Olympias

by Elizabeth Carney

  14 Olympias the Molossian

  betrothal and the festival is particularly appealing because, at least in Hellenistic times and quite possibly earlier, the festival included a reenactment of the wedding of Cadmus and Harmonia.70

  Plutarch’s language makes it clear that the betrothal was an agreement between two men. Olympias probably did not consent; it is unlikely that her views on the subject were solicited. Had she been a widow, not a young girl, it might have been different. Widowed women in Molossia had considerable legal independence and in Macedonia several widowed royal women acted as their own marriage brokers or tried to arrange marriages for their daughters.71

  Did Arybbas negotiate, in any sense, with Olympias’ interests in mind?

  Military alliance apart, it seems plausible to assume that Arybbas would have been concerned about anything that would affect Aeacid honor and improve Molossian interests or his personal ones. Aeacid clan pride certainly could be a potent force. When, many years later, Philip did act in a way that Olympias’ son Alexander considered dishonored her, he and his mother exiled themselves to Molossia (Alexander went on to the Illyrians), trouble did brew between the two dynasties, and only a second Molossian–

  Macedonian royal marriage soothed this affront to Aeacid pride (see Chapter 2). It seems much less likely that Arybbas would have cared about Olympias’

  personal welfare (after all, he had presumably forced her father to share the throne with him, a situation unlikely to produce warm feelings between uncle and niece, and his marriage to her sister may or may not have improved relations). It has been hypothesized72 that Arybbas asked for and received certain guarantees: that Olympias be given greater status at court than existing wives, that a son born to her be treated as heir, and that she be given an unprecedentedly prestigious wedding in Macedonia. While all of these possible guarantees accord, in varying degrees, with what I have suggested were Arybbas’ interests, the first and second suggest a certainty about future complications and about Philip’s willingness to honor the terms that seems implausible.73 The third, because it directly connects to family pride and involved an event in the immediate future, is more believable. However, as we shall see, it is not certain that Olympias got a big public wedding and even less certain that, if she did, it was unprecedented.

  What role, then, did Olympias play in this alliance? First and foremost, she had to produce babies, preferably male and preferably more than one.

  A childless wife risked divorce and certainly lost status. The production of children, central to any ancient marriage, was particularly vital in royal marriages. Not only property but also succession to the throne and thus political stability were at issue. The central importance for women is demonstrated by the actions of Andromacha, probably Olympias’ aunt. She made a trip to the distant shrine of Asclepius in Epidaurus in order to become pregnant, and perhaps a second, in gratitude for the birth of a son.74 Marriage alliances arranged by two males were, among other things, agreements to have common descendants. Philip, Arybbas and Olympias all benefited from the

  Olympias the Molossian 15

  production of children from the alliance: Philip could get more heirs and marriageable daughters; Arybbas could get greater prestige and perhaps closer relations if a child of the marriage became king; and Olympias got immediate precedence over any childless royal wives, yet more if she produced male children, and the greatest prestige of all if she produced the heir to the throne.75

  In other contexts in the Greek world, the production of children rather than the wedding itself confirmed a marriage and made it seem permanent (e.g., Lys. 1.6). This would be especially true in a political marriage alliance.

  Many historians treat all royal brides involved in such alliances as mere tokens, soon forgotten by both the families of their births and their marriage, particularly if they produced no children. Judging by the evidence, that probably was the situation of some royal women, but by no means all.76 One must, first of all, reflect on the implications of Greek marriage practice. In terms of general Greek marriage patterns, one family in a sense loaned a woman to another family; she never became part of her husband’s family and (as in the case of Olympias’ return to her family, mentioned above) even quarrels, let alone divorce or death, might send her back to the family of her birth. Any children of the marriage belonged to her husband’s family, not hers, and would not follow her if she left the marital household. Her birth family might arrange a marriage to yet another family.77 Women, therefore, were likely to retain a significant degree of identity with their birth families and were likely to maintain, as much as possible, close relations with them. In practice, in royal dynasties, this meant that women functioned as intermediaries between two royal families. Olympias’ connection to Molossia and the Aeacid dynasty remained strong throughout her life. Royal fathers, brothers and uncles often expected that the new wives would act as ambas-sadors in a foreign court for the interests of the family of their birth, even in opposition to those of their husbands (e.g., Just. 16.2.4). Husbands sometimes had the reverse expectation (e.g., Plut. Demetr. 2.3). Negotiating these contradictory expectations was a given for royal women. Such expectations could, of course, create conflicts in loyalty, but the alliances themselves could also help to resolve them.

  For royal women confronted with a situation in which they were not the only wife, continued ties to birth families were even more likely. Family status could increase their personal status compared to other wives and birth family members could function as their advocates and supporters against the interests of other wives. Olympias’ career offers examples of both: she stressed her heroic genealogy and passed on that focus to her son. As we shall see, several members of the Aeacid clan played important roles in the court of Philip (see Chapter 2). She would not be the lone Molossian at court.

