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

PUTTING WOMEN IN THEIR PLACE 47
could have been present in the theater when Philip was murdered,
attending the panēguris (festal assembly in honor of a god) celebrated
in the theater that was part of the palace/theater complex he himself
had created (see below). Royal female piety involved public
appearance.
Greek women generally played prominent roles in death ritual. We
have no evidence that royal Argead women took part in royal funerals—unless
one takes seriously Justin’s reports of Olympias’ cavorting
around the tomb of Philip 44 —but it seems likely that they did. The
women interred in the antechamber of Tomb II and in the so-called
Tomb of Eurydice at Vergina, almost certainly royal, received splendid
burials, as did earlier Argead women. 45
Today in the United States, commercial vendors participate in “wedding
festivals” in hopes of attracting spendthrift brides, but the Argeads
put on actual wedding festivals. Olympias’ wedding and those of other
royal wives may have been tied to a festival at Dion. 46 Philip and
Alexander used royal weddings to stage their monarchy, adve rtising its
wealth and glamour. Philip transformed his daughter Cleopatra’s wedding
into an international panēguris with public processions, sacrifi
ces, and theatrical performances. His murder itself occurred in the
midst of this extravaganza, at the entrance to the theater at Aegae (Diod.
16.91.4–93.3). Alexander placed his wedding to the Persian princess/
es in the context of an outrageously splendid display, his own royal
wedding echoed by those of many of the Macedonian elite to Persians. 47
These wedding festivals were not simply, however, a dvertisements for
the dynasty. They did more than embody Argead wealth and power. In
keeping with W. R. Connor’s analysis of the functions of festivals organized
by leaders, these wedding festivals were interactive events in
which the crowds, by their attendance, i ndicated approval of leaders
and, sometimes, disapproval. 48
Were the brides visible at these wedding festivals? None of the
accounts of Argead weddings in Macedonia mention the brides’
location. The general public would probably have glimpsed them
and their conspicuous jewelry 49 in a wedding procession. If Argead
weddings resembled even comparatively modest Athenian ones, then
the bride was present at the wedding feast and so were other women,
though they probably sat apart. 50 Moreover, at a critical moment in
the affair, Athenian brides were unveiled in front of the wedding
guests, 51 before being taken off to the wedding chamber. Of course, in
Athens, there was an entire female world of celebration associated
with weddings and that was likely the case in Macedonia as well. In
other words, royal women may more often have appeared to the
female public world of Macedonia than to the male. Arrian (7.4.4–8),