Amyntas I (
Greek: Ἀμύντας Aʹ; 498 BC) was king of the
Ancient Greek kingdom of
Macedonia
Macedonia most commonly refers to:
* North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia
* Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity
* Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...
(c. 547 – 512 / 511 BC) and then a
vassal of
Darius I
Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...
from 512/511 to his death 498 BC, at the time of
Achaemenid Macedonia. He was a son of
Alcetas I of Macedon. He married Eurydice and they had a son
Alexander.
Amyntas was a
vassal of
Darius I
Darius I ( peo, 𐎭𐎠𐎼𐎹𐎺𐎢𐏁 ; grc-gre, Δαρεῖος ; – 486 BCE), commonly known as Darius the Great, was a Persian ruler who served as the third King of Kings of the Achaemenid Empire, reigning from 522 BCE until his ...
, king of the Persian
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...
, from 512/511 BC. Amyntas gave the present of "
Earth and Water" to
Megabazus, which symbolised submission to the Achaemenid Emperor.
One of the daughters of Amyntas, named
Gygaea, was married to the Persian General, called
Bubares
Bubares ( el, Βουβάρης, died after 480 BC) was a Persian nobleman and engineer in the service of the Achaemenid Empire of the 5th century BC. He was one of the sons of Megabazus, and a second-degree cousin of Xerxes I.
Marriage to the s ...
, possibly as a way of reinforcing the alliance.
The history of Macedonia may be said to begin with Amyntas' reign. He was the first of its rulers to have diplomatic relations with other states. In particular, he entered into an alliance with
Hippias of
Athens, and when Hippias was driven out of Athens he offered him the territory of
Anthemus on the
Thermaic Gulf with the object of taking advantage of the feuds between the Greeks. Hippias refused the offer and also rejected the offer of
Iolcos, as Amyntas probably did not control Anthemous at that time, but was merely suggesting a plan of joint occupation to Hippias.
[Miltiades V. Chatzopoulos ''Macedonian Institutions Under the Kings: A historical and epigraphic study'', p. 174, .]
References
;Attribution
*
Sources
*
Herodotus v. 17, 94
*
Justin vii. 2
*
Thucydides ii. 100
*
Pausanias ix. 40
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amyntas 01 Of Macedon
6th-century BC births
498 BC deaths
6th-century BC Macedonian monarchs
5th-century BC Macedonian monarchs
Argead kings of Macedonia
5th-century BC rulers
6th-century BC rulers
Achaemenid Macedon
Rulers in the Achaemenid Empire
Iolcus