ALEXANDER'S FAMILY H-O
Hephaestion Lover/friend & brother-in-law
About the same age as Alexander, companions since boyhood, he became the second most powerful man in the empire but died in 324 BC in Ecbatana, which caused Alexander great distress. He married Drypetis, Darius’s daughter at Susa in 324 BC, because Alexander wanted his children to be his nieces and nephews.
Justin: "In the course of those proceedings, Hephaestion, one of his friends, died; a man who was a great favourite with Alexander, at first on account of his personal qualities in youth, and afterwards from his servility. "
Heracles Son
The first child of Alexander was Herakles, son of Alexander's mistress Barsine. Barsine was the widow of Memnon, the prominent Greek mercenary general serving under the Persian King Darius III. She was the daughter of the Persian satrap Artabazus. Barsine was captured by Parmenion in Damascus, in late 333 BC, shortly after the battle of Issus. Barsine had travelled with the Persian army from Babylon to the Mediterranean but went to Damascus before the battle.
According to Diodorus Herakles was 17 years of age when he died in 309 BC. This implies that Herakles was born in 326-327 BC during the Indian campaign. When Alexander died in 323 BC Herakles is reported to have lived in Pergamon, in western Asia Minor, together with his mother. There is no further mention of him in the sources until he is summoned to Europe by Polyperchon in 309 BC, after the death of Alexander IV. (According to Justin, Herakles and Barsine stayed in Pydna, Macedonia.)
The army started to show some interest in Herakles, as he was the last remaining member of Alexander's Argead house. So Cassander persuaded Polyperchon to murder him. Herakles was apparently strangled after a banquet. Barsine was murdered too. Their bodies, according to Justin, were buried privately to conceal the plot. Our source Justin raises some confusion about Herakles' age and date of birth by saying that he was 14 when he died, which should put his date of birth around 324 BC. Justin has probably mistaken Herakles' age with that of Alexander IV.
Written by nick
Itanes Brother-in-law
Son of Oxyartes, brother of Roxane. He was probably in Alexander’s entourage since the marriage in 327 BC and was enrolled in the agema of the Companions in 324 BC. Nothing further is known of him.
Meda Step-mother
Sixth wife of Philip. Married 341 BC. Daughter of Cothelas, king of the Getae, a semi-nomadic tribe from the Danube. Non-Greek speaker. She has been proposed as the female occupant of Tomb II at Vergina.
Menelaus Half-uncle
Half-brother of Philip, son of Amyntas III by Gygaea. Rebelled against Philip with his brothers Archelaus and Menelaus. Executed 348 BC after the siege of Olynthus.
Neoptolemus Nephew
Son of Alexander of Epirus and Alexander’s sister Cleopatra. Brother of Cadmeia. Ruled Epirus but executed by Pyrrhus in 297 BC. It is unlikely Alexander ever met him.
Nicesipolis Step-mother
Fifth wife of Philip. Married 352 BC after Philip's defeat of Pherae, or more likely 346 BC. Niece of Jason, tyrant of Pherae who had united Thessaly. Mother of Thessalonice. She died 20 days after giving birth to her daughter. Known as a great beauty. If married at the later date, Alexander would have known her briefly as a child. Olympias brought her daughter up.
Ochus Brother-in-law
Son of Darius III and his wife Stateria, he was five years old when captured at Issus in 333 BC. He appears to have remained with his grandmother and sisters for the remainder of his life and is mentioned by Justin as being with Sisygambis in Susa, along with Drypetis, when news of Alexander’s death arrived. He was presumably murdered along with his sisters by Roxane and Perdiccas, aged about 15.
Olympias Mother
Fourth wife of Philip. Mother of Alexander III and Cleopatra, who was later wife of Alexander of Epirus. Daughter of the Molossian King Neoptolemus I of Epirus and a Chaonian (Illyrian?) mother. Olympias could trace her ancestry back to two famous royal houses: that of Achilles and that of Troy (Helenus, Priam’s son). Sister of Troas (married to Arybbas, their uncle) and Alexander of Epirus.
Known as Polyxena as a child, she took the name Myrtale on marriage. Later she was known as Olympias and Stratonice. Additionally, she served as priestess at Dodona. She took part in the Mysteries of Samothrace (possibly when still a child) where she met Philip. They married in 357 BC, and Alexander was born the following year, followed by Cleopatra, later a queen of Epirus. Philip received the news of Alexander’s birth at the same time as he received the news of his horse’s Olympic victory, and Myrtale’s name may have been changed to Olympias at this point.
Olympias was politically active during and after Alexander’s reign, continually complaining to Alexander about Antipater, the regent. In 317 BC she executed Philip Arrhidaeus and Adea, but the following year she was besieged in Pydna by Cassander. Polyperchon and Aeacides were prevented from coming to her rescue and Cassander passed her for execution to the families of those she had executed.
During the reign of her rival Cassander, it seems likely that records of her career were erased and her reputation slandered. However, some tombstone inscriptions have been found in south-eastern Aegean Macedonia referring to the tomb of Olympias. It appears that the Macedonians showed her one final act of justice and respect: a proper burial. And mostly through her son and husband, her name, at least, has not been forgotten.
Originally written by Michael A. Dimitri. Amended 2023
Oxyartes Father-in-law
Father of Roxane and son Itanes, and at least two other daughters. A Bactrian-Sogdian noble who continued to oppose Alexander after the defeat of Bessus in 328 BC, but he submitted to Alexander and negotiated with Sisimithres, in whose fortress on the rock of Chorienes he had left his family. He was made satrap of Parapamisadae, a position he kept after Alexander’s death. He was still there in 316 BC, but nothing further is known of him.
Oxyathres Uncle by marriage
Younger brother of Darius III, son of Arsanes and Sisygambis. Fought at Issus in 333 BC and taken captive. He was later enrolled in the agema of Alexander’s bodyguard. Father of Amastris, who married Craterus at Susa in 324 BC. It is presumed he was eliminated along with the rest of the Persian royal family by Roxane and Perdiccas after Alexander’s death. Another unnamed daughter appears to have been married to Artaxerxes III Ochus.