olympiassuggestions

[olympiassuggestions]

Alexander’s Mum: Bitch from Hell?

(Another from the series of blogs written for the publication of Dancing with the Lion: Becoming.)

Modern portrayals of Alexander’s mother (Olympias-Myrtalē) are almost universally hostile, not just in fiction, but also in history books. Just consider how Oliver Stone cast and portrayed her in the 2004 “Alexander”: Angelina Jolie in heavy eye-makeup, a snake twined around her arm, slinking about palace corridors to spy, and quite possibly complicit in the murder of her husband, the king.

Was she really such a bitch?

Almost certainly not. She was a woman trying to survive at a polygamous court in a man’s world. She did do some horrific things, although killing her husband wasn’t one of them. But nothing she did wasn’t also done by her husband or son. Their actions were seen as savvy, or at least necessary, politicking. When a woman did it, that was horrible.

Her bad rep owes chiefly to ONE ancient historian: Plutarch.

Who the hell is Plutarch and why do you care? Well, he invented biography. He was interested in what made people tick. But he was also a “moralist.” That is, he wasn’t just interested in why Alexander became Great, but in teaching his readers ethics along the way.

Now remember, Greek men were notoriously misogynistic. Perikles of Athens said the best women were not to be spoken of in public, either for ill or good. Plutarch wasn’t from Athens, but he shared the general Greek opinion that there was little worse than a clever woman.

And Myrtalē was extremely clever.

At polygamous courts, the most important male in a woman’s life was not her husband, but her son(s). This is true even in non-polygamous courts, but in a polygamous situation, not only was a woman’s status tied to the sons she could produce, but her very life might hinge on one of them rising to the throne. Philip married five women in his first five years as king. Myrtalē was number four or five (their order isn’t clear). From her perspective, that’s four-to-one odds against her, but she put her son on the throne.

Whether in fiction or history, a lot of emphasis gets placed on the role Alexander’s father played in his life. That’s true in Dancing with the Lion too. As a coming-of-age story, it may explore the love that developed between Alexander and Hephaistion, but even more, it’s a novel about fathers and sons.

Yet it was Alexander’s mother who kept him alive long enough to reach his teen years, where the novel begins. In Dancing, Alexander and Myrtalē do quarrel at times. She has her blind spots, but I made a concerted effort to get away from portrayals of her as some sort of witchy femme-fatale, sexually jealous of Philip’s other wives. She didn’t care who he slept with, as long as it didn’t result in another son to compete with hers.

Want to know more about such a fascinating, powerful woman (outside the novel)? The best modern biography is Elizabeth D. Carney’s Olympias.

[olympiassuggestions]

Some of y'all weren't Molossian noblewomen of the house of Aeacidae and it really shows

[olympiassuggestions]

Anyone else in this thread like getting what they want

[olympiassuggestions]

Complain to the manager (your son) about the assistant manager (Antipater) until he sends a new manager (Craterus) to take over

[olympiassuggestions]

Please sir that's my emotional support influence in Philip's court

[olympiassuggestions]

son I think you're amazing and the rightful king no. Matter if you're a "Bitch" or a "Twink", the blood of Achilles flows in your veins and he was both

if i scream at my army i’m a “bitch” if i don’t im a “twink” how then? this rivers going to bridge itself all of a sudden?

[olympiassuggestions]

everything wrong!

@antipater delete your account

[olympiassuggestions]

@antipater delete your account

[olympiassuggestions]

From the Shadows #4: Eurydice I of Macedon

Eurydice I was a Macedonian queen who lived in the 4th century BCE. She is probably most well known for being the mother of Philipp II, who was the father of Alexander the Great.

But she was also very politically active. She was married to Amyntas III, with whom she had a daughter, Eurynoe, and three sons. In what way she acted though is based on contradictory accounts.

The historian Justin tells the story of how Eurydice had planned to murder her husband but failed because he received a warning by their daughter Eurynoe. He spared Eurydice’s life because of their common children but Eurydice is said to have later on murdered her sons Perdiccas and Alexander because she lusted after her son-in-law. (Just. 7.4-5.)

 Aeschines though paints a rather different picture of her. According to him, after the deaths of her husband and her son Alexander, Eurydice took the throne together with her lover Ptolemaios and fought for the lives of her two remaining sons, seeking the help of the Athenian general Iphicrates, who successfully defeated Pausanias, a rival from another house. (Aeschin. 2.28-29.)

Since Aeschines, unlike Justin, lived at the same time as Eurydice, his account is probably closer to the truth.1

Plutarch also doesn’t paint a hostile picture of her, but rather presents her as a mother interested in the education of her children, who herself learned to read and write when she was an adult. She later dedicated an inscription to the Muses that reads:

Eurydice of Hierapolis made to the Muses this her offering When she had gained her soul’s desire to learn. Mother of young and lusty sons was she, and by her diligence attained to learn letters, wherein lies buried all our lore. (Plut. de lib. 20)

1Elizabeth Donnelly Carney, Women and Monarchy in Macedonia, University of Oklahoma 2000, p. 44.

[olympiassuggestions]

idk my bff Eumenes

[olympiassuggestions]

Absolutely astounding on main

powerful on main

[olympiassuggestions]

powerful on main

[olympiassuggestions]

diamonds aren't a girl's best friend

Agency and self-determination are

[olympiassuggestions]

my darling boy Alexander just told me that he is "kin" with Achilles and could someone explain this to me in the King's koine

[olympiassuggestions]

can I get uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh the political independence due to an upper-class Epirote woman

[olympiassuggestions]

Inform the Athenians that the temple of Zeus at Dodona is in your country and that you are in charge of the statues in it

[olympiassuggestions]

Should I go down to Athens for the day and treat myself a little or write another complaint about Antipater to my son and treat myself a little