#arrybas

Philip and Alexander of Epiros (and some Epirote history)

Olympias wasn’t that much older than Alexander of Epiros, and exactly when he came to Macedon isn’t settled. Justin gives the most details (8.6), as well as the titbit that, as he was “a youth of remarkable beauty,” Philip pursued and seduced him. Justin loves the salacious details (as did his source Pompeius Trogus), so he makes it sound as if Philip preyed on the boy. Justin generally portrays Philip as a bad person, so it’s just part of his general narrative. Nonetheless, when Alexander arrived in Macedon has a lot to do with the likelihood of any affair. If his arrival was closer to 350 than earlier in 356/55 (when Alexander the Great was born), he’d have been “too old.” I suspect he was younger, because if he made it to 18-20 alive, Philip didn’t need to bring him to Macedon to protect him (see below).

Neoptolemos (I, the Elder), father of Olympias and Alexander (and Troas), died somewhere around 360. This is when Perdikkas II was still king, and the height of raids by Bardylis the Illyrian, who basically terrorized all his neighbors. As a result, it appears that Perdikkas II and Neoptolemos (and/or Arrybas) may have forged an alliance, betrothing Olympias to Perdikkas’s younger brother Philip to unite their kingdoms into a wall against the Illyrians. Obviously, this didn’t work. The Illyrians killed Perdikkas on the battlefield in 359. Neoptolemos also died about the same time (how isn’t clear but as they don’t say battle, it was probably of something else). He and Arrybas had split the rule between them. This isn’t weird for Eprios, who also had a council. In short, it was a less absolute monarchy than Macedon.

Thessaly, Epiros and Macedon were all on a “monarchy continuum,” if you will. Thessaly at one end, Macedon the other, and Epiros in the middle. What that means is more or less consolidation behind not just a royal house (or four houses in Thessaly’s case) but behind its leading male member (the king). So when Jason of Phaerae made a bid to become “tyrant,” it might be more accurate to say he made a bid to become king.

In any case, Arrybas was married to Troas, the eldest child of Neoptolemos, but whether Neoptolemos married her to his brother (a common thing: uncle-niece marriages) or Arrybas married her after Neoptolemos died is unclear, as we’re not sure how old she was. Alexander (the youngest) was born c. 370. We don’t even know when Olympias was born, but if she was 14-16 upon her marriage (the most typical age), and Alexander born about a year (?) later, then she was probably born somewhere between 373-71. And that would likely make Troas old enough to have been married to Arrybas by her father, although far from certain. The fact OLYMPIAS (or really, Polyxena-Myrtale at the time) was the one betrothed to Philip strongly suggests that Troas was already either married or promised to her uncle.

Anyway, the two brothers had split rule regionally, so when Neoptolemos died, he left an underage heir, a betrothed daughter, and a married (?) daughter. Olympias was shipped off to Macedon about 3 years after her father’s death (c. 357), and Alexander of Macedon was born a year after. With one sister in the house of his rival (willingly or not) and the other in Macedon, the child Alexander was isolated. Arrybas wouldn’t have killed him immediately; that would’ve looked bad. Plus, not long after his brother died, the Illyrians invaded yet again and Arrybas evacuated the people, let the Illyrians plunder, then fell on them when they didn’t expect it.

The victory made Arrybas look good for his people. He just needed Troas to give him a son and he could quietly move Alexander out of sight somewhere—then possibly kill him—and keep control of the whole thing. This is the SAME thing Philip II had done earlier with Perdikkas III’s son Amyntas. Fortunately for Amyntas, he was only about a year old (with no older siblings), so by the time he reached a “dangerous” age (e.g., early adolescence), his uncle was so firmly entrenched, Amyntas was no threat at all and Philip could be generous and let him live, even marry him to his eldest daughter (who wasn’t that much younger than him).

By contrast, Kassandros—far less firmly in control and acting as “protector” for the son of Alexander III (even if the boy’s mother was an unpopular “furriner”)—had to kill Alexander IV. He really had no choice. As long as an Argead lived, nobody else could take the throne. Yet he doesn’t kill Alexander IV until he’s post pre-pubescence (c. 14).

Arrybas’s problems are closer to Kassandros’s. While he wasn’t unpopular, at least at first, he wasn’t anywhere close to as powerful/successful as Philip, and his nephew was older from the start. Plus he and his brother had already split rule, so it was a lot harder for him to argue Alexander of Epiros shouldn’t take over his father’s regions when he turned 16.

THAT’S likely why Philip removed Alexander to his court, using Alexander’s sister as an excuse. It may even have started with a “visit” that turned permanent. (We’re told so little, it’s hard to know how he got there.) Philip knew Arrybas couldn’t let Alexandros live much longer, at least not if he wanted to keep the whole thing.

Justin does suggest Philip meant him to take over the whole thing all along. Maybe, but far from certain. Philip did want him in charge of what had been his father’s portion. Once he was of age, he could go back and the council could recognize him. By 343 (not long after book 1, Becoming, opens), Philip finally was able to push out Arrybas entirely and hand Epiros to his brother-in-law.

Back to Alexander of Epiros as one in Philip’s revolving door of boyfriends … it’s hard to say. But as a prince, only a king would be high enough to court him. (Remember, that’s the big objection to/problem for Hephaistion in Becoming.) So I think it’s entirely possible they did have a fling. Archelaos earlier had made a “prince” of Thessaly his lover (prince isn’t the right word, but Thessaly had a noble class), and Pausanias of Orestes was also from the Orestian royal house. We may find it strange for Philip to be courting the younger brother of one of his wives, but for the Greeks, not as much. After all, if the new boyfriend who followed Pausanias was Hegelochos, not “Pausanias” (there is debate as to whether or not the name is a duplication error),* then Philip would later marry that boy's younger sister.

-------------------