Philip’s wives and marital conflicts - Macedonia forged by Philip II - 15

Philip’s wives and marital conflicts (337 BC)

We know or hear very little about the first five wives of Philip before Olympias. It is interesting to note that all four of them spoke Greek (Phila, Philinna, Nicesipolis, and Olympias) and two did not (Audata and Meda). How historians managed to find that out, I wonder. Nicesipolis died soon after childbirth, but all the others were apparently living at court in Pella (see: The Many Wives of Philip II.). Olympias had a special status because she was the mother of the heir, Alexander. The other ladies had given birth to a daughter, except the retarded Arrhidaeus. Since these marriages had happened rather early in his kingship and for political reasons, one may wonder how closely Philip kept in touch with them.

In 337 BC, at the age of 45, Philip announced his marriage to Cleopatra. She was an orphan and had been adopted by Attalus, one of Philip’s generals of noble origin, as his niece. Rumor had it that Philip fell in love with the girl, but speculations ran in a different and more serious direction. As Philip was getting ready to invade Asia, he needed one or more heirs to ensure his succession, for betting on Alexander alone did not offer enough security. This very idea will not have been well accepted by Olympias, fearing that a son of Cleopatra could displace Alexander in the longer term, of course.

[picture from Oliver Stone's movie Alexander]

The wedding took place, probably a typical Macedonian affair with an abundance of wine flowing between the men. I think that even to their own standards, they all got pretty drunk. Anyway, at a certain point, Attalus, now father-in-law of his king, proposed a toast to the bride and groom, wishing them a legitimate Macedonian heir. It is not difficult to picture Alexander’s reaction, who felt deeply hurt by the insinuation that Attalus (and who knows who else) considered him a bastard! A fiery argument broke out, and the king tried to intervene but had probably been drinking too much himself as he took sides with Attalus and demanded excuses from Alexander. As we can expect, Alexander refused. He left the room, picked up his mother, and took her to her brother in Epirus. He himself sought refuge in Illyria. 

Now, there is a theory by which Olympias tried to convince her brother to revolt against Philip, while Alexander might have worked the mind of the Illyrians in the same direction, but nothing is proven. Eventually, Philip hired an actor (as was customary to settle differences), Demaratus of Corinth, who managed to bring Alexander back to Pella. Yet this must have left quite a bitter aftertaste on both sides.

It is rather clear that Alexander was accepted as Philip’s heir at the age of fourteen when Aristotle became his tutor. There is no trace to include, for instance, Amyntas, the son of Perdiccas III and true heir to the throne that Philip now occupied, in Aristotle’s lessons, yet when Alexander became king, he had Amyntas executed. It is also a fact that Alexander took over the regency of Macedonia at sixteen while his father was campaigning, and at eighteen, Philip trusted him to lead the cavalry at Chaeronea. But despite all that, Philip was still father and king and did not tolerate anyone, even his own son, to act against his will. A clear example is that of the Pixodarus affair.

Pixodarus was the ruler of Caria (the area of Bodrum) who had kicked his sister Ada, the widow of the previous ruler, from the throne while remaining submissive to the Persian King. But Persia was in turmoil after eunuch Bagoas murdered Artaxerxes III and, in the ensuing confusion, Pixodarus thought it wise to seek support from Philip, an interesting consideration that fitted Philip’s plans to march east. Pixodarus offered his daughter, Ada, in marriage, and Philip, in exchange, presented the retarded Arrhidaeus. The pact was accepted. But Alexander felt his father had left him out and decided to act on his own, offering himself as a marital candidate to Pixodarus, who, of course, could not have asked for a better deal! When Philip got vent of this maneuver behind his back, we can imagine how infuriated he became. The entire agreement with Pixodarus was called off, and Philip seriously reprimanded his son by exiling several of his closest friends from Pella. That must have been quite a blow for Alexander!

These events clearly illustrate that all was not running smoothly between father and son, which may have led to the conclusions about the true murderers of Philip the next year.

Click here to read the full story about Philip II from the beginning

King Philip, one year later - Macedonia forged by Philip II - 3

King Philip, one year later (358 BC)

But, returning to 358 BC after one full year of kingship, Philip had to secure his border with the Paeonians again and trounced them. As a result, Paeonia became a sort of buffer zone between Macedonia and the tribes of the Danube to the north, which was the trade route up the Axios Valley and beyond. Philip’s army now numbered 10,000 infantry and 600 cavalry, no small achievement if you consider that only a year or two earlier, the Illyrians had defeated nearly the entire Macedonian army. He was confident about marching into Illyria and bluntly refused to accept old King Bardylis’ terms. Both armies met near today’s Lake Ochrid, maybe close to the town of Heraklea Lyncestis, and by the end of the day, the Macedonians had killed 7,000 Illyrian soldiers.

