All Alexander's Women

by Robbert Bosschart

  However, Xerxes’ invasion of the Greek mainland ended in a fiasco, and Persia lost the coast of Asia Minor too. Karia had to submit as a vassal to the Athenians until Sparta, backed by Persian gold, destroyed their power.

  Shortly afterwards, High King Artaxerxes II recovers control over Ionia. He has a curious relationship with Karia. Around 395 BC, he separates Karia from the Sardès satrapy, under its own royal dynasty. Though styled ‘satraps’, these kings and queens succeed in maintaining a high degree of independence. Their ‘Hekatomnid’ dynasty must have had a very special relationship with the local Mother Goddess cult: the name of their founder, in vernacular He-kata-wa-umna, means “The Servant of the Temple of the Great Goddess.”

  The historian Theopompos states that Hekatomnos was appointed to be the commander of a Persian fleet when Artaxerxes II planned to invade Cyprus. However, he not only failed to fulfil these orders, but secretly provided the Cypriots with money to raise mercenary troops against the Persians when another satrap, Tiribazos, finally attacked the island in 386 BC.

  Even so, Hekatomnos was allowed to stay on the throne and leave his kingdom in 377 BC to his son Maussolo, who displaced its capital from inland Mylasa to Halikarnassos on the coast. He was an energetic king, enhancing Karia’s naval power, building fortifications and initiating splendid public works like the open-air theater at Halikarnassos. With its 13,000 seats it had room to spare for the whole population of the city! But his policies came at the cost of crushing taxation on his people. He even invented a tax on “the luxury of wearing long hair below the shoulders”.

  During the ‘Great Satraps’ Revolt’ of 366-360 BC, Maussolo fought both against and with various rebel satrapies. The others were finally brought to heel by Persia, but Karia obtained de facto independence. At his death in 353 BC he was succeeded by his wife Artemisia II, who ruled for another two years. She is best known for having completed the construction of a 49 metres high tomb for her husband in Halikarnassos: such a marvel of art and architecture that it was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Its name, Mausoleum, is still universally used for such monuments.

  Less well known is the fact that this Artemisia fully deserved to share the name and fame of her predecessor, the admiral-queen. When an invasion fleet from Rhodes appeared before Halikarnassos, Artemisia II intelligently hid her own warships. After the Rhodians had disembarked, she slipped out of her secret harbour to fall on their undermanned fleet from behind, killing all invaders. Then she sailed to Rhodes on the surrendered ships, with her own ones towed behind as if they were prizes. The deluded Rhodians allowed them unopposed into their harbour, and the Karians conquered the whole island.

  Thanks to the expansion of the realm under Maussolo and Artemisia II, the next rulers of Karia –Hidrieus and Ada I, also children of Hekatomnos– were considered “the most powerful princes of Western Asia”, as Theopompos states. In 346 BC Karia showed off its naval strength. The new High King in Susa, Artaxerxes Ochus, marshalled armies and navies for the recovery of his rebellious provinces on the western seaboard. Hidrieus then offered him a powerful force of 40 triremes reinforced with 8,000 mercenaries. The reconquest of Egypt, Fenicia and Cyprus enabled Ochus also to reduce his many rebellious vassals in Asia Minor.

  This was accomplished by the mercenary Greek generals Mentor and his brother Memnon, whose manoeuvres steadily diminished the power of the Karian dynasty. They encouraged Hidrieus’ younger brother Pixodaro to stage a palace coup c. 340 BC against queen Ada. He was then recognised as ‘satrap’, though in reality he never came to control the whole of Karia.

  He first obeyed Persian orders to oppose Philip II of Makedon by aiding a rebellion of Perinthos, a harbor city controlling grain transports through the Bosphorus. But shortly before his death in 335 BC he proposed an alliance to Philip, offering him the hand of his daughter for his son. When those negotiations failed, he married her off to the Persian envoy Orontobates, who succeeded him as satrap.

  Queen Ada I, born c. 380 BC, had reigned from 351 BC as joint ruler with Hidrieus and after his death in 344 BC, as widow queen until Pixodaro expelled her from Halikarnassos. Even so, from her castle at Alinda she regained control over part of the Karian countryside, and found partisans in the cities for her fight against Orontobates.

