| Surname: | Argeads |
| Native Name: | Ἀργεάδαι |
| Estate: | Macedonia |
| Coat Of Arms: | Vergina Sun WIPO.svg |
| Type: | Royal house |
| Parent House: | Temenids (Heracleidae) |
| Country: | Macedonia (Ancient Greece) |
| Caption: | Vergina Sun |
| Titles: | Basileus of Macedonia, King of Persia, King of Asia, Pharaoh of Egypt (Thirty-second Dynasty of Egypt), Hegemon of the Hellenic League, Strategos Autokrator of Greece |
| Final Ruler: | Alexander IV of Macedon |
| Founding Year: | 7th century BC |
| Dissolution: | 310 BC |
| Cadet Branches: | Ptolemaic dynasty (?) |
The Argead dynasty (Ἀργεάδαι|Argeádai), also known as the Temenid dynasty (Greek, Modern (1453-);: Τημενίδαι, Tēmenídai) was an ancient Macedonian royal house of Dorian Greek provenance.[1] They were the founders and the ruling dynasty of the kingdom of Macedon from about 700 to 310 BC.[2]
Their tradition, as described in ancient Greek historiography, traced their origins to Argos, of Peloponnese in Southern Greece, hence the name Argeads or Argives.[3] [4] [5] Initially rulers of the tribe of the same name,[6] by the time of Philip II they had expanded their reign further, to include under the rule of Macedonia all Upper Macedonian states. The family's most celebrated members were Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great, under whose leadership the kingdom of Macedonia gradually gained predominance throughout Greece, defeated the Achaemenid Empire and expanded as far as Egypt and India. The mythical founder of the Argead dynasty is King Caranus.[7] [8] The Argeads claimed descent from Heracles through his great-great-grandson Temenus, also king of Argos.
The words Argead and Argive derive (via Latin Argīvus)[9] from the Greek Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: Ἀργεῖος (Argeios meaning "of or from Argos"),[10] which is first attested in Homer where it was also used as a collective designation for the Greeks (Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: "Ἀργείων Δαναῶν", Argive Danaans).[11] The Argead dynasty claimed descent from the Temenids of Argos, in the Peloponnese, whose legendary ancestor was Temenus, the great-great-grandson of Heracles.[5]
In the excavations of the royal palace at Aegae, Manolis Andronikos discovered in the "tholos" room (according to some scholars "tholos" was the throne room) a Greek inscription relating to that belief.[12] This is testified by Herodotus, in The Histories, where he mentions that three brothers of the lineage of Temenus, Gauanes, Aeropus and Perdiccas, fled from Argos to the Illyrians and then to Upper Macedonia, to a town called Lebaea, where they served the king. The latter asked them to leave his territory, believing in an omen that something great would happen to Perdiccas. The boys went to another part of Macedonia, near the garden of Midas, above which mount Bermio stands. There they made their abode and slowly formed their own kingdom.[13]
Herodotus also relates the incident of the participation of Alexander I of Macedon in the Olympic Games in 504 or 500 BC where the participation of the Macedonian king was contested by participants on the grounds that he was not Greek. The Hellanodikai, however, after examining his Argead claim confirmed that the Macedonian kings were Greeks and allowed him to participate.[14]
Another theory supported by the Greek historian Miltiades Hatzopoulos, following the opinion of the ancient author Appian, is that the Argead dynasty actually came from Argos Orestikon.[15] According to Thucydides, in the History of the Peloponnesian War, the Argeads were originally Temenids from Argos, who descended from the highlands to Lower Macedonia, expelled the Pierians from Pieria and acquired in Paionia a narrow strip along the river Axios extending to Pella and the sea. They also added Mygdonia in their territory through the expulsion of the Edoni, Eordians, and Almopians.[16]
The death of the king almost invariably triggered dynastic disputes and often a war of succession between members of the Argead family, leading to political and economic instability.[17] These included:
Additionally, long-established monarchs could still face a rebellion by a relative when the former's kingship was perceived to be weak. An example was Philip's rebellion against his older brother, king Perdiccas II, in the prelude to the Peloponnesian War (433–431 BCE).
