Archelaus_II_of_Macedon
Aeropus II of Macedon
King of Macedonia from 398/7 until 394/3 BC
Aeropus II (Ancient Greek: Ἀέροπος, romanized: Aéropos), son of Perdiccas II, was king of Macedonia from 398/7 until his death from illness in July or August of 394/3 BC.[2][3] He first governed as guardian (epitropos)[lower-alpha 1] for his young nephew Orestes when Archelaus died in 400/399 BC. However, Diodorus reports that Aeropus murdered Orestes three years later, but it is also possible that he had simply won the support of the Macedonian nobility.[5][6] As king, he took the name Archelaus.[1] Aeropus had a son named Pausanias, but was succeeded instead by Amyntas II, son of his great-uncle Menelaus.[7]
Two traditions relate how Aeropus was overawed by either the insolence[8][9] or the stratagems[10] of the Lacedaemonian king Agesilaus, allowing his armies free passage through Macedonia after their campaign in Asia.
There is a minority view among scholars that Aeropus was a Lyncestian prince, rather than an Argead, who married into the dynasty, therefore enabling him later to become regent for Orestes.[11] However, the majority of historians believe Aeropus to have been Perdiccas' son and thus a member of the dynasty.[2][7][12][13]