  The situation changed dramatically when Alexander appeared with his army, and reinstated her as queen in 334. General Memnon had turned Halikarnassos into the focal point of Persian resistance against the Makedonian onslaught. After his sudden death, Orontobates fled and Alexander’s army conquered the whole of Karia. By Alexander’s order, it was made independent of the Sardès governorate, and ruled by Ada. She exercised all administrative and political powers as queen – ánd as queen mother, since Alexander acceded to her wish to adopt him as her son.

  Ada’s proposal to be Alexander’s ‘mother’ was less of an unexpected inspiration than it may seem. Three years before, Alexander had been on the point of becoming her close relative. Her niece Ada II had been offered, to seal a proposed alliance, as wife for the crown prince of Makedon. Those negotiations with king Philip, and their breakdown because of an intervention by Alexander, certainly got Ada’s full attention.

  If Pixodaro could have obtained the backing of Philip’s war-hardened army, Ada’s fight against her brother would have become really desperate. So she gathered all the information she could on the affair, which in turn made her aware of Alexander’s capacities. She must have liked his personality then already. A feeling that now, in a quite natural way, led to her offer to adopt him.

  Alexander clearly showed his determination to protect his new ‘mother’: to back up her government he left behind a strong unit of 3200 soldiers, in spite of his own manpower shortage. But it turned out that her rule did not need much in the way of military backing. (These troops were employed in coastal operations against the Persian navy, until that threat had been neutralised, and then joined Alexander in time for the Issos battle.)

  In her second period as queen, Ada put to her credit another ten years of prosperity and peace for Karians and foreign residents alike. For instance, she authorised a honorary citizenship of Karia for two Persians who had come to serve as priests of Anahita-Afrodite. Their Persian credentials were so solid that their office passed on to their descendants for another three generations.

  But notwithstanding the peaceful coexistence between inhabitants of various Karian, Greek and Persian descent, the kingdom was immediately drawn into the Successor Wars after Alexander’s death. As part of his first appointments of satraps, Perdikkas ordered Asander, a relative of Antigonos One-Eye, to take over Karia. Soon, the region became a battlefield in the conflict between Perdikkas and Antigonos: Asander sided with his relative, and Eumenes attacked him with part of Perdikkas’ troops.

  If queen Ada had still been alive and reigning when Asander arrived in Halikarnassos, the classical sources could not fail to notice such an encroachment upon Alexander’s adoptive mother; but that is not mentioned anywhere. Therefore, most scholars place Ada’s death, ascribed to old age, in the immediate vicinity of those of Alexander and Sisygambis.

  This would have allowed Asander to take over Karia without much complication from a caretaker governor left behind by Ada. Probably he was Filoxenos, the financial administrator of the Sardès satrapy who, through his broad powers, had become one of the most influential men in Asia Minor. Early 323 he had gone to Babylon at the head of a troop of Karian reinforcements sent to Alexander. It can be inferred he then already was the acting governor in Karia for a very ill queen Ada.

  More than 2300 years later, in 1989, a miraculously untouched burial chamber was discovered on the grounds of the old Royal Necropolis of Halikarnassos, near the Mylasa Gate. The tomb revealed a sarcophagus containing the skeleton of a woman adorned with rich jewellery, including a golden diadem in the form of myrtle leaves, flowers, and berries. The form and content of the burial chamber, dated after 360 BC, left no doubt t
he royal lady pertained to the Hekatomnid dynasty.

  The anthropological analysis by specialists of the University of Manchester established that this woman, who had had at least two childbirths, was slightly over 40 years of age when she died of sudden illness after a healthy life — she was found with all her 32 teeth intact. Her facial reconstruction by university experts revealed a countenance highly similar to the bust of queen Ada I found at the Athene Polias temple in nearby Priene. They must have been close relatives. In view of her age at death, she might very well be queen Ada’s niece and namesake.

  Today the museum in the Bodrum Castle, an impressive crusader fortress built on the site of Halikarnassos’ royal stronghold, proudly exhibits ‘the Princess of Karia’. Her statue, adorned with all her jewels, stands in the Axe Tower — so called for the double-headed axe of Karia over its entrance gate. (Remains of Maussolo’s palace were identified on these grounds in 2004.) Thus the ancient golden diadem with the myrtle leaves, symbol of the blessings of the goddess Afrodite, once more overlooks the city from the highest point of the castle.

