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Eusebius: Chronica
    Click to Expand/Collapse Option Complete text
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionIntroduction
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionChaldeans
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionChaldeans
Click to Expand/Collapse OptionLydians
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The kings of the Macedonians, from the writings of our enemy, the philosopher Porphyrius: 
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These were the kings of Macedonia and Greece after Alexander the son of Philippus; and the Macedonian kingdom continued until its dissolution as follows. 
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The Macedonians appointed Aridaeus, the son of Philippus and Philinna of Thessaly, to be king after Alexander because of their affection for the family of Philippus, although they knew that Aridaeus was the son a courtesan and he was feeble-minded.  He began to reign, as we said, in the second year of the 114th Olympiad [323 B.C.].  He is reckoned to have reigned for 7 years, because he lived up until the fourth year of the 115th Olympiad [317 B.C.]. 
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(231) Alexander left two sons, Heracles the son of Barsine the daughter of Pharnabazus, and Alexander the son of Roxane the daughter of Oxyartes the Bactrian; this Alexander was born about the time of his father's death, at the start of Philippus' reign.  Olympias the mother of Alexander killed Aridaeus, but then Cassander the son of Antipater executed her and both the sons of Alexander, the one by himself and the other (the son of Barsine) by prompting Polysperchon.  Cassander cast away Olympias' body without a burial, and proclaimed himself king; and from then onwards, all the other satraps acted as kings, because the family of Alexander had been destroyed.  Cassander married Thessalonice the daughter of Philippus, and survived as king for another 19 years as king, until he died of a wasting disease.  His reign, including the year in which Olympias ruled after the death of Aridaeus, lasted from the first year of the 116th Olympiad [316 B.C.] until the third year of the 120th Olympiad [298 B.C.]. 
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Cassander was succeeded by his sons, Philippus and Alexander and Antipater, who reigned for 3 years and 6 months after the death of their father.  The first to rule was Philippus, who died at Elateia.  Then Antipater murdered his mother Thessalonice, who favoured her other son Alexander, and fled to Lysimachus.  But Lysimachus put him to death, even though he had married one of Lysimachus' daughters. 
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Alexander married Lysandra, the daughter of Ptolemy, and in the war against his younger brother called on the aid of Demetrius the son of Antigonus, who was called Poliorcetes.  But Demetrius killed Alexander, and made himself the king of the Macedonians.  - The reign of the sons of Cassander is reckoned to last from the fourth year (233) of the 120th Olympiad [297 B.C.] until the third year of the 121st Olympiad [294 B.C.]. 
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Demetrius reigned for 6 years, from the [fourth year of the] 121st Olympiad [293 B.C.]until the first year of the 123rd Olympiad [288 B.C.], when he was deposed by Pyrrhus the king of Epirus, the 23rd in line from Achilles the son of Thetis.  Pyrrhus claimed the kingdom belonged to him after the extinction of Philippus' family, through his connection with Olympias the mother of Alexander, who was also a descendant of Pyrrhus the son of Neoptolemus. 
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Pyrrhus ruled the Macedonians for seven months in the second year of the 123rd Olympiad [287 B.C.].  In the eighth month, he was replaced by Lysimachus the son of son of Agathocles, a Thessalian from Crannon who had been a bodyguard of Alexander.  Lysimachus was king of Thrace and the Chersonese, and now overran the neighbouring country of Macedonia. 
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Lysimachus was persuaded by his wife Arsinoe to kill his own son.  He ruled Macedonia for 5 years and 6 months, from the second year of the 123rd Olympiad [287 B.C.] until the third year of the 124th Olympiad [282 B.C.].  (235) He was defeated by Seleucus Nicator, the king of Asia, at the battle of Corupedium, and lost his life in the battle.  But straight after his victory, Seleucus was murdered by Ptolemy Ceraunus, the son of Lagus and Eurydice the daughter of Antipater, even though Seleucus was his benefactor and had received him when he fled [from Lysimachus]. 
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Then Ptolemy ruled over the Macedonians, until he was killed in battle against the Galatians.  He reigned for one year and five months, which lasted from the fourth year of the 124th Olympiad [281 B.C.] until the fifth month of the first year of the 125th Olympiad [280 B.C.]. 
