Perdiccas III of Macedon

{{Short description|King of Macedonia from 365 to 360 BC}}

{{Refimprove|date=September 2014}}{{Infobox monarch

| name = Perdiccas III

| succession = King of Macedonia

| image = File:Coin of Perdikkas III. 365-359 BCE.jpg

| caption = stater of Perdikkas III

| reign = 365–360 BC

| full name =

| predecessor = Alexander II

| successor = Amyntas IV

| dynasty = Argead dynasty

| father = Amyntas III

| mother = Eurydice I

| issue = Amyntas IV

| birth_date =

| birth_place =

| death_date = 360 BC

| death_place =

| religion = Ancient Greek religion

}}

File:Coin of Perdiccas III with figure of Herakles.jpg.]]

Perdiccas III (Greek: Περδίκκας Γ΄) was king of the Hellenic kingdom of Macedonia from 365 BC to 360 BC,Cosmopoulos, Michael B. 1992. Macedonia: An Introduction to its Political History. Winnipeg: Manitoba Studies in Classical Civilization, p. 30 (TABLE 2: The Argeiad Kings). succeeding his brother Alexander II.

Son of Amyntas III and Eurydice, he was a child when in 369 BC his brother Alexander II was killed by their brother-in-law Ptolemy of Aloros, who then ruled as regent. In 365 BC, Perdiccas killed Ptolemy and assumed government.{{Cite book |last=Errington |first=Robert Malcolm |date=1990 |title=A History of Macedonia |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PYgkqP_s1PQC&pg=PA36 |location=Berkeley |publisher=University of California Press |pages=35–36 |isbn=9780520063198 |access-date=24 August 2020}}

There is very little information about the reign of Perdiccas III. He was at one time engaged in hostilities with Athens over Amphipolis, and he was distinguished for his patronage of men of letters. Among these we are told that Euphraeus of Oreus, a disciple of Plato, rose so high in Perdiccas's favour as to completely govern the young king and to exclude from his society all but philosophers and geometers.

He also served as theorodokos in the Panhellenic Games that took place in Epidaurus around 360/359 BC.Perlman, Paula. 2000. City and Sanctuary in Ancient Greece: The Theorodokia in the Peloponnese. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, [https://books.google.com/books?id=WkkLxCCebPYC&dq=Theorodokos++Perdikkas+III+king+of+Macedonia+Epidauros&pg=PA38 pp. 38, 126]

In 360 BC, Perdiccas tried to reconquer upper Macedonia from the Illyrian Bardylis, but the expedition ended in disaster, with Perdiccas being killed.{{cite book |last1=Flower |first1=Michael A. |title=Theopompus of Chios History and Rhetoric in the Fourth Century BC |date=1997 |publisher=Clarendon Press |page=119 |isbn=978-0-19-815243-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RumukFvWjywC&dq=Paeonians+Illyrians&pg=PA119}}{{cite book |last1=Phillips |first1=David |title=Athenian Political Oratory Sixteen Key Speeches |date=2004 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |page=36 |isbn=978-1-135-88860-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oLGSAgAAQBAJ&dq=Paeonians+Illyrians&pg=PA36}}Orrieux, Claude. 1999. A History Of Ancient Greece. Wiley, p. 256, {{ISBN|0-631-20309-5}}. Diodorus Siculus attests that four thousand men had died in the expedition, and that the remainder, panic-stricken, had become exceedingly afraid of the Illyrian armies and had lost heart for continuing the war.{{cite book |last1=Worthington |first1=Ian |last2=Roisman |first2=Joseph |title=A Companion to Ancient Macedonia |date=7 July 2011 |publisher=Wiley Blackwell |page=289 |isbn=978-1-4443-5163-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QsJ183uUDkMC&dq=Perdiccas+4,000&pg=PA289}}

Perdiccas was succeeded by his infant son, Amyntas IV. The throne was soon usurped by Perdiccas's younger brother Philip II.