About Olympias Karanid

Olympias of the Molossian dynasty (376-316 B.C.E.) was a princess to her native Epirus, a wife to the king of Macedon, and a mother to Alexander the Great.

Timeline of life events... (to be completed)

WHAT WE KNOW

Olympias was not, in fact, her original name. Her name at birth was Polyxena (youngest daughter of King Priam of Troy), evoking her family’s supposed descent from the Trojans. She adopted the name Myrtale ("myrtle") shortly before her marriage to Philip II, possibly as part of her initiation into a mystery cult. At her marriage, she changed it to Olympias to honor the Olympian god Zeus whose festival coincided with their ceremony. Finally, at end of her life, she changed her name a fourth time (Stratonice - "victorious army") to commemorate the defeat of a hated political rival.

It is an unfortunate reality that the modern world has so little reliable information about Olympias. Much of what is “known” about her comes from the propaganda created by one of her late-in-life enemies, Cassander, and promulgated by Roman historians (Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, etc.) hostile to her memory who were not born until centuries after her death.

For example, her marriage to Philip was one of contrived politics, not a love match born of a chance encounter at a religious initiation ceremony. Biographer Elizabeth Carney also has warned modern readers to put no trust in Plutarch’s claims about the details of Olympias’s supposedly stormy marriage to Philip, or in his label of her as a fanatically religious woman obsessed with superstition and wild cult rites.

The more reliable accounts mention – apart from the basic facts relating to her birth, marriage, children, and death – that she bought grain from Cyrene, that she made dedications to Delphi and to the temple of Hygeia, and that she prevented Athenians from making dedications to the goddess Dione in Molossia. In her book on Olympias, Carney has interpreted these records as follows:

Olympias and her daughter Cleopatra bought the Cyrenian grain during a hard famine with her son away on campaign in Asia. This implies that Olympias and Cleopatra held de facto power in Macedonia during Alexander’s absence. Carney assumes that they donated the grain to Macedonian citizens. References to religious dedications are not unusual for male or female rulers of the time period, and do not necessarily indicate any special level of religious devotion. It seems likely that Olympias made an offering to Hygeia for her son’s health, and that the incident with Dione’s temple in Molossia was meant to “assert her own power and prestige” in the giving or refusing of patronage.

We know very little about the true nature of Olympias’s twenty-odd year marriage to Philip. There are indications that at some point she ranked as his most important wife, given that her son (especially in Alexander’s teens) was obviously the most suitable candidate for the succession. Philip’s repudiation of her and her son came at the insistence of his seventh wife’s guardian. It is also unlikely that Olympias participated in Philip’s murder.

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Photos with Olympias

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Olympias featured on a gold medallion. Olympias Karanid, Where: Found in Abukir (northern coast of Egypt)., When: [date?], Comments: 0. [details]

Actress Angelina Jolie as Queen Olympias. Olympias Karanid, Where: Publicity photo from the 2004 movie 'Alexander.', When: 2004, Comments: 0. [details]

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