ALEXANDER'S FAMILY P-Z
Parysatis Wife
Alexander’s third wife, youngest daughter of the Persian Great King Artaxerxes III Ochus, whose reign coincided with Philip’s. She was captured at Damascus with her two older sisters in 333 BC and was left behind at Susa in 331 BC until she married Alexander in 324 BC. It is presumed she was eliminated by Roxane and Perdiccas after Alexander’s death. It is not known what happened to her sisters.
Phila Step-mother
Second, or perhaps first, wife of Philip. Married in 358 BC, born around 375 BC. From Elimeotis, who had excellent cavalry, her brothers being Derdas and Machatas. No children of hers are known.
Philinna Step-mother
Third wife of Philip. Married in 358 BC. Member of the Aleuad family from Larissa in Thessaly who claimed descent from Heracles. Mother of Philip Arrhidaeus. Possible mother of Caranus. The marriage helped secure the famed Thessalian cavalry for Philip.
"She appears to have been married before her union with Philip, and to have borne a son Amphimachus to her previous husband: Arrian FGH 156 F1.35" D Ogden 'Myth, Genesis and Sexuality'
Philip Father
Third son of Amyntas III and Eurydike. Born 382 BC. Sent briefly as a hostage to Illyria as a boy and at age fifteen spent three years as a hostage in Thebes to secure his brother Alexander II as the Macedonian king. When Alexander was killed, his brother Perdiccas III secured Philip’s release, who acted as a marshal in the northeast of the country.
When Perdiccas was killed in battle with the Illyrians, Philip briefly acted as regent for his nephew Amyntas before assuming complete command. With a series of marriages and alliances in conjunction with a well-trained and equipped army Philip consolidated his hold on Upper and Lower Macedonia and secured the borders. He then set about expanding the kingdom’s territory and wealth. This inevitably brought him into conflict with the southern Greek city states and their northern colonies, culminating in the battle of Chaeronea in 338 BC, following which Athens and Thebes sued for peace and the League of Corinth was set up. Philip was appointed Hegemon of the League, and leader of the pan-Greek expedition to invade Persia, to revenge past invasions by the Persians.
In October (or June)336 BC Philip was assassinated at his daughter Cleopatra’s wedding by Pausanias, a bodyguard and ex-lover. Pausanias was allegedly bribed by Persian gold to assassinate Philip before his departure for Persia with the invasion force.
Philoxenus or Proxenus Cousin
Son of Ptolemy of Alorus, and possibly Eurynoe, Philip’s sister. He was one of the 30 youths sent as hostages to Thebes, including Philip, in 368 BC. Nothing further is known of him.
Roxane Wife
Variously spelt as Rhoxane, Roxana, Roxanne etc, meaning 'Little Star'. Daughter of Oxyartes, a Bactrian or Sogdian noble who submitted to Alexander. Sister of Itanes. Traditionally Alexander is said to have fallen in love with her when she danced for her father’s guests, but the marriage in spring 327 BC is likely to have been politically motivated as well in order to bring to an end two years of geurilla warfare before Alexander moved on India. It would have left allies in his rear. Roxane is presumed to have been in her mid-teens.
She bore Alexander two sons that we know of: an infant son who died in India in 327 BC, and the posthumous Alexander IV. Roxane and Alexander were poisoned by Cassander in 310 BC before Alexander came of age to claim his inheritance. They were buried at Aegae.
Sisters Sisters-in-law At least two sisters of Roxane and Itanes were captured along with their mother at the Rock of Chorienes in 327 BC. Whether they remained there with their parents after Alexander married Roxane is unknown.
Parysatis also had two older sister who became Alexander’s sisters=in=law on his marriage. Nothing further is known of them and they were probably already married.
Stateira 1 Mother-in-law, alleged mistress T
he wife of the Persian Great King Darius. She was captured at the battle of Issus in 333 BC along with her mother-in-law, two daughters and son. She is said to have died in childbirth, but whether the child was Alexander's or Darius's is unknown. She was possibly Darius’s sister, and was reputed a great beauty.
Stateira 2 Wife
Eldest daughter of the Persian great king Darius and Stateira, she was captured along with her mother, grandmother, sister and brother at Issus in 333 BC. They were left behind in Susa in 331 BC, where she was taught Greek, until Alexander returned from India. Alexander married her in 324 BC at Susa. After Alexander's death she and her sister Drypetis were murdered by Roxane, probably at Perdiccas's instigation to prevent anyone else marrying them and challenging Roxane’s son’s succession. Mary Renault suggests Stateira may have been pregnant, but there is nothing in the sources to suggest this.
When news of Alexander’s death reached Sisygambis in Susa, Curtius only mentions Drypetis and Ochus as pleading with her not to starve herself to death. The implication is that Stateria was with Alexander in Babylon when he died, Drypetis having been sent to Susa while in mourning for Hephaestion.
Sisygambis Substitute grandmother
Sisygambis was the mother of Darius III. She might also have been the mother of Darius’ wife, Stateira, as she is described as Darius’ sister—although she might, of course, have been a half-sister (eg. Aulus Gellius 7.8.1-4).
