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Alexander I of Macedon

Alexander I was ruler of Macedon from 495 BC to 450 BC. He was the son of Amyntas I of Macedon.

According to Herodotus he was unfriendly to Persia, and had the envoys of Darius I killed when they arrived at the court of his father during the Ionian Revolt. However, he was forced to submit to Persia during the invasion of Greece by Darius' son Xerxes I, and he acted as a representative of the Persian governor Mardonius during peace negotiations after the Persian defeat at the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC. Despite his cooperation with Persia, he frequently gave supplies and advice to the Greeks, and warned them of Mardonius' plans before the Battle of Plataea in 479 BC. Alexander he eventually regained Macedon's independence after the end of the Persian Wars. He was recognized as a friend of the Greeks, and, as he claimed to be descended from Greeks from Argos, he was permitted to participate in the Olympic Games, a great honour for a barbarian king. He modelled his court after Athens and was a patron of the poet Pindar.

In 450 he was succeeded by Perdiccas II.

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