Olympias
Modern conventional wisdom knows Olympias as a pitiless and savage woman, a practitioner of barbaric Dionysiac rites compelled by jealousy and ruthless ambition to the murder of her rivals in order to secure her son’s succession to the throne of Macedon. In this way she is credited for Alexander the Great’s unprecedented achievements—yet the scale of her son’s epic story has obscured her own.
Such critical accounts of Olympias’ actions have made unforgiving and often unfounded judgments of her motivations. This myth, however, originates from later ancient writers, to which her strength and tenacity represented an abhorrent contradiction to contemporary gender roles. Later historians have all too often perpetuated this ancient sexual stereotyping by failing to question these sources.
In this, the first modern biography of Olympias, Elizabeth Carney penetrates myth, fiction and sexual politics to reveal a fascinating and wholly misunderstood figure. Through a close and critical assessment of the sources, Olympias is humanized as she is placed in the context of her own brutal political world.
Olympias examines:
•
the role of Greek religion in Olympias’ life
•
literary and artistic traditions about Olympias found throughout the later ancient periods
•
varying representations of Olympias found in the major ancient sources.
This book will be the definitive guide to the life of the first woman to play a major role in Greek political history as well as a compelling read for students, scholars and anyone with an interest in Greek, Classical or women’s history.
Elizabeth Carney is Professor of Ancient History at Clemson University in South Carolina. She is the author of Women and Monarchy in Ancient Macedonia (2000).
Women of the Ancient World
Series editors: Ronnie Ancona and Sarah Pomeroy The books in this series offer compact and accessible introductions to the lives and historical times of women from the ancient world. Each book, written by a distinguished scholar in the field, introduces and explores the life of one woman or group of women from antiquity, from a biographical perspective.
The texts will be authoritative introductions by experts in the field. Each book will be of interest to students and scholars of antiquity as well as those with little or no prior knowledge of ancient history or literature, combining rigorous scholarship with reader-friendly prose. Each volume will contain a guide to further reading, a brief glossary, and timelines, maps, and images, as necessary.
Women of the Ancient World will provide an opportunity for specialists to present concise, authoritative accounts, uncovering and exploring important figures in need of historical study and advancing current scholarship on women of the past. Although there is a growing body of excellent scholarship on the lives and roles of women in the ancient world, much work remains.
This series will be the first of its kind.
Olympias, Mother of Alexander the Great
Elizabeth Carney
Julia Domna, Syrian Empress
Barbara Levick
Julia Augusti, The Emperor’s Daughter
Elaine Fantham
Olympias
Mother of Alexander the Great
Elizabeth Carney
First published 2006
by Routledge
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006.
“To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.”
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2006 Elizabeth Carney
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN10: 0–415–33316–4 (hbk)
ISBN10: 0–415–33317–2 (pbk)
ISBN10: 0–203–41278–8 (ebk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–33316–0 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–415–33317–7 (pbk)
ISBN13: 978–0–203–41278–7 (ebk)
In Memoriam
James Francis Carney
Contents
Preface
ix
Significant events
xi
The Aeacid dynasty
xiii
The Argead dynasty
xiv
List of abbreviations
xv
Introduction
1
1
Olympias the Molossian
5
2
Olympias, wife of Philip II
19
3
Olympias, mother of the king, Alexander the Great
42
4
Olympias on her own, 323–316
60
5
Olympias and religion
88
6
Olympias’ afterlife
104
Appendix: Olympias and the sources
125
List of terms
138
Notes
140
Bibliography
197
Index
213
Preface
I have written about Olympias, on and off, since the summer of 1979. That means that I have been living with Olympias longer than I have lived with my husband and that my interest in her is older than my daughter, by several years. Nonetheless, only in my first article on her did I attempt to construct a unified and self-contained analysis of her entire career. I am grateful to Ronnie Ancona and Sarah Pomeroy, the editors of this series, and to Richard Stoneman of Routledge, for the opportunity to write a monograph on this remarkable woman and for the encouragement to return, after so many years, to a comprehensive consideration of her life. There is no lengthy, modern, scholarly study of her career.
