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Olympias, Mother of Alexander the Great. By ELIZABETH CARNEY. New York and 

London: Routledge, 2006. Pp. xvi + 221. Cloth, $33.95. ISBN 0–415–33317–2.



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In her book, the first modern biography of Olympias, the mother of 

Alexander the Great, Elizabeth Carney has produced a welcome addition to 

the ever-growing body of scholarship on the period spanning the reigns of 

Philip II, Alexander the Great and the struggles of the Diadochoi to 316 

BC. In fact, Olympias is perhaps the only significant figure from this 

period to have maintained and increased his/her prestige, power and 

influence throughout this period. The author’s biographical approach to 

these years, therefore, provides not only significant insight into the life 

of Olympias as well as royal women in general, but it also provides a 

unique glimpse into these years that shaped the early Hellenistic world 

itself.



Carney’s primary goal in Olympias is “to place Olympias in her historical 

and cultural context and to determine, as much as possible, why she acted 

as she did” (p. 4). In order to do so, the author has chosen to emphasize 

unbiased sources that are contemporary with the queen’s life and actions, 

while relying less heavily upon later, hostile, and largely anecdotal 

sources and the moralizing element inherent in them. In sum, the 

information available from the former is remarkably little. We know only of 

four accomplishments, and these all occurred within a brief span of time: 

Olympias purchased grain from Cyrene, she made a dedication to Hygeia in 

Athens, she prevented the Athenians from making a dedication at the temple 

of Dione in Molossia and she made dedications at Delphi. To supplement this 

meager picture of Olympias’ life, Carney is able to draw some plausible 

conclusions about her actions from the later and largely anecdotal sources 

(e.g., Diodorus Siculus, Plutarch, Justin) by focusing her attention on 

Olympias’ Aeacid heritage. This has allowed her to identify examples of 

Olympias’ female royal ancestors in epic and tragedy that “may have shaped 

her public conduct at critical moments in her life” and to argue that “epic 

and tragic images of royal women functioned as models and a script of sorts 

for how this woman … shaped her public presentation” (p. 3).



Olympias is divided into six chapters with one appendix. Within the first 

four chapters Carney approaches Olympias’ life chronologically, examining 

her life in Molossia (Chapter 1), her married life with Philip II (Chapter 

2), her activities as mother of King Alexander (Chapter 3) and her role in 

the period of the Diadochoi until her death (Chapter 4). In the second half 

of the book, Carney examines Olympias in two thematic chapters. The first 

is an examination of Olympias and religion (Chapter 5), the second (Chapter 

6) an investigation of Olympias’ image in the years following her death 

through the late Roman Empire. The appendix discusses the extant sources 

for Olympias’ life.



Olympias (twice) and her daughter Cleopatra (once) are the only individuals 

listed among many poleis on the famous inscription from Cyrene (SEG IX 2) 

that records the purchase of grain and its shipment to Greece during a 

particularly difficult famine. Carney supports the belief that Olympias 

donated the grain she purchased to Macedonia itself. In her estimation, 

Olympias’ ability to exert authority in this manner demonstrates the degree 

of authority and power she held while her son was campaigning in Asia. 

Carney contends, on the basis of the inscription, that both Olympias and 

Cleopatra “were functioning here as heads of state” (p. 51).



Hypereides (Eux. 19), supplies the testimony that Olympias made an offering 

to the goddess Hygeia in Athens, probably, Carney speculates, for her son’s 

health (p. 49). She also places great weight on Hypereides’ claim (Eux. 

24–6) that Olympias prevented the Athenians from dedicating a “beautiful 

face” and other objects that accompanied it to the goddess Dione at Dodona, 

citing this anecdote to bolster her claim that Olympias used “patronage and 

the denial of patronage at a major sanctuary to assert her own power and 

prestige” (p. 91).



Olympias is also attested as arranging splendid offerings at Delphi (SIG3 

252N). Carney believes that Olympias may have used the darics Alexander 

sent to her following the siege of Gaza to fund these dedications (p. 96). 

Throughout his campaign, Alexander sent money to his mother and this 

interpretation may provide the only evidence for how Olympias used it.



