NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 37Maternal Maneuvers
Since Philip was frequently absent on campaign,
Olympias took on a greater role in raising her son,
who probably knew his mother better than his
father. Plutarch described Alexander’s relation-
ship with Philip as competitive but affectionate.
Philip treated Alexander like his heir. He chose
Aristotle as Alexander’s teacher, then left the 16-
year-old in charge of Macedonia (with the as-
sistance of his general Antipater) while Philip was
off on campaign. A little later, in 338, Philip chose
Alexander, then age 18, to play a decisive role in
the great Macedonian victory at Chaeronea.
Yet the apparent security and prestige of Olym-
pias and Alexander suddenly seemed to vanish
on the occasion of Philip’s seventh marriage to a
Macedonian woman, Cleopatra Eurydice. Philip
had married many times, so yet another mar-
riage was not necessarily a problem for Alexan-
der (he was apparently invited to the wedding
festivities), but this was Philip’s first marriage
to a Macedonian woman, one with an ambitious
guardian. It was another marriage alliance, this
time an internal one.
At the wedding, the wine flowed freely for
Philip and his guests. The uncle and guardian of
the bride, a Macedonian general named Attalus,
asked those assembled to join him in a toast that
the new marriage might bring to birth a legiti-
mate successor. Alexander sprang up enraged,
demanded to know if Attalus was calling him a
bastard, and threw a cup at him. Philip attempted
to draw his sword on his own son and failed be-
cause he was so drunk he tripped, and Alexander
mocked him. After this drunken brawl, Olympias
and Alexander went back to Molossia.
Exactly what the drunken Attalus meant by
his insult is unclear: He could have been charg-
ing Olympias with adultery or insinuating that
Alexander, the son of a foreign woman, wasNEW NAME FOR
THE QUEEN
Plutarch reported
that Olympias was
not the Molossian
queen’s given name.
Philip changed it to
Olympias after a
chariot he sent to the
games, being held in
that city, won a race.
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