You are an investigator for CSI: Macedonia. You have been called to a crime scene at the theater at Aegae only to find the body of Philip II, King of Macedonia and Hegemon of Greece. Using the evidence below, determine who killed Philip. Additionally, assuming that no individual acting alone could possibly kill so powerful a king as Philip, who was behind the conspiracy and why?

You are an investigator for CSI: Macedonia.  You have been called to a crime scene at the theater at Aegae only to find the body of Philip II, King of Macedonia and Hegemon of Greece.  Using the evidence below, determine who killed Philip.  Additionally, assuming that no individual acting alone could possibly kill so powerful a king as Philip, who was behind the conspiracy and why?

The Victim:

• Philip II: King of Macedonia, the conqueror of Greece and the master-mind of the plan to invade the Persian empire with a Graeco-Macedonian army.

The Suspects:

• Olympias—one of Philip’s wives and the mother of Alexander the Great.
• Alexander III (the Great)— the son of Philip and Olympias, born in 356 and treated as his father’s heir until his father’s last marriage appeared to threaten his status as heir.  Immediately after Philip’s murder he became King of Macedonia.
• Attalus—a Macedonian aristocrat, guardian of Philip’s last bride.  He was the enemy of Alexander, Olympias, and Pausanias.
• Cleopatra—Philip’s last bride, a young Macedonian girl who was the ward of Attalus.  She married Philip in late summer of 336.  She had a daughter by Philip and possibly a son.  Olympias probably killed her not long after Philip’s death.
• Antipater—a powerful Macedonian aristocrat, one of Philip’s two chief generals. He was instrumental in having Alexander recognized as king.
• Pausanias—a minor Macedonian noble and member of the bodyguard of Philip.
• The Sons of Aeropus—were great nobles and hereditary rulers of an Upper Macedonian region (Lyncestis) only recently conquered by Philip.
• Persians—either Darius or those connected to him.
• Greeks—Athenians or Thebans.

The Evidence:

1. Aristotle (Politics 1311)

“The attack made by Pausanias on Philip was due to the fact that Philip had allowed an outrage [rape] to be inflicted on Pausanias by Attalus and his circle.” (The context for this remark is Aristotle’s discussion of revolutions and their causes and his observation that monarchs are sometimes killed because of their personality, not position.  The passage quoted then follows.)

2. Plutarch (Alexander 10.4)

“And so when Pausanias who had been outrageously dealt with at the insistance of Attalus and Cleopatra and could get no justice at Philip’s hands, killed Philip, most of the blame devolved on Olympias, on the ground that she had added her exhortations to the younger man’s anger and incited him to the deed; but a certain amount of accusation attached itself to Alexander also.  For it was said that when Pausanias, after the outrage he had suffered, met Alexander and bewailed his fate, Alexander recited to him the iambic verse of Medea 289: ‘The giver of the bride, the bridegroom, and the bride.’ [i.e. Attalus, Philip, and Cleopatra to be murdered].  However, he did seek out the participants in the plot and punished them and was angry with Olympias for her savage treatment of Cleopatra during his absence.”

3. Justin 9.6.1-7.14

“In the meantime, while the troops were assembling from Greece, Philip celebrated the marriage of his daughter Cleopatra with Alexander, whom he had made king of Epirus [thus young Cleopatra married her own uncle, Olympias’ brother]. The day was remarkable for the pomp displayed on it, suitable to the magnificence of the two princes, him that gave his daughter in marriage and him that married her.  Magnificent games were also celebrated, and as Philip was going to view them, unattended by his guards, walking between the two Alexanders [his son and his brother-in-law/son-in-law]. Pausanias, a noble Macedonian youth, without being suspected by any one, posting himself in a narrow passage, killed him as he was going through it and caused a day appointed for joy to be overshadowed with mourning for a death.