  Throughout this chapter I have referred to the daughter of Neoptolemus as “Olympias,” yet that is unlikely to have been the name she was known by during her girlhood in Molossia. Plutarch ( Mor. 401) noted that nicknames often obscure real names and asserted that Alexander’s mother, Polyxena, was later called Myrtale, Olympias, and Stratonice.78 Justin

  16 Olympias the Molossian

  (2.7.13) insists that Myrtale was the name she was known by as a child. Since other royal women either changed their names or took on additional epithets, it seems likely that this Molossian king’s daughter had different names or epithets at different periods and that the changes came at significant moments in her life.79 Name changing and the choice of politically significant names marked the comparatively public status of royal women. These significant names may sometimes have functioned as quasi-titles in an era before actual titles were employed.80

  Various scholars have developed explanations for the four names of Olympias. (We shall return to the issue of her name changes in Chapter 5, in the context of their relationship to her religiosity.) This is what seems likely to me. At first she was known as Polyxena, a Trojan name like those of her sister and brother, appropriate choices if their mother was a member of the Chaonian dynasty that claimed descent from the royal house of Troy, yet a name with connections to Neoptolemus as well.81 At some point before her marriage she acquired the name Myrtale, almost certainly in connection to some religious experience, whether a rite of passage,82 Samothracian ritual,83

  or some other, as yet unknown, mystery cult. Olympias, the name the sources always employ about her, must date from the early days of her marriage to Philip, most likely to a wedding somehow connected to the festival of Olympian Zeus, although possibly to Philip’s Olympian victory in the following year (see Chapter 5). Stratonice (‘victory’ in military matters) is probably the last name, more like an epithet, employed in the brief period in 317 between her victory against Adea Eurydice and Philip Arrhidaeus and her own defeat by Cassander.84

  Sarah Pomeroy raises an interesting question about Olympias’ name changes. How would she herself have felt about them? Pomeroy wonders wh
ether Olympias would have experienced a “loss of identity” or, alternatively, would have seen the changed name as “an affirmation of his [Philip’s]

  bond with her.”85 The assumption seems to be that all these changes in name/epithet were imposed upon her by her father (and perhaps her mother, granted the Chaonian connection), uncle, and husband. Whereas “Polyxena”

  and “Olympias” were likely chosen by others, Olympias could possibly have chosen her other two names herself. She could have selected “Myrtale”

  herself, as part of a coming-of-age ceremony or as part of her betrothal, in the same way that those about to receive communion for the first time can choose for themselves an additional name. “Stratonice,” probably selected long after the death of Philip, is, of all these names, the one most likely to have been her own decision.

  Ancient sources tell us nothing directly about the personality, character, world view or even the appearance86 of the daughter of Neoptolemus as her wedding entourage set off over the Pindus Mountains in the direction of her new kingdom. However, based on what is known about her life and background, we can speculate about her views and circumstance as she began her public career.

  Olympias the Molossian 17

  Though only in her mid- to late teens, this young woman had already experienced a great deal. While still a young child, she had seen her father lose sole control of his kingdom. A possibly tense period of uncertain duration followed in which he and his brother shared rule. Then her father Neoptolemus died, leaving his children in what may well have seemed the sinister guardianship of their uncle. Probably soon after that, her uncle married her sister. Shortly before Olympias’ betrothal, the Illyrians invaded her country. Frontinus (2.5.19) reports that Arybbas sent the non-combatants as refugees into Aetolia, while he and whatever army he could gather withdrew to the mountains in order to utilize guerrilla tactics against the much larger invading force. Presumably Olympias and her sister would have endured the danger of the invasion and the uncertainty of evacuation.

  More recently yet, Olympias had made the long journey to Samothrace. Even before her entry into Macedonia, Olympias had dealt with political intrigue, physical danger, and the loss of her most powerful protector, and had traveled to two different foreign territories. Her life began, much as it would end, in uncertainty and danger.

  Despite her early entry into the world of power politics and violence, as my comparison and contrast of the two kingdoms should have implied, the society Olympias would encounter in Macedonia, though likely much less alien to her than that of Thebes or Athens, would have been different from her previous experience. Philip’s court was certainly richer and more cosmopolitan than that of Arybbas, or at least it became so soon after her arrival.

  Military activity and success mattered more in the Macedonian court. The climate and terrain around Pella and Aegae, the Macedonian capitals, was much milder than that of Olympias’ homeland. Philip had more power over the Macedonians than her uncle did over the Molossians. As we shall see, Philip already had several wives and children (and may have had concubines in residence, as well). Despite the fact that Olympias had grown up in a court that was itself not without intrigue, the level of complexity that she would encounter in the court of Philip would be far greater than that of Arybbas (although Olympias would surely have been warned to expect the presence of the other wives).

