Ptolemy
05-20-2006, 10:01 AM
Eurydice was born about 410 BC , the granddaughter of Arrhabaeus. king of the Lyncestae, and the daughter of Sirras (Strab. 7.7.8) She was the mother of three sons, each of whom became king of Macedonia, and grandmother of Alexander the Great. Plutarch praises Eurydice for the example she set to mothers by learning to read and write that she could teach her sons properly, and he reproduces an epigram which she wrote, the only extant work we have by her.
Despite his praise, Plutarch nevertheless belittles Eurydice (to Greek sensibilities) by calling her a non-Greek, an lllyrian, and 'thrice-barbarous' (Moralia 14b-c). The kings of Lyucestae. however, were Greek-speaking, and claimed descent from the Bacchiadae, an important Corinthian aristocratic family. The slander derives from the rhetoric published in rhe fourth century BC. in Athens, which sought to discredit her third son, Philip, Eurydice's reputation suffered from this propaganda which claimed that she had an affair with Ptolemy Alorites, arranged to marry her daughter to him, and then plotted to murder her husband and hand Ptolemy the throne. She was even blamed for the deaths of two of her sons, Alexander and Perdiccas. While this sensational account is fictional and rightly dismissed as 'poppycock' Macedonian queens did take active roles in political affairs and Eurydice may have done so too.
The facts known about her are few: she married the Macedonian king Amyntas III, probably around 393 or 391 BC, and bore three sons who were to rule Macedonia in turn; Alexander II, Perdiccas III and Philip II (father of Alexander the Great). She also had a daughter named Eurynome. She was long-lived: excavations at the village of Vergina, site of the Macedonian city of Aegeae, have uncovered the bases of two statues dedicated by Eurydice which date to the second half of the fourth century BC. A magnificent tomb found at Vergina has been tentatively identified as hers.
The text is a line example of a dedicatory epigram and useful as a point of comparison with the later epigrams of the Hellenistic period. The poem was written to be inscribed on a statue base. We do not know what the statue was, though Hammond suggests that it may have been of Hermes as patron of letters' though it may have been of the Muses themselves.
The text is also useful for the light cast on literacy at this period, and in Plutarch's own day Eurydice was proud to announce to the world that she had learnt to read and write. Even amongst the aristocracy in the early fourth century, this was something worth noting, and she is proud rather than ashamed that her learning was accomplished relatively late in life (apparently after the birth of her children). While the evidence comes from Macedonia, we should not assume that the Macedonian aristocracy was backward'. Her pride would not have been so great if it were not a notable achievement by the standards of the Greek world. Plutarch presents Eurydice as a model for mothers, incorrectly inferring from her poem that she learnt to read and write to teach her sons. The text does not suggest this, bur writing from the perspective of the second century AD, Plutarch saw home education as one of the roles for a mother, and that a woman's education was important for the future education of her sons. Eurydice however speaks only of the benefits of the learning for herself: her hard work opened up written knowledge, her soul's desire.
Epigramm of Eurydice
Eurydice daughter or Sirras presented this to the Muses when she filled the longing for knowledge in her soul.
For the delighted mother of thriving sons laboured
to learn letters, the record of speech.
Source: "Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology" by I.M. Plant
Despite his praise, Plutarch nevertheless belittles Eurydice (to Greek sensibilities) by calling her a non-Greek, an lllyrian, and 'thrice-barbarous' (Moralia 14b-c). The kings of Lyucestae. however, were Greek-speaking, and claimed descent from the Bacchiadae, an important Corinthian aristocratic family. The slander derives from the rhetoric published in rhe fourth century BC. in Athens, which sought to discredit her third son, Philip, Eurydice's reputation suffered from this propaganda which claimed that she had an affair with Ptolemy Alorites, arranged to marry her daughter to him, and then plotted to murder her husband and hand Ptolemy the throne. She was even blamed for the deaths of two of her sons, Alexander and Perdiccas. While this sensational account is fictional and rightly dismissed as 'poppycock' Macedonian queens did take active roles in political affairs and Eurydice may have done so too.
The facts known about her are few: she married the Macedonian king Amyntas III, probably around 393 or 391 BC, and bore three sons who were to rule Macedonia in turn; Alexander II, Perdiccas III and Philip II (father of Alexander the Great). She also had a daughter named Eurynome. She was long-lived: excavations at the village of Vergina, site of the Macedonian city of Aegeae, have uncovered the bases of two statues dedicated by Eurydice which date to the second half of the fourth century BC. A magnificent tomb found at Vergina has been tentatively identified as hers.
The text is a line example of a dedicatory epigram and useful as a point of comparison with the later epigrams of the Hellenistic period. The poem was written to be inscribed on a statue base. We do not know what the statue was, though Hammond suggests that it may have been of Hermes as patron of letters' though it may have been of the Muses themselves.
The text is also useful for the light cast on literacy at this period, and in Plutarch's own day Eurydice was proud to announce to the world that she had learnt to read and write. Even amongst the aristocracy in the early fourth century, this was something worth noting, and she is proud rather than ashamed that her learning was accomplished relatively late in life (apparently after the birth of her children). While the evidence comes from Macedonia, we should not assume that the Macedonian aristocracy was backward'. Her pride would not have been so great if it were not a notable achievement by the standards of the Greek world. Plutarch presents Eurydice as a model for mothers, incorrectly inferring from her poem that she learnt to read and write to teach her sons. The text does not suggest this, bur writing from the perspective of the second century AD, Plutarch saw home education as one of the roles for a mother, and that a woman's education was important for the future education of her sons. Eurydice however speaks only of the benefits of the learning for herself: her hard work opened up written knowledge, her soul's desire.
Epigramm of Eurydice
Eurydice daughter or Sirras presented this to the Muses when she filled the longing for knowledge in her soul.
For the delighted mother of thriving sons laboured
to learn letters, the record of speech.
Source: "Women Writers of Ancient Greece and Rome: An Anthology" by I.M. Plant