Olympias

Olympias (ca. 375 BCE-316 BCE) was one of the wives of Philip II of Macedonia and the mother of Alexander the Great. Her original name, Myrtale, was probably changed to Olympias after a chariot sponsored by her husband won at the Olympic Games of 356 BCE. She was also known as Polyxena and Stratonice.

Origins

Olympias came from Epirus, a region of northwestern Greece. Her father, Neoptolemus, king of Epirus, was from the tribe of the Molossians and claimed to be a descendent of Achilles. Olympias lost her parents at a young age.

She was given in marriage to Philip by her uncle Arymbas (the successor of Neoptolemus as ruler of Epirus) as a way to cement a political alliance between the two kingdoms. Ancient sources claim that she met Philip at the Aegean island of Samothrace, where they had both travelled to be initiated in the rites of the Cabiri, deities associated with the fertility of humans and animals. One year after her marriage, in 356 BCE, Olympias gave birth to her famous son, Alexander. Two years later she gave Philip a daughter, Cleopatra.

Deeply religious, Olympias was a follower of the mystery cults of Orpheus and Dionysus. She was said to keep snakes as pets and to sleep with a giant one on her bed.

After twenty years of marriage, Philip decided in 337 BCE to marry Cleopatra Eurydice, a niece of Attalos, one of his generals. The union may have been motived by the desire of his supporters to see him married to a Macedonian woman. Insulted by the union, Olympias moved with her son to Epirus, where her brother Alexander had become the new king.

She returned to Macedonia in 336 BCE, after the assassination of Philip, an event that happened during the wedding ceremony of her daughter Cleopatra to her brother Alexander, the ruler of Epirus. Although the explanation was that the murderer, Pausanias of Orestis, had a grievance against Philip, rumours spread that Olympias had instigated him to commit the act.

Olympias’ position improved when Alexander succeeded Philip as new king of Macedonia. To protect her status, she ordered the death of Cleopatra Eurydice (or forced her to commit suicide) and of the son who resulted from the marriage to Philip, Caranus.

After Alexander’s departure to Asia in 334 BCE, Olympias challenged the power of Antipater, nominated by her son as overseer of Macedonia and Greece. She kept a correspondence with Alexander, often complaining on her letters about Antipater. In 331 BCE she once again left for Epirus, where she ruled with her widowed daughter.

Bibliography

• E. Carney, Olympias, Mother of Alexander the Great. Routledge, 2006. ISBN 0-415-33317-2