Legendary There are two separate historical traditions relating the foundation of Macedonia and the Argead dynasty. The earlier, documented by
Herodotus and
Thucydides in the fifth century BC, records
Perdiccas as the first king of Macedonia. The later tradition first emerged around the beginning of the fourth century BC and claimed that
Caranus, rather than Perdiccas, was the founder. Aside from
Satyrus, who adds
Coenus and
Tyrimmas to the list,
Marsyas of Pella,
Theopompos, and
Justin all agree that Caranus was Perdiccas' father. Furthermore,
Plutarch claimed in his biography of Alexander the Great that all of his sources agreed that Caranus was the founder. This unhistorical assertion, like the Argive connection, is rejected by modern scholarship as court propaganda, possibly intended to diminish the significance of the name 'Perdiccas' in rival family branches following
Amyntas III accession.
Historical Herodotus mentions the names of the five kings preceding
Amyntas I, but provides no other information. Consequently, the reign dates and activities of the early Argead kings can only be guessed at. By allowing thirty years for the span of an average generation and counting backwards from the beginning of
Archelaus' reign in 413 BC, British historian
Nicholas Hammond estimated that the dynasty began around 650 BC.
Amyntas I and his son
Alexander I are the earliest kings for which we have any reliable historical information, and even then, only in the context of their relationships with
Achaemenid Persia and Greeks. == Antipatrid dynasty (310–294 BC) ==