Great Greek Women: Olympias, wife of Philip II of Macedon

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• published: 28 Apr 2013
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The song is 'fotia mes sto potiri mou (ΦΩΤΙΑ ΜΕΣ ΣΤΟ ΠΟΤΙΡΗ ΜΟΥ) by Giannis Ploutarhos (ΓΙΑΝΝΗΣ ΠΛΟΥΤΑΡΧΟΣ). The pretty faces are Dimitra Matsouka (Δήμητρα Ματσούκα) and Fotis Vallatos (Φώτης Βαλλάτος). The art is mostly from Jeremy Lipking. Olympias (Ὀλυμπιάς) was a Molossian princess from Epirus who married Philip II of Macedon (Φίλιππος Β' ὁ Μακεδών). They are famous for being the parents of Alexander the Great. After Philip II married another woman in 338 BC, Olympias left Macedonia to go back to her home in Epirus. The wedding mentioned in the video is that of Alexander I of Epirus and Cleopatra of Macedon in 336 BC. She was the daughter of Olympias and Philip II, and so was the full sister of Alexander the great. ** About Molossian women: "The development of a heroic genealogy by the Molossian royal house played an early role in the Hellenization of Epirus. Tradition had long associated Neoptolemus (alternatively called Pyrrhus), son of Achilles, with rule of Epirus. Perhaps as early as the days of Pindar (late sixth, early fifth century BCE), but certainly by the time of Euripides composed his Andromache (in 420s), the rulers of Molossia asserted that they were the descendants of Neoptolemus through a son of his by Andromache, widow of Hector." (Elizabeth Donnelly Carney, Olympias: mother of Alexander the Great, p 5) "This Aeacid genealogy gained wide acceptance in the Greek world; clearly it colored the careers of Olympias' son Alexander and of her great-nephew, Pyrrhus. The memory of the greatest Homeric hero shaped the image both men presented to the ancient world" (Elizabeth Donnelly Carney, Olympias: mother of Alexander the Great, p 5) "Because of the comparative abundance of evidence and the importance of Athenian democracy, scholarship on women focused nearly exclusively on Athens, its middle and upper classes (the minority), and on the fifth century BCE. As a consequence, the most extreme situation of women in the Greek world was often taken as the norm. Olympias was no Athenian." (Elizabeth Donnelly Carney, Olympias: mother of Alexander the Great, p 7) "In terms of the role of women in Molossia and Macedonia, the most obvious point to make is that these were non-urban, more or less tribal monarchies, and that many of the familiar dichotomies just mentioned were products of the polis world, more particularly of democratic Athens. The situation of elite women as shown in Homer and as evidenced in the Archaic period much more closely resembled the situation of Molossian and Macedonian female elites than it did what Athenian males claimed to be the truth about their wives and daughters." (Elizabeth Donnelly Carney, Olympias: mother of Alexander the Great, p 7) "Women in Greek elites often dominated the religious establishment in their regions and might journey considerable distances to panhellenic shrines. Andromacha, wife of Arybbas (almost certainly an Aeacid and probably the uncle of Olympias), traveled to the shrine of Aesclepius at Epidaurus. Olympias and other royal women made dedications at major shrines and dominated their religious world." (Elizabeth Donnelly Carney, Olympias: mother of Alexander the Great, p 7) ** And for the Albanians who always pollute my videos, Olympias was not Illyrian, because at her time there were no Illyrians in Epirus. Illyrians migrated after the Romans massacred the Molossians: "With the death of Ptolemy, between BC 239 and 229, the family of Pyrrhus became extinct, whereupon a republican form of government was established, which continued till the conquest of Macedonia by the Romans, BC 168. Having been accused of favouring Perseus, the Roman senate determined that all the towns of Epirus should be destroyed, and the inhabitants reduced to slavery. This cruel order was carried into execution by Aemillius Paulus, who, having previously placed garrisons in the 70 towns of Epirus, razed them all to the ground in one day, and carried away 150,000 inhabitants as slaves. From the effects of this terrible blow Epirus never recovered. In that time of Strabo the country was still a scene of desolation, and the inhabitants had only ruins and villages to dwell in." (Sir William Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman geography, VOL 1, p.832)