How to read Alexander the Great’s family tree
The family tree Alexander the Great was born into is drawn from the top down, one generation to a row, with every year BC. Philip II had several wives, so each of his children hangs from the line to the right mother.
A portrait is a picture
Five people have one, from a mosaic, a bust, a medallion, a painting and a fresco.
A silhouette has none
No likeness is known for the other sixteen.
A dashed line is a partner
Alexander never married Barsine.
A double frame is the centre
Alexander is the centre of the chart.
The legendary descent, from Heracles and Achilles
The Argead kings of Macedon traced their line to Temenus, a king of Argos, and through him to Heracles.2 Livius notes that this Greek descent was first claimed by Alexander I, who ruled about 497 to 454 BC.1 On his mother’s side Alexander could name Achilles, because the royal house of Epirus claimed descent from Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles.14
Plutarch adds that Olympias later hinted that Zeus was the father.4 These claims belong to the family’s story, not its records, so this family tree of Alexander the Great keeps them in the text and starts the chart with his grandparents.
Amyntas III, Philip II and seven wives
Amyntas III ruled Macedon from 393 to 370 BC, and three of his sons became king, Alexander II, Perdiccas III and Philip II.2 Philip, the son of Eurydice, was born at Pella in 382 BC and took the throne in 359 BC.3
Philip married seven times, and the sources do not agree on the order. The article on Philip lists Audata, Phila of Elimeia, Nicesipolis, Olympias, Philinna, Meda of Odessos and Cleopatra Eurydice, and the article on the Argead dynasty puts Philinna before Olympias.32 Five of the wives are drawn on this family tree of Alexander the Great, the five whose children are known.
Audata, daughter of an Illyrian king, bore Cynane. Philinna of Larissa bore Arrhidaeus, who later reigned as Philip III. Nicesipolis of Pherae, called a wife or a concubine, bore Thessalonike and died soon after.38
Philip IIA Roman copy of a head of Philip, Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.
OlympiasA Roman gold medallion of the third century AD.
Olympias, Cleopatra and the death of Philip
Olympias was a Molossian princess of Epirus, the daughter of King Neoptolemus I, and married Philip in about 357 BC.4 Their children were Alexander, born at Pella on 20 or 21 July 356 BC, and Cleopatra, his only full sister.57
Philip gave Cleopatra in marriage to her uncle, Alexander I of Epirus, the brother of Olympias. Pausanias of Orestis, one of Philip’s bodyguards, killed the king at Aegae in October 336 BC, and Cleopatra and her husband left for Epirus. She ruled Epirus after he died in battle in 331 BC.37
Alexander’s wives and his two sons
Alexander was king of Macedon from October 336 BC and died at Babylon on 10 or 11 June 323 BC, aged 32.5 He married Roxana, Stateira and Parysatis.2 Only Roxana bore him a child, Alexander IV, born in the summer of 323 BC after his father’s death.6
A second son, Heracles, was said to be his by Barsine, whom he never married.5 The claim is uncertain, so the line from Alexander to Heracles is marked as disputed on this family tree of Alexander the Great.
How the Argead line ended
After 323 BC the family tree of Alexander the Great held two kings in name only, Philip III and the infant Alexander IV.2 Cynane tried to marry her daughter Adea Eurydice to Philip III and was killed for it on the orders of Perdiccas.9
In 317 BC Olympias captured Philip III and Adea. He was executed and she was forced to kill herself.94 The next year Cassander besieged Olympias at Pydna and had her killed.4 In 315 BC he married Thessalonike, possibly by force, and later named Thessaloniki after her.8
Cassander held Roxana and Alexander IV at Amphipolis and had them killed. Hammond and Walbank date this to 309 BC, and other scholars place it anywhere from 311 to 304 BC. Heracles was killed in 309 BC as well.6 Cleopatra was killed at Sardis in 308 BC, and Thessalonike was killed by her own son in 295 BC.78
How this family tree of Alexander the Great was drawn
The charts that rank for this search are mostly images, such as the table in the Wikipedia article on the Argeads.2 This chart can be changed in the editor and gives a source and a certainty for each person, and the two wives of Philip with no known children are named in the text only. The guide to genograms for family history shows how to draw a family with several marriages.
Questions about Alexander the Great’s family tree
Whether Alexander the Great had children
He had one son by Roxana, Alexander IV, born after his death, and a second son, Heracles, is said to be his by Barsine. Both boys were killed before they were grown.6
How to use this family tree of Alexander the Great in a class
The PNG and the PDF carry the picture credits and the list of sources. A free account opens the chart in the editor.
People and sources
A page of its own lists all 21 people on the chart, each with a short note and the sources for it, and the nine numbered sources this article cites. It also gives the credits of the portraits and this page as a reference in the APA, MLA, Chicago and Harvard styles, ready to copy.