In addition, archaeology can to some degree supplement the picture that 

emerges from the record discussed above. Most important is the Philippeion 

in Olympia, which Pausanias (5.17.4; 20.9-10) claims once contained 

sculptures of Olympias and other members of Philip II’s family. Carney 

concludes that the inclusion of Olympias’ image was tantamount to 

proclaiming her (and the others individuals represented) as “isotheos … and 

perhaps more” (p. 101). Formation of dynasteia was foremost in Philip’s 

mind and one can use the inclusion of Olympias’ image neither to speculate 

on the state of their relationship nor to date the Philippeion’s 

construction.



Several well-known and controversial aspects of Olympias’ life deserve 

attention. According to Plutarch (Mor. 401a–b), Olympias was the third of 

four names by which Alexander’s mother was known. He claims that she was 

called Polyxena and Myrtale prior to adopting the name Olympias, and 

eventually chose Stratonice for her fourth name. Carney argues that her 

given name was Polyxena, a name derived from the Trojan royal family and 

fitting for a member of a Molossian family that claimed descent from Troy 

(pp. 16, 93–5). Polyxena changed her name to Myrtale prior to her marriage 

to Philip as part of her initiation into an unknown mystery cult. After her 

marriage, Myrtale adopted the name Olympias, probably not in connection 

with her husband’s Olympic victory, but in association with a festival of 

Olympian Zeus during which their marriage was celebrated. The name 

Stratonice, Carney suggests, was more likely an epithet attached to 

Olympias following her victory over Adea Eurydice in 317. Concerning the 

assassination of Philip II, Carney argues that Olympias (and her son) were 

not complicit in the crime (pp. 39–41). The conflict between Olympias and 

the house of Antipater originated during Alexander’s campaign, but after 

his death Olympias escalated it. Carney speculates that she named Antipater 

and his sons as Alexander’s murderers in a public lament probably performed 

not long after news reached Molossia that her son had died (pp. 62–3). 

Carney furthermore interprets Olympias’ actions in this instance according 

to models found in epic and tragedy. For example, Thetis raised the lament 

for Achilles, as did the Trojan women who similarly lamented and prayed for 

vengeance. Carney also believes that although Olympias was responsible for 

the murder of Cleopatra (Philip II’s seventh wife) and Cleopatra’s infant 

daughter Europa, the act was not one of “passionate violence,” but of 

“calculation,” consistent with Macedonian dynastic struggles (pp. 43–6). 

She arrives at this conclusion through a comparison of Olympias’ actions 

with similar examples of dynastic struggles from myth and history (p. 47). 

Finally, many scholars have attributed Olympias’ demise to her treatment of 

Adea Eurydice and Philip III Arrhidaeus, but Carney contends that her 

murder of the pair did not lead to her rapid decline from power, but that 

the military losses she and her allies suffered account for this (pp. 

75–9).



Overall, Carney’s Olympias is a balanced treatment of the queen’s life and 

her impact on the world around her. A few omissions nonetheless deserve 

notice. Given the significance Carney attaches to the contemporary sources 

for Olympias’ actions, one would like to see reference to several important 

works on them not included in her discussion. For example, Carney’s 

analysis of Hypereides’ statements concerning Olympias (Eux. 19, 24–6) 

might have included reference to D. Whitehead’s excellent commentary on the 

speech (Hypereides. The Forensic Speeches. (Oxford, 2000) especially pp. 

155–7 and 215–29). This is most important for an understanding of why 

Olympias dedicated the phiale to Hygeia in Athens, for Whitehead 

demonstrates that the goddess’ cult statues were dedicated by one Pyrrhus 

and that an Aeacid connection with the cult might have prompted Olympias’ 

dedication. Carney offers no date for the inscription that records 

Olympias’ dedications at Delphi; but see now the most recent edition of the 

stone (CID II 97), where it is dated to 327/6 BC. The inscription from 

Cyrene (SEG IX 2) has also received detailed treatment recently, by A. 

Laronde, Cyrène et la Libye hellénistique (Paris, 1987) pp. 30–4, and P.J. 

Rhodes and R. Osborne, Greek Historical Inscriptions, 404–323 B.C. (Oxford, 

2003) no. 96, pp. 486–93).



MICHAEL D. DIXON

University of Southern Indiana





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