The Controversial Story of Olympias, Alexander the Great’s Powerful Mother

Jealous, vengeful, cruel, foreign, and with a fondness for snakes, Olympias has often been portrayed as a malevolent figure. More than two thousand years after she lived and died, it is impossible to know what she was actually like, but the actions of the mother of Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) were rarely without logic and context. Just as her son became the template for two centuries worth of successor monarchs, Olympias was the prototype of another common Hellenistic character: the powerful royal woman.

The person we know as Olympias originally went by other names. Polyxena and Myrtale are recorded as names she used before becoming Olympias upon her marriage to Phillip II of Macedon (382-336 BCE). She was born in 373 BCE, the daughter of Neoptolemus I, the ruler of Molossia in the north western Greek region of Epirus. Her family, the Aeacids, claimed descent from the mythical hero of the Trojan War Achilles. Though Molossia was a poor and remote Greek region, being a descendant of Achilles brought prestige and a sense of needing to live an appropriately heroic life, an ambition Olympias passed down to her son.

In the 4th century BCE, Molossia rarely featured in the calculations of the great powers such as Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Persia. However, it was more familiar to its neighbor Macedon. Macedon and Molossia shared a tradition of monarchy and a location on the frontiers of the Greek world. It was this closeness to Macedon that transformed the Molossian princess into Olympias.

Olympias was not Philip’s only wife. The Macedonian monarchy practiced polygamy, with Olympias being the fourth of seven known marriages. This context is key to understanding much of what followed. As polygamous kings, the Macedonian Argead dynasty lacked a stable route of succession. Multiple wives meant multiple children and potential successors. There was no formal status division between the wives, and any of them could give birth to the next king. The mother of a king was guaranteed a life of status, while any potential rival heirs and their relatives ran the risk of being killed. Not yet twenty, Olympias was moving to a foreign country and entering a royal court and a high-stakes competition.

Olympias and Philip were married for 20 years, and while we are ignorant of the details of their marriage, it was ultimately successful in its goals of tying together Molossia and Macedon and producing an heir.

Within a year of the marriage, Olympias gave birth to Alexander. A second child, Cleopatra, followed a year later. Cleopatra was the last of the couple’s children. A number of sources, including Justin and Plutarch, mention an estrangement. However, it should be noted that Olympias was Philip’s only wife known to have had more than one child. The stories of a distance between Philip and Olympias may be due to the events at the end of Philip’s reign and Alexander’s later claims to divine parentage. The later story that Philip recoiled from Olympias after seeing her sleeping next to a snake, an apparent sign of a divine visit, may well mix later propaganda about Alexander being the son of a god and traces of Olympias’ religious practices.

Olympias was frequently associated with snakes, adding an intimidating touch to her image for later historians and perhaps contemporaries. The snakes may have been part of religious practices she brought from Molossia, making Olympias seem not only intimidating but also foreign. On the other hand, snakes can also be viewed as guardians and may have been quite common in some parts of Macedon.

The birth of a potential male heir would have elevated Olympias, with her status growing as Alexander became recognised as a successor to Philip. The clearest example of Olympias’ prominence came following Philip’s decisive victory at the Battle of Chaeronea in 338 BCE. In the heart of the sacred precinct of Zeus at Olympia, Philip set up gold and ivory statues of himself, Alexander, and Olympia. No other wife of Philip ever came close to such a public honor, which verged on being elevated to divine status. However, Olympias and Alexander’s position was always precarious. In the final years of Philip’s reign there were signs that the relationship between the king, Olympias, and Alexander were fraught.

Philip already had another son, Arrhidaeus, though he was overlooked as he was seen to be incapacitated in some form. In 337 BCE, Philip married again. Cleopatra was the niece of a powerful Macedonian noble, Attalus, and with Philip only around 45 years old, there was a good chance the match would produce potential heirs. Despite the future danger, Alexander was comfortable enough to be at the wedding celebrations. But with the wine flowing, Attalus took the opportunity to imply that any future children from his niece would be more legitimate than Alexander. In the ensuing argument, Philip took Attalus’ side, and Alexander and Olympias went into self-imposed exile. The issue here was not Olympias’ jealousy of the younger wife but the real threat to Alexander’s future succession.

Olympias and Alexander were soon back in Macedon and, despite continued nervousness over any future potential heirs, were again shown public favor by Philip. In 336 BCE, it was decided that Olympias’ brother, Alexander of Epirus, would marry Philip and Olympias’ daughter Cleopatra. The wedding celebrations in the Macedonian city of Aigai would publicly reaffirm the ties between the Aeacids and Argeads.

In the midst of the festivities, Philip was assassinated. The assassin, Pausanias, was a former lover and bodyguard of Philip. He reportedly murdered the king because Philip had refused to punish Attalus for arranging for Pausanias to be brutally sexually assaulted.

Later historians saw the murder as Olympias’ revenge for marrying another woman. Scholars do not dismiss the possibility of Olympias’ involvement. The recent rift between Alexander and Philip had healed, but there was the long-term threat of children from a new wife. Olympias certainly did have Attalus’ daughter Cleopatra and her infant daughter murdered soon after. These were not the only deaths during Alexander’s succession.

There is no strong evidence linking Olympias, or Alexander, to Philip’s death and such a move would have been an extraordinary risk. However, there was a motive, and the relationship between the royal family had become tense. Pausanias’ grievance and the gathering of Philip, Alexander, the Macedonian nobility, and the army in one place for the wedding may have provided the opportunity. If Olympias, Alexander, or both did decide to move preemptively, assassination was a possible political tool available to them.

