Posts Tagged With: Nicesipolis

Blog posts for the interested and the rushed

• In the course of his life (383/2 - 336 BC), Philip II of Macedon married seven times
• We know all his wives’ names, but not the order in which he married them
• Read more bullet points here
  .
  Here is a brief outline of each…
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  Audata
• Philip’s first or second wife
• An Illyrian noblewoman
• After marrying Philip (possibly in 359/8), Audata took the name Euridike
• In c. 358 she gave birth to a daughter, Cynnane
• In 337/6, Cleopatra (below) took the name Euridike on marrying Philip indicating that Audata had, by then, either died or left Philip’s court
  .
  Phila
• The other candidate for being Philip’s first or second wife
• Born in c. 375
• An Elimeiot princess…
• … Phila may have been related to Alexander’s friend and (unreliable) treasurer, Harpalus
• Did not bear Philip any children
• Date of death: unknown
  .
  Philine (or Philinna)
• From Larissa in Greece, and probably a noblewoman
• Married Philip c. 358
• Date of birth and death are both unknown
• Between 358 and 356 Philinna gave birth to a son: Arrhidaeus
  .
  Olympias
• Philip’s fourth wife
• An Epirot princess
• Paternal descent: Pyrrhus, son of Achilles
• Maternal descent: Helenus, a Trojan prince
• Married Philip in 357
• Olympias changed her name several times during her life (c. 375 - 316 BC)
• She was born Polyxena. Upon marrying Philip she became Myrtale…
• … after Philip’s triumph at the 356 BC Olympic Games, she took the name Olympias
• Finally, in 317, she became known as Stratonike
• Gave birth to Alexander in 356
• Took part in the wars of the successors until her execution at Cassander’s hands in 316
  .
  Meda
  
• A Thracian princess
• Married Philip sometime between 357 and 342
• Date of birth and death: unknown
• Died childless
  .
  Nicesipolis
  Nikasipolis, Nikesipolis
• Thessalian by birth, possibly a noblewoman
• Date of birth: Unknown
• Jason of Pherae’s niece
• Known for her great beauty
• Married Philip II in 352 or 346 and died in c. 345/4 BC…
• … just twenty days after giving birth to her daughter, Thessalonike
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  Cleopatra Euridike
  Kleopatra
• Macedonian by birth
• Niece of Attalus, one of Philip II’s most senior generals
• Married Philip II in 338/7
• Took the name Euridike upon her marriage to him
• Gave birth to a daughter, Europa, in 336 just before Philip’s death
• Both Cleopatra Euridike and Europa were assassinated by Olympias following Philip’s death

Source: Who’s Who in the Age of Alexander the Great by Waldemar Heckel
(with a little help from Wikipedia)