#kynanna

[jeannereames]

I understand that in polygamous courts the most important man for a royal wife is her son, but what about the daughters of royal wives? Of their male relatives at court, who is the most important to them?

Royal Daughters

Their father and/or their brother/half-brother (the one most likely to inherit and be the next king). This is the person who will be deciding who she marries (and sometimes IF she marries). Once they are married, then their sons.

Royal daughters are always political tools. Beth Carney has a great article on Alexander's sisters (see end).

One of the issues royal daughters faced was who was important enough to get them. We can look at Alexander's sisters for an idea.

Before he died (in his last 2 years) Philip married two of his daughters: the elder, Kynanna, to his nephew Amyntas (Kynanna's cousin), and Kleopatra (ATG's full sister) to the king of Epiros, Olympias's younger brother (Kleopatra's uncle). In both cases, this was a political choice. The first might have been to keep Amyntas loyal, especially as Philip was planning to leave the country for a while on an extended campaign into Persia. Yes, he'd (probably) have taken Amyntas with him to keep an eye on him, but Amyntas was still a stray Argead for rebellion to center on back home. For Kleopatra, it was to make up for any insult to Olympias at Philip's last wedding (after which, Olympias fled Macedonia along with Alexander).

As for Alexander, early in his reign, he promised the now-widowed Kynanna to his Agrianian ally, King Langaros. (Yes, the guy in Rise.) They were friends, too (apparently). But Langaros died somewhat early into Alexander's Asian campaign, and after that, he didn't offer Kynanna to anyone else. Similarly, when Kleopatra was widowed after the death of Alexandros I of Epiros, he also never promised her to anyone else. For one thing, he needed her to act as regent for her young son, the next king of Epiros.

Thessaloniki was never married at all until after his death, when Kassandros more or less forced her to marry him. WHY explains the reason ATG had kept them all unmarried: Thessaloniki became Kassandros's stepping stone to the kingship. He wasn't an Argead, but his children by her were. Alexander wouldn't have married off his sisters to anyone until/unless he had heirs (preferably more than one) of his own.

Elizabeth Carney, "The Sisters of Alexander the Great: Royal Relics," Historia 37.4: 1988.

[jeannereames]

Hello Dr. Reames! I'm having a hard Iliad brainrot this last mounth leading to an absurd fall into the Alexander the Great rabbithole and I was wondering, do we have any records or anything that Philip also took his others sons on the roads and/or battlefields with him, or was Alexander the only one?

Philip only had one other son, Arrhidaios, who was mentally infirm. So it's unlikely he went into battle. Alexander didn't take him into battle either.

That said, if Polyaenus can be believed, Philip DID take his warrior daughter, Kynanna, into combat, at least when fighting Illyrians. Polyaenus tells us that she did single combat with and Illyrian queen and beat her. This could be later invention--at least about the winning in combat part--but we know Illyrian women fought and that Audata, Philip's first (or second) wife trained her daughter--that same Kynanna--in military matters, as Kynanna in turn trained HER daughter, Hadea Eurydike. Eurydike turned up at least once dressed in armor at the head of her Macedonian army, when she faced off with Olympias leading Epirote troops.

Also, when Perdikkas's brother, Alketas, murdered Kynanna in order to prevent her from marrying Hadea (Eurydike) to Arrhiadaios, the army stepped in and forced Alketas to allow the marriage anyway. The text doesn't stay, but it may have been out of their respect for Kynanna, beside whom they'd fought in the past.

[jeannereames]

How do you think Phillip felt about Kynanne?

Hard to say. He took her to combat in Illyria, so he was certainly willing to use her where it was advantageous. He also married her to his nephew, although that nephew wasn’t going anywhere, so it was more of an honor for him than her. I think Macedonian men mostly didn’t know how to recognize women in a society like the Illyrians (or Epirote) where they had greater power.