Olympias

by Elizabeth Carney

  on information provided by Parmenio (based on his interception of an agent with an incriminating letter) about the Lyncestian’s treasonable dealings with the Persian king, Diodorus (17.32.1–2) has been understood to date the arrest to the fall of 333.95 Curtius (only some of his account of the saga of Lyncestian Alexander survives) seems to follow the dating of Diodorus but attributes the arrest to two unnamed informers (Curt. 7.1.6).96 He says that the mother of the king97 wrote to her son about many useful things and warned him to be on his guard against Lyncestian Alexander. Diodorus adds that a number of other credible circumstances contributed to his arrest.98

  Whatever the solution to the chronological problems about the arrest of the Lyncestian, the long delay between his apprehension and death confirms his importance. That granted, a number of factors, some related to his activities in Asia with the Persians and some to past and present connections in Macedonia, may have led to his arrest; in this case, both Olympias and Parmenio may have played roles.99

  Another supposed letter of Olympias, again found in Plutarch ( Alex.

  39.4–5), relates to Alexander’s many expensive gifts to ordinary soldiers and particularly to courtiers. Plutarch comments that the extent of the arrogance Alexander’s friends and bodyguards derived from sharing in the king’s wealth is clear from a letter Olympias wrote to her son. An apparent quotation follows in which Olympias urges Alexander to find another way to reward his friends and high officials. Currently, she says, “you make all of them equal to kings and enable them to have many friends, but leave yourself isolated.”100 Plutarch adds that Olympias often wrote similar things to Alexander and that he kept her writings secret, with the exception of one occasion involving Hephaestion (see below). This letter, like all of them, could be rejected as a fabrication, though it is usually considered genuine.101

  Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great 57

  While the passage certainly refers to the tremendous wealth Alexander’s military success had given him and the extent to which the elite shared in it, it is also an observation about politics at the Macedonian court, and an important one. According to Plutarch, Olympias was worried not simply that Alexander give so much away that he himself was no longer as wealthy, but that the gifted wealth empowered others, by making it possible for them to build a network of friends or companions, while, at the same time, leaving him with fewer. The implication is that friends/Companions are connected to distribution of wealth102 and that one needed to draw a fine line between giving one’s Companions enough to please them and yet ensure they continue to recognize the king’s superiority—a basic requirement for a Macedonian king103—and giving them so much that they became independent of the ruler.104 In terms of understanding Olympias’ views about others at Alexander’s court, the passage is interesting. However personally jealous she may have been, the passage demonstrates a concern for the maintenance of her son’s power and a suspicion about the self-serving aspirations of many in the elite that seems savvy, sensible, and well warranted by events. One could read it into her reported reactions to Amyntas, Philotas, Lyncestian Alexander, and, as we shall see, Antipater himself. Olympias wanted to make very sure that no one had more power/wealth than her son.

  Did Olympias quarrel with Hephaestion, probably Alexander’s lover or former lover and the king’s closest personal associate on the campaign?105

  Whatever Hephaestion’s character, others in Alexander’s inner circle certainly envied his intimacy with the king and quarreled with him (Plut.

  Alex. 47.5–7, Eum. 2.1–2, 4–5). The Macedonian court was an extremely competitive place and Alexander’s often contradictory treatment of his associates exacerbated this. It would hardly be surprising if Olympias too had resented Alexander’s relationship with Hephaestion, particularly since he accompanied her son while she stayed behind. Diodorus (17.114.3) says that Olympias became hostile to Hephaestion out of jealousy and wrote letters to him of a harsh and threatening nature. Hephaestion supposedly wrote back, reproaching her. Diodorus includes an apparent quotation from the letter of Hephaestion, a quotation that bizarrely employs the “royal we.”106 This is the only evidence for strife between Hephaestion and Olympias, though Plutarch preserves four different versions of a story about Hephaestion reading Olympias’ letters to her son and being enjoined to secrecy about their contents.107 None of Plutarch’s many versions of the story, however, say anything about relations between Hephaestion and Alexander and they vary as to whether they consider Hephaestion’s reading of Olympias’ letters unusual. Tension between Olympias and the man closest to Alexander would be unsurprising, but the evidence for it is much poorer108

  than for her notorious and much more important dispute with Antipater.

  Whatever one thinks of the historicity of Olympias’ other squabbles, most of them seem petty, typical of the quarrelsome and envious nature of Macedonian court life. Olympias’ disagreement with Antipater, however,

  58 Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great is of a different category. Almost all the major ancient sources for the reign of Alexander allude to the antagonism between Olympias and Antipater. It may well be that these references were affected and exaggerated to some unknown degree by the propaganda wars of the Successor era and perhaps by an inclination to date the origins of the more violent conflicts of that period to an earlier time, but there is no good reason to doubt that Olympias and Antipater feuded throughout most of Alexander’s reign. We have already seen one reason why contention arose: Alexander had not clearly defined their relative spheres. Perhaps Alexander intended from the beginning that Olympias function as a kind of counterweight to the authority of Antipater. Throughout his life Alexander had a tendency to play favorites off against each other. The lack of definition in the extent of each one’s responsibilities made it easy for each to see the other as overstepping what was appropriate.109 Alexander generated “an environment of distrust” at his court and often placed people who had conflicting political goals in neighboring territories in order that each would check the other.110 This could explain the origin of the notorious quarrel between Antipater and Olympias.

