Ada Substitute mother
Satrap of Caria, deposed by her brother Pixodorus, and again by her son-in-law Orontobates. She surrendered her fortress of Alinda to Alexander and adopted him as her son. Alexander reinstated her after the fall of Halicarnassus (autumn 334 BC). She appears to have been much taken with him, sending him sweetmeats and allowing him to call her 'Mother'.
Adea (aka Eurydike) Niece, granddaughter of Philip
Daughter of Cynna and Amyntas. Born about 336/5 BC. She married Philip Arrhidaeus in about 322/1 BC when her mother took her to Perdiccas in Asia. She was renamed Eurydike on marriage.
After the death of Perdiccas in 321 BC she briefly exercised a measure of power as co-regent but came under Antipater's control with the two kings and returned to Macedonia.
After Antipater's death in 319 BC, she assembled an army and marched against Polyperchon, but her army refused to fight against Alexander's mother Olympias who was with Polyperchon's army. Adea was captured at Amphipolis and imprisoned with Philip Arrhidaeus by Olympias in 317 BC. Philip died and at Olympias's insistence, Adea hanged herself. She was about 19.
Alexander would only have known her as a baby.
Aeacides Cousin
Son of Olympias’s sister Troas and her uncle Arrybas. Married Phthia of Thessaly. Father of Pyrrhus, Deidameia and younger Troas. Alexander would have met him and his half-brother Alcetas when he took his mother to Epirus in 337 BC. He later supported his aunt Olympias’s attempts to gain Alexander IV’s independence .
Alexander IV Son (posthumous)
Alexander's third child was Alexander IV, son of his first wife Roxane. Roxane was the daughter of the Persian nobleman Oxyartes, a local ruler in Sogdiana who surrendered to Alexander during the siege of the Sogdian Rock. Alexander is said to have fallen in love with Roxane at first sight.
The marriage was arranged in spring or August of 327 BC. The motives for the marriage, however, certainly had a political context too. Some references claim Roxane was only 12 at the time, but there is no evidence for that. When Alexander died in June 323 BC Roxane was either six (Curtius) or eight (Justin) months pregnant. The newborn infant Alexander IV was recognized as king-to-be, formally sharing kingship with Alexander's half-brother Arrhidaeus for the time being.
Antipater, Alexander's regent in Macedonia, brought Alexander IV and his mother Roxane to Macedonia. After Antipater's death the new regent Polyperchon placed Olympias, Alexander's mother, in charge of Alexander IV. Alexander was betrothed to Olympias’s great-niece Deidameia, who later married Antigonus’s son Demetrius. In 316 BC Cassander took over power in Macedonia. Grandma Olympias was eliminated in 315 BC. Cassander put Roxane and Alexander IV under guard of his aide Glaucias, in Amphipolis, and removed all signs of Royal status from the child. Alexander IV and his mother were finally killed by Glaucias on the orders of Cassander, probably in 310 BC. Alexander was about 13 at the time. It is relevant to note that although Babylonian sources indeed mention Arrhidaeus as Alexander's Royal successor, they never refer to the infant kingship of Alexander IV.
Written by nick
Alexander of Epirus Maternal uncle and brother-in-law
He was the brother of Olympias, but was perhaps only 6 years older than Alexander. When he was about 12 in 350 BC, Philip made an alliance with Epirus and removed Alexander to Pella. Here, according to Justin, Philip had a sexual relationship with him. When he was 20 in 342 BC, Philip expelled Alexander's uncle Arybbas and placed Alexander on the throne of Epirus.
Like his Macedonian namesake, Alexander was said to have been descended from the hero Achilles (eg. Pausanias 1.9.
. He married his niece (Philip and Olympias's daughter), Cleopatra, in 336 BC (Diod. 16.91.4; Just. 9.7.7) It was during the celebrations of this wedding that Philip was assassinated. Philip had probably arranged the marriage in order to create a more direct tie with his brother-in-law: at least one ancient author suggests that Olympias was attempting to persuade Alexander to make war on her estranged husband (Just. 9.7.7).While Alexander the Great invaded Asia, Alexander of Epirus went west to Italy, in response to a call for help from the Greek citizens of Tarentum. He died near Pandosia in Italy, in 331 BC, while engaged in a war against the Bruttians and Lucanians (Just. 12.1-2; Livy 9.17.17; see also Frontinus 2.5.10, who describes Alexander's skill at ambuscades).