No one accomplishes scholarly work without the assistance of many others. Stan Burstein was kind enough to read over and comment on the entire manuscript. Like everyone else who works on royal women in the late Classical and Hellenistic period, I owe a debt to my distinguished predecessor, Grace Harriet Macurdy. I was lucky enough to help to direct Kate Mortensen’s dissertation on Olympias. Conversations and letters with Kate, as well as her own scholarship, have often given me new ideas. Bob Milns, Bill Greenwalt, Peter Green and Waldemar Heckel have patiently read much of what I have written about Olympias, sometimes helping by disagreeing.
Daniel Ogden and Jeanne Reames-Zimmerman have opened up new ways of looking at sexuality and competition at the Macedonian court. Gene Borza and Ernie Fredricksmeyer have always offered broad insight on matters Macedonian. John Oates and Philip Stadter, who gave me my initial understanding of the reign of Alexander, have continued to offer every assistance.
Pierre Briant, Sylvie Le Bohec, Olga Palagia, Dolores Mirón-Pérez, Bruno Tripodi, Argyro Tataki, and Miltos Hatzopoulos have all offered help by email and kindly sent me material otherwise difficult to obtain. My colleagues in the history department have listened to and commented on my stories of ancient Macedonian melodrama. Without the efficient work of our inter-library loan l
ibrarians, this book would never have been possible.
My family has always encouraged my research. My husband William Aarnes has often functioned as an editor of my more wordy pieces and my daughter, Emma Aarnes, so empathized with her mother’s work that, as a
x Preface
third grader, she produced an entertaining and accurate report on Olympias.
But I would like to offer particular thanks to my father, to whose memory this book is dedicated. His love of Latin led to my first interest in the ancient world.
Significant events
382
Philip II born in Macedonia
c. 373
Olympias born in Molossia
357
Philip II marries Olympias
356
Alexander III, son of Olympias and Philip, born
c. 355
Cleopatra, daughter of Olympias and Philip, born
340s
Olympias’ brother, Alexander, becomes king of Molossia with the help of Philip
343/2
Aristotle becomes Alexander III’s tutor
338
Philip’s victory at Chaeroneia brings domination of Greek peninsula
Philip decides to build Philippeum
337
Corinthian League; war against Persia determined
Philip marries Cleopatra, ward of Attalus, and Alexander and Olympias leave Macedonia
Alexander and Olympias return to Macedonia
Pixodarus affair (possibly happened in early 336) 336
Parmenio and Attalus lead advance party to Asia Minor Cleopatra, ward of Attalus, bears a daughter to Philip Alexander of Molossia marries Olympias’ daughter
Cleopatra
Pausanias assassinates Philip and Alexander becomes king Corinthian League accepts Alexander as hegemon 335
Olympias (and Alexander?) have Cleopatra and her daughter killed
Alexander has Attalus killed
334
(Spring) Alexander’s force crosses to Asia Minor
Battle of Granicus
332
(Fall) Alexander captures Gaza and sends Olympias plunder
xii Significant events
331
Alexander visits Siwah and begins to assert his divine sonship Battle of Gaugamela
Revolt of Agis
(Fall or winter 330) Death of Alexander of Molossia Olympias leaves Macedonia for Molossia
330
Antipater’s defeat of Agis
Death of Darius
Elimination of Philotas and Parmenio
328
Death of Cleitus
327
Alexander’s marriage to Roxane
Hermolaus conspiracy
326
Alexander’s troops refuse to march further
325
(Or winter 324) Cleopatra leaves Molossia for Macedonia 324
Alexander marries daughter of Darius amid mass marriages of Macedonians and Greeks to Asian women
Alexander appoints Craterus to succeed Antipater
323
Cassander arrives in Babylon
(June 10) Alexander dies
Settlement in Babylon
Birth of Alexander IV
Outbreak of Lamian War
Cleopatra (and Olympias) negotiate marriage alliance with Leonnatus
322
Leonnatus dies raising siege of Lamia
(?) Aeacides becomes king (or co-king) of Molossia Cleopatra leaves for Sardis
320
Perdiccas killed
Antipater regent
319
Antipater returns to Macedonia with the kings
(Late summer) Antipater dies; Polyperchon regent
317
Cassander invades Macedonia and allies with Adea Eurydice (Fall) Olympias and Polyperchon return to Macedonia Deaths of Adea Eurydice and Philip Arrhidaeus
Surrender and death of Eumenes (late fall or winter 316) 316
(Spring) surrender and death of Olympias; Cassander takes over
310–309 Murders of Alexander IV and Heracles
c. 308
Murder of Cleopatra, daughter of Olympias
c. 295
Murder of Thessalonice, half sister of Alexander the Great
Cadme
=
Alexander
Cleopatra
(the Molossian)
Neoptolemus
=?
ybbas
Troas I
=
Ar
Neoptolemus
Alexander III
(the Great)
of Macedonia
=
Olympias
yps
Phillip II of Macedonia
Thar
Alcetas I
Cleopatra
? = ?
