21. Ptolemy of Alorus, 3 years.
22. Perdiccas, 6 years.
23. Philippus, 27 years.
24. Alexander the son of Philippus, 12 years .
[88] From [the Writings of] Porphyry the Philosopher, Our Adversary.
After Alexander the son of Philippus, the following kings [g325] ruled Macedonia and Greece until the Macedonian kingdom was taken over by the Romans.
After Alexander the Macedonians made Aridaeus king. He was the son of Philippus and Philinna of Thessaly, king [and was appointed] because they liked Philippus' family, despite the fact that Aridaeus was the son a courtesan and he was weak-minded. He began to reign, as we said, in the second year of the 114th Olympiad [323 B.C.]. He is considered to have reigned for 7 years, because he lived until the fourth year of the 115th Olympiad [317 B.C.].
Now Alexander [the Great] 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 [g326], at the start of Philippus' reign. Olympias, Alexander's mother, killed Aridaeus, but then Cassander the son of Antipater killed her and Alexander's two sons. One he killed by himself and the other he eliminated by ordering Polysperchon to do it. Cassander left Olympias' body where it fell, and forcibly declared himself king of the Macedonians. From that time forth, all the other lords ruled as kings. When the family of Alexander had been eliminated, [Cassander] married Thessalonice the daughter of Philippus. He reigned as king for another 19 years and then 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.].
[Cassander] was succeeded by his sons, Philippus and Alexander and Antipater, who reigned for 3 years and 6 months [g327] after the death of their father. Philippus, who died at Elateia, ruled first. 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.
Alexander married Lysandra, the daughter of Ptolemy. In a war against his younger brother he sought aid from Demetrius the son of Antigonus, who was called Poliorcetes. But Demetrius killed Alexander, and made himself the king of the Macedonians. The sons of Cassander are considered to have reigned from the fourth year of the 120th Olympiad [297 B.C.] until the third year of the 121st Olympiad [294 B.C.] [g328].
Pyrrhus the king of Epirus--the 23rd in line from Achilleus the son of Thetis--deposed [Demetrius] who had 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.]. Pyrrhus claimed the rule devolvded to him after the end of Philippus' family, because Olympias the mother of Alexander, was also a descendant of Pyrrhus the son of Neoptolemus. [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 an attendant of Alexander. However, Lysimachus was king not only of Thrace and the Chersonese, for he now invaded the neighbouring country of Macedonia and took it.
[89] Urged on by his wife Arsinoe, Lysimachus killed his own son. He ruled Macedonia for 5 years and 6 months, from the second year of the 123rd [g329] Olympiad [287 B.C.] until the third year of the 124th Olympiad [282 B.C.]. He was defeated by Seleucus Nicator, the king of Asia, at the battle of Corupedium, and lost his life in the battle. However immediately after this victory, Seleucus was murdered by Ptolemy Ceraunus, the son of Lagus and Eurydice the daughter of Antipater,despite the fact that Seleucus was his benefactor and had received him [earlier ]when he was in flight. Now [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.].
Ptolemy was succeeded by his brother Meleager. The Macedonians quickly deposed Meleager after only two months [g330] however, considering him unworthy. Because no one could be found from the royal line, they appointed as king Antipater, who was the nephew of Cassander and the son of Philippus. After ruling for 45 days he was put to flight by a certain Sosthenes, who did not consider him to be enough of a general to face the invasion that Brennus the Galatian threatened. The Macedonians gave Antipater the name Etesias, because the Etesian winds blow for about as long a time as he was king. Sosthenes also drove off Brennus, and died after ruling for two complete years. After Sosthenes, Macedonia was without a ruler, because the followers of Antipater and Ptolemy and Aridaeus were competing for control of the state, and no one was completely in charge. From the time [g331] of Ptolemy to 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, Meleager for two months, Antipater for 45 days, and Sosthenes for two years. The remainder is considered a period without rulers.
While Antipater was plotting, Antigonus took power. 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. Prior to taking control of Macedonia, he had been king for a total of 10 years. He was declared king in the second year [g332] 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] conquered the Greek world with extreme force; he lived for 83 years in all, and died in the first year of the 135th Olympiad [240 B.C.].
[Antigonus] was succeeded by his son Demetrius, who conquered all of Libya and Cyrene. He ruled over all of his father's holdings as sole ruler for 10 years. He took to wife a captive whom he called Aureola/Chryseis, and by her he had a son Philippus, who was the first of the kings to fight against the Romans, causing the Macedonians much woe. After [Demetrius], Philippus succeeded under the superintendecy of a member of the royal line [g333], named Phuscus. [The Macedonians] subsequently made this Phuscus king when they saw that he honorably served as guardian. And they gave him Chryseis as a wife. The sons she bore him he did not raise [to the throne] because he was holding the kingdom in trust for Philippus. And indeed he was succeeded by Philippus, when he died.
[90] Demetrius, called the Handsome, died in the second year of the 130th Olympiad. Philippus then became king, with the aforementioned 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.][g334].He reigned for 42 complete years, and died in the second year of the 150th Olympiad [179 B.C.], aged 58 years.
Perseus the son of Philippus killed his brother Demetrius and ruled for 10 years and 8 months, until the fourth years of the 152nd Olympiad [169 B.C.]. Then Lucius Aemilius conquered the Macedonians at Pydna. Perseus fled to Samothrace, but then voluntarily surrendered to the combattants. They transferred him to Alba, where he was kept in custody. He died five years later, and with his death the Macedonians' [independent] rule ended.
At that time the Romans allowed the Macedonians to keep their autonomy, [g335] out of respect for their glorious reputation and their former greatness.
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 styled himself Philippus. Thus he was known as the false Philippus. With the help of the Thracians he conquered Macedonia. After ruling for a year he was defeated and fled to the Thracians, who surrendered him, and sent him bound to Rome.
Because the Macedonians had been ungrateful, and had aided the false Philippus, the Romans made them tributary in the fourth year of the 157th Olympiad [149 B.C.]. Thus from [the time of] Alexander until [g336] the end, when they became tributary to the Romans, that is from the second year of 114th Olympiad [323 B.C.] until the fourth year of the 157th Olympiad [149 B.C.], the kingdom of the Macedonians endured 43 Olympiads plus two years, for a total of 174 years.
[91] Listing of the Macedonian Kings Following Alexander, Son of Philippus.
  1. Aridaeus, also called Philippus, 7 years.
  2. Cassander, 19 years.
  3. The sons of Cassander, 3 years and 6 months.
  4. Demetrius Poliorcetes, 6 years.