Philip (husband of Berenice I of Egypt)

Philip (Greek: Φίλιππος, died about 318 BC) was a Greek Macedonian nobleman that lived in the 4th century BC.

Philip was the son of Amyntas by an unnamed mother.[1] He served as a military officer in the service of the Greek King Alexander the Great. Philip was known in commanding one division of the Phalanx in Alexander’s wars[2] and commanded one of the divisions of the Phalanx at the Battle of the Granicus in May 334 BC.[3] His name doesn’t subsequently appear in the campaigns of Alexander, but can be at least distinctly identified.[4]

Based on the implying of Plutarch (Pyrrhus 4.4), before Philip married Berenice he was previously married and had children, including daughters born to him.[5] The identities of his former wife and children are unknown.

In c.325 BC, Philip married Berenice I as her first husband.[6] Pausanias (1.7.1), criticises his marriage to Berenice I and describes him as ‘a Macedonian but of no note and of lowly origin’. The ancient sources don’t say anything else about him and there is no evidence against this.[7] Philip must have been a nobleman of some social status and influence as he married the great-niece of the powerful Regent Antipater and the grandchild of Antipater’s brother Cassander.[8]

Berenice bore Philip three children:

Philip had died of unknown causes. After his death, Berenice and their children travelled to Egypt, where they were a part of the entourage of Berenice’s second maternal cousin Eurydice. Eurydice was then the wife of Ptolemy I Soter. By 317 BC, Berenice married Ptolemy I and became the Queen mother of the Ptolemaic dynasty.

As a posthumous honor to Philip; his son Magas when he served as a Priest of the Greek God Apollo, had dedicated an honorific inscription proudly naming him as the ‘the eponymous priest’ and ‘Magas son of Philip’.[12]

References

  1. ↑ Ancient Library article: Philippus no. 5
  2. ↑ Ancient Library article: Magas no.1
  3. ↑ Arrian, Anab. 14.3
  4. ↑ Ancient Library article: Philippus no. 5
  5. ↑ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Berenice I, Footnote 6
  6. ↑ Berenice I article at Livius.org
  7. ↑ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Berenice I, Footnote 5
  8. ↑ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Berenice I
  9. ↑ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Berenice I
  10. ↑ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Berenice I
  11. ↑ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Berenice I
  12. ↑ Ptolemaic Genealogy: Magas of Cyrene, Footnote 2

Sources

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