  • 5 •

  KLEOPATRA, ALEXANDER’S SISTER

  Kleopatra (355-308 BC) is Alexander’s only full sister, and the historical record makes clear that they maintain a bond of love and trust all their life. This bond acquires increasing political significance, nurtured by an active correspondence between the two, from the moment Alexander marches to the conquest of the Persian empire. By that time, Kleopatra already is queen of Molossia, a country bordering on Makedon.

  Soon, she will also be the governing Regent, and add more offices: she figures as the only woman on the short list of Theorodoch (officials charged to deal with visiting envoys for sacred rites) of the Alliance of Epiros. This means that she acts as the highest religious authority in Molossia, with a diplomatic mandate that keeps her up to date with any relevant event in Greece. Moreover, in Alexander’s last years Kleopatra returns to Makedon as the ‘visible’ head of the dynasty.

  In all such public appearances she is following the footsteps of their grandmother Eurydike, who was unusually active in politics so as to protect the throne rights of her sons; and the example of her mother Olympias, whose political and religious interventions were and are controversial to this very day.

  With this background, Kleopatra inevitably becomes the centre of attention –and desire– of each and every pretender to the throne, after Alexander’s death in 323 BC. In the course of the Successor Wars, all the marshalls of Alexander’s armies dream up some plan to legitimise their take-over of the empire by a political marriage to Kleopatra. But in the end, her symbolic value seals her tragic fate. Kleopatra will be murdered in 308 BC by one of the rival pretenders precisely to prevent her from marrying another.

  THE ERA OF EURYDIKE, OLYMPIAS AND KLEOPATRA

  c. 408 BC: Eurydike, grandmother of Alexander and Kleopatra, is born – a near contemporary of Sisygambis, by the way. She is a daughter of Sirras, one of the warlords on the northern frontier of Makedon. To seal a provisional peace after one of the frequent conflicts between Illyrians, Lyncestians and Makedonians, she is married to king Amyntas III of Makedon. At least a generation older than her, he already has other wives, given as part of previous peace agreements. However, it turns out that the pact with Sirras, including the new bride, brings much more stability to the region. This, plus the three male heirs she produces for Amyntas, explains why he endows this youngest wife with the venerated name of Eurydike. An homage to the mother of Makedon’s first famous king: Alexander I, who reigned in 498-454 BC. Amyntas and the new Eurydike are married in

  392 BC, and their first son, Alexander II, has already come of age when his father dies in 370 BC. He succeeds him on the throne, but is murdered two years later during a ritual dance. The sons of Amyntas’ other wives, and even those of previous kings, claim the crown. To defend the throne rights of her younger sons, both minors, Eurydike allies herself to (and finally marries) general Ptolemaios. This, despite rumors that the general had something to do with the murderous dance. The promise she exacts from him, that he will uphold her sons for the kingship, is the first ever recorded political deed by a Makedonian queen. Even more unheard of: in

  365 BC Eurydike –nót Ptolemaios– appeals publicly to a general from Athens, Ifíkrates, for military support. Ifíkrates is in the region with an expeditionary force to protect vital corn supply routes for Athens. He obliges her, squashes all other pretenders, and installs her second son, Perdikkas, on the throne. The new king eliminates his foster-father Ptolemaios, who had proclaimed himself king meanwhile. (To Eurydike, her relation with Ptolemaios probably constituted an unavoidable, if unpleasant, compromise to save her younger sons Perdikkas and Philip. To the routed pretenders, it offered all the necessary elements for an active smearing campaign against Eurydike as an “adulteress, parricide and power-hungry witch”. Later, the enemies of Olympias will repeat the same slander all over again). Eurydike wields unrivalled influence in the period

