Audata

Audata (Ancient Greek Αὐδάτη; ruled c. 359 – 336 BC) was an Illyrian princess and later a Macedonian queen when she married Philip II of Macedon in 359 BC.[1]

Audata
Queen of Macedon
Tenurec. 359 BC – c. 336 BC
Died336 BC
SpousePhilip II
IssueCynane
GreekΑὐδάτη
DynastyArgead

Biography

She was the daughter, granddaughter[2] or niece of Bardyllis, the Illyrian king of the Dardanian State. In order to concentrate on the internal struggle necessary to secure his crown, Philip reaffirmed the treaty the Dardanians had imposed on Macedonia by force of arms and sealed the alliance with Bardyllis by his marriage of Audata. This action undoubtedly deterred a full-scale Dardanian invasion of Macedonia at a time when the country was most vulnerable.[Note 1] Philip immediately consolidated his power as a result, so much that he defeated Bardylis in a decisive battle in 358 BC.

Audata was the first or second wife of Philip and took the name Eurydice, the name of Philip's mother, after the wedding.[3] This name change was probably due to dynastic reasons, because she was briefly the official queen of Philip. Calling her Eurydice could easily be a mistake of either Arrian of Photius, but it could also signify that Philip chose to change Audata's Illyrian name to something more Greek, or it could speak to his filial piety or simply to indicate that her status had changed.[4]:58 Soon after, Olympias became the main wife of Philip.

Audata not only maintained an Illyrian identity in a Macedonian context but also passed that identity to her daughter and granddaughter.[4] Illyrian women led armies in battle, a skill that Audata taught her only child, her daughter Cynane. She trained her daughter in riding, hunting, and fighting also. Cynane herself trained her daughter Eurydice after the manner of her own education, in martial exercises. Her granddaughter was also named Eurydice. Audata probably lived into her daughter's teens and may still have been alive at the time of her daughter's marriage to Philip's nephew Amyntas IV. The assignment of the name Eurydice to Cleopatra, the niece of Attalus in 337/336 BC may suggest that Audata was no longer alive or at the court at that time, but Alexander the Great would certainly have encountered her in Pella as a child.

Notes
  1. The time of this marriage is somewhat disputed while some historians maintain that the marriage happened after the defeat of Bardyllis. (Carney, 2000)
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References
  1. Wilkes, John (1995). The Illyrians (Reprinted. ed.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell. p. 122. ISBN 0-631-19807-5.
  2. Grainger, John D. (2017). Great Power Diplomacy in the Hellenistic World. New York: Routledge. p. 33. ISBN 978-1-315-58582-6.
  3. Heckel, Waldemar (2005). Who's who in the age of Alexander the Great: prosopography of Alexander's empire. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 336 pages. ISBN 978-1-4051-1210-9.
  4. Carney, Elizabeth Donnelly (2000). Women and monarchy in Macedonia. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-3212-9.
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