Pausanias, in the early part of his youth, had suffered gross violence at the hands of Attalus, to the indignity of which was added this further affront, that Attalus had exposed him, after bringing him to a banquet and making him drunk, not only to the lust of Attalus, but also that of other banqueters, who treated him just as a whore is treated and made him the laughing stock of those of his own age.  Being impatient under this humiliation, Pausanias often complained to Philip, but being put off by various excuses, not unattended with ridicule, and seeing his adversary also honored with a general’s commission, he turned his rage  at Philip himself and inflicted on whims an unjust judge, the revenge which he could not inflict on Attalus.

It is even believed that he was instigated to the act by Olympias, Alexander’s mother and that Alexander himself was not ignorant of the plan to murder his father; since the repudiation of Olympias and the preferment of her over Cleopatra grieved him no less than Pausanias grieved over his humiliation.  Alexander also feared that a brother by his stepmother might be a rival to the throne since earlier he had quarreled with Attalus and then with Philip at a banquet, so much so that Philip pursued him with a drawn sword and was hardly prevented from killing him by the persuasions of his friends.  Because of this quarrel, Alexander had gone to his uncle in Epirus with his mother, and then on to the king of the Illyrians.  He was only with difficulty reconciled to his father when he recalled him, and not easily induced by the prayers of his relations to return. Also, Olympias was trying to persuade her brother the king of Epirus into war with Philip and would have succeeded, had not Philip made him his son-in-law as well by marrying him to Philip’s daughter.  With these provocations to resentment, both of them are thought to have encouraged Pausanias, when complaining of his insults being left unpunished, to so atrocious a deed. Olympias certainly had horses waiting for the fleeing assassin and, when she heard that the king was dead, hastened to the funeral under the appearance of respect and put a crown of gold on the head of Pausanias as he was hanging on a cross (she did this in the middle of the night); an act which no one but she would have dared to do, as long as the son of Philip was alive.  A few days later, she burnt the body of the assassin, when it had been taken down, upon the remains of her husband and made him a tomb in the same place; she also provided that yearly sacrifices should be performed to his spirit… Next, she forced Cleopatra, for whose sake she had been rejected by Philip, to hang herself, having occasioned the death of her husband.  Last of all she consecrated the sword, with which the king had been killed, to Apollo…And all these things were done so publicly that she seems to have been afraid lest it should not be evident enough that the deed was promoted by her.”

4. Diodorus (16.93.1-94)

“Every seat in the theater was taken when Philip appeared wearing a white cloak and by his express orders his bodyguard held away from him and followed only at a distance, since he wanted to show publicly that he was protected by the goodwill of all the Greeks, and had no need of a guard of spear men.  Such was the pinnacle of success that he had attained, but as the praises and congratulations of all rang in his ears, suddenly without warning the plot against the king was revealed as death struck. We shall set forth the reasons for his death in order that our story may be clear.  There was a Macedonian, Pausanias, who came of a family from the district of Orestis.  He was a bodyguard of the king and beloved of him because of his beauty.  When he saw that the king was becoming enamored of another Pausanias (a man of the same name as himself), he addressed him with abusive language, accusing him of being a hermaphrodite and willing to accept the erotic advances of any who wished.  Unable to endure such an insult, the other kept silent for a time, but, after confiding to Attalus, one of his friends, what he proposed to do, he brought about his own death voluntarily and in spectacular fashion.  For a few days after, as Philip was engaged in battle with the Illyrians, Pausanias stepped in front of him and, receiving on his body all the blows directed at the king, so met his death.

The incident was widely discussed and Attalus, who was a member of the court circle and influential with the king, invited the first Pausanias to dinner and when he had plied him till drunk with unmixed wine, handed his unconscious body over to the muleteers to sexually abuse.  When Pausanias recovered from his drunken stupor and, deeply resenting the outrage (rape) to his person, charged Attalus before the king with the rape.  Philip shared his anger at the lawless act, but did not wish to punish Attalus at that time because of their relationship and because Attalus’ services were needed urgently.  Attalus was the uncle of Cleopatra whom the king had just married as a new wife, and he had been selected as general of the advanced force being sent into Asia, for he was a man valiant in battle.  For these reasons, the king tried to mollify the righteous anger of Pausanias, giving him substantial presents and advancing him in honor among the bodyguards.

