Amphipolis: Who was the mother of Alexander the Great, the legendary Olympias?

The global community, after the new findings that came to "light" on weekend, follows the Tomb Castes and anxiously awaiting for the next news. The revelation of the Caryatids, except that confirms that some important person is resting since centuries in Amphipolis, strengthens the possibility that the mother of Alexander the Great, Olympias is buried in Casta hill.

In particular, the famous historian and Egyptologist Andrew Chiang, author of "Seeking the tomb of Alexander the Great," said in the Discovery Channel that Amphipolis’s rosettes are like those that decorate the gold coffin found in the tomb of Philip II.

It seems that the rosette is a trademark of its holder "said Chang in Discovery News, who believes that it is likely that the Olympias, the mother of Alexander, is buried in the spectacular tomb.

"The Caryatids is a really striking finding. The fact that we now have a second pair of female guards, supports the hypothesis that it is the tomb of a very significant queen", said Chang, noting that the sphinxes guarding the entrance to the tomb is a symbol associated with the queens of Macedonia by the end of the 4th century BC

The historical records show that the queens, who died in Amphipolis in the late 4th century BC, were Olympias and Roxanne, (the wife of Alexander the Great). According to the Egyptologist, the most likely is that is the tomb of Olympias but he does not exclude that both women might be buried here.

Who was the legendary Olympias?

Olympias as a historical figure lived in the shadow of two great historical characters, Philip and Alexander.

But she didn't lack in strength and personality and with her participation or intervention contributed significantly in many historical events of her time.

She was the second daughter of Neoptolemus, king of Molossos in Epirus, born in 373 BC in Passarona, the capital of the kingdom.

When she was eleven years old, her father died and her uncle took the throne. His name was Arymbas and married her older sister, Troas.

Her brother, Alexander, was then only one year old.

It was the time when Epirus was exempted from the spirit of the local entrenchment and was in regenerative period in all areas.

Olympias, since her childhood, received special education beyond mere learning and writing. She had restless and unsatisfied spirit, metaphysical concerns and a thirst to learn more about the mysteries of life and death.

She learned the priestly secrets to the oracle of Dodona, in which served for years and she was privy in Bachic Mysteries.

She was a priestess of Cabeiri Mysteries of Samothrace, where she met and fell in love with Philip II.

Her name as a kid, according to historian W. Heckel, was Polyxena. When married renamed to Myrtali, and later renamed to Olympias and Stratonice.

The name Olympis was given to her, according to tradition, after the victory of Philip at the Olympic Games in 356 BC

She was the lawful wife of Philip and the only queen of Macedon.

She lived with him twenty years (375 BC-337 BC). Philip, of course, in accordance with the practices of the time, had a lot of women (Avdata, Filini, Nikisipoli, Midas, etc.) that were not Makedonians, except the last, Cleopatra. When she entered in the Macedonian court, she found there Filinna with her son Aridaios, and the daughter of Avdatas, Kynani.

Olympias was the most educated of all the wives of Philip and of all Macedonian noblewomen.

She had an unparalleled charm, beauty, culture and severity.

She sacrificed a lot for her insatiable thirst for power, except the life or reputation of her son, Alexander, who she loved pathologically.

Plutarch, who lived many centuries later, described her as bad tempered and jealous. Also, he reports that she used to appear with domesticated snakes.

Later, it is said that she confessed to her husband that Alexander was not his son, but that she was conceived him by a snake which appeared in her sleep, which, according to legend, was the incarnation of Jupiter itself, and that Philip divorced her and sent her to Epirus accusing her of adultery.

However, she had many virtues, many of which inherited to her son, Alexander.

In her turbulent and hectic life, she showed major qualities and major defects.

As a devoted mother, she had focused her life on a single task, which had served with passion: How to ensure that her son would be the heir to the throne of Macedonia, in the midst of machinations and intrigues in the court of Pella.

Philip one time, in response to his son Alexander, who characterized his mother as the bravest of all the Nereids, he said laughing: "she is not only courageous but also hawkish, because she does not stop quarrelling with me."

The relations between the two spouses up to 337 BC, when the Macedonian Cleopatra, niece of general Attalus, is announced as fair and lawful queen, were basically harmonious, without missing some quarrels.

Philip entrusted to her the governance of the state, when he was absent in his frequent and lengthy campaigns.

Olympias had created her own group of beneficiaries in the palace, who protected them from even their commitment and mission in different fronts.

She was endowed with great hegemonic talents. After the death of her brother, Alexander, King of Molossos, settled in Epirus and became vice-queen and guardian of her minor grandson, Neoptolemus III.

In Epirus, she developed political action of historical significance. She widened the "populace of Molossus" by the admission of new Epirus tribes and renamed it "The Allies of Apei Rotan", conjuring the staggering prestige of Aiakides dynasty, and ruled Epirus for thirteen years until 317 BC.

The unexpected and sad news of her son's death, in 323 BC, devastated her.

She never wanted to accept that Alexander died of natural death and she lamented when learned that in Babylon, her son remained unburied for two years, because of the fierce combat for his succession, by the generals.

Her anger grew, when the Macedonian army in Asia had proclaimed as a king the mentally retarded son of Philip - and of Filinna -, Aridaios Philip, whom he married the daughter of ambitious Kynanis, Adaia-Eurydice, to serve her ambitious purposes.