Person

Olympias

c. 375–316 BCE · 4th century BCE

Olympias was a Molossian princess of Epirus, daughter of King Neoptolemus I, who married Philip II of Macedon and was the mother of Alexander the Great. After Alexander's death she fought for her grandson Alexander IV in the wars of the Successors and had Philip III and his wife killed. Cassander captured and executed her in 316 BCE.

Olympias
Image: Fotogeniss · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Mentioned in 2 state histories

Kingdom of EpirusAntipatrid Kingdom of Macedonia

See also

Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Olympias. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/olympias
MLA
“Olympias.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/olympias. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Olympias.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/olympias.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Olympias’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/olympias (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