Eurydice I of Macedon - Ancestry and Plot Disputes

Ancestry and Plot Disputes

Plutarch explicitly states that Eurydice was an Illyrian, so does Libanius and thus is stated in the massive 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia, Suda.

From the modern scholars and historians, Eugene N. Borza, A. B. Bosworth and Kate Mortensen support an Illyrian ancestry, whereas Robert Malcolm Errington and Charles F. Edson dispute an Illyrian origin and favour an Lyncestian ancestry for her. In an inductive analysis of the historical information over Sirras, through an a posteriori argument, Elias Kapetanopoulos, a Greek historian, also says that Sirras must have been a Lyncestian, not an Illyrian, as Eurydice as well.. Ian Worthington makes a convincing case for her Lyncestian ancestry, stating that while some dispute her ethnicity thinking her father Sirrhas may have been an Illyrian, "However, this is unlikely in light of a comment that Attalus made at the wedding of Philip in 337, intended as a slur on Alexander's legitimacy, for his mother was from Epirus.". And Ian Worthington reasons further that "Attalus' taunt, incidentally, goes some way to determining whether Philip's mother Eurydice was Lyncestian or Illyrian. If she had been the latter, then Attalus' remark would, by implication, make Philip also "illegitimate"...Hence Philip's mother was probably Lyncestian".

Stories of Eurydice's plots against her husband and her sons are at odds with other historical evidence and may be fabricated. Recent scholars have noted the many implausibilities in Justin’s narrative and have acknowledged Eurydice’s near-contemporary evidences of Aeschines towards her. Aeschines described Eurydice I as the loyal defender of her sons, whereas a Plutarch’s passage describes Eurydice as a good model in the education of children.