  It would be helpful to know the exact terms of their dispute (waged through parallel correspondence with Alexander). Unfortunately, most of the sources fail to clarify the motivation of the two disputants, though they are more helpful about the impact of the complaints of each. Virtually all discussions of the dispute connect in some degree to the issue of Antipater’s demotion and/or Alexander’s death. Only Arrian (7.12.6–7) discusses the motivation of the disputants (see further discussion of this passage in the Appendix). He begins by denying that Alexander’s order to Antipater to give up his position in Europe and report to him in Babylon was the consequence, as rumor said, of Alexander’s yielding to his mother’s accusations about Antipater. Arrian believed that Alexander did not really want to remove Antipater from Macedonia or disgrace him but wanted to prevent the argument from reaching a point past his ability to heal it. Arrian says that Olympias displayed authadeia (stubbornness or perhaps willfulness), oxutes (sharpness), and polupragmosune (meddlesomeness or officious-ness). He then comments, to the amusement of the modern reader, that these were qualities not the least suitable for the mother of Alexander!111 He adds an anecdote that implies that the king either agreed with this view or at least found his mother troublesome.112 More helpfully, Arrian then lists Olympias’ charges against Antipater: he was huperogkon (immoderate, excessive) on account of his rank and the attention ( therapeia) paid him, and he was forgetting who had appointed him, claiming himself to be first among Macedonians and Greeks. Arrian then, in apparent contradiction to his earlier statement, adds that these accusations were gaining strength with Alexander because they were exactly the sort of thing to worry a ruler.

  Nonetheless, he notes that Alexander said or did nothing to suggest that his regard for Antipater was not as great as ever.113 Clearly Olympias did not

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59

  act as Arrian/Antipater thought a woman should act, and Arrian seems to assume that her only motive was personal contrariness. Nonetheless, his account implies that Antipater and Olympias each thought the other was taking more power and authority than was appropriate. Olympias’ concerns about Antipater echo those Plutarch ascribed to her about a number of prominent members of the court, a fear that others might compromise Alexander’s monarchy.

  Diodorus and Justin connect the quarrel to their belief that Antipater arranged the death of Alexander. Diodorus (17.118.1) simply states that they quarreled, that Antipater initially treated Olympias with disdain because Alexander did not respond favorably to her charges against him, but that later, as their enmity increased, Alexander wished to gratify his mother in all respects on account of piety and Antipater gave many indications of his estrangement. This, combined with the deaths of Parmenio and Philotas, inspired Antipater’s conspiracy. Justin (12.14.3) lists Olympias’ accusations as one factor in a long list that inspired Antipater to regicide. Plutarch ( Alex.

  39.7) believed that Alexander was more bothered by Antipater’s accusations against his mother than he was by hers against Antipater.

  The sources do not intimate that Olympias’ influence was the sole factor in the deteriorating relationship between Alexander and Antipater (and they disagree about the degree of deterioration that had occurred114) but they generally recognize that Olympias’ views were an important element in the mix. Alexander’s Asianizing of the monarchy, his interest in divine sonship and then divine monarchy, the violent removal of Parmenio, Philotas, Cleitus, and Lyncestian Alexander, all must have contributed to misunderstanding and distrust. As we have seen, Alexander had commanded Antipater to step down from his position (and yield it to Craterus) and to come to Babylon (Arr. 7.12.4; Just. 12.12.9). Nonetheless, at the time of Alexander’s death, though months had passed, Antipater had failed to obey. Long term, Olympias’ critique of Antipater’s operations gained credibility with Alexander. In a sense it was simple: Alexander knew that he could trust his mother to be concerned about his interests because they were also hers, whereas he could not trust Antipater to the same extent because the two men’s interests were increasingly different.

  Whether the consequence of a conspiracy headed by Antipater, or, more likely, the result of a combination of disease, grief, and excessive consump-tion of wine,115 one can only imagine the stunned horror with which Olympias received the news of her son’s death, how unimaginable it must have seemed. If she was as able and as tough minded a person as I have suggested, she must have known that his death spelled disaster for her family and that her chances for a calm old age and retirement in Molossia were poor. No wonder she blamed her son’s death on Antipater and his sons (see further Chapter 4). The death of Alexander would transform what had begun as a personal struggle between Antipater and Olympias into an increasingly deadly dynastic dispute.