Justin suggests that Alexander the Great was pleased that his brother-in-law had been killed (Just. 12.1; but see 12.3, which contradicts). It certainly seems as if there was some rivalry between the two Alexanders: Cleitus the Black is said to have taunted Alexander the Great with a quote from the Epirote king - that he had faced men in battle, while the Macedonian had only faced women (Curt. 8.1.37). That there was rivalry between the brothers-in-law might also be suggested by the fact that, when Harpalus first absconded from Alexander the Great's camp (in 333 BC), his companion Tauriscus fled directly to Alexander of Epirus in Italy (Arr. 3.6.7).
Written by marcus. Revised 2018.
Amastris Cousin by marriage
Daughter of Oxyathres, brother of Darius III. Captured at Damascus after Issus in 333 BC. Raised with her cousin Stateira, she was married to Craterus at Susa in 324 BC. In 322/1 BC she married Dionysius of Heraclea Pontica with Craterus’s consent, and bore him three children. After Dionysius’s death in 306/5 BC she ruled as regent for her children, but in 302 BC she married Lysimachus and lived at Sardis as his queen. They separated amicably in 300 or 299 BC when Lysimachus married Arsinoë, the daughter of Ptolemy I Soter. About 284 BC Amastris was drowned by her own sons, and avenged by Lysimachus.
Amyntas IV Cousin
He was the son of Philip's older brother Perdiccas III, who was killed in battle against the Illyrians in 359 BC. On his father's death, Amyntas was elected King of Macedonia but as he was an infant (anywhere up to 5 years old), Philip was appointed as his guardian. By 357 BC, Philip had assumed the kingship in name as well as fact.
Amyntas continued in a position of honour at Philip's court and after the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC he and Parmenion were sent to negotiate with Thebes, while Alexander and Anitpater were sent to Athens. He was later married to Philip's daughter Cynna, by whom he had a daughter Adea (Eurydike), who married Alexander's half-brother Arrhidaeus (Phillip III) after Alexander's death.
After Philip's assassination in 336 BC, Alexander feared Amyntas as a potential rival for the throne. In 335 BC he was executed for conspiring against Alexander.
Archelaus Half-uncle
Half-brother of Philip, son of Amyntas III by Gygaea. Rebelled against Philip with his brothers Arrhidaeus and Menelaus. Murdered in 349 BC.
Arrhidaeus 1 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.
Arrhidaeus 2 (Philip III) Half-brother
Son of Philinna. He was said to be mentally deficient, although he had been promising as a child. Olympias was later reputed to have caused his deficiency. He may have been older than Alexander as he was of marriageable age when Alexander was 19.
Whether he accompanied Alexander's expedition to Asia is unclear, but by 323 BC he was in Babylon when Alexander died. Justin: "or, if they would rather have a man, there was then in the camp Aridaeus, a brother of Alexander, a person of courteous manners, and acceptable to everybody, not only on his own account, but on that of his father Philip."
The infantry, led by Meleager, proposed Arrhidaeus as king but the cavalry, led by Perdiccas proposed Roxane's unborn child. On the birth of Roxane's son, the two were proclaimed joint kings but neither ever exercised power. Cynna, Arrhidaeus's half-sister, went to Asia to marry her daughter Adea (Eurydike) to Arrhidaeus. Cynna was killed but the army was so in favour of the marriage that Perdiccas allowed it. After Perdiccas's death in 321 BC, Arrhidaeus, his wife and Alexander IV came under Antipater's control and returned to Macedonia.
After Antipater's death in 319 BC, Arrhidaeus and Adea were captured in 317 BC and imprisoned by Olympias in a small cell with little food. Arrhidaeus soon died and Adea hanged herself. They were re-buried by Cassander at Ageae.
Arybbas Great-uncle
Uncle of Olympias, and husband of her sister Troas. Succeeded their father Neoptolemus as king of Epirus, probably at the point where Philip took Neoptolemus’s young son Alexander to Pella. Philip ousted Arybbas in 342/1 BC and placed Alexander, his wife’s brother, on the throne.
Father of Alcetas and Aeacides, grandfather of Pyrrhus. Alexander probably never met his great-uncle.
Audata Step-mother
Daughter or granddaughter of Bardylis, king of the Illyrians. First, or possibly second, wife of Philip in c358 BC. Mother of Cynna, whom she trained in hunting and warlike arts. Non-Greek speaker. Possibly dead by 337 BC. Waldemar Heckel says she was renamed Eurydike
Aunt Aunt by marriage
Wife of Perdiccas III and mother of Amyntas IV. Of unknown name and lineage, she may well have been amongst the royal ladies at court in Alexander’s boyhood.