  It is particularly difficult to assess Olympias’ probable attitude toward her coming marriage. Literature written by Greek women stresses the pain and loss of identity the break between the world (family and friends) of a young unmarried girl and a bride occasioned. Olympias’ distance from the land of her birth could have exacerbated this feeling.87 However, since her father was dead, her mother may have been, and we do not know how well she got on with her uncle and how comfortable she was at his court, we cannot tell whether she would have been glad to leave.88

  What we do know is that she brought her pride in her lineage with her.

  Hers was a more prestigious marriage than that of any previous Aeacid woman and, if her wedding were indeed held at a major Macedonian festival, her nuptials were more elaborate and public than those of previous Molossian

  18 Olympias the Molossian

  royal women. Olympias’ Aeacid descent would continue to be a support and source of identity to herself and both her children.

  In her subsequent career, Olympias consistently pursued her son’s and then her grandson’s political interests, tending to regard any check on their power, the prominence of any other figure, as a threat to them. Herself the product of a relatively weak monarchic system, she regularly attempted to create a situation which enabled both her male kin and herself to act more absolutely. This response was probably instinctive, certainly not at first a conscious plan or policy, though it would become one. Olympias was, like Philip, a person with a knack for seeing the possibilities for exploitation in a situation. Even early on in her Macedonian career, she demonstrated that.

  If Olympias the young girl was anything like Olympias the mature woman, then she would have been aware of many of the dangers and complications awaiting her, but she would not have been fearful and she would not have been timid.

  2

  Olympias, wife of Philip II

  Olympias, the young princess from a remote mountain kingdom, became the wife of Philip II (r. 359–336) of Macedon, probably in the fall of 357.

  Olympias would need to find her own way through the intrigues, shifting alliances, and power plays of a court that was at once cosmopolitan and yet profoundly provincial. The complexities of a polygamous marriage to a king who was rapidly becoming the most powerful man in the Greek world made this task even more difficult. Nonetheless, Olympias became the most important woman in the Macedonian court since, about midway through his reign, Philip began to treat her son Alexander as his heir. However, shortly after Philip’s great victory of Chaeroneia in 338 established his domination of the entire Greek peninsula and as he planned a Graeco-Macedonian invasion of the Persian Empire, a series of events relevant to Alexander’s relationship with Philip threatened to jeopardize the succession of her son and thus Olympias’ position. Despite the fact that Philip arranged a public reconciliation with his son (and almost certainly with Olympias as well), his murder triggered charges that mother and son were involved in his assassination.

  Notwithstanding continuing suspicions about their role in Philip’s death, Alexander succeeded his father, and Olympias became the most influential woman in the Greek world and would remain so until her death. While Philip’s initial preference for her son may have had little to do with Olympias or her actions (Philip’s only other son had mental limitations), Alexander’s successful negotiation of the threats to his position as heir may have owed much to his mother’s efforts on his behalf. Certainly it is during this troubled period that the sources first report her taking an active role in events, as her son’s advocate.

  Olympias arrived in Philip’s court at a turning point in the reign of her husband and in the history of Macedonia and the entire Greek peninsula.

  Two years before, Philip had come to the throne in a moment of great crisis.

  The Illyrians had invaded Macedonia and massacred a Macedonian army.

  Among the dead was its commander, Philip’s older brother Perdiccas III.

  Three different pretenders to the throne (two supported by foreign powers) threatened Philip’s rule and the kingdom itself.1 Although this was one of the worst moments in Macedonian history, Macedonia had never been stable:

  20 Olympias, wife of Philip II Argead rulers lacked real control over the mountainous areas of the kingdom.

  Invasions, particularly by Illyrian tribes, happened with some regularity.

  Bitter rivalries within the royal Argead clan frequently led to royal exile and assassinations. The years since the death of Philip’s father Amyntas III had proved particularly rocky; the kingdom seemed to lurch from one crisis to another.2r />
  At the time of Philip’s accession, no one would have been surprised if his kingdom had been partitioned, but instead, within only two years, Philip dealt with all the pretenders and staved off the threatened invasions. He did this by a combination of military success (having begun a reform of the Macedonian army) and diplomatic skill. Olympias’ arrival roughly coincided with a basic change in Philip’s efforts: he moved from the defensive to the offensive. Philip had already begun to centralize his kingdom and consolidate his borders, and now he moved to expand the realm he had inherited. His combination of military and political acumen brought him increasing wealth and renown and would ultimately enable him to defeat all comers in Greece.

  Thus Olympias appeared in Macedonia at the very time it was ceasing to be a backward and remote kingdom, much like the one in which she had grown up, and was becoming a more urban, wealthier, and much more Hellenized realm ruled by a king who had already accumulated more control than had any Argead ruler before him.

  Macedonian monarchy had no structural limits, unlike Molossian monarchy, but it had previously had many circumstantial ones. Rival claimants to the throne, invasions, and assassinations had prevented the development of much centralized power, as had the comparative lack of urbanization.