Eurydice (wife of Antipater II of Macedon)


Eurydice. The name also reveals her relations to the Argead dynasty as her maternal grandfather and her maternal great-uncle Cassander were distant collateral relatives to the Argead dynasty.
At an unknown date, Lysimachus renamed the city Smyrna to Eurydiceia in honor of Eurydice, an innovation that did not last long. Lysimachus issued coinage depicting Eurydice on the obverse as a veiled woman, although Eurydice never owned nor had any control of the city. Little is known on her life prior to marrying.
Lysimachus gave Eurydice to marry her maternal cousin Antipater II, the son of the rulers of Macedonia, Cassander and Thessalonike. Eurydice's marriage to Antipater II, thereby extended into the next generation the historical link between Thrace and Macedonia. In her life, Eurydice was a participant in the never ending conflict over control of Macedonia in the generations after the death of Alexander the Great.
Antipater II was co-King of Macedonia from 297 BC-294 BC with his brother Alexander V and through marriage, she became a Queen consort. On the death of her maternal uncle Kassander, his wife Thessalonike divided the kingdom into two: one part to be ruled by Antipater ’s youngest brother Alexander V and his wife Lysandra and the other part to be ruled by Antipater and Eurydice. Antipater wanted the whole kingdom to rule for himself and had his mother killed.
Alexander V appealed to Pyrrhus and Demetrius I Poliorcetes for help and protection from his older brother. Pyrrhus did in exchange of two Upper Macedonian cantons. When Demetrius I arrived with his troops he had Alexander V murdered and drove out Antipater and Eurydice out of Macedonia. Demetrius I then made himself master of Macedonia. Eurydice and Antipater returned to her father and his wife Arsinoe II. Lysimachus made peace with Demetrius I, which resulted in Antipater quarrelling with Lysimachus about his Macedonian inheritance and Lysimachus had put Antipater to death. Eurydice siding with her cousin-husband was put into prison by her father and probably died there.