| +Argead Rulers | Image | Reign | Monarch Name | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -778 BC | Karanos | Founder of the Argead dynasty and the first king of Macedon. (Possibly Fictional) | ||
| -750 BC | Koinos | (Possibly Fictional) | ||
| -700 BC | Tyrimmas | (Possibly Fictional) | ||
| -678 BC | Perdiccas I | |||
| -640 BC | Argaeus I | |||
| -602 BC | Philip I | |||
| -576 BC | Aeropus I | |||
| 576-547 BC | Alcetas | |||
| 547-498 BC | Amyntas I | Vassal of the Achaemenid Empire in 512/511 BC. Historians recognize Amyntas as the first Macedonian monarch of historical importance. | ||
| 497-454 BC | Alexander I | Fully subordinate part of the Achaemenid Empire after 492 BC, then full Independence after 479 BC following the withdrawal of the Achaemenid army. | ||
| 454-413 BC | Perdiccas II | |||
| 413-399 BC | Archelaus | |||
| 399-396 BC | Orestes | Ruled jointly with Aeropus II, until he was murdered by Aeropus II | ||
| 399-394/393 BC | Aeropus II | Joint rule with Orestes until 396 BC, then sole rule | ||
| 393 BC | Amyntas II | Very brief reign ended with his assassination by an Elimieotan nobleman named Derdas | ||
| 393 BC | Pausanias | Assassinated by, Amyntas III in the year of his accession | ||
| 393 BC | Amyntas III (First Reign) | |||
| 393-392 BC | Argaeus II | Usurped throne from Amyntas III for about a year with the aid of the Illyrians | ||
| 392-370 BC | Amyntas III (Second Reign) | Restored to the throne after around one year | ||
| 370-368 BC | Alexander II | Assassinated by his maternal uncle Ptolemy of Aloros | ||
| 368-359 BC | Perdiccas III | Ptolemy of Aloros was his regent from 368-365 BC, until he was murdered by Perdiccas III | ||
| 359 BC | Amyntas IV | Young son of Perdiccas III, throne usurped by Philip II | ||
| 359-336 BC | Philip II | Expanded Macedonian territory and influence to achieve a dominant position in the Balkans, confederated most of the Greek city-states in the League of Corinth under his hegemony. | ||
| 336-323 BC | Alexander III the Great | The most notable Macedonian king and one of the most celebrated kings and military strategists of all time. By the end of his reign, Alexander was simultaneously King of Macedonia, Pharaoh of Egypt and King of Persia, and had conquered the entire former Achaemenid Empire as well as parts of the western Indus Valley. | ||
| 323-317 BC | Philip III Arrhidaeus | Half-Brother of Alexander the Great, Titular figurehead king of the Macedonian Empire, during the early Wars of the Diadochi; was mentally disabled to at least some degree. Executed by Olympias. | ||
| 323/317-309 BC | Alexander IV | Son of Alexander the Great and Roxana of Bactria, who was yet unborn at the time of his father's death. A pretender upon his birth, from 317 BC the titular figurehead king of the Macedonian Empire, during the early-middle Wars of the Diadochi. Executed by Cassander. |
Modern historians disagree on a number of details concerning the genealogy of the Argead dynasty. Robin Lane Fox, for example, refutes Nicholas Hammond's claim that Ptolemy of Aloros was Amyntas II's son, arguing that Ptolemy was neither his son nor an Argead.[19] Consequently, the charts below do not account for every chronological, genealogical, and dynastic complexity. Instead, they represent one common reconstruction of the Argeads advanced by historians such as Hammond, Elizabeth Carney, and Joseph Roisman.[20] [21] [22] [23]
"In the early 5th century the royal house of Macedonia, the Temenidae was recognised as Macedonian by the Presidents of the Olympic Games. Their verdict considered themselves to be of Macedonian descent."
"In historical times the royal house traced its descent from the mythical Temenus, king of Argos, who was one of the Heracleidae, and more immediately from Perdiccas I, who left Argos for Illyria, probably in the mid-seventh century BC, and from there captured the Macedonian plain and occupied the fortress of Aegae (Vergina), setting himself up as king of the Macedonians. Thus the kings were of largely Dorian Greek stock (see PHILIP (1)); they presumably spoke a form of Dorian Greek and their cultural tradition had Greek features."
"According to Strabo, 7.11 ff., the Argeadae were the tribe who were able to make themselves supreme in early Emathia, later Macedonia."