Perdiccas III (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Περδίκκας Γ΄) was king of the Greek kingdom of Macedonia from 365 BC to 360 BC, succeeding his brother Alexander II. Son of

Amyntas III Amyntas III (Greek: Αμύντας Γ΄ της Μακεδονίας) (420 – 370 BC) was king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia in 393 BC and again from 392 to 370 BC. He was the son of Arrhidaeus and grandson of Amyntas, one of the sons ...

and

Eurydice Eurydice (; Ancient Greek: Εὐρυδίκη 'wide justice') was a character in Greek mythology and the Auloniad wife of Orpheus, who tried to bring her back from the dead with his enchanting music. Etymology Several meanings for the na ...

, he was a child when in 369 BCE his brother Alexander II was killed by their brother-in-law Ptolemy of Aloros, who then ruled as regent. In 365 BC, Perdiccas killed Ptolemy and assumed government. There is very little information about the reign of Perdiccas III. He was at one time engaged in hostilities with Athens over

Amphipolis Amphipolis ( ell, Αμφίπολη, translit=Amfipoli; grc, Ἀμφίπολις, translit=Amphipolis) is a municipality in the Serres regional unit, Macedonia, Greece. The seat of the municipality is Rodolivos. It was an important ancient Gr ...

, and he was distinguished for his patronage of men of letters. Among these we are told that Euphraeus of Oreus, a disciple of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

, rose so high in Perdiccas's favour as to completely govern the young king and to exclude from his society all but philosophers and

geometers A geometer is a mathematician whose area of study is geometry. Some notable geometers and their main fields of work, chronologically listed, are: 1000 BCE to 1 BCE * Baudhayana (fl. c. 800 BC) – Euclidean geometry, geometric algebra ...

. He also served as '' theorodokos'' in the

Panhellenic Games Panhellenic Games is the collective term for four separate sports festivals held in ancient Greece. The four Games were: Description The Olympiad was one of the ways the Greeks measured time. The Olympic Games were used as a starting point, yea ...

that took place in

Epidaurus Epidaurus ( gr, Ἐπίδαυρος) was a small city ('' polis'') in ancient Greece, on the Argolid Peninsula at the Saronic Gulf. Two modern towns bear the name Epidavros: '' Palaia Epidavros'' and '' Nea Epidavros''. Since 2010 they belong t ...

around 360/359 BC. In 360 BC, Perdiccas tried to reconquer upper Macedonia from the

Illyria In classical antiquity, Illyria (; grc, Ἰλλυρία, ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; la, Illyria, ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyr ...

Bardylis Bardylis (also Bardyllis ; grc, Βάρδυλις; 448 – c. 358 BC) was an Illyrian king, and the founder of the first attested Illyrian dynasty. During his reign, Bardylis aimed to made Illyria a regional power interfering with Macedon. He ...

, but the expedition ended in disaster, with Perdiccas being killed.

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus Siculus, or Diodorus of Sicily ( grc-gre, Διόδωρος ; 1st century BC), was an ancient Greek historian. He is known for writing the monumental universal history '' Bibliotheca historica'', in forty books, fifteen of which ...

attests that four thousand men had died in the expedition, and that the remainder, panic-stricken, had become exceedingly afraid of the Illyrian armies and had lost heart for continuing the war. Perdiccas was succeeded by his infant son, Amyntas IV. The throne was soon usurped by Perdiccas's younger brother Philip II.

References

External links

Perdiccas III, from wayback.archive.org

Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology The ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology'' (1849, originally published 1844 under a slightly different title) is an encyclopedia/ biographical dictionary. Edited by William Smith, the dictionary spans three volumes and 3,700 ...

359 BC deaths 4th-century BC Macedonian monarchs Argead kings of Macedonia Ancient child rulers 4th-century BC rulers Ancient Macedonian monarchs killed in battle Old Macedonian kingdom Year of birth unknown {{AncientGreece-bio-stub

References

Further reading

External links