house of lynkestis

[karla]

Hello,I just wanted to clarify, was the house of lynkestis a separate kingdom from macedon? Or were they a branch of the Macedonian royalty, if so, how are they a branch of it? If I remember correctly, they did have a claim on the throne, which is partly why they were suspects in Philip's assasination. But I don't remember the explanation of the basis for they claim to it. I don't remember them being related by blood to Alexander or Philip...Thanks...

[susan]

When Alexander came to the throne, his rivals were Amyntas - his cousin, son of Perdiccas III, who'd been king as Amyntas IV; and the sons of Aeropus of Lyncestis; this Aeropus was a descendant through Aeropus II of an older branch of the royal house, starting from Perdiccas II. According to a chart in Hammond, the five sons of Alexander I (died c 452) were:
1 (*)Philip died 4302 (*)Alcetas, died about 4133 (*) Perdiccas II, died 413 - his sons (*)Archelaos died 399, (*)Aeropus died 3944 Menelaus5 Amyntas - his grandson (*)Amyntas died 370 was the father of Philip II & Perdiccas III.where (*) means they became king.So, Alexander's great-great-grandfather was the brother of Aeropus' great-grandfather ( I think)Susan

[marcus]

That would appear to be about right.Lynkestis was one of the 'Upper Macedonian' regions, which were independent or semi-independent principalities for much of the time. It wasn't fully brought into the Macedonian 'fold' until Philip's reign, when he consolidated and expanded the kingdom.It wasn't so much that the Lynkestian royal house had any claim to the Macedonian throne; but that there was a fear (real or imagined) that it could lead a confederacy of Upper Macedonian states and form a breakaway. This, of course, would either fragment Macedonia and shatter it as a power, or even subsume Macedonia into the new 'kingdom'.To some extent it still amazes me that Alexander allowed Alex of Lynkestis to remain alive - it's a testimony to the power of Antipater (who was Al of L's father-in-law) and the extreme importance of keeping him on-side.All the bestMarcus

[Jeanne]

That's right, Susan, at least according to what I have, too.It seems confusing, but I get the impression the Macedonians kept track of this stuff, just like Indians still do. Ancestors are important, and so is family. You're usually related (by one degree or another) to about half your clan, and you may call someone "cousin" even if they're three or four times removed. They're still your cousin, and you're still responsible for them. I imagine Alexander and Leonnatos did think of themselves as related, even if the degree seems pretty far apart, to most Westerners. LOL!Dr. Jeanne
(Man, is there some way to do an auto for my sig file so I don't have to type it out each time? I tried to register, but the site won't let me. Dunno why.)

[ScottOden]

Hi Dr. Jeanne,Have you tried keeping your sig in a wordpad file, then just cutting and pasting as needed? That might work better than writing it out each time :)Cheers,Scott (with no sig to speak of)

[Jeanne]

Not a bad idea. Thanks.