25. A Queer Scandal That Undid a Great King
In the army of Philip II of Macedon, heavy infantry, light infantry skirmishers, archers, slingers, cavalry, and engineers, all worked together. The mutual support made their collective whole greater than the sum of their individual parts. Philip’s signature combined arms tactic came to be known as the “hammer and anvil”. The infantry phalanx fixed an enemy in place (anvil), and the cavalry closed in with shock tactics, and acted as a hammer to shatter the foe. Philip’s military machine was unstoppable, and by 338 BC, he had mastered Greece. He then began preparations for his life’s ambition: an invasion of the Persian Empire.
However, Philip’s ambitions and life were cut short by an assassination stemming from sordid court dispute. Philip engaged in intimacy with men at times, and had occasional male lovers. One of his bodyguards, a former lover, quarreled with one of Philip’s in-laws. The king’s in-law got the bodyguard drunk, and had his attendants assault him. When the bodyguard turned to Philip for justice, the king failed to offer him redress. So the bodyguard assassinated Philip during the king’s wedding to a new bride. It would be his son, Alexander the Great, who would use Philip’s military machine and tactics to become the Ancient World’s greatest conqueror.