Throughout Philip’s reign, Olympias and Alexander demonstrated a strong bond and proved their loyalty to each other during the rifts with Philip. This bond continued once Alexander became king, elevating Olympias from a prominent wife to a powerful political figure.

Two years after the death of Philip, Alexander left to invade the Persian empire. Though Olympias would never see her son again, they remained in frequent contact. In his absence, Alexander left a prominent Macedonian, Antipater, in charge, but Olympias’ influence grew and spread beyond Macedon as we have evidence of her contacting several foreign states. The two quickly became rivals, which may well have been to Alexander’s liking. The respective roles of Antipater and Olympias were not clearly defined and having his mother keep a watchful eye on Antipater was to the king’s benefit.

Olympias was often advising Alexander by distance as well as reporting on, and complaining about, Antipater. We have contradictory stories of Alexander’s attitude to his mother’s advice and reports. After reading one of Antipater’s letters criticizing Olympias, Alexander reportedly said that a single tear from his mother was enough to wipe out ten thousand such letters. However, there were tensions between the two. On another occasion, after receiving a long complaint from Olympias, Alexander uttered the famous remark that his mother was charging a high rent for his nine months in the womb.

Olympias was certainly a trusted advisor and loyal figure back home, but Alexander would have had to balance her wishes and advice against other considerations and priorities. In 331/30 BCE, when Antipater was at the height of his power and had defeated a Greek revolt, Olympias withdrew from Macedon and returned to Molossia.

Olympias was in her 50s when her son died suddenly in Babylon in 323 BCE. In addition to the personal tragedy, she, along with everyone else in Alexander’s empire, was thrown into the chaotic new world.

Defending and promoting Alexander’s interests, and by extension her own, had guided Olympias’ political career for the last thirty years. The interests of Alexander’s son, born just after his father’s death, drew Olympias into the War of Successors in which Macedonian generals tore apart Alexander’s empire. In a world dominated by powerful and ruthless men, she played a role for several years.

After 323 BCE, the Macedonian Empire was nominally jointly ruled by Alexander’s son, Alexander IV, and Philip’s apparently incapable son Arrhidaeus, under the name Philip III. Few, however, could have rated Alexander IV’s chances of survival.

Just as with Philip’s death, rumors swirled, and continue to linger today, that Alexander was murdered. For Olympias, the culprit had to be Antipater, who was in the process of being summoned to Babylon by Alexander at the time of the king’s death. The productive rivalry of earlier years became a bitter feud between Olympias and the family of Antipater. When Antipater died in 319 BCE, he passed his control of Macedon, Greece, and the kings not to his son Cassander, but to the veteran officer named Polyperchon. Unfortunately, Polyperchon was not up to the task, whereas Cassander was ruthless and capable. Initially, Olympias refused Polyperchon’s invitations to return to Macedon and assist him. However, in 317 BCE a new danger arose.

Arrhidaeus had been married to Adea Eurydice, the daughter of a half-sister of Alexander the Great. Adea was an Argead and had married another. As such, she and Arrhidaeus could be a threat to Alexander IV. When Adea made an alliance with Cassander, Olympias was forced into action. In 317 BCE, both Olympias and Adea put themselves at the head of their respective armies and marched to the border between Macedon and Molossia in what has been called the first war between women. Though Adea was descended from a line of warrior queens, her army refused to fight Olympias and defected. Both Adea and Arrhidaeus were captured and, after some delay, executed.

The idea that Olympias was a vicious woman meddling in politics comes up again. In her march into Macedon, she was indeed ruthless. Adea and Arrhidaeus were not the only victims; a brother of Cassander and dozens of his supporters were killed. However, her actions do not seem to have been exceptional. Blood was often spilled during Macedonian dynastic conflicts, and none of the figures in the war of successors emerged guiltless.

Having marched into Macedon, defeated a rival, and protected Alexander IV, Olympias had become a major player in the battle to control the Macedonian Empire. Her fall from this height was swift. Cassander reacted with devastating speed and effectiveness to her success. By early 316 BCE, he and his army were back in Macedon besieging Olympias in Pydna. Polyperchon proved unable to do anything, and Cassander blocked aid from arriving from other allies. The negative tradition in the sources state that Olympias lost support due to her bloody actions on entering Macedon, but it seems that she retained support and that Cassander was simply more militarily effective. Olympias’ defeat was military rather than political.

In the end, Olympias had no choice but to surrender to Cassander. Despite her alleged unpopularity, Cassander had trouble arranging her death. Olympias was tried and found guilty, but only the relatives of the people she had killed were willing to carry out the sentence. Once Cassander finally found willing executioners, Olympias was said to have met her end with dignity and courage. The bid to protect Alexander IV ultimately failed. Cassander had him and his mother Roxane murdered before he reached adulthood. The Argead house died out as Alexander’s generals gradually declared themselves kings.

Throughout her life, Olympias’ actions were guided not by emotion but by the political calculations necessary to survive and thrive in a brutal royal court. Since she could not hold formal power as a woman, her politics were orientated around the prospects and protection of her son and grandson.

Bibliography

Carney, E. (2006) Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great. Routledge: New York.

Rowson, A. (2022) The Young Alexander: The Making of Alexander the Great. Williams Collins: London.

Jouanno, C. (1995) “Alexandre et Olympias: de l’histoire au mythe” Bulletin de l’Association Guillaume Budé, 1995.3 pp. 211-230.

Ogden, D. (1999) Polygamy, Prostitutes and Death: The Hellenistic Dynasties. Classical Press of Wales: London.