Cleopatra (wife of Philip II)

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Cleopatra (* around 353 BC ; † 336 BC ) was the last wife of the Macedonian king Philip II. She came from the Macedonian upper class; she was the sister of Hippostratus and the niece of Attalus , who acted as an important general of Philip II. The future fleet commander Hegelochus was possibly her nephew.

Life

337 BC The 45-year-old Macedonian king married Cleopatra, who was still very young. This wedding took place at least from the point of view of Philip II out of real love, but also caused his final separation from his jealous main wife Olympias , who came from Epirus - thus from abroad according to Macedonian considerations - and was very unpopular at court. Her son, Alexander the Great , got into an argument during the celebrations after the marriage with Cleopatra's uncle Attalus, because he said that Philip could now father a real son with Cleopatra. Attalus 'statement referred to Olympias' foreign origin and represented not only a great insult to Alexander, but even a threat to his successor as Macedonian king. Philip sided with Attalus and is said to have even threatened his son Alexander with the sword.

After this unfortunate event, Alexander left his father and took quarters with his mother with her brother, King Alexander of Epirus . Alexander came back to his father six months later, apparently reconciled, but his mother stayed with her brother. The background to the murder of Philip II by Pausanias (July 336 BC), which followed soon after, was already controversial in antiquity. Allegedly, Pausanias committed this murder because he had been insulted by Attalus and Cleopatra and the king refused to compensate him. According to another thesis, however, Olympias was involved in the assassination attempt because she did not forgive her husband for his last relationship with Cleopatra.

Shortly before the assassination attempt on her husband, Cleopatra had given birth to a child who had Olympias, who had returned from exile, killed on her mother's lap. F. Stähelin believes that this baby was Cleopatra's only child, namely a girl named Europe , and that the little stepbrother named Karanos, who was killed by Alexander, did not come from Cleopatra because, according to the testimony of the Satyros of Kallatis , Europe was and also was her only child Justin only speaks of the murder of her daughter. Perhaps Alexander wanted to prevent such acts of revenge from his mother, as he reprimanded her for mistreating Cleopatra during his absence. However, she had to hang herself on Olympias' orders. The report of the travel writer Pausanias , according to which Olympias locked Cleopatra and her alleged son in an iron kettle and slowly seared them by a fire kindled underneath, is to be referred to the realm of fantasy.

literature

Remarks

  1. ↑ Satyros von Kallatis in C. Müller, Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum (FHG), III 161, Fragment 5 = Athenaios 13, 557d; Plutarch , Alexander 9; Pausanias 8, 7, 7. - Incorrect information can be found in Justinus 9, 5, 9 (Cleopatra is the sister of Attalus) and Diodorus 17, 2, 3 (also), while the latter author is elsewhere (16, 93, 9) makes Attalus Cleopatra's nephew; The Alexander novel offers even more imprecise information ( Pseudo-Kallisthenes 1, 20-22 [p. 20f. ed. Müller]; etc.).
  2. ↑ Plutarch in particular emphasizes that her husband was so much older than she (Alexander 9)
  3. ↑ Satyros von Kallatis, FHG III 161, fragment 5 in Athenaios 13, 557d; Plutarch, Alexander 9, 6-10; Justin 9, 5, 9; 9, 7, 3f.
  4. ↑ Satyros von Kallatis, FHG III 161, fragment 5 in Athenaios 13, 557e; Plutarch, Alexander 9:11; Justin 9, 7, 5
  5. ↑ Plutarch, Alexander 9: 12-14; Justin 9, 7, 6f.
  6. ^ Plutarch, Alexander 10, 5
  7. ↑ Justin 9, 7, 2
  8. ↑ Justin 9: 7, 12; see. Diodorus 17, 2, 3
  9. ↑ FHG III 161, fragment 5 in Athenaios 13, 557e
  10. ↑ Justin 9: 7, 12
  11. ↑ Stähelin (see Lit.), Col. 735; also Lauffer (see lit.), p. 36; 39f .; but other historians attribute both children to Cleopatra.
  12. ^ Plutarch, Alexander 10, 5
  13. ↑ Justin 9: 7, 12
  14. ↑ Pausanias 8, 7, 7
personal data
SURNAME Cleopatra
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wife of King Philip II of Macedon
DATE OF BIRTH around 353 BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 336 BC Chr.