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Olympias, born Polyxena (later Myrtale) around 375 BC to King Neoptolemus I of Molossian Epirus, traced her lineage to the hero Achilles through the Aeacidae. She adopted the name Olympias following Philip II of Macedon's Olympic victory coinciding with her son Alexander's birth.
She married Philip II in 357 BC, forging a political alliance between Epirus and Macedon. This marriage strained under Philip's additional unions and temperament. Olympias fiercely championed her son Alexander's claim to the throne, especially after Philip married Cleopatra Eurydice, whose uncle Attalus publicly challenged Alexander's legitimacy, forcing Olympias and Alexander into temporary exile.
A devotee of Dionysus's orgiastic cult, Olympias incorporated snakes into her rituals, reportedly sleeping with them. She claimed Zeus fathered Alexander through divine serpent conception. Though Alexander initially dismissed this, Olympias later supported the Siwa oracle's declaration of his divine sonship.
After Philip's assassination in 336 BC, Olympias returned to Macedon and ordered the execution of Cleopatra Eurydice and her infant daughter to secure Alexander's throne. During his campaigns, she corresponded regularly and exerted political influence in Macedon, frequently opposing the regent Antipater. Alexander acknowledged her counsel but sometimes dismissed it, remarking she "charged a high rent" for his time in her womb.
Following Alexander's death in 323 BC, Olympias became guardian to his son, Alexander IV. She allied with Polyperchon against Cassander. In 317 BC, she defeated, captured, and executed Philip III Arrhidaeus and his wife Adea Eurydice. Cassander besieged her at Pydna; she surrendered upon assurances of safety, which he violated. When Macedonian soldiers refused to kill her, Cassander had relatives of her victims execute Olympias in 316 BC. Her body received no burial rites.
Throughout her life, Olympias engaged in the political conflicts of the Hellenistic world, prioritizing her son's legacy.
She married Philip II in 357 BC, forging a political alliance between Epirus and Macedon. This marriage strained under Philip's additional unions and temperament. Olympias fiercely championed her son Alexander's claim to the throne, especially after Philip married Cleopatra Eurydice, whose uncle Attalus publicly challenged Alexander's legitimacy, forcing Olympias and Alexander into temporary exile.
A devotee of Dionysus's orgiastic cult, Olympias incorporated snakes into her rituals, reportedly sleeping with them. She claimed Zeus fathered Alexander through divine serpent conception. Though Alexander initially dismissed this, Olympias later supported the Siwa oracle's declaration of his divine sonship.
After Philip's assassination in 336 BC, Olympias returned to Macedon and ordered the execution of Cleopatra Eurydice and her infant daughter to secure Alexander's throne. During his campaigns, she corresponded regularly and exerted political influence in Macedon, frequently opposing the regent Antipater. Alexander acknowledged her counsel but sometimes dismissed it, remarking she "charged a high rent" for his time in her womb.
Following Alexander's death in 323 BC, Olympias became guardian to his son, Alexander IV. She allied with Polyperchon against Cassander. In 317 BC, she defeated, captured, and executed Philip III Arrhidaeus and his wife Adea Eurydice. Cassander besieged her at Pydna; she surrendered upon assurances of safety, which he violated. When Macedonian soldiers refused to kill her, Cassander had relatives of her victims execute Olympias in 316 BC. Her body received no burial rites.
Throughout her life, Olympias engaged in the political conflicts of the Hellenistic world, prioritizing her son's legacy.