In 333 BC Darius took his family with him to Issus, where he expected to fight, and defeat Alexander. The resulting battle saw the Persian army defeated and Darius in flight; he left his family to the mercies of the Macedonian conqueror (Arr. 2.11.9-10; Curt. 3.11.24-26; Pl. Alex. 21.1; Diod. 17.37.3; Just. 11.9; Itin. Alex. 14).
Sisygambis and her family feared that Darius had been killed, so Alexander sent Laomedon, who spoke Persian, to reassure them. (In fact, most sources say it was Leonnatus, but Heckel, 1992, argues persuasively that it was really Laomedon). The story is then told that Alexander went to visit Sisygambis, accompanied by Hephaestion. Sisygambis assumed that Hephaestion was the king, because he was the taller and more handsome of the two. When she realised her mistake she feared retribution; but Alexander forgave her. He promised that she and her family would be treated as befitted their rank, and that her grand-daughters, Stateira and Drypetis would be given husbands of suitable rank (Arr. 2.12.5-8; Curt. 3.12.6-17, 24-26; Pl. Alex. 21.2-3; Diod. 17.37.5-38.7; Itin. Alex. 15; Val. Max. 4.7.ext.2a; Athen. 13.603b-d).
The royal family travelled with the army for the next two years, until they were installed at Susa in late 331 BC. At some point during those years—it is not clear exactly when, but probably earlier in 331 BC—Darius’ wife died, perhaps of fatigue, or perhaps, as was rumoured, in childbirth (Curt. 4.10.18-24; Pl. Alex. 30; Diod. 17.54.7; Just. 11.12). This tragedy was compounded by the fact that Darius had recently lost at Gaugamela, and was currently in desperate negotiations with Alexander to try and keep at least some of his kingdom.
Alexander became fond of Sisygambis, perhaps seeing in her a mother figure, a similar relationship to that which he had previously enjoyed with Ada of Caria (Curt. 5.2.20-22; Pl. Moralia 6.522A). But he was, in 331 at least, still ignorant of Persian customs, and he committed a grave faux pas: when he received some fabric from Macedon he sent it to the queen mother, suggesting that she might like to use it to teach her daughters dress-making, something Persian royal ladies were not expected, or accustomed, to do. Once he realised his mistake, Alexander explained his lapse and no longer-term harm was done (Curt. 5.1.17-22). His relationship with Sisygambis was strong enough that, when he threatened to destroy the Uxians, she was able to intervene and save them (Curt. 5.3.13-15).
When Alexander finally caught up with Darius, who had been murdered by Bessus, he treated the dead king with honour, and sent him to Sisygambis for burial according to Persian custom (Pl. Alex. 43.3; Arr. 3.22.1). While not diminishing the regard that Alexander felt for the queen mother, such an honourable and sensitive act was politically astute, in keeping with his role as Darius’ successor.
Sisygambis remains out of the picture after that until 325/4 BC, when Alexander returned from the campaign in India. At Susa he married Stateira, Sisygambis’ grand-daughter, while Hephaestion married Drypetis (Arr. 7.4.4-5; Pl. Alex. 70.2; Diod. 17.107.6; Just. 12.10; Athen. 12.538b. Pl. Moralia 4.338D-F says the marriage was purely political). Drypetis was widowed before the end of 324, and Stateira also found herself a widow the following year, when Alexander died. Shortly after Alexander’s death his pregnant Sogdian queen, Roxane, lured Stateira and Drypetis to their deaths (Pl. Alex. 77.4). Whether they predeceased Sisygambis is not really known, but it is said that, when she heard of Alexander’s death, the queen mother turned her face to the wall and starved herself to death (Curt. 10.5.19-25). We do not know what happened to Darius’ son, Ochus, although it is most likely that he had been quietly disposed of in the intervening time. Within eight years, therefore, three generations of the Achaemenid royal house had expired, most of them violently.
Written by marcus.
Thalestris Alleged Mistress
Queen of the Amazons who allegedly came to Alexander's camp with the desire to conceive a child by him in 329 BC. It is probably not a true story.
Thessalonice Half-sister
The daughter of Philip and Nicesipolis. Probably born about 346/5 BC, supposedly on the day Philip was victorious at the battle of the Crocus Field. Her mother died twenty days after she was born. She was brought up by Olympias, with whom she was captured by Cassander in 317 BC at the siege of Pydna. Cassander married her to cement his claim to the Macedonian kingship and named the city Thessalonki after her. She bore Cassander three sons, Philip, Antipater and Alexander, who all became kings of Macedonia. Antipater murdered her in 295 BC, possibly because she wanted him to hold joint kingship with Alexander, for whom she may have been acting as regent.
Troas Aunt
Elder sister of Olympias, born about 375 BC. Married to her uncle Arybbas on her father’s death. Mother of Aeacides, grandmother of Pyrrhus, Deidameia and Troas. Alexander may have met her when he took Olympias to Epirus in 337 BC.