Bagoas Lover
A beautiful young Persian eunuch who had a sexual relationship with Darius and later with Alexander. According to Curtius, the Persian Nabarzanes brought him with him when he surrendered to Alexander at Zadracarta in 330 BC. It is implied that this was to gain Alexander's favour as he was known to like boys.
The second mention of Bagoas in the sources is some 5 years later in Carmania when Alexander held festivals after the return from Gedrosia. Alexander, according to Plutarch, "was once viewing some contests in singing and dancing, being well heated with wine, and that his favourite, Bagoas, won the prize for song and dance, and then, all in his festal array, passed through the theatre and took his seat by Alexander's side; at sight of which the Macedonians clapped their hands and loudly bade the king kiss the victor, until at last he threw his arms about him and kissed him tenderly."
In India, a Bagoas son of Pharnuces commanded one of the ships sailing down the Hydaspes, but this is unlikely to be the eunuch Bagoas. About 2 weeks before his death, Alexander dined at the house of one of the two Bagoases, more likely the son of Pharnuces.
Bagoas may not have been the eunuch's birth name. Another eunuch Bagoas had been the Persian Vizir and had placed Darius on the Persian throne after poisoning Artaxerxes IV, having previously poisoned this king's father and most of his family. Bagoas had attempted to poison Darius, but Darius had forced him to take the poison.
It is not known if Bagoas the eunuch was a slave. The Vizir Bagoas was not, but both may have been at the time of their castration and later were granted or purchased their freedom. It seems unlikely that Alexander would have had a public relationship with a slave.
Bagoas is the hero of Mary Renault's famous novel The Persian Boy. In this, she makes Bagoas deeply devoted to Alexander, acting as his personal servant. It is not known whether the real Bagoas acted this way, but it seems unlikely.
Barsine Mistress
Barsine was the daughter of Artabazus, a Persian nobleman. She was married first to Mentor of Rhodes and, when he died, to his brother Memnon. They were both her mother’s brothers. Apparently she had received a Greek education, although it is not clear whether this was as preparation for, or as a result of her marriages to Greeks (Pl. Alex. 21.4).
At some point in the 340s BC, Artabazus and his family were exiles at Philip’s court, following an unsuccessful rebellion of satraps against the Persian king Artaxerxes III Ochus (Diod. 16.52.3-4; Curt. 5.9.1, 6.5.2). While at Philip’s court, Barsine might have come to know the teenage Alexander, who was later to play a much larger role in her life.
When Darius III appointed Memnon as supreme commander of the forces in Asia Minor in 334 BC, charged with stopping Alexander’s advance, Barsine travelled to the Great King's court—possibly as a hostage, but certainly for safety. She was therefore at Darius’ court when she was widowed—Memnon died at Mitylene, of illness, in early 333 BC.
Later that year she travelled with the court to Damascus, where she remained while Darius and his army progressed to meet Alexander at Issus (November 333 BC). Alexander won the battle, however, and Barsine was still at Damascus when she was captured by Parmenion, who sent her to Alexander (Pl. Alex. 21.4).
Alexander made her his mistress, possibly very soon afterwards, and apparently very much at Parmenion’s urging. She appears to have travelled with the army for the next five years (Pl. Alex. 21.4). At some point in early 327 BC she bore Alexander a son, Heracles (Pl. Eum. 1; Just. 11.10). We do not know where the boy was born, as at some unknown point Barsine was sent back to the west (presumably when she first became pregnant, as at the time the army was engaged in a desperate guerrilla war in Bactria and Sogdia—hardly the best conditions for a pregnant woman!). It seems more likely though that she remained behind with Parmenion in Ecbatana as Alexander moved eastwards.
Barsine did not play any role in the rest of Alexander’s history. One of her daughters, from her marriage to Mentor, married Nearchus in 324 BC (Arr. 7.4.6); and Nearchus unsuccessfully tried to advance Heracles’ claim to Alexander’s throne after the king died (Curt. 10.6.10-12; see also Just. 13.2). Heracles was eventually killed by Polyperchon at Cassander’s instigation in around 316 BC (Just. 15.2; Eusebius, Chronicle).
She was reputed to be the first woman Alexander slept with.
Written by marcus. Revised 2023.