Olympias

Olympias, the wife of Philip II., king of Macedonia, and mother of Alexander the Great. She was the daughter of Neoptolemus I., king of Epirus. She was a woman of great vigour and capacity, but was passionate, jealous, and ambitious. When Philip married Cleopatra, niece of Attalus, she left Macedonia, and she was believed to have instigated his assassination by Pausanias (337 B.C.). On the accession of Alexander she returned to Macedonia, and brought about the murder of Cleopatra and her daughter. Alexander treated her with respect, but he never allowed her to meddle with his political schemes. After his death she obtained the support of Polysperchon, and in 317 the pair defeated and put to death Philip Arrhidæus, the weak-minded step-brother and successor of Alexander, together with his wife Eurydice. Her cruelties soon alienated the minds of the people, whereupon Cassander besieged her in Pydna, and on its surrender put her to death, 316 B.C.