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Philip II of Macedon (Macedonia) (382 BC - 336 BC), King of Macedon (ruled 359 BC - 336 BC), was the father of Alexander the Great (Alexander III of Macedon) and Philip III of Macedon.
Portrait of Philip II of Macedon, found at Vergina Born in Pella in 382 BC, he was the youngest son of King Amyntas III of Macedon and Queen Eurydice. In youth (c. 368 BC - 365 BC) Philip was the hostage in Thebes, the leading city in Greece of that time. In 364 BC he return to Macedonia. The deaths of his elder brothers, Kings Alexander II of Macedon and Perdiccas III of Macedon, allowed him to take the throne in 359 BC. Originally appointed Regent for his infant nephew Amyntas IV of Macedon (359 BC) the son of Perdiccas III, Philip managed to take the kingdom for himself that same year.
Philip's military skills and expansionist vision of Macedonian greatness brought him early success. The hill tribes were broken by a single battle in 358 BC, and Philip established his authority inland as far as Lake Ohrid. In 357 BC he took the Athenian colony, Amphipolis, which commanded the gold-mines of Mount Pangainon. In 355 BC Philip conquered Crenides and renamed the town name in Philippi. Philip also attacked Abdera and Maronea, on the Thracian sea-board, and then took Methone, which belonged to Athens.
 Coin with likeness of Philip II of MacedonNot until his armies were opposed by Athens at Thermopylae in 352 BC that he faced any serious resistance. Philip didnot attempt to advance to central Greece because Athenians had occupied Thermopylae. In 352 BC the Macedonian army won a complete victory over the Phocians in battle of Crocus Field. This battle made Philip tagus of Thessaly, and he claimed as his own Magnesia, with the important harbour of Pagasae.
In 349 BC Philip started the siege of city Olynthus. Olynthus in first allied itself with Philip, but later shifted its allegiance with Athens. Athenians did nothing to help Olynthus and Philip took it in 348 BC and razed it to the ground. In 346 BC, he intervened effectively in the war between Thebes and Phocians, but his wars with Athens continued intermittently.
In 340 BC Philip started the siege of Perinthus and Byzantium.
Philip defeated an alliance of Thebans and Athenians at the
battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC. Philip created and led the League of Corinth in 337 BC. Members of the League agreed never to wage war against each other, unless it was to suppress revolution. Philip was elected as leader (hegemon) of a army in invasion against Persian Empire. In 336 BC, when the invasion of Persia was in early progress, Philip was assassinated by a servant named Pausanias.
In 357 BC, Philip married to Epirote princess Olympias, the daughter of the king of the Molossians.
On November 8, 1977, Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos announced that he had found unopened the tomb of Philip II at Vergina in the prefecture of Pieria. The finds from this tomb were later included in the traveling exhibit The Search for Alexander displayed at four cities in the United States from 1980 to 1982. While the discovery is of great archeological importance, the identification of the tomb with Philip has been disputed.
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