Archelaus of Macedonia

Archelaus was the illegitimate son of King Perdiccas II from the slave Simih. Plato spoke about the seizure of power by Archelaus:

“He did not have the slightest right to power, which he now owns, because he was born from the slave Alketh , brother of Perdikka, and, judging by justice, he himself was an Alketov slave, and if he wished to observe justice, he would still remain in slavery at Alketa ... He began by inviting his master and uncle [Alketa], promising to return to him the power that Perdikk had deprived him of, and having drunk the guests drunk — Alket himself, and his son Alexander, his cousin and almost the same age — he put both of them on a cart, took them out into the field in the middle of the night and stabbed them, and the corpses disappeared without a trace. Having committed such an injustice, he did not even notice that he had become the most unhappy of the people, and did not feel any remorse, and a little later did not want to become happy, because he did not bring up his brother, a boy of seven, the legitimate son of Perdicki, in accordance with the justice, "he handed him power, which belonged to justice, but drowned the child in a well, his mother, Cleopatra, announced that he was chasing a goose, fell into the water and choked."

- ^[2]

The law or custom of succession to the throne was not respected by the Macedonians, was not sanctified by religion. However, the son of slave Archelaus, dishonestly capturing the kingdom, turned out to be a capable sovereign. Archelaus built many fortresses and fortifications, ordered the construction of straight roads and carried out various transformations to improve military affairs. Moreover, to prepare the Macedonian army and military equipment, Archelaus did more than all the kings preceding him ^[3] .

In 410 BC e. he besieged Pidna and after the change he moved the city 3 km from the sea to make it easier to keep him in power, because Macedonia did not have a fleet ^[4] . The city of Larissa in Thessaly in the north of Hellas was captured. An endless war was waged with tribes from Upper Macedonia. With Athens , weakened after the Sicilian catastrophe and not posing a threat to Macedonia, Archelaus maintained good neighborly relations, primarily expressed in the organization of trade between the two countries. From Macedonia, the Athenians received livestock products, agriculture, metals and resin. The collapse of the Sicilian expedition and the death of the fleet caused a great need for building materials. In this regard, Archelaus released a large amount of shipbuilding forest to the Athenians. The Athenian National Assembly expressed gratitude to Archelaus for his services to Athens and awarded him and the heirs the title "proxen".

Archelaus invited the most educated people of Greece to Macedonia: architects, musicians, writers and poets, doctors, philosophers, historians and military experts. It is known that among them were Euripides , the poets Agathon and Heril , the historian Thucydides and others. The son of the famous Hippocrates was for a long time a royal doctor in Macedonia. Greek architects built Archelaus a magnificent palace in Pella , the new capital of Macedonia. The artist Zevxis , who was at the Macedonian court, created magnificent works that adorned the residence of the Macedonian ruler and attracted many foreigners to the capital of Macedonia. Socrates spoke of Archelaus that they did not go to him for his own sake, but to look at his palace, which he spent 400 minutes on , while he did not spend anything on his own education. In Macedonia, Euripides was about a year and a half, until his death in 406 BC. e. . He enjoyed great respect from the king and even held an official position. From Plutarch 's Sayings: “ Archelaus at a feast, when one of his best feasts asked him for a golden cup, ordered his slave to bring it to Euripides; and in response to the astonishment of the one who asked, he said: "You should be asking, and Euripides - receive without asking."

Diodorus writes that Archelaus was accidentally wounded on a hunt by his lover Crater and died, although Aristotle believed that Archelaus fell victim to a conspiracy:

“ Often the assassinations are committed due to the fact that some of the monarchs dishonored a person with a carnal connection. This is the attempt of the Crater on Archelaus. The crater was always weighed by this connection, so it turned out to be a rather insignificant excuse, namely: he promised to give him one of his daughters for him, but did not keep his promises ... however, the main reason for Crater’s hostile attitude towards Archelaus was that he was weighed down by love connection with him. For the same reason, Gellenocrates of Larissa also joined this conspiracy. Archelaus used his youth, but did not keep his promise and did not return him to his homeland; then he decided that Archelaus was not connected with him because of a love affair, but simply showing his impudence ... He directed the assassination of Archelaus the Decamens; he was the first to set up conspirators against him; the reason for his anger was that Archelaus gave him for scourging to the poet Euripides. "

- ^[5]

Plato adheres to the third version, the most believable: the conspirators killed the king for power and proclaimed Crater king, but after a few days he was killed by another conspirator.

The throne of Macedonia was inherited by the son of Archelaus Orestes, who was still a child.

• Droisen I. History of Hellenism. - Rostov-on-Don, 1995.
• Thucydides. Story. - M. , 1993.