Philip seemed to have it all planned. He demanded that the Illyrians pull out of Upper Macedonia north to Lake Lychnitis, including the tribes of Orestis, which until now were controlled by the Molossian King of Epirus. This way, he had an open route into Epirus to the south and Orestis in the east. A surprising fact is that Parmenion, one of the Paeonian chieftains, was made a general soon after coming over to Philip’s side – an interesting background for this man who served both Philip and Alexander for many years. At this stage, Philip started training recruits from these newly conquered territories, the non-nobles as infantrymen and the nobles as cavalry. This practice stayed in place far into our 20^th century!

This latest victory also meant that Macedonia virtually doubled in size, that the size of Philip’s army increased substantially in only one year, and that Upper and Lower Macedonia were united as never before. Philip, still married to the Illyrian princess Audata, found it wise to change her name to Eurydice to mask her origin. Their daughter Cynane later married Amyntas, the original heir to the Macedonian throne.

Let us switch our attention to the southern borders with Thessaly and two of its cities in particular, Pherae, with its harbor, Pagasae, controlling the coastal states, and Larissa, which controls the inland states. Strangely enough, both cities were bitter enemies. It so happened that Larissa turned to the king for an alliance against Pherae. Philip agreed, be it for his own reasons, i.e., to incorporate the expert Thessalian cavalry into his new army (estimated to be 3-6,000) and to consolidate Macedonia’s southern borders. This alliance was cemented by Philip’s (third) marriage to Philinna from Larissa. She was to bear him a son, Arrhidaeus, the following year.

After these events in 358-357 BC, Philip planned to include Epirus to consolidate his borders. Three large tribes dominated that country: the Thesprotians, the Chaonians, and the Molossians, who spoke a kind of Greek dialect and were the most powerful and prosperous. Since Epirus had also suffered from the Illyrians, a treaty with Philip was relatively easy, and it was sealed by his marriage to Princess Olympias, Philip’s fourth wife. So in 357 BC, Philip’s borders were mainly secure, but there were still two significant enemies to deal with: Athens and the Chalcidian League, who, luckily, were not on friendly terms with each other!

The Chalcidian League had a powerful army, counting 10,000 infantrymen and no less than 1,000 cavalry. We should remember that the Chalcidice owed its economic importance to the mines of the Crenides. The Athenians, meanwhile, had established settlements at Potidaea (on the neck of the Kassandra peninsula), close to Olynthus, and had captured Torone at the tip of the middle finger of the Chalcidice. And, of course, they still had an eye on Amphipolis, a most important crossing on the trading route with Thrace, including the rich mines of Crenides, the waterway to the Strymon River, and the Danube beyond. To send help to Amphipolis, Athens needed a nearby base for their fleet, and it eventually found one on the island of Thasos.

Philip’s attack on Amphipolis was quickly settled, and the city capitulated in the late summer of 357 BC. He also attacked Athens’ ally Pydna, which promptly fell to him. As a reminder, we should not forget that Philip was only 26 years old then.

Tensions between Philip and Athens ran high at this point, and both parties sought an alliance with Olynthus because of the forces it could muster. Olynthus apparently was blinded by Philip’s promises, and a treaty was made in the winter of 357-356 BC. Copies were set up in Delphi, at the Temple of Zeus in Olympia, in Dion, and at the Temple of Artemis in Olynthus. As a consequence, Philip besieged Potidaea and occupied the city.

He had no time to take a break, for now, the king of eastern Thracia besieged the strategic and precious city of Crenides. It was only about 40 miles east of Amphipolis, right above the port of Neapolis (today’s Kavala), a valuable naval base in the region. Philip immediately marched in and defeated the Thracian forces despite their sudden coalition with Illyria and Paeonia. Philip was determined to stay and to put his stamp on this place; he changed its name to Philippi. He fortified the city walls and towers and increased the output of silver coinage. The marshy plain was drained and cultivated, meaning another boost for the local economy.

Click here to read the full story about Philip II from the beginning

The many wives of Philip II of Macedonia

In antiquity, women had no say at all. They had absolutely no rights and were treated as common goods, to be sold or bought, negotiated, or given in marriage at will. I always have dreams of living in antiquity, but definitely not as a woman!

