Philip (husband of Berenice I of Egypt)

Philip (Greek: Φίλιππος, died c. 318 BC) was a Greek Macedonian nobleman who lived during the 4th century BC.

Early life

Philip was the son of Amyntas by a mother whose name is unknown.^[1] He served as a military officer in the service of the Greek king Alexander the Great. Philip was known to have commanded one division of the phalanx in Alexander’s wars^[2] and, in particular, he commanded one of the divisions of the phalanx at the Battle of the Granicus in May 334 BC.^[3] His name does not subsequently appear in the campaigns of Alexander, but can be at least distinctly identified.^[4]

Based on information provided by Plutarch (Pyrrhus 4.4), before Philip married Berenice he was already married and had children from those marriages.^[5] The identities of his first wife and children are unknown.

Marriage to Berenice I

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:

Son, Magas^[9]
Daughter, Antigone^[10]
Daughter, Theoxena^[11]

Death

Philip died of unknown causes. After his death, Berenice and her 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 honour 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 eponymous priest" and "Magas, son of Philip".^[12]