τὸν τοῦ σφαγέως διωγμὸν ἐξεχύθησαν, ἐν οἷς ὑπῆρχον καὶ Λεόννατος καὶ Περδίκκας καὶ Ἄτταλος. δὲ Παυσανίας προλαβὼν τῆς διώξεως ἔφθασεν ἂν ἐπὶ τὸν ἵππον ἀναπηδήσας, εἰ μὴ τῆς ὑποδέσεως περὶ ἄμπελόν τινα περιπλακείσης ἔπεσεν. διόπερ οἱ περὶ τὸν Περδίκκαν καταλαβόντες αὐτὸν ἐκ τῆς γῆς ἀνιστάμενον καὶ συγκεντήσαντες ἀνεῖλον.

[95] Φίλιππος μὲν οὖν μέγιστος γενόμενος τῶν καθ᾿ ἑαυτὸν ἐπὶ τῆς Εὐρώπης βασιλέων καὶ διὰ τὸ μέγεθος τῆς ἀρχῆς ἑαυτὸν τοῖς δώδεκα θεοῖς σύνθρονον.

Philip IIs tomb Aigai
                                                              The tomb of Philip II at Aigai


[1] Justin’s Epitome of Trogus gives a generally negative and biased account of Philip, whom it depicts as ruthless, deceitful and sacriligious. There are two examples in the story given here. First, provided his motives were honourable (and there is no reason given to suppose they were not), there is no reason why Alexander of Epirus should have felt guilty for having accepted Philip as his lover. It is only Roman morality, which Trogus or Justin may here be imposing on classical Greece, to suggest it was shameful for a freeborn boy to submit to pedication. Secondly, it is absurd to say “he failed to respect the rights of kinship” by supporting his wife’s full brother against their uncle (which is what Arrybas was).

[2] Yardley’s very modern-sounding “abused” has been replaced by “outraged” as better expressing the Roman notion of stuprum expressed by the Latin. Both are vague as to what happened: is Justin’s Epitome saying Attalus literally raped him? What happened next suggests so.

[3] As regards the important ways in which this account differs from the preceding one of Diodoros of Sicily, besides observing the Roman and anti-Philip prejudices of Justin/Trogus’s account as set out in footnote 1, note first how much more detailed Diodoros’s account is, and then how much more credible in its explanation of motive. Why, if Justin’s Epitome were to be believed, would Pausanias feel more strongly against Philip than against Attalos himself? It lacks psychological credibility.

[4] This is one of several examples given by Aristotle of assassinations of rulers by loved-boys who felt they had been treated humiliatingly by their present or former lovers. Plutarch, Life of Alexander 10 vi also mentions Pausanias’s assassination of Philip, but without hinting at its pederastic context.

[5] The translator’s “man” has here been replaced by the more accurate “one”, since there is no noun in the Greek.    The most obvious introduction of both Pausaniases to the King would have been as King’s Boys (paides basilikos). As Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander IV 13 i, explains, at around the age of thirteen noble Macedonian boys were appointed to this position, equivalent to a page. It provided the opportunity for the pederastic liaisons of several Macedonian kings.[Website note]

[6] This battle can hardly be identified, in view of the many wars fought by Philip against the Illyrians. The last one mentioned by Diodorus was in chap, 69. 7 [Translator’s note].

[7] This is almost certainly a confusion. The statement of Athenaios, The Learned Banqueters 557d that Attalos was the uncle of Cleopatra is much more likely [Website note]

[8] These events cannot be dated exactly, but they must have occurred some years before the assassination of Philip, perhaps as early as 344 B.C. (Berve, Alexanderreich, 2, p. 308). Pausanias waited a long time for his revenge, and it is curious that he chose the occasion most advantageous for Alexander [Translator’s note]

[9] This Attalos, not to be confused with the uncle of Cleopatra mentioned earlier, had probably been a King’s Boy (page) of Philip and a Prince’s Companion of his son Alexander (Waldemar Hecket, Who’s Who in the Age of Alexander the Great, Oxford: Blackwell, 2006, p. 63). [Website note]

[10] This is the earliest record of Perdikkas, who would seem thus to brought himself to the attention of Alexander the Great, resulting ultimately in his becoming Regent of Asia after the latter’s death. [Website note]

[11] As the most convincing and thorough account of these events, Diodoros’s was the basis for Mary Renault’s superb fictionalisation of them in her superb novel Fire From Heaven (London: Longman, 1970).