page_title: Government of Macedonia (ancient kingdom)
section_title: Companions, friends, councils, and assemblies
hierarchical_section_title: Government of Macedonia (ancient kingdom) / Institutions / Companions, friends, councils, and assemblies
caption_attribution_description: English: Pebbles mosaic in a Pella house atrium (Macedonia).
context_page_description: The earliest government of Macedonia was established by the Argead dynasty of Macedonian kings some time during the period of Archaic Greece. Due to shortcomings in the historical record, very little is known about the origins of Macedonian governmental institutions before the reign of Philip II of Macedon, during the final phase of Classical Greece. These institutions continued to evolve under his successor Alexander the Great and the subsequent Antipatrid and Antigonid dynasties of Hellenistic Greece. Following the Roman victory in the Third Macedonian War and house arrest of Perseus of Macedon in 168 BC, the Macedonian monarchy was abolished and replaced by four client state republics. However, the monarchy was briefly revived by the pretender to the throne Andriscus in 150–148 BC, followed by the Roman victory in the Fourth Macedonian War and establishment of the Roman province of Macedonia.
  It is unclear if there was a formally established constitution dictating the laws, organization, and divisions of power in ancient Macedonia's government, although some tangential evidence suggests this.
context_section_description: The companions, including the elite companion cavalry and pezhetairoi infantry, represented a substantially larger group than the king's bodyguards. The ranks of the companions were greatly increased during the reign of Philip II when he expanded this institution to include Upper Macedonian aristocrats as well as Greeks. The most trusted or highest ranking companions formed a council that served as an advisory body to the king. A small amount of evidence also suggests that an assembly of the army during times of war and a people's assembly during times of peace existed in ancient Macedonia. The first recorded instance dates to 359 BC, when Philip II called together a number of assemblies to address them with speech and raise their morale following the death of Perdiccas III of Macedon in battle against the Illyrians.
  Members of the council had the right to speak their minds freely, and although there is no evidence that they voted on affairs of state or that the king was even obligated to implement their ideas, it is clear that he was at least occasionally pressured to do so. The assembly was apparently given the right to judge cases of high treason and assign punishments for them, such as when Alexander III acted as prosecutor in the trial and ultimate conviction of three alleged conspirators in the plot to assassinate Philip II (while many others were acquitted). However, there is perhaps insufficient evidence to allow a conclusion that councils and assemblies were regularly upheld, constitutionally grounded, or that their decisions were always heeded by the king. At the death of Alexander the Great, the companions immediately formed a council to assume control of his empire; however, it was soon destabilized by open rivalry and conflict between its members. The army also used mutiny as a tool to achieve political ends. For instance, when Perdiccas had Philip II's daughter Cynane murdered to prevent her own daughter Eurydice II of Macedon from marrying Philip III of Macedon, the army revolted and ensured that the marriage took place.
caption: An atrium with a pebble-mosaic paving, in Pella, Greece
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