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The kingdom was never a significant player in Greece's politics and was conquered by Darius during the Second Persian Invasion. Many of Phillip II's critics claimed that the Macedonians were not really Greeks and implied that they were non-Greeks or ‘barbarians.’ <ref> Demosthenes. Philippics. 1 8</ref> The vast majority of scholars today believe that the Macedonians were Greeks. They had originated from North-East Greece and had expanded into the Modern Republic of Macedonia. Evidence of their ‘Greekness’ is that they worshiped the same Pantheon of Gods as those worshiped in Sparta and Athens<ref>. Worthington, Ian. Philip II of Macedonia (Yale: Yale University Press, 2000), p. 13</ref>
====Life of Who was Phillip II==?==
[[File: Facade of Philip II tomb Vergina Greece.jpg |thumbnail|300px|left|The tomb of Phillip II]]
Phillipe was the son of Macedonia's King Amyntas III and his wife, Queen Eurydice. He was born in 383 BCE, and his elder brother became king after his father’s death.<ref> Lewis, D.M., <i>The Cambridge Ancient History Volume 6: The Fourth Century BC</i> (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,1994), p 37</ref> He was sent Thebes as a hostage to Thebes, which was briefly the supreme power in Greece, this was to secure the good behavior of his brother, the king. Later another brother who had become king was able to secure his release. King Peridiccas, Phillip’s brother, was killed in an invasion of his kingdom by a powerful Illyrian army. Phillip was appointed regent of his brother’s eldest son, crowned king of Macedonia upon his coming of age. Phillip, although not the king, was the most powerful man in the kingdom.
Phillip proved to be an excellent military leader and diplomat.<ref>Lewis, p. 39</ref> He first set about re-organizing the Macedonian military. Phillip soon turned the army into a formidable fighting force, and he used it at first to defend the kingdom, and then he used it to expand the territory of the kingdom.
