Philip II and Alexander the Great: Father and Son ... - Historia Antigua

36 FATHER, SON, AND COURT
Figure 4.2. Pedestal of the Philippeum group. Olympia, Archaeological
Museum. Photo: Olga Palagia.
life she assumed different names, but the name Olympias is sometimes
associated with Philip’s fi rst Olympic victory in 356, the year of
Alexander’s birth. Ernst Badian has made the cautionary remark that
despite all her name changes, Olympias did not assume the name
Eurydice, and therefore it could not have functioned as a regnal name
in Macedonia. 12 In addition, Antipater named one of his daughters
Eurydice without arousing suspicion that she aspired to royalty.
If we look at the various emendations to the text of Pausanias proposed
since the nineteenth century, we observe that Corais’ noncommittal
E ὐρυδίκη τε ἡ Φιλίππου < καὶ Ὀλυμπιάς > (“Philip’s Eurydice
and Olympias”) is unhelpful because it implies that Philip had a
daughter named Eurydice, which we know to be untrue. Buttmann’s
emendation E ὐρυδίκη τε ἡ < Ἀριδαίου γυνὴ καὶ Ὀλυμπιὰς ἡ>; Φιλίππου
(“Eurydice, Arrhidaeus’ wife and Olympias, Philip’s wife”) adding
Adea Eurydice to the family group is impossible if we recall that Adea
was born around the time of the construction of the Philippeum 13 and
that Philip had no room for her in his dynastic plans. The last two
emendations by Rocha Pereira (E ὐρυδίκη τε ἡ Φιλίππου < μήτηρ καὶ
Ὀλυμπιὰς ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ >: “Eurydice, Philip’s mother and Olympias,
his wife”) and Cassevitz (E ὐρυδίκη τε ἡ < μήτηρ καὶ Ὀλυμπιὰς ἡ >
Φιλίππου < γυνή >: “Eurydice, the mother, and Olympias, the wife of
Philip”) advocate the inclusion of Philip’s mother Eurydice as a companion
to his father Amyntas, forming a pendant to Philip’s wife
Olympias. And yet this reconstruction of the Philippeum statuary
group does not refl ect the realities of the fi nal years of Philip’s life. It
is a construct of modern scholarship blinkered by hindsight. The
great historical signifi cance of Alexander and Olympias has colored
modern perception of the monument.
Philip’s father, Amyntas III, reigned from 393 to 370/69, and was
succeeded by his son, Alexander II, who sat on the throne until 367,