4 – He Had a Strained Relationship with Alexander
Although Philip was the man who gave Alexander his first military command, the pair had a difficult relationship. Philip had Alexander with his fourth wife, Princess Olympias of Epirus, but the couple had an unstable marriage; mainly down to Philip’s frolics with men and women. According to legend, Philip once told Alexander that the boy should be embarrassed by his high-pitched voice. This is a rumor but it probably speaks to a relationship where a father was perhaps concerned about being surpassed by his son.
While we don’t know a great deal about their interactions in Alexander’s early years, we know the two men’s relationship practically fell apart in Philip’s final years. After Philip married a young Macedonian woman named Cleopatra Eurydice, Alexander was concerned about being disinherited as he was not deemed to be a ‘pure Macedonian’. Cleopatra was his seventh wife and Olympias was greatly upset because of the possible ramifications for her son. She was right to be concerned because the youthful Cleopatra produced a boy named Caranus and a girl named Europa.
After a drunken bust-up during Philip’s wedding ceremony, Alexander left the Macedonian court with his mother. Demaratus of Corinth, a family friend, helped to patch things up between the two and Alexander returned to Pella with Olympias. At this time, Caranus had not been born yet but Alexander knew that his future was only secure for as long as Cleopatra failed to produce a male heir. In 336 BC, Philip negotiated with Pixodarus of Caria with a view to marrying off his only other adult son, Arrhidaeus to the Persian’s daughter. Alexander tried to get the princess’s hand in marriage first and when Philip found out, he was furious because his son’s actions were in danger of thwarting the diplomatic portion of his Asian conquest.
Plutarch wrote that Philip scolded Alexander for trying to marry a lowly girl whose father was little more than a slave of a barbarian king. Philip apparently placed Alexander under house arrest and banished four of his closest friends, including future Egyptian pharaoh, Ptolemy. Philip never had the opportunity to lead his planned invasion because he was murdered by his bodyguard and one-time lover, Pausanias. Despite their fractious relationship, Alexander was not involved. After Philip’s assassination, Olympias ordered the murders of Caranus and Europa while Cleopatra committed suicide.