Celtic Tribe of Eatern Europe
Making coins in style of Greek king Philip II - King of Macedon: 359-336 B.C.
Silver Tetradrachm 24mm (13.40 grams) under unknown Celtic Tribe circa  Early 3rd century B.C.
Reference: Lanz –; CCCBM I –; Pink –
Laureate head of Zeus right.
ΦΙΛΠΠΟΥ, Youth on horseback right, holding palm; below belly, Λ above torch.

* Numismatic Note: The Celtic  peoples would issue their own versions of the coins of their neighbors, such as  the Greeks which have their own unique style to behold. Quality ancient Celtic  coin.The Celts of Eastern Europe imitated  ancient Greek coins of the time period, this one of Philip II. King Philip II of  Macedonia was father of Alexander the Great and his coins referred to his  Olympic victory. The reason they did this as they traded with the Greeks and  their coins were popular and recognized for trade, so they struck their own. You  can see the Cetlic style showing on this coin. 

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The Celts  (pronounced /ˈkɛlts/ or /ˈsɛlts/, see Celticpronunciation of )  were a diverse group of tribal societies in Iron Age and Roman-era Europe who spoke Celtic languages .

Diachronic distribution of Celtic peoples:
 

  core Hallstatt territory, by the 6th century BC

  maximal Celtic expansion, by 275 BC

  Lusitanian  area of Iberia where Celtic presence is uncertain

  the "six Celtic nations" which retained significant numbers of Celtic  speakers into the Early Modern period

  areas where Celtic languages remain widely spoken today

The earliest archaeological culture commonly accepted as Celtic, or rather Proto-Celtic , was the central European Hallstatt culture (c. 800-450 BC), named for  the rich grave finds in Hallstatt , Austria. By the later La Tène period (c. 450 BC up to the Roman  conquest), this Celtic culture had expanded over a wide range of regions,  whether by diffusion or migration : to the British Isles (Insular  Celts), the Iberian Peninsula (Celtiberians, Celtici and Gallaeci ), much of Central Europe , (Gauls)  and following the Gallic invasion of the Balkans in 279 BC as far  east as central Anatolia (Galatians).

The earliest directly attested examples of a Celtic language are the Lepontic inscriptions, beginning from the 6th  century BC. Continental Celtic languages are attested only  in inscriptions and place-names. Insular Celtic is attested from about the 4th  century AD in ogham inscriptions , although it is clearly much  earlier. Literary tradition begins with Old Irish from about the 8th century. Coherent  texts of Early Irish literature , such as the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of  Cooley), survive in 12th-century recensions. According to the theory of John T. Koch and others, the Tartessian language may have been the earliest  directly attested Celtic language with the Tartessian written script used in the  inscriptions based on a version of a Phoenician script in use around 825 BC.

By mid 1st millennium AD, following the expansion of the Roman Empire and the Great Migrations (Migration  Period) of Germanic peoples , Celtic culture and Insular Celtic had become restricted to Ireland and to the western and northern parts  of Great Britain (Wales, Scotland , Cornwall and the Isle of Man ) and northern France (Brittany).  The Continental Celtic languages ceased to be  widely used by the 6th century.

Insular Celtic culture diversified into that of the Gaels (Irish, Scottish and Manx), the Brythonic Celts (Welsh, Cornish , and Bretons ) of the medieval and modern periods. A  modern "Celtic  identity" was constructed in the context of the Romanticist Celtic Revival in Great Britain (Wales,  Scotland, Cornwall and the Isle of Man) and Ireland. In France a similar revival  of Breton is taking place in Brittany .

History Behind the Coin

Horse racing was an Olympic event of great prestige and intense competition. It  was a great honor for Philip II of Macedon to gain entry to the games, since  they were open only to Greeks. Prior to that time, the Macedonians were  considered by other Greeks as barbarians. It was an even greater honor for  Philip's horses to win the prize. In 356 BC his entry won the single horse  event, and in 348 the two horse chariot event. Both of these victories were  proudly announced (should we say propagandized) by placing references to them on  the reverses of his coins struck in gold, silver and bronze. Plutarch tells us  that this was indeed his intention: "[Philip] ...had victories of his chariots  at Olympia stamped on his coins."

