Eurydice and the Birth of Macedonian Power

by: Carney, E.D.

Price: 49,60 EURO

1 copy in stock

Eurydice and the Birth of Macedonian Power
Elizabeth Donnelly Carney
Women in Antiquity
Examines Eurydice (the wife of Amyntas III, the mother of Philip II, and grandmother of Alexander the Great) while avoiding ad feminam arguments
Employs recent archaeological evidence including a fascinating tomb attributed to her
Examines the nature of her public role as well as the factors that contributed to its expansion and to the expanding power of Macedonia

Description
Eurydice (c.410-340s BCE) played a part in the public life of ancient Macedonia, the first royal Macedonian woman known to have done so, though hardly the last. She was the wife of Amyntas III, the mother of Philip II (and two other short-lived kings of Macedonia), and grandmother of Alexander the Great, Her career marks a turning point in the role of royal women in Macedonian monarchy, one that coincides with the emergence of Macedonia as a great power in the Hellenic world. This study examines the nature of her public role as well as the factors that contributed its expansion and to the expanding power of Macedonia.

Some ancient sources picture Eurydice as a murderous adulteress willing to attempt the elimination of her husband and her three sons for the sake of her lover, whereas others portray her as a doting and heroic mother whose actions led to the preservation of the throne for her sons. While the latter view is likely closer to historical reality, both the "good" and "bad" Eurydice traditions portray her as the leader of a faction, an active figure at court and in international affairs. Eurydice's activity, sinister or not, directly related to the fact that, at the time of her husband's death, the eldest of her three sons was barely old enough to rule and enemies, foreign and domestic, threatened. Two of Eurydice's sons were assassinated and the third died in battle.

Eurydice functioned not only a succession advocate for her sons but she also played a part in the construction of the public image of the dynasty, both because of her own actions and because of the ways in which her son Philip II chose to depict and commemorate her. Archaeological discoveries since the 1980s enable us to better understand this development.

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Map
Abbreviations
Chronology
King List
Argead Family Tree
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The Marriage of Eurydice and Her Husband's Rule
Chapter 3: The Rule of the sons of Eurydice
Chapter 4: Eurydice and her sons
Chapter 5: Eurydice's public image during her lifetime
Chapter 6: Eurydice's public image after her death
Bibliography

Eurydice and the Birth of Macedonian Power

by: Carney, E.D.

• ISBN-13: 9780190280536 / 978-0-19-028053-6
• ISBN-03: 0190280530 / 0-19-028053-0
• Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019

Price: 49,60 EURO

1 copy in stock