Pausanias nevertheless, nursed his wrath implacably, and yearned to avenge himself, not only on those who had done him wrong, but also on the one who failed to avenge him. Pausanias, admitting no delay in his plans because of his grievance, determined to act under the cover of the [wedding] festival in the following manner.  He posted horses at the gates of the city and came to the entrance of the theater carrying a Celtic dagger under his cloak.  When Philip directed his attending friends to precede him into the theater, while the guards kept their distance, Pausanias saw that the king was left alone.  He rushed at him, pierced him through his ribs, and stretched him out dead. He then ran for the gates and the horses that he had prepared for his flight.  Immediately one group of the bodyguards hurried to the body of the king while the rest poured out in search of the assassin; among these were Leonnatus, Perdiccas, and Attalus [not the guardian of Cleopatra]. Having a good start, Pausanias would have mounted his horse before they could catch him had he not caught his boot in a vine and fallen.  As he was scrambling to his feet, Perdiccas and the rest came up with him and killed him with their javelins.”

5. Alexander Romance (Pseudo-Callisthenes 1.26)

“Alexander was eighteen when he took over the kingdom of his father, Philip.  Antipater, an intelligent and cunning man, put an end to the uproar occasioned by Philip’s death in the following way.  He led Alexander to the theater, wearing his breastplate, and with a long speech, filled the Macedonians with favor toward Alexander.”

6. Oxyrynchus Papyrus: summary: a fragment of a shortened form of a history of Alexander of unknown authorship and date.

At that moment, Pausanias rushing forth with a knife killed Philip. Philip having died, Alexander dismissed the Makedones and the others who were in the theater. At the same time he allowed the Makedones to punish the outrage committed against the king. Thereupon they cruelly killed the murderer. As to Philip’s body, he turned it over to the retinue to wash and prepare for burial.  And he ordered those who were in charge of the burial to build a pyre.  When the pyre had been built of dry fir wood, ……

7. Arrian 1.25.1-2 (the passage begins with an account of the arrest of Alexander of Lyncestis (son of Aeropus, son-in-law of Antipater) in Asia in 334 or 33), on charges of plotting to kill Alexander.

A report reached him [Alexander the Great] of the treachery of Alexander, son of Aeropus. This man was one of the king’s Companions, in close contact with the king, and also, at the time, in command of the Thessalian cavalry; he was also a brother of Heromenes and Arrabaeus, both of whom had been involved in the murder of Philip.  On the occasion of his father Philip’s murder, Alexander, in spite of the fact that the evidence against his namesake looked dark, did not prosecute the charge, because he[Alexander, son of Aeropus] had been the first to support Alexander on Philip’s death, accompanying him into the palace, armed like the king; subsequently Alexander had given him an honorable position in his personal suite, sent him to direct operations in Thrace, and finally appointed him to command the Thessalian cavalry…

8. Curtius (7.1.6-7)

This Alexander [Alexander son of Aeropus] …was now in the third year of his imprisonment.  It was thought certain that he had also conspired with Pausanias to murder  Philip, but the fact that he had been the first to salute Alexander as king had gained him a reprieve, though not an acquittal.  Moreover, the pleas of the Lyncestian’s father-in-law, Antipater, also served to reduce the king’s warranted anger.

9. Arrian (2.14.5) from a letter sent by Alexander to Darius

…my father was killed by assassins whom, as you openly boasted in your letters, you yourselves hired to commit the crime….

10. Curtius (4.1.12) from a letter sent by Alexander to Darius

Everyone knows that my father, Philip, was murdered by assassins whom your people had seduced with the expectation of a huge Persian reward….

11. Plutarch, Demosthenes, 22.1

Demosthenes had secret intelligence of the death of Philip, and laying hold of this opportunity to prepossess the people with courage and better hopes for the future, he came into the assembly with a cheerful countenance, pretending to have had a dream that presaged some great good fortune for Athens; and, not long after, arrived the messengers who brought the news of Philip’s death..