Cleopatra of Macedonia

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See Cleopatra (disambiguation) for other people with or meanings of the name.

Cleopatra of Macedonia (ca. 356 BC - 308 BC), was a sister of Macedonian King Alexander the Great and daughter of King Philip II of Macedon and Olympias. Her other siblings include half sisters Thessalonike and Cynane, and half brother Philip Arrhidaeus.

She grew up in the care of her mother in Pella, like a normal princess. In 338 BC, Cleopatra stayed in Pella with her father while Olympias fled to exile in Epirus with her Molossian brother Alexander I of Epirus, and her brother Alexander fled to Illyria. Soon Philip felt he had ally himself to Alexander I by offering his daughter's hand in marriage. A large wedding between Cleopatra and her uncle Alexander I of Epirus was held in 336 BC. It was at the celebration of her nuptials, which took place on a magnificent scale at Aegae in Macedonia, that Philip II was murdered.

Immediately after her father's murder, the two newlyweds went from Macedonia back to Epirus. Not too soon after, the couple welcomed two children, Neoptolemus II of Epirus and Cadmeia. Leaving Pella did not mean leaving her family behind, as it is believed that Alexander and Cleopatra kept in close contact while he was on his conquest to the east. In 332 BC Alexander had sent booty home for both his mother and sister, as well as his close friends.

In 334 BC, Cleopatra's husband crossed the Adriatic to Italy to campaign against several Italic tribes, the Lucanians and Bruttii, on behalf of the Greek colony Taras, leaving her as regent of Epirus. She was involved as recipient and sender of official shipments of grain during a widespread of shortage around 334 BC. According to an inscription from Cyrenen she was the recipient of 50,000 'medimni' of grain, and shipped the surplus to Corinth. Alexander I conquered Heraclea, took Sipontum, and captured both Consentia and Terin, but was eventually killed in battle in 331 BC, leaving the young heir, Neoptolemus too young for the throne.

Cleopatra ruled Eprius in the meantime. It was an Epirote custom that the woman of a family became head of household when her husband died and their son(s) were too young, unlike in Greece and Macedonia. It was only fitting for the powerful queen to assume control. When her husband was killed, an embassy from Athens was dispatched to deliver condolences.

She was more surprisingly seemingly acting as the religious head of state for the people of Molossia. Her name appears on a list of "welcomers of sacred ambassadors", in the recently established Epirote alliance. Cleopatra was significantly the only female on the list. Her position as official welcomer would have allowed her to keep a finger on whatever was happening anywhere in Greece.

Around 324 BC, Cleopatra went back to Macedonia, while her mother, Olympias assumed control in Epirus, as relations between the Macedonian mother-queen and Antipater were quite strained. It was not long after that Alexander the Great died in 323 BC.

After the death of her brother, she was sought in marriage by several of his generals, who thought to strengthen their influence with the Macedonians by a connection with the sister of Alexander the Great. Leonnatus is first mentioned as putting forward a claim to her hand, and he represented to Eumenes that he received a promise of marriage from her. After Leonnatus' death in 322 BC, Perdiccas next attempted to gain her in marriage. After his death, her hand was sought by Cassander, Lysimachus, and Antigonus. She refused, however, all these offers. She escaped to Sardis, where she was kept for years in a sort of honourable captivity by Antigonus.

An interesting event took place in Sardis. A frustrated Antipater publicly accused Cleopatra of being involved with Perdiccas in her half sister Cynane's death. Cleopatra would not submit so easily, however and fought back in a very outgoing manner.

Eventually, Cleopatra acceded to a proposal from Ptolemy, but before her design could be realized, she was captured. After being brought back to Sardis, Cleopatra was assassinated in 308 BC, seemingly by order of Antigonus, who afterwards gave a beautiful funeral in her honour.

[edit] External links

• Cleopatra from Charles Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1867)
• Cleopatra of Macedonia from Livius on ancient history by Jona Lendering