But here I am confronted with Philip II of Macedonia, the womanizer – or that is how history likes to present him. I’m still fascinated by Ian Worthington’s book, presently reading the chapter about Philip’s Marriages as Policy. It starts with Philip’s wedding plans with Eurydice, previously called Cleopatra. I didn’t know that Cleopatra's father and brother had died and that her guardian was Attalus (a Macedonian nobleman), who adopted the girl as his niece. She was thus an adoptive niece and not a true relative, although from pure Macedonian blood. And then there is the plausible fact that this marriage of Philip with Eurydice, for once, was not a political move, but one of true love – at least as far as Philip is concerned, of course.

The only source to mention all of Philip’s wives and the reason for the marriages is fragments from a biography written in the 3rd century BC by a certain Satyrus, a philosopher from Aristotle’s school, which was quoted much later by Athenaeus, a writer who lived in the 2nd century AD. According to Worthington, the list/sequence is not entirely correct, but generally speaking, all of Philip’s marriages can be tied to his wars, and Worthington feels this should be the correct order. The names and sequence given by Satyrus are as follows:

- a)Audata (2), an Illyrian, who gave him a daughter Cynane;

- b) Phila of Elimea (1), sister of Derdas and Machatas, meant to secure control over Amphaxitis;

- c) Nicesipolis (5) of Pherae (when he wanted to appropriate Thessaly), by whom he fathered a daughter Thessalonike; and

- d) Philinna of Larisa (3) (also while he wanted to appropriate Thessaly), who gave birth to Arrhidaeus;

- e) Olympias (4) served to acquire the kingdom of the Molossians (Epirus), the mother of Alexander;

- f) Cleopatra (7), sister of Hippostratus and niece of Attalus, with whom Philip had fallen in love and who bore him a daughter, Europa.

Yet, this list is missing Meda of the Getae tribe, wife number (6). The figure between parentheses corresponds to the chronology that Ian Worthington (see: Philip II of Macedonia) feels is correct based on Philip’s military campaigns.

After a good twenty years of ruling and fighting, Philip managed to bring peace and unity to Greece, and he is getting ready to cross to Asia. Worthington’s theory is that Philip wanted to have one or more successors to secure the Macedonian kingship before leaving. The simple-minded Arrhidaeus is of no use, and there is too much at stake to rely only on Alexander – even if he leaves him behind in Macedonia to look after his interests and to keep a close eye on the newly signed Corinthian League. So much could go wrong while he is away!

Aside from Olympias, little or nothing is known about the other wives. They supposedly all lived at the Royal Palace of Pella, probably each in their own quarters to avoid possible (and probable) conflicts and quarreling with one another. Nicesipolis seems to have died shortly after giving birth to her daughter, and as far as the other wives are concerned, your guess is as good as mine. Justin, however, tells us that Philip had many children, of whom some died in battle and others by accident or of natural causes, but, strangely, we have so little information about them – hardly a name. As to Philip’s marriage with Eurydice, who was much younger than he, Worthington assumes that the other women may no longer be able to produce a healthy heir, or were simply too old already. And yes, let’s not forget that Eurydice was a full-blood Macedonian! We all know how Alexander reacted to this wedding!

The story becomes even more interesting when I learn that Attalus, just to be closer to King Philip, decides to adopt Eurydice as his own daughter just before the wedding takes place. To have the King as father-in-law makes him much more important, doesn’t it?

When it came to marriages, they were a high-stakes game in those days! Not only was Attalus himself married to a daughter of Parmenion, but so was Coenus, another of Philip’s generals (Parmenion’s three sons, Nicanor, Philotas, and Hector, all fought later on in Alexander’s army). Attalus and Parmenion left together at the head of the shock troops that Philip sent to Asia ahead of his own planned invasion. All these events lead us to believe that Philip pulled the strings of an entire network, arranging intermarriages among his generals. In fact, it was a whole clique, of which Alexander was unfortunately excluded – to his greatest sorrow, I dare say. Although he obviously was recognized as the official heir to the Macedonian throne – probably so since he was fourteen and Aristotle was brought to Macedonia and certainly since he carried the seal of Macedonia at sixteen while his father was fighting on the eastern front; and again later on when he successfully led his cavalry against the Theban Sacred Band at Chaeronea – he had no place in Philip’s closest entourage of which he was excluded. This may have been reason enough for Olympias and Alexander to consider murdering Philip…?

A lot of stuff to think about! So much intrigue at the court! Enough for Louis XIV to find some inspiration here, and Henry VIII with his six wives could be looked at mildly, although Philip never divorced any of his wives or chopped their heads off. What an incredible mess!

As a side note, the huge and extravagant wedding party in Susa comes to my mind, which Alexander arranged in 324 BC for about one hundred of his generals and friends to marry girls from the widespread Persian aristocracy. The idea was not exactly a new one, was it?