= ?
Alcetas
yrrhus
ybbas
A
Ar
roas I
= T
Aeacides
= Phthia
Troas II
Deidameia
The Aeacid dynasty in the era of Olympias
Europa
by Cleopatra
Meda
Cleopatra II
2 children
by Alexander
the Molossian
Parysatis
by Olympias
Stateira II
Philip II
(360/59–336)
Alexander III
(336–323)
by Roxane
Alexander IV
(323–311/10)
ydice I
ydice
by Eur
Amyntas
by Barsine
Heracles
Perdiccas III
by Cynnane
(365–360/59)
Adea Eur
Amyntas III
(393–370/69)
Stateira I
Alexander II
(370/69–367)
ydice
ynoe
=
=
Eur
Ptolemy
(367–365)
by Philinna
(323–317)
Adea Eur
(Phillip) Arrhidaeus
Menelaus
3 sons
by Nicesipolis
Thessalonice
by Cassander
(315–297)
by Gygaea
Phila 1
Arrhidaeus
ydice
The Argead dynasty in the era of Olympias
Cynnane
Archelaus
by Audata
by Amyntas
dea EurA
Abbreviations
AAA
Athens Annals of Archaeology
AC
L’Antiquité classique
AE
Archaiologika Ephemeris
AEMTH
To archaiologiko ergo ste Makedonia kai Thrake AHB
Ancient History Bulletin
AHR
American Historical Review
AJA
American Journal of Archaeology
AJAH
American Journal of Ancient History
AJP
American Journal of Philology
AM
Archaia Makedonia/Ancient Macedonia, Proceedings of the International Symposia on Ancient Macedonia.
AncW
Ancient World
AncSoc
Ancient Society
AnnPisa
Annali della Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa AR
Archaeological Reports
ArchN
Archaeological News
BCH
Bulletin de correspondance hellénique
BSA
Annual of the British School at Athens
BSRAA
Bulletin de la Société Royal d’Archéologie d’Alexandrie CA
CAH
Cambridge Ancient History
Choix
F. Dürrbach, Choix d’inscriptions de Délos, Paris, 1921
CJ
Classical Journal
CP
Classical Philology
CQ
Classical Quarterly
CW
Classical World
EchCl
Echos du monde classique/Classical Views
Ergon
Ergon tes archaiologikes Etaireias
EtPap
Études de papyrologie
FGrH
F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, Leiden, 1993
FHG
C. Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum, Paris, 1849–51
xvi Abbreviations
FlorIlib
Florentia Iliberritana
G&R
Greece and Rome
GHI
M. N. Tod, A Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions, Vols. 1 and 2, Oxford, 1946 and 1948
GRBS
Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
HSCP
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
HThR
Harvard Theological Review
ID
F. Dürrbach, Inscriptions de Délos, Paris, 1929
IG
Incriptiones Graecae
JHS
Journal of Hellenic Studies
LCM
Liverpool Classical Monthly
LSJ
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, and H. Stuart Jones,
Greek–English Lexicon, 9th edn, Oxford, 1940
MDAI(A)
Mitteilungen des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts Abteilung Athens
NC
Numismatic Chronicle
OGIS
W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graecae Inscriptiones Selectae, Leipzig, 1903–5
PCPhS
Proceedings of the Cambridge Philological Society P&P
Past and Present
PF
Philosophical Forum
PP
La Parola del Passato
RE
A. Pauly, G. Wissowa, and W. Kroll, Realencyclopädie des classischen Altertumswissenschaft, Stuttgart, 1893–
REA
Revue des études anciennes
REG
Revue des études grecques
RendIstLomb
Rendiconti. Istituto lombardo, Accademia di scienze e lettere
RFIC
Rivista di filologia e d’istruzione classica
RhM
Rheinisches Museum
RIDA
Revue internationale des droits de l’antiquité RN
Revue numismatique
RSA
Rivista storica dell’antichita
SEG
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum
SIG
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