Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Philip (4.)
greatest of these was Philip II. (382–336 B.C.), the first founder of the Macedonian Empire (q.v.). After the death of Alexander the Great, Arrhidæus, a bastard of Philip II., reigned as Philip III., till he was put to death by Olympias in 317. Philip IV., son of Cassander, reigned only for a few months in 296. Philip V., the last but one of the kings of Macedon and son of Demetrius II., was born in 237, and came to the throne on the death of his uncle, Antigonus Doson, in 220. In the course of the next three years he acquired a brilliant reputation by his exploits against the Ætolians and their allies in the Peloponnesus in the Social War; but after this, though his whole career was marked by military and even political ability, the bad sides of his character became predominant, and he appeared more and more as a perfidious, morose, and cruel tyrant, thus alienating the affections of the Greeks and ultimately even of his own subjects. His life was full of ambitious schemes, but he made the cardinal error of siding with Carthage against Rome. His character made it easy for the Romans to raise against him a powerful coalition of his neighbours, but Philip held his ground with vigour till the armies of the republic themselves appeared on the field. How he was finally driven out of Greece has been related under Flaminius. After 196 Philip for some time accepted his reverses and sought the friendship of Rome, helping the republic against Antiochus; but his ambition and the jealousy of the senate gradually led to fresh complications, and a new war was imminent when Philip died in 179, mainly of remorse for the death of his younger son Demetrius, the favourite of Rome, whom he had executed on an accusation forged by his elder son
and heir Perseus.