L’irrequieto Alessandro Magno e l’assassinio di Filippo II di Macedonia

[Machine translation] If ancient sources indicate that his wife Olympiades was primarily responsible for the assassination of Philip II of Macedon, modern studies are more likely to recognize the leading role of his son Alexander, determined to do anything to secure the throne. Those who deny the responsibility of Filip-po's wife and son emphasize instead that Alexander had no real rivals for the throne and the two therefore had too much to lose to plot against the king. An examination of the sources relating to the last years of Philip's life seems to indicate that Alexander's position as heir to the throne was secure, but this does not mean that Alexander perceived it in the same way. Therefore, it does not seem necessary to attempt to establish what Filippo's intentions were for his heir to hypothesize or exclude Alexander's responsibility for the murder of his father, since Alexander's impulsive character, which emerges in particular in the episode of the satrap Pissodaro, may have prompted him to accelerate his succession to the throne even in the absence of a real threat to his position as heir.