Was Philip II assassined by his own son, Alexander?

Question

Or not?

Answer 1

Philip II divorced Alexander's Mother, there is evidence which suggests that although the plot for Philip's death was arranged by Pausanias, that Alexanders mother played a role.

She likely did this to secure his throne, in case his father were to sire another heir who would be legit and would bump Alexander to second in line.

So No, Alexander did not directly kill his father, but he may have indirectly influenced his mother, or others trying to better his chance as King.

Answer 2

the history indicates that the person who killed Phillip II was one of the king's former favorite and lover of the king.

However he was killed before he was captured so no one knows if any one put him up to the task.

It is hard to say if Alexander was responsible but considering Alexander's ambitions it is possible.

However I think it would more likely have been Alexander's mother who was driven to make her son king.

Answer 3

Encyclopedia Britannica 2000 says maybe :

"Philip was assassinated by Pausanias, a young Macedonian noble with a bitter grievance against the young queen's uncle Attalus and against Philip for denying him justice. This was the official explanation, and Pausanias himself could add nothing to it; he was killed on the spot. Suspicion fell on Olympias and Alexander, those with most to gain from Philip's death, and many modern interpreters have followed it. Aristotle, however, clearly did not believe it. In his "Politics" a few years later he used this incident as an example of a monarch murdered for private and personal motives--which would have been a puerile indiscretion if either he or the world in general had ever taken the canard seriously." ("Philip II", Encyclopædia Britannica CD 2000)

Wikipedia says improbable :

"The reasons for Pausanias' assassination of Phillip are difficult to fully expound, since there was controversy already among ancient historians. The only contemporary account in our possession is that of Aristotle, who states rather tersely that Philip was killed because Pausanias had been offended by the followers of Attalus, the king's father-in-law."

"Fifty years later, the historian Cleitarchus expanded and embellished the story. Centuries later, this version was to be narrated by Diodorus Siculus and all the historians who used Cleitarchus."

"Other historians (e.g., Justin 9.7) suggested that Alexander and/or his mother Olympias were at least privy to the intrigue, if not themselves instigators. The latter seems to have been anything but discreet in manifesting her gratitude to Pausanias, if we accept Justin's report: he tells us that the same night of her return from exile she placed a crown on the assassin's corpse and erected a tumulus to his memory, ordering annual sacrifices to the memory of Pausanias."

"Many modern historians have observed that all the accounts are improbable. In the case of Pausanias, the stated motive of the crime hardly seems adequate. On the other hand, the implication of Alexander and Olympias seems specious: to act as they did would have required brazen effrontery in the face of a military machine personally loyal to Philip."

"Further convoluting the case is the possible role of propaganda in the surviving accounts: Attalus was executed in Alexander's consolidation of power after the murder; one might wonder if his enrollment among the conspirators was not for the effect of introducing political expediency in an otherwise messy purge (Attalus had publicly declared his hope that Alexander would not succeed Philip, but rather that a son of his own niece Eurydice, recently married to Philip and brutally murdered by Olympias after Philip's death, would gain the throne of Macedon)."

"Assassination" in "Philip II of Macedon", Wikipedia : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II_of_Macedonia#Assassination

Answer 4

No, his own bodyguard did, he hated his king and took revenge by killing him. Maybe Alexander mother have a little bit connection in it.

Answer 5

He did. Alexander was known to have a pathological temper.

Answer 6

Who knows. I don't.
He was killed by Pausanias of Orestis, who payed/ordered him is still a mystery.