Olympias: royal wife and mother at the Macedonian Court

Autor: Kate Mortensen
Rok vydání: 2014
Předmět:
DOI: 10.14264/uql.2014.570
Popis: The aim of this thesis is to examine the married life of Olympias, wife of Philip II of Macedon, in order, firstly, to assess the accuracy of the portraits of her in both the ancient sources and in modem scholarly works, which are generally hostile, and, secondly, to try to illuminate the polygyny practised by the Macedonian royal house, in particular by Philip II.While the ancient literary evidence for Olympias' life, together with modem scholarly treatments of her, forms the basis of this examination, substantial use has also been made of comparative material: historical, sociological, theological and zoological. The archaeological evidence from Macedonia, Epirus and elsewhere, much of it very recent, has also been utilized. This combined approach has proved fruitful.Given the sparsity and fragmentary nature of the primary evidence, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions, but it seems from this study that the depiction of Olympias in the literature, ancient and modem, as a jealous and vindictive woman does not hold true for the period of her married life, a time-span of about twenty years. Only one violent deed is attested for this period, the murder of her co-wife Cleopatra and her daughter, and this can be seen to have been both provoked and politically useful. It is likely, therefore, that her later violent actions, recorded in the ancient sources, were also rare, provoked and politically expedient and not merely the product of an aggressive temperament.This inquiry suggests that the lives of Philip's wives were circumscribed not only on the political front, where they were denied an active role, but also on the domestic, where their duties were largely confined to their own quarters. It may well be that their shared boredom, loneliness and frustration generally drew them together, though tension arose at times of stress such as the arrival of a new wife or child. An important outlet for the boredom and frustration of their lives was provided by religious cult, as demonstrated by Olympias' involvement in the Dionysiae rites, where she was clearly very active, innovative and influential. The apparent non-integration of the royal wives into the life of the Macedonian court makes it probable that their loyalty to, and affection for, their homelands remained strong and that this in turn influenced their offspring, reducing the Macedonian cultural element in their upbringing. If this was the case, then it is, from the Macedonian point of view, a weakness of the Argead polygynous practice. This custom, which was undoubtedly useful in sealing alliances, also had another deficiency in that it may well have reduced the fertility of the wives overall, as indicated by the paucity of Philip's children. This problem may have been further compounded by the institutionalized homosexuality of the Macedonian court, in which the king played a leading role. More seriously, the mores governing Macedonian homosexuality appear to have differed from those of the Greek states, with the result that conflict over status issues became so severe that, on a number of occasions, it led to regicide.
Databáze: OpenAIRE