How Alexander the Great's daddy issues reshaped the world

How Alexander the Great's daddy issues reshaped the world

How Alexander the Great's daddy issues reshaped the world 13 Minutes Read 2657 Words EN Alexander the Great’s childhood has often been presented as a time of conflict between his parents, Philip II and Olympias. But this image, so often explored in novels and films, is likely exaggerated. Most of the sources preserved from this period are Athenian; no Macedonian writings have survived. So it was Philip’s enemies, with their subjective and even manipulated accounts, who shaped what we know about the intricacies of the Macedonian court. Nevertheless, dynastic tensions evidently ran high at the court of Philip, and one factor that had an impact on family relations was the practice of polygamy. Marriage in Macedonia was a politically oriented institution, often used to establish diplomatic relations or ensure royal succession. Philip had seven wives but among them they bore him only two sons: Philip III Arrhidaeus and Alexander. Some sources say there was a third, Caranus, who may have die…