Full citation – Référence complète:
Kuzmin, Yu. N. “Was Arrhidaeus a rival of Alexander? Some notes on the Pixodarus affair”. Živa Antika / Antiquité Vivante 74.1-2 (2024), pp. 147–162.

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.47054/ZIVA24741-2147k

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Abstract. – The paper provides some arguments in favour of the opinion that the information, preserved only by Plutarch (Alex. 10.1–4), about an attempt to conclude a military and dynastic alliance between the Carian dynast and satrap Pixodarus and the Macedonian king Philip II at the end of the reign of the latter (the so-called Pixodarus Affair) is at least partially unreliable, especially concerning the role of Arrhidaeus, Alexander’s half-brother. It is very doubtful that Alexander and his mother Olympias feared that after the alleged marriage of Arrhidaeus and Pixodarus’ daughter he would be declared the heir of Philip. It is obvious that after the accession of Alexander in 336, he and Olympias did not perceive Arrhidaeus as a rival and enemy and did not eliminate him unlike a number of the people whom they did consider as a threat or took revenge on them. Arrhidaeus, who became a king after the death of Alexander the Great, was killed on the order of Olympias only in 317, as a rival of her grandson Alexander IV.