What would be the consequences if Alexander the Great died at a young age or didn't exist. Let's say a POD of him falling and breaking his neck at age 13 riding Bucephalus, being unable to tame it. What would happen?
Also, IOTL Darius offered half his empire to Alexander at one point and if Philip is as successful as his son was, Darius will the do the same here. Philip, unlike Alexander, might accept the offer if only to consolidate his gains. This gives him Egypt, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and the Caucasus region which are the most important parts of the Persian Empire anyway.
To me it seems that you're all assuming that Pausanias of Orestis doesn't assassinate Philip.
Even if he wasn't assassinated, you also have to remember that it took 12 years for Alexander to conquer the Persian Empire; Philip at this point is 46. 12 years for him would put Philip at 58 at the end of his campaign which is pretty old for this time.
Even if he wasn't assassinated, you also have to remember that it took 12 years for Alexander to conquer the Persian Empire; Philip at this point is 46. 12 years for him would put Philip at 58 at the end of his campaign which is pretty old for this time.
I've always considered it likely that Olympias had something to do with that, seeking to protect Alexander from possible replacement by an heir borne of his latest wife. If Alexander is removed from the picture, no real reason for the assassination to occur.
Well, yes and no. We read the descriptions of the shorter lifespans of earlier times and we often get the erroneous impression that the "average lifespan" of the time is some sort of upper limit on how long people could live. That is not really true. The "average life span" of the whole population may have been something less that 40 years. But those figures are skewed by 1) high infant mortality rates which are included in the "average life span" calculations, and 2) class-based and economically-based differences in the death rate of lower class/poor people versus upper class/rich people (poor people and lower class people tended to have poor nutrition which killed them off at an earlier age. Higher status persons ate better and generally lived longer). Since there were many more lower class/poor people, the fact that they have a higher death rate means the "average" life expectancy is lowered.
As an adult and an upper class/wealthy person, Philip could expect to live much longer than the average. Wealthy people...unless killed violently or dying of a plague or something like that...tended to live about as long in ancient times as we do today.
The Diadochi all lived quite long however:
Ptolemy lived to 84
Lysimachus to 81 (killed in battle)
Antigonus to 81 (also killed in battle)
Seleucos to 77 (assassinated)
Battling till his sixtieth birthday sounds doable for Philips. In fact, he was born in the same year as Antigonus.