Sabine Müller

Elizabeth Donnelly Carney

This volume offers the first comprehensive look at the role of women in the monarchies of the ancient Mediterranean. It consistently addresses certain issues across all dynasties: title, role in succession, the situation of mothers, wives and daughters of kings, regnant and co-regnant women, role in cult and in dynastic image, while also examining a sampling of the careers of individual women while placing them within broader contexts. Written by an international group of experts, this collection is based on the assumption that women played a fundamental role in ancient monarchy, that they were part, not apart from it, and that it is necessary to understand their role to understand ancient monarchies. This is a crucial resource for anyone interested in the role of women in antiquity.

The Routledge Companion to Women and Monarchy in the Ancient Mediterranean World

Eurydice (the wife of Amyntas III, the mother of Philip II, and grandmother of Alexander the Great) was the first royal Macedonian woman who played a role in the public life of ancient Macedonia. This study examines the nature of her role and the factors that contributed to its expansion.

Eurydice and the Birth of Macedonian Power

In this groundbreaking work, Elizabeth Donnelly Carney examines the role of royal women in the Macedonian Argead dynasty from the sixth century B.C. to 168 B.C. Women were excluded from the exercise of power in most of the Hellenic world. However, Carney shows that the wives, mothers, and daughters of kings sometimes played important roles in Macedonian public life and occasionally determined the course of national events. Carney assembles an exhaustive array of evidence on the political role of Argead royal women. In addition, she presents a series of biographical sketches describing the public careers of all the royal women -- including Olympias, mother of Alexander the Great, and the warrior Cynnane, his half-sister -- whose names are preserved in ancient sources. Women and Monarchy in Macedonia fills a growing need for an updated survey of the subject, corrects previously held assumptions, and offers a fresh interpretation of the status, function, influence, and authority of women in the ancient world.

Elizabeth Donnelly Carney

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