A Biography of

Olympias
HISTORY 134
YAKUBER, LUKE M
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Luke Yakuber

Professor Thomson

History 134

26 March 2017

A Biography of Olympias

Olympias of Macedonia was the mother of one of the greatest military leaders of all time,

Alexander the Great. In addition, she was the wife to one of the greatest rulers, Phillip II of

Macedon. Although they did not always have the greatest of marriages. They had such

conflicting personalities and were both very jealous people. Despite this and their differences,

she clearly has great ties to some of the greatest leaders in the world. Although she was

surrounded by this greatness, Olympias was surrounded by much controversy1 in the later years

in her life (Covington p.75). Despite some minor negative views of her, Olympias is known for

her great influence that she had on Alexander the Great.

Olympias was born in the year 316 B.C. to the father of Neoptolemus I, who was the king

of the Molossians. The Molossians were an ancient Greek tribe in Epirus. She originally was

named Myrtle2 but changed her name after her husband, Philip II, won the Olympic Games of

356 B.C. and she then took recognition and went by the name of Olympias (Olympias).

Olympias was a part of a cult as she grew up and in her later years. She was a devout member of

the snake-worshipping group of Dionysus. She was so devout and so into the cult that some even

think she slept with snakes. The main two things that I want to focus on in this paper is the
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influence that Olympias had on her son, Alexander the Great, and the controversy that surrounds

her.

Alexander the Great was known for have been taught by great parents and for the great

mentorship. Although Philip II was one of the greatest warfare persons of all time and military

heroes, Olympias had the greatest influence on him over everyone else. Olympias was known to

have such great pride and joy in her son and in turn she mentored him. As Donald Wasson says

in his article, Olympias, she taught him how to be arrogant, headstrong, and meddlesome.

Many say that the character that she had was the reason why Alexander the Great had the thirst

for blood. She constantly backed him in his conquering and in his rise to power in Macedonia

(Wasson). She really built him up in order to accomplish her primary objective which was to get

Alexander the Great into power as king. She would always tell Alexander that he came from

noble lineage and that he had ties to the great Greek god Achilles. This story really encouraged

Alexander, according to Wasson, as he was known to carry the Iliad around with him. She

believed in having Greek tutoring and mentoring as well as she brought in some of the worlds

smartest people to mentor and teach. Aristotle and Leonidas were two who provided that

mentorship and tutoring3.

The controversy that surrounded Olympias started when she was divorced by Philip II for

political reasons. Philip II divorced her because of the threat of Alexander not being able to get to

the throne because he was not pure Macedonian4 (Wasson). Philip II accused Olympias of

adultery and claimed that Alexander the Great was not truly her son. This threatened Olympiass

life goal of getting Alexander the Great to the throne because if Philip II had a son with his wife

Cleopatra-Eurydice, he would sit in power. This was the foundation to the controversy that lied

ahead for the family (Carney p. 35-38).

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During the year of 336 B.C. at a wedding banquet, Philip II was assassinated by

Pausanias of Oretis. According to Wasson, he had been recently rebuked by Philip after he had

asked for retribution against Attalus. After this random attack, immediately speculation fell on

Olympias as many thought this was her way of getting back at her ex-husband, Philip II.

Plutarch, a person familiar with all that was going on wrote the following after Philip IIs death:

When Pausanias, who had been assaulted at the instigation of Attalus and Cleopatra, murdered

Philip for failing to recompense him, most of the blame attached itself to Olympias, on the

grounds that she had encouraged the young man in his anger and incited him to the deed

(Wasson). Besides the speculation there is some evidence found that might lead people to think

she was involved in this death. Some think that she had horses waiting for the assassin to use

for his escape says Wasson. After the death of Philip II, Olympias ordered for Cleopatra and her

daughter to be put to death (Wasson).

After Alexanders death and the death of Philip II Olympias was on the hot seat and many

wanted her dead. Cassander promised to not kill Olympias but she fled away for a time in

distrust of that. Eventually, Olympias came back and was executed by people who were set up by

Pydna. After all Olympias ended with a bad reputation and as being responsible for the great

king Philip IIs death. Although many did not care for her she was one of the greatest influences

on one of the greatest commanders all time, Alexander the Great and not many people can say

that (Carney p. 38-47). Without the influence of Olympias you have to wonder what our world

would look like today. Would Alexander the Great be who he was? If he was not, would the

Persians have taken over the Greek city states? How that would have affected todays teachings

as many great literatures are taught that came from the very Greeks from this time period. We

will never have the answers to these questions, but they are great things to think about and are
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what makes history so interesting.

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Notes

1. For more details on the controversy that Olympias was involved in read Covingtons

work from page 72-82.

2. Read Wassons work for more information regarding the birth name and upbringing of

Olympias.
3. Read Wassons article for more information on the Greek tutoring.
4. The end of Wassons article goes into further detail regarding the situation of the heir

being up for grabs.

Works Cited
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Carney, Elizabeth D. Olympias and the Image of the Virago. Phoenix, vol. 47, no. 1, 1993, pp.

aaaaaaaaaa2955., www.jstor.org/stable/1088917.

The source from Elizabeth Carney is very credible as it comes from a database that is

very reliable. Also, Elizabeth accurately cites where she got the sources she used in order to write

her scholarly book. The section of this book that I am using mainly talked about how the motives

of Olympias are often portrayed as negative in todays historical teachings. However, this paper

offers a new look at that and dives deep into what Olympiass motives might have been

considering the political and social environment that she was operating in back then.

Covington, Richard. Mighty Macedonian. Smithsonian, vol. 35, no. 8, Nov. 2004, pp. 72-82

aaaaaaaaaaEBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db =a9h&AN=14781674

aaaaaaaaaa&site=ehost-live.

This source written by Richard Covington is very credible as Richard Covington is a

credible author and is known in the literature world to have and offer credible work. He cited the

sources that he used in order to write his work. This work was mainly on Alexander the Great but

it offered some valuable information on how he was influenced by his mother. It also goes into

some good detail on Olympiass character, like her hot temper.

"Olympias." Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6Th Edition, Apr. 2016, p. 1. EBSCOhost,

aaaaaaaaaasearch.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=39025594&site=ehost-

aaaaaaaaaalive.

This source that I found through the database EBSOhost is very credible as it comes from

a proven encyclopedia. The database is trusted and gives very credible information and it comes

from that strong encyclopedia. This source offers very good and concise information. The
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encyclopedia gives very solid and foundational information about Olympias. These basic facts

are crucial for my paper.

Wasson, D. (n.d.). Olympias. In Ancient History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from

aaaaaaaaaahttp://www.ancient.eu/Olympias/

This article comes from a very credible author. I searched the author and found no red

flags as a loss to credibility and he correctly cited his sources for his work. This article goes

through the life of Olympias and the controversy that she was involved in. This source gave a

great overall picture of her life and the things that went along in it. The information was very

valuable for my paper.