Amyntas I, fl.508-498 BC

Amynas I, fl.508-498 BC, was the king of Macedon at the start of the Greco-Persian Wars, and was forced to submit to Persian authority.

Amyntas was the son of Alcetas, the eighth king of Macedon starting with Caranus or fifth starting with Perdiccas. Alcetas had a fairly lengthy reign, around 29 years, and was then succeeded by Amyntas.

Battles of the Persian Invasions of Greece
Battles of the
Persian Invasions
of Greece

Amyntas was on the throne during the reign of Darius I the Great of Persia. In 516 Darius invaded Thrace, his first expedition into Europe, and successfully established a foothold in the area. An expedition north of the Danube in c.513 BC was less successful, but Darius managed to extract his army. He then left 80,000 men under Megabazus in Thrace and returned to Persia.

In around 507 BC Megabazus sent some envoys to Macedon to demand earth and water, the tradition signs of submission. Amyntas immediately agreed to submit, well aware that his kingdom would have been crushed if the Persians had attacked. He then arranged a banquet to celebrate the new agreement, but this went disastrously wrong. The Persian envoys were rude to the ladies of the court, and in respond Amyntas's son Alexander had them murdered. Megabazus sent an army into Macedon, but its commander, Bubares, was brought off by a marriage to Amytas's daughter Gygaea.

Amyntas also appeared soon after 510 BC, after Hippias, the deposed Tyrant of Athens, had been stopped from returning to power by a Spartan led alliance. Amyntas offered Hippias and his supporters Anthemus in Chalcidice as a new home.

Amyntas died in c.498 BC, and was succeeded by his son Alexander I, who was on the throne during Darius's and Xerxes's invasions of Greece.


How to cite this article: Rickard, J (2 May 2017), Amyntas I, fl.508-498 BC ,