Philip II of Macedon, (Greek: Φίλιππος Β' ο Μακεδών — φίλος  = friend + ίππος = horse   — transliterated  Philippos 382 – 336 BC, was an ancient Greek   king (basileus)  of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III .

Born in Pella , Philip was  the youngest son of the king Amyntas III and Eurydice I . In his youth, (c. 368–365 BC) Philip was held as a hostage in Thebes , which was the leading city of Greece during  the Theban hegemony . While a captive there, Philip received a military and  diplomatic education from Epaminondas , became eromenos of Pelopidas ,  and lived with Pammenes , who was an enthusiastic advocate of the Sacred Band of Thebes . In 364 BC, Philip returned to Macedon. The deaths of  Philip's elder brothers, King Alexander II and Perdiccas III , allowed him to take the throne in 359 BC. Originally  appointed regent   for his infant nephew Amyntas IV , who was the son of Perdiccas III, Philip managed to take the  kingdom for himself that same year.

Philip's military skills and expansionist vision of  Macedonian greatness brought him early success. He had however first to  re-establish a situation which had been greatly worsened by the defeat against  the Illyrians   in which King Perdiccas himself had died. The Paionians and the Thracians   had sacked and invaded the eastern regions of the country, while the Athenians had  landed, at Methoni on the coast, a contingent under a Macedonian pretender called Argeus . Using  diplomacy, Philip pushed back Paionians and Thracians promising tributes, and  crushed the 3,000 Athenian hoplites   (359). Momentarily free from his opponents, he concentrated on strengthening his  internal position and, above all, his army. His most important innovation was  doubtless the introduction of the phalanx infantry corps, armed with the famous sarissa , an  exceedingly long spear, at the time the most important army corps in Macedonia.

Philip had married Audata ,  great-granddaughter of the Illyrian king of Dardania , Bardyllis . However, this did not prevent him from marching against them in  358 and crushing them in a ferocious battle in which some 7,000 Illyrians died  (357). By this move, Philip established his authority inland as far as Lake Ohrid   and the favour of the Epirotes .

He also used the Social War as an opportunity for expansion. He agreed with the Athenians,  who had been so far unable to conquer Amphipolis ,  which commanded the gold  mines of Mount Pangaion , to lease it to them after its conquest, in exchange for Pydna (lost by  Macedon in 363). However, after conquering Amphipolis, he kept both the cities  (357). As Athens declared war against him, he allied with the Chalkidian League of Olynthus .  He subsequently conquered Potidaea ,  this time keeping his word and ceding it to the League in 356. One year before  Philip had married the Epirote princess Olympias ,  who was the daughter of the king of the Molossians .

In 356 BC, Philip also conquered the town of Crenides   and changed its name to Philippi :  he established a powerful garrison there to control its mines, which granted him  much of the gold later used for his campaigns. In the meantime, his general Parmenion   defeated the Illyrians again. Also in 356 Alexander was born, and Philip's race horse won in the Olympic Games . In 355–354 he besieged Methone , the last city on the Thermaic Gulf controlled by Athens. During the siege, Philip lost an eye.  Despite the arrival of two Athenians fleets, the city fell in 354. Philip also  attacked Abdera and Maronea, on the Thracian   seaboard (354–353).

Involved in the  Third Sacred War which had broken out in Greece, in the summer of 353 he  invaded Thessaly , defeating 7,000 Phocians under  the brother of Onomarchus. The latter however defeated Philip in the two  succeeding battles. Philip returned to Thessaly the next summer, this time with  an army of 20,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry including all Thessalian troops. In  the Battle of Crocus Field 6,000 Phocians fell, while 3,000 were taken as  prisoners and later drowned. This battle granted Philip an immense prestige, as  well the free acquisition of Pherae . Philip  was also tagus of Thessaly, and he claimed as his own Magnesia ,  with the important harbour of Pagasae .  Philip did not attempt to advance into Central Greece because the Athenians, unable to arrive in time to defend  Pagasae, had occupied Thermopylae .

Hostilities with Athens did not yet take place, but Athens  was threatened by the Macedonian party which Philip's gold created in Euboea . From  352 to 346 BC, Philip did not again come south. He was active in completing the  subjugation of the Balkan   hill-country to the west and north, and in reducing the Greek cities of the  coast as far as the Hebrus . To  the chief of these coastal cities, Olynthus, Philip continued to profess  friendship until its neighboring cities were in his hands.