  4

  Olympias on her own, 323–316

  Olympias now had to cope with the loss of the son whose mere existence and subsequent astonishing success had defined nearly every aspect of her adult life. She had to do so in a world of bewildering political complexity, one characterized by much greater internecine violence than the era that had preceded it. Alexander’s unanticipated death left the empire he had forged in political chaos. For more than forty years the Macedonian elite fought over the territory he had conquered. His generals (the Successors) waged war against each other; some of the most brilliant fell early in this seemingly endless struggle, while some of the least competent managed to survive into old age. In 281, two of the last of the group of able but ruthless young men who had gone east with Alexander, now elderly but still tough and battle-hardened, faced each other in battle. Within a few years of that event (277/6), the political structure of Alexander’s former empire achieved some measure of stability; of the many original competitors, three dynasties created by the Successors would endure.1

  By the time some rough equilibrium had been reached,2 Olympias was long dead, along with all the other Argeads (whether by birth or marriage). A new dynasty ruled in Macedonia. Although she ultimately failed to achieve her political goals and her enemies murdered her, Olympias contrived to live nearly seven years into the tumultuous period of the Successors, to play a role in the great events of the day unprecedented for a woman, and to die a death that was at once heroic and, many would say, deserved.

  Certainly it suited the life she had lived. This final phase of her career was the most adventurous. During Alexander’s reign, her power, her ability to exact her will, ultimately derived from that of her son. After his death, Olympias largely acted on her own and determined her own policy. Her ability to do so depended on her son’s and husband’s repute, but they themselves were no longer there to decide matters. To the end of her life Olympias retained the character she had first demonstrated as a young woman: wily, brutal to her enemies and loyal to her friends, calculating, indomitable in her determination to secure the throne for her heirs.

  Before we turn to an examination of Olympias’ policy and actions in these last years, we need to have a brief look at the major conflicts and events of

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  the period immediately after Alexander’s death in order to make Olympias’

  choices and motivation intelligible. Naturally, we will focus on issues most relevant to her and on events on the Greek peninsula, since she never left it.

  Unfortunately, the ancient sources for this era are much poorer than for Alexander’s reign.3 Consequently, the chronology of events is often disputed.4

  Moreover, as we shall see in the case of Olympias, the problem for historians is often not so much when something happened in relation to other events, as it is when others who could be affected by an event came to know of it.

  As a consequence, it sometimes proves impossible to determine whether a given figure initiated a series of events or rather reacted to something that another person had done.

  When Alexander breathed his last, those who survived him had to re-conceive their world and imagine it without him. This was no easy matter, even for those who had hoped for his death, let alone for those whose success and well-being had depended upon his. Successions in Macedonia had always been rocky and violent, but the succession crisis precipitated by Alexander’s death proved far more chaotic and destabilizing than any that had preceded it, and not just because of the vast extent of Alexander’s impact.

  The point of all previous succession struggles had been to determine which Argead came out on top, an issue because there were often so many plausible contenders and no tidy method to select among them. On the other hand, any violence was therefore previously largely limited to the Argeads; non-Argeads were killed only if they got in the way. Otherwise there was no point in killing them, since they could not hope to be king. Now there were no immediately plausible heirs. Arrhidaeus, Alexander’s mentally limited half-brother, was in Babylon. His contemporaries treated him as a permanent minor; he could not rule on his own.5 When Alexander died, his first wife, the Bactrian Roxane, was well along in a pregnancy, but those in Babylon did not yet know the baby’s sex. They could not even be sure it would be born alive. Alexander’s two other wives had produced no children. (Barsine, the half-Greek daughter of the famous Artabazus, had borne a son by Alexander [Heracles], but Alexander had never married her.6) The problem of the absence of a viable heir was compounded by the fact that the Macedonians had failed to develop any sort of institutionalized substitute kingship, an important issue granted that the most the Macedonians could hope for in the current circumstance was that a son of Alexander would rule after many years of some sort of regency. No Macedonian child-king had ever retained the throne for any length of time. Alexander’s generals must have known from the start that it was unlikely that any child of Alexander would live long enough to rule on his own. But one wonders if any of them really wanted that to happen, si
nce, with his death, any of them might hope to rule; and, indeed, many of them did. The Successors long postponed (until 306) the formality of assuming a royal title, but they began to act like kings soon after the death of Alexander.7 One consequence of this political reality was a dramatic increase in political violence; if any of the

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  generals might be king, then it would be worth his rivals’ while to kill him and his male and female kin.8

  Another factor that intensified the succession crisis was the much expanded scope of Macedonian rule. In earlier contested successions, foreign powers had often supported royal rivals, a pattern in keeping with the historically weak nature of Macedonian power. Invasions might happen even without the excuse of a pretender. But now, the issue was not simply control of Macedonia but control of a vast empire. The great distances involved prolonged and complicated the struggle for power.

  As Alexander’s corpse lay unburied, disorder and discord descended on the Macedonian court and camp in Babylon.9 Great dissension existed within the elite and even more between the elite and the mass of the army. In general, ordinary Macedonian soldiers favored the selection of Alexander’s half-brother Arrhidaeus while the elite (though many within it found the idea of sharing rule attractive) ultimately gave grudging support to Roxane’s son, should she have one. The parties did not disagree simply about who should rule but also about what mechanism should be used to make that determination. Civil war threatened and some people were quickly killed.

  Generals and troops changed sides, in some cases multiple times. Another complicating factor was that two of the most important generals, Antipater and Craterus, men in control of a large number of troops, were not present at Babylon but could not be ignored. The lack of a dependable source for these events exacerbates the problem of trying to understand what must have been a messy, absolutely terrifying, and probably fairly long-drawn-out series of alarms and excursions.