The Argead dynasty (Greek: , ) was an ancient Macedonian royal house of Dorian Greek provenance..
They were the founders and the ruling dynasty of the kingdom of Macedon from about 700 to 310 BC..
Their tradition, as described in ancient Greek historiography, traced their origins to Argos, of Peloponnese in Southern Greece, hence the name Argeads or Argives.Argive, Oxford Dictionaries.
: "In the early 5th century the royal house of Macedonia, the Temenidae was recognised as Macedonian by the Presidents of the Olympic Games.
Their verdict considered themselves to be of Macedonian descent."
: "In historical times the royal house traced its descent from the mythical Temenus, king of Argos, who was one of the Heracleidae, and more immediately from Perdiccas I, who left Argos for Illyria, probably in the mid-seventh century BC, and from there captured the Macedonian plain and occupied the fortress of Aegae (Vergina), setting himself up as king of the Macedonians.
Thus the kings were of largely Dorian Greek stock (see PHILIP (1)); they presumably spoke a form of Dorian Greek and their cultural tradition had Greek features."
Initially the rulers of the tribe of the same name,: "According to Strabo, 7.11 ff., the Argeadae were the tribe who were able to make themselves supreme in early Emathia, later Macedonia." by the time of Philip II they had expanded their reign further, to include under the rule of Macedonia all Upper Macedonian states.
The family's most celebrated members were Philip II of Macedon and his son Alexander the Great, under whose leadership the kingdom of Macedonia gradually gained predominance throughout Greece, defeated the Achaemenid Empire and expanded as far as Egypt and India.
The mythical founder of the Argead dynasty is King Caranus..According to Pausanias (Description of Greece 9.40.8–9), Caranus set up a trophy after the Argive fashion for a victory against Cisseus: "The Macedonians say that Caranus, king of Macedonia, overcame in battle Cisseus, a chieftain in a bordering country.
For his victory Caranus set up a trophy after the Argive fashion, but it is said to have been upset by a lion from Olympus, which then vanished.
Caranus, they assert, realized that it was a mistaken policy to incur the undying hatred of the non-Greeks dwelling around, and so, they say, the rule was adopted that no king of Macedonia, neither Caranus himself nor any of his successors, should set up trophies, if they were ever to gain the good-will of their neighbors.
This story is confirmed by the fact that Alexander set up no trophies, neither for his victory over Dareius nor for those he won in India."
Origin
The words Argead and Argive derive (via Latin Argīvus.) from the Greek Ἀργεῖος (Argeios meaning "of or from Argos".), which is first attested in Homer where it was also used as a collective designation for the Greeks ("Ἀργείων Δαναῶν", Argive Danaans).Homer.
Iliad, 2.155–175, 4.8; Odyssey, 8.578, 4.6.
The Argead dynasty claimed descent from the Temenids of Argos, in the Peloponnese, whose legendary ancestor was Temenus, the great-great-grandson of Heracles.
In the excavations of the royal palace at Aegae, Manolis Andronikos discovered in the "tholos" room (according to some scholars "tholos" was the throne room) a Greek inscription relating to that belief.The Greek inscription found in the tholos room of the royal palace at Aegae reads "ΗΡΑΚΛΗΙ ΠΑΤΡΩΙΩΙ" ( This is testified by Herodotus, in The Histories, where he mentions that three brothers of the lineage of Temenus, Gauanes, Aeropus and Perdiccas, fled from Argos to the Illyrians and then to Upper Macedonia, to a town called Lebaea, where they served the king.
The latter asked them to leave his territory, believing in an omen that something great would happen to Perdiccas.
The boys went to another part of Macedonia, near the garden of Midas, above which mount Bermio stands.
There they made their abode and slowly formed their own kingdom.Herodotus.
Histories, 8.137.
Herodotus also relates the incident of the participation of Alexander I of Macedon in the Olympic Games in 504 or 500 BC where the participation of the Macedonian king was contested by participants on the grounds that he was not Greek.
The Hellanodikai, however, after examining his Argead claim confirmed that the Macedonian kings were Greeks and allowed him to participate.Herodotus.
Histories, 5.22.
Another theory supported by the Greek historian Miltiades Hatzopoulos, following the opinion of the ancient author Appian, is that the Argead dynasty actually came from Argos Orestikon.Appian.
Syrian Wars, 11.10.63.thumb|House of ArgosAccording to Thucydides, in the History of the Peloponnesian War, the Argeads were originally Temenids from Argos, who descended from the highlands to Lower Macedonia, expelled the Pierians from Pieria and acquired in Paionia a narrow strip along the river Axios extending to Pella and the sea.
They also added Mygdonia in their territory through the expulsion of the Edoni, Eordians, and Almopians.Thucydides.
History of the Peloponnesian War, 2.99.
Dynasty
Succession disputes
The death of the king almost invariably triggered dynastic disputes and often a war of succession between members of the Argead family, leading to political and economic instability.
These included:
Six-year Macedonian interregnum (399–393 BCE), after the death of king Archelaus I, between Crateuas, Orestes, Aeropus II, Amyntas II "the Little", Derdas II, Archelaus II, and Pausanias
Macedonian war of succession (393–392 BCE), after the death of king Pausanias, between Amyntas III and Argaeus II
Macedonian war of succession (369–368 BCE), after the death of king Amyntas III, between Ptolemy of Aloros and Alexander II of Macedon
Macedonian war of succession (360–359 BCE), after the death of king Perdiccas III, between Philip II (who deposed Amyntas IV), Argeus (supported by Athens), Pausanias (supported by Thrace) and Archelaus (supported by the Chalcidian League)
Wars of the Diadochi (323–277 BCE), after the death of king Alexander the Great, between his Diadochi ("Successors")
Additionally, long-established monarchs could still face a rebellion by a relative when the former's kingship was perceived to be weak.
An example was Philip's rebellion against his older brother, king Perdiccas II, in the prelude to the Peloponnesian War (433–431 BCE).
List of rulers
'''Argead Rulers'''
Family tree
References
Citations
Sources
Further reading
External links
