King Philip II 382 - 336 BC

King of Macedonia (359 B.C.-336 B.C.) and father of Alexander the Great and Philip III of Macedon. Philip II came to the throne in 359 B.C. after the death of two elder brothers and although initially tapped regent, he soon appointed himself king. His visions of expansion and his military prowess led him gradually to rule of all Greece unchallenged; it wasn't until Thermopylae in 352 B.C. that he met his first real Athenian opposition. When Thebes and Pocis started a war, he effectively intervened; yet the discord with Athens continued. In 338 B.C. he made a victorious stand against Thebans and Athenians at Chaeronea. He went on to form the League of Corinth, a federation of Greek states, with an agenda that included war against Persia. Before he could carry out the league's vision, he was assassinated by servant Pausanias in 336 B.C. He was succeeded by his son Alexander the Great.