34 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019
357 b.c.
Olympias becomes a wife of
the polygamous Philip II, king
of Macedonia. A year later,
she bears his son, the future
Alexander the Great.370 s b.c.
Olympias is born, the daughter
of the ruler of the northern
Greek state of Molossia. Like its
neighbor Macedonia, Molossia
is a hereditary kingdom.337 b.c.
Philip takes a new bride,
Cleopatra Eurydice, who is
Macedonian. At the wedding,
Alexander’s honor is insulted
by Attalus, uncle of the bride.336 b.c.
Philip is killed in a brawl at
a feast. Alexander becomes
king, and has Attalus executed.
Olympias has Cleopatra
Eurydice and her child killed.330 b.c.
Alexander topples the Persian
emperor. In Macedonia,
tension between Olympias and
Alexander’s regent, Antipater,
forces her to return to Molossia.316 b.c.
Following his victory over
Olympias at Pydna,
Cassander executes her.
The deposed Alexander IV
is killed five years later.317 b.c.
Six years after Alexander’s
death, Olympias defeats
Antipater’s son, Cassander. She
rules Macedonia as regent for
her grandson, Alexander IV.O
lympias, wife of Philip II, king of
Macedonia, and mother of Al-
exander the Great, conqueror of
the Persian Empire, was the first
woman to participate actively
in the political events of the Greek peninsula.
Olympias was murderous, vengeful, and brave—
much like her male kin—but history has not
treated her as grandly. The violence of her hus-
band and son, both responsible for hundreds of
thousands, perhaps millions of deaths, tends to
be taken for granted—even celebrated—where-
as both ancient and modern authors often fault
Olympias, for not being nice. She wasn’t. But
neither was Philip or Alexander.
Most of the sources about Olympias, written
many centuries after her death, treat her hostile-
ly because she transgressed Greek expectations
about women: They were supposed to be quiet,
passive, stay out of public life, and maintain theKINGLY
APPAREL
A tetradrachm of
Philip II showing the
king on horseback
wearing a kausia
(felt hat) and
chlamys (cape), both
garments typical of
Macedonian dress.
BRIDGEMAN/ACIWife,
Mother,
Ruler