  365-350: the reign of Perdikkas and the initial years of Philip. Recently, archeological proof has been excavated that in her years of political power, Eurydike also makes herself quite visible on the religious scene. She signs a dedication to the Muses, “in the name of all women citizens of Makedon”, adding proudly: “I learned to read and write when my sons were grown-ups already”. The text seems to indicate that she promoted and financed public education for women. Also, on the central square of the ancient Makedonian capital of Aigai she funds a temple to Eukleia, the “Goddess of Good Reknown”. Eurydike’s appointment as high priestess of this goddess evidently is the official answer, backed up by her son the king, to the mudslingers. When Philip, born in 382 and on the throne as from 359, reaches the zenith of his power, he will honour his mother by putting up a statue of her in the sacred precinct of Olympia. Though her sons marry multiple wives, as long as she lives Eurydike is the woman of the highest rank at the Makedonian court. She does not hold a formal ‘office’ of queen-mother as in Near-Eastern countries, but she certainly is just as powerful. (Eurydike must have impressed the child Alexander as a woman of both authority and tenderness. Some specialists want to see this as the sole cause of the fondness that Alexander will later show towards the queen-mothers Ada of Karia and Sisygambis of Persia. But in those cases Alexander’s memories of his grandmother were just an additional factor. As he was less than 10 years old then, Alexander cannot have enjoyed, with Eurydike, the intellectual and political discussions that forge his bond with Olympias first, and with Ada and Sisygambis afterwards.)

  The available evidence places the death of Eurydike around the years

  350-348 BC: at an audience with Philip in 346, an ambassador of Athens, Aeschines, holds a speech including an in memoriam of Eurydike.

  373 BC: Kleopatra’s mother Polyxena is born –probably in Dodona– as a daughter of king Neoptolemos of Molossia, succeeded in 368 by his brother Arrybas (married to Polyxena’s sister Troas). She is named after a daughter of king Priam of Troy. Polyxena favours her Trojan ancestry where women were allowed active public roles, and high priestesses often were hereditary in elite families. She underlines her descent from the hero Achilles, through his son Neoptolemos and the spear-won Trojan princess Andromache. This preference is instilled in her son Alexander by the tutor Leonidas, a kinsman of his mother. Alexander will always name Achilles as his ancestor-hero, though his paternal lineage was just as Homeric and famous.

  370-365 BC: at age 12–17, Philip is sent by his brother king Perdikkas as a hostage to the Illyrians, and later to Thebes. There he learns from the famous general Epaminondas, friend of his hosts, about warfare and the importance of Persia, ally of Thebes.

  360 BC: Perdikkas, most of his cavalry (i.e., nobles), and part of his footsoldiers, are massacred by the Illyrians. Philip becomes king, reorganizes his infantry, and against all odds stops the Illyrian advance.

  359 BC: Philip reinforces his western border against Illyria throug
h an alliance with the king of Elimea, whose daughter Fila is his first ‘war bride’. They have no children. In Molossia, meanwhile, Polyxena is initiated in a mystery cult –probably of Afrodite or the Great Goddess– and chooses her new name “Myrtale”. (The myrtle is a symbol of Afrodite).

  358 BC: Philip beats the Illyrians and receives, to seal the peace, his second ‘war bride’: Audata, who around 357 bears his eldest daughter Cynnane. At that time Philip is warring in Thessaly, where he marries his third ‘war bride’: Filinna, who bears his half-wit son Arridaios also around 357. King Arrybas of Molossia, threatened by Illyrian raids, allies himself with Philip and takes his niece Myrtale to the faraway Makedonian-sponsored shrine on Samothrace island, to be the fourth bride of Philip.

  357 BC: They marry in the summer of 357. She bears his son Alexander in 356 BC (July, 20th) and one year later a daughter, Kleopatra. In 356, to underline the triumph of Philip’s chariot at the Olympic Games, Polyxena/Myrtale’s name is changed to Olympias.

  As for the name Kleopatra (“Pride of her Ancestors”): the first Kleopatra is the mythological child of Boreas, wind-god of the North, and Oreithyia, daughter of the legendary Athenian king Erechteus. This Kleopatra marries a king of savages on the Bosphorus and suffers a tragic end; though other versions have her rule the kingdom when her Argonaut sons leave. Other ‘literary’ Kleopatras –Homer includes a daughter of king Tros, founder of Troy– also hail from the Doric North. The first ‘real’ Kleopatra c. 700 BC became the wife of Perdikkas from Argos who wandered to Makedon, where she was a local princess. She bore him Argaios, the first historical king of Makedon. This is why the ‘Argead’ royal Alexander I can convince the judges of the Olympic Games in 500 BC that he has the right to participate as a true Greek, being a descendant of this Perdikkas.