Olympias: Mother of Alexander
by Olympias, was the mother of the most powerful man then known to history. She had cosseted him, protected him, moulded and sculpted him, and, he, Alexander the Great, would go on to conquer most of the known world, and his name would be forever carved in the pantheon of heroes.
Olympias, was the mother of the most powerful man then known to history. She had cosseted him, protected him, moulded and sculpted him, and, he, Alexander the Great, would go on to conquer most of the known world, and his name would forever be carved in the Pantheon of Heroes. Olympias’s reputation though would remain one for cunning, deceit, and cruelty.
She was a Greek princess born around 375 BC in the region of Epirus (Albania). She was the orphaned daughter of King Neoptolemus I of the Molossian tribe, and had originally been named Polyxena, but then she had many names. She was also believed to have been a devout member of the sex obsessed, orgiastic, snake worshipping secret cult of Dionysus. She was described by Plutarch as being of fair skin with long auburn hair, she was arrogant, aloof, known for being insanely jealous, unforgiving, vindictive and cruel, and she believed herself to be the direct descendant of the God Achilles.
In 357 BC, she was married to the Macedonian King Philip II of Macedon. It was not a happy marriage from the start. She was headstrong, self-willed and demanded respect. Philip, who believed he could marry as many women as he liked and as often as he wished, expected docility and compliance from his wives. Olympias was anything but compliant and refused to accept Philip’s polygamy.
In the first year of their marriage, Olympias gave birth to a son, Alexander. She later said that on the night their marriage was consummated a thunderbolt had fell upon her womb and kindled a great fire, her son was to be special.
From the start she had an obsessive and unnatural relationship with her son, and spent all her time with him. She made no friends and had no interest in doing so, instead surrounding herself with snakes which made people fearful of being near her, for her family was everything. Fired by jealousy and a hatred of Philip, she spent all her life turning her son against his father. She even told him that Zeus was his father, not Philip, that the God had visited her in her bed in the guise of a snake, and that as such he was immortal.
In 337 BC, Philip married a Greek noblewoman, Eurydice, by whom he had a child. Humiliated, Olympias, left the Macedonian Court at Pella to live with her brother. Soon after Philip was assassinated, and it was widely rumoured that Olympias had been behind the plot. At the age of just 17, Alexander was made King of Macedonia. In the meantime, Olympias had Eurydice and her baby murdered.
Liked it