In 349 BC, Philip started the siege of Olynthus, which, apart  from its strategic position, housed his relatives Arrhidaeus and Menelaus, pretenders to the Macedonian throne. Olynthus had  at first allied itself with Philip, but later shifted its allegiance to Athens.  The latter, however, did nothing to help the city, its expeditions held back by  a revolt in Euboea (probably paid by Philip's gold). The Macedonian king finally took Olynthus in 348 BC and razed the city to the  ground. The same fate was inflicted on other cities of the Chalcidian peninsula.  Macedon and the regions adjoining it having now been securely consolidated,  Philip celebrated his Olympic Games at Dium . In 347 BC, Philip advanced to the conquest of the eastern districts  about Hebrus, and compelled the submission of the Thracian prince Cersobleptes . In 346 BC, he intervened effectively in the war between Thebes  and the Phocians, but his wars with Athens continued intermittently. However,  Athens had made overtures for peace, and when Philip again moved south, peace  was sworn in Thessaly. With key Greek city-states in submission, Philip turned  to Sparta ; he  sent them a message, "You are advised to submit without further delay, for if I  bring my army into your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and  raze your city." Their laconic reply: "If". Philip and Alexander would both leave them alone.  Later, the Macedonian arms were carried across Epirus to the Adriatic Sea . In 342 BC, Philip led a great military expedition north  against the Scythians , conquering the Thracian fortified settlement Eumolpia to give it  his name, Philippopolis (modern Plovdiv ).

In 340 BC, Philip started the siege of Perinthus . Philip began another siege in 339 of the city of Byzantium .  After unsuccessful sieges of both cities, Philip's influence all over Greece was  compromised. However, he successfully reasserted his authority in the Aegean   by defeating an alliance of Thebans and Athenians at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, while in the same year, Philip destroyed Amfissa   because the residents had illegally cultivated part of the Crisaian plain which  belonged to Delphi .  Philip created and led the League of Corinth in 337 BC. Members of the League agreed never to wage war  against each other, unless it was to suppress revolution .  Philip was elected as leader (hegemon)  of the army of invasion against the Persian Empire . In 336 BC, when the invasion of Persia was in its very early  stage, Philip was assassinated, and was succeeded on the throne of Macedon by  his son Alexander III .

 Assassination

The murder occurred during October of 336 BC, at Aegae , the  ancient capital of the kingdom of Macedon. The court had gathered there for the  celebration of the marriage between Alexander I of Epirus and Philip's daughter, by his fourth wife Olympias , Cleopatra . While the king was entering unprotected into the town's theater  (highlighting his approachability to the Greek diplomats present), he was killed  by Pausanias of Orestis , one of his seven bodyguards. The assassin immediately  tried to escape and reach his associates who were waiting for him with horses at  the entrance of Aegae. He was pursued by three of Philip's bodyguards and died  by their hands.

The reasons for Pausanias' assassination of Phillip are  difficult to fully expound, since there was controversy already among ancient  historians. The only contemporary account in our possession is that of Aristotle ,  who states rather tersely that Philip was killed because Pausanias had been  offended by the followers of Attalus , the king's father-in-law.

Fifty years later, the historian Cleitarchus expanded and embellished the story. Centuries later, this  version was to be narrated by Diodorus Siculus and all the historians who used Cleitarchus. In the  sixteenth book of Diodorus' history, Pausanias had been a lover of Philip, but  became jealous when Philip turned his attention to a younger man, also called  Pausanias. His taunting of the new lover caused the youth to throw away his  life, which turned his friend, Attalus, against Pausanias. Attalus took his  revenge by inviting Pausanias to dinner, getting him drunk, then subjecting him  to sexual assault.

When Pausanias complained to Philip the king felt unable to  chastise Attalus, as he was about to send him to Asia with Parmenion, to  establish a bridgehead for his planned invasion. He also married Attalus's  niece, or daughter, Eurydice . Rather than offend Attalus, Phillip attempted to mollify Pausanius  by elevating him within the bodyguard. Pausanias' desire for revenge seems to  have turned towards the man who had failed to avenge his damaged honour; so he  planned to kill Philip, and some time after the alleged rape, while Attalus was  already in Asia fighting the Persians, put his plan in action. Other historians  (e.g., Justin 9.7) suggested that Alexander and/or his mother Olympias   were at least privy to the intrigue, if not themselves instigators. The latter  seems to have been anything but discreet in manifesting her gratitude to  Pausanias, if we accept Justin's report: he tells us that the same night of her  return from exile she placed a crown on the assassin's corpse and erected a  tumulus to his memory, ordering annual sacrifices to the memory of Pausanias.