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Ptolemy was succeeded by his brother Meleager, but the Macedonians deposed Meleager after only two months, because they considered him unfit to rule.  In his place, since no-one was left from the royal family, they appointed as king Antipater, who was the nephew of Cassander and the son of Philippus.  But he too was deposed after ruling for 45 days by Sosthenes, a commoner who considered him to be too poor a general to face the dangerous invasion of Brennus the Galatian.  The Macedonians gave Antipater the name Etesias, because the Etesian winds blow at about the time when he was king.  Sosthenes repelled Brennus, and died after being in charge of the state for two complete years. 
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After Sosthenes, there was anarchy in Macedonia, because the followers of Antipater and Ptolemy and Aridaeus were competing for control of the state, but no-one was completely in charge.  - In the period from Ptolemy until the end of the anarchy, that is from the fourth year of the 124th Olympiad [281 B.C.] until the [first year of the] 126th Olympiad [276 B.C.], Ptolemy Ceraunus reigned for one year and five months, (237) Meleager for two months, Antipater for 45 days, Sosthenes for two years, and the rest is reckoned to have been a time of anarchy. 
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While Antipater was plotting to take over the state, Antigonus set himself up as king; he was the son of Demetrius Poliorcetes and Phila the daughter of Antipater, and was called Gonatas because he had been born and brought up at Gonni in Thessaly.  Antigonus reigned in total for 44 years; before he gained control of Macedonia, he had already been king for 10 whole years.  He was proclaimed king in the second year of the 123rd Olympiad [287 B.C.], and became king of the Macedonians in the first year of the 126th Olympiad [276 B.C.].  Antigonus subdued Greece by force; he lived for 83 years in all, and died in the first year of the 135th Olympiad [240 B.C.]. 
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Antigonus was succeeded by his son Demetrius, who conquered the whole of Libya and captured Cyrene.  Eventually he gained absolute control of all his father's possessions, and ruled over them for 10 years.  He married a captive girl whom he called Chryseis, and by her he had a son Philippus, who was the first of the kings to fight against the Romans and caused the Macedonians much woe. 
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When Demetrius died, Philippus was left as a [young] orphan, and a member of the royal family, Antigonus called Phuscus, became his guardian.  Seeing that Phuscus acted honourably in his role of guardian, the Macedonians made him king, and gave him Chryseis to be his wife.  Chryeis bore him sons, but he did not bring them up, because he was holding the kingdom in trust for Philippus.  And indeed he was succeeded by Philippus, when he died. 
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Demetrius, called the Fair, died in the second year of the [?] 130th Olympiad.  - Philippus then became king, (239) with the aforesaid Antigonus as his guardian.  Antigonus died in the fourth year of the 139th Olympiad [221 B.C.]; he had been guardian for 12 years, and lived for 42 years in all.  Philippus began to rule without a guardian in the 140th Olympiad [220 B.C.]; he reigned for 42 complete years, and died in the second year of the 150th Olympiad [179 B.C.], aged 58 years. 
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Perseus the son of Philippus caused the death of his brother Demetrius by making accusations against him to his father.  Perseus was king for 10 years and 8 months, until the fourth years of the 152nd Olympiad [169 B.C.], when Lucius Aemilius defeated and conquered the Macedonians at Pydna.  Perseus fled to Samothrace, but then agreed to surrender to the enemy, who transferred him to Alba, where he was imprisoned and died five years later.  He was the last king of the Macedonians. 
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At that time the Romans allowed the Macedonians to remain autonomous, out of respect for their glorious reputation and the greatness of their [former] empire.  But 19 years later, in the third year of the 157th Olympiad [150 B.C.], a certain Andriscus falsely claimed to be the son of Perseus, and took on the name of Philippus, from which he came to be called the false Philippus.  With the help of the Thracians he conquered Macedonia, but after ruling for a year he was defeated and fled to the Thracians, who handed him over, to be sent as a prisoner to Rome. 
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Because the Macedonians had been ungrateful, and had co-operated with the false Philippus, the Romans made them tributary in the fourth year of the 157th Olympiad [149 B.C.].  - So from Alexander until the end, when they became tributary to the Romans, that is from the second year of 114th Olympiad [323 B.C.] (241) until the fourth year of the 157th Olympiad [149 B.C.], the kingdom of the Macedonians lasted for 43 Olympiads and two extra years, which is a total of 174 years. 
 
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