I was reading a new biographical book I got about Alexander and the authors mention how Olympias got her new name when Philip won the Olympic Games and that “the same day — if we accept the usual synchronism — of august 356, Alexander was born.” so I’m a bit confused considering I’ve always read he was born in July and in your book she’s still called Myrtalē when he’s a pre-teen
How Olympias Got the Name ‘Olympias’
Philip wasn’t in Pella when Alexander was born. He was off fighting a battle. So he received three pieces of good news on the same day: Parmenion had won a major campaign, his chariot had won at Olympia, and his wife had borne him a son. All this news no doubt came with one message ship/runner, but that doesn’t mean they all happened at the same time. He just heard about it all at the same time. In antiquity, news traveled slowly.
To celebrate the news, he awarded the mother of his new son a “throne name”: Olympias. Macedonian women sometimes took, or were given, new names. Olympias herself had FOUR, in her lifetime (Polyxena, Myrtale, Olympias, and Stratonike). Hadea, daughter of Kynanne took the throne name Eurydike, as, apparently, did Philip’s last wife, also born a Kleopatra. Both choices were to honor Philip’s mother, Eurydike, although we don’t know if that was her given name, or one she assumed. In short, it’s unclear when “throne names” took off. They’re popular more in the Hellenistic period.
Also, “throne name” is a bit of a misnomer in Philippos’s day. Macedonians didn’t use thrones until Alexander…maybe Philip. In the novels, I mention Philippos has one; Hephaistion thinks it’s Asian, and cheeky. Only gods (and their priest/esses) sat in thrones, in Greece. It was an Asian “conceit.” Also, up to at least Philippos, these were “wives of the king,” NOT “queens.” Carney has shown definitively that “basileia” is a Hellenistic term.
ANYway, in the novel, I have Alexander’s mother REJECT “Olympias” because Philippos gave it to her, and continue to prefer “Myrtale” because the God (e.g., Dionysos) gave her that one. And gods are higher than kings. Only those not close to her call her “Olympias” in the novels (including Hephaistion).
That was deliberate, of course. One’s name is one’s identity. Myrtale struggles to maintain her sense of herself (as physician, midwife, and priestess) against Philippos’s erasing her identity to make her just another wife, and renaming her.
It’s not unlike the quandary facing modern women: to take their husband’s last name, to hyphenate it with their own, or just to keep their own. If they choose anything but the former, they’re often made fun of for “daring” to be their own person.
My Myrtale dares to be her own person. ;)
Of the totally random, I just realized, NOBODY seems to paint/draw/imagine Olympias as *blonde*, just black-haired or red-haired. That’s why I made her blonde in the novel. My Alexandros is a strawberry-blond. Philippos was (we think) dark. So Alexandros didn’t get that fair hair from nowhere. Yeah, I know a blondie can turn up from a recessive, but as it IS a recessive, I thought it made a helluva lot more sense for Olympias to be blonde, as well.