Many modern historians have observed that all the accounts  are improbable. In the case of Pausanias, the stated motive of the crime hardly  seems adequate. On the other hand, the implication of Alexander and Olympias  seems specious: to act as they did would have required brazen effrontery in the  face of a military machine personally loyal to Philip. What appears to be  recorded in this are the natural suspicions that fell on the chief beneficiaries  of the murder; their actions after the murder, however sympathetic they might  appear (if actual), cannot prove their guilt in the deed itself. Further  convoluting the case is the possible role of propaganda in the surviving  accounts: Attalus was executed in Alexander's consolidation of power after the  murder; one might wonder if his enrollment among the conspirators was not for  the effect of introducing political expediency in an otherwise messy purge  (Attalus had publicly declared his hope that Alexander would not succeed Philip,  but rather that a son of his own niece Eurydice, recently married to Philip and  brutally murdered by Olympias after Philip's death, would gain the throne of  Macedon).

 Marriages

The dates of Philip's multiple marriages and the names of  some of his wives are contested. Below is the order of marriages offered by  Athenaeus, 13.557b-e:

• Audata , the  daughter of Illyrian   King Bardyllis . Mother of Cynane .

• Phila, the sister of Derdas and  Machatas of Elimiotis .

• Nicesipolis of Pherae , Thessaly ,  mother of Thessalonica .

• Olympias   of Epirus , mother of Alexander the Great and Cleopatra

• Philinna of Larissa ,  mother of Arrhidaeus later called Philip III of Macedon .

• Meda of Odessa , daughter of the king Cothelas, of Thrace .

• Cleopatra, daughter of Hippostratus and niece of general Attalus of Macedonia . Philip renamed her Cleopatra Eurydice of Macedon .

 Archaeological  findings

On November 8, 1977, Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos found, among other royal tombs, an unopened tomb at Vergina in  the Greek prefecture of Imathia . The finds from this tomb were later included in the traveling  exhibit The Search for Alexander displayed at four cities in the United States from 1980 to 1982. Initially identified as belonging to Philip  II, Eugene Borza and others have suggested that the tomb actually belonged to  Philip's son, Philip Arrhidaeus . Disputations often relied on contradictions between "the  body" or "skeleton" of Philip II and reliable historical accounts of his life  (and injuries).

The initial 'proof' that the tomb may belong to Philip II was  indicated by the greeves (leg armor to protect the tibia ('shin') bone), one of  which indicated that the owner had a leg injury which distorted the natural  alignment of the tibia (Philip II was recorded as having broken his tibia).

What is now viewed as final proof that the tomb indeed did  belong to Philip II and that the surviving bone fragments are in fact the body  of Philip II comes from forensic reconstruction of the scull of Philip II by the  wax casting and reconstruction of the scull which shows the damage to the right  eye caused by the penetration of an object (historically recorded to be an  arrow). See John Prag and Richard Neave's report in Making Faces: Using Forensic  and Archaeological Evidence, published for the Trustees of the British Museum by  the British Museum Press, London: 1997.

 Cult

The heroon at Vergina in  Greek Macedonia (the ancient city of Aigai - Αἶγαι), is thought to have been  dedicated to the worship of the family of Alexander the Great and may have  housed the cult statue of Philip. It is probable that he was regarded as a hero  or deified on his death. Though the Macedonians did not consider Philip a god,  he did receive other forms of recognition by the Greeks, such as at Eresos (altar  to Zeus Philippeios), Ephesos (his statue was placed in the temple of Artemis ), and at Olympia, where the Philippeion was built. Moreover, Isocrates wrote to Philip that if he  defeated Persia, there was nothing left for him to do to but become a god  while Demades   proposed that Philip be regarded as the thirteenth god. However, there is no  clear evidence that Philip was raised to divine status like that of his son Alexander .