Olympias

Queen-mother of Macedonia

Born: c. 375 b. c.e.; Molossis, Epirus (now in Greece) Died: 316 b. c.e.; Macedonia (now in Greece)

Also known as: Polyxena; Myrtale; Stratonice Category: Government and politics; women

Life Olympias, daughter of Neoptolemus of Epirus, married Philip II of Macedonia in 357 b. c.e. and in 356 b. c.e. gave birth to the future Alexander III (later Alexander the Great). Although only one of Philip’s seven wives, Olympias enjoyed importance at the Macedonian court because she was the mother of the heir-apparent. When Philip married for the seventh time, in 337 b. c.e., Olympias seems to have resented the new bride and may have plotted with Alexander against Philip, who was assassinated in 336 b. c.e. Any thoughts she may have had of ruling Greece when Alexander left for Persia in 334 b. c.e. were dashed when he appointed Antipater as regent. In 331 b. c.e., Olympias returned to Epirus, where she exercised great power and continued to intervene in Greek affairs. On Alexander’s death in 323 b. c.e., she opposed Antipater and then his son Cassander, siding with Polyperchon and returning to Macedonia in 318 b. c.e. At that time, she executed (among others) Philip III and his wife, Eurydice, and set up her grandson, Alexander IV, as king. Despite her great power as Alexander the Great’s mother, Olympias was defeated by Cassander, and she was put to death in 316 b. c.e.

Influence Olympias was the mother of Alexander the Great, whose vast conquests as far east as India laid the foundations for the Hellenistic kingdoms.

Further Reading

Errington, R. Malcolm. A History of Macedonia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990.

Foreman, Laura. Alexander the Conqueror: The Epic Story of the Warrior King. Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2004.

Green, Peter. Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age. Reprint. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

Habicht, Christian. Athens from Alexander to Antony. Translated by Deborah Lucas Schneider. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999.

Lightman, Marjorie, and Benjamin Lightman. Biographical Dictionary of Ancient Greek and Roman Women: Notable Women from Sappho to Helena. New York: Facts On File, 2000.

Ian Worthington

See also: Alexander the Great; Alexander the Great’s Empire; Antipater;

Cassander; Macedonia; Philip II of Macedonia.