Origin
Olympias was the daughter of Neoptolemus I, king of the Molossians, a tribe in Epirus, and sister of Alexander I. Her family belonged to the Aeacidae, a well-respected family of Epirus, which claimed descent from Neoptolemus, son of Achilles. Apparently, she was originally named Polyxena, as Plutarch mentions in his work Moralia, and changed her name to Myrtale prior to her marriage to Philip II of Macedon, as part of her initiation into an unknown mystery cult.
The name Olympias was the third of four names by which she was known, taking it probably as a recognition of Philip's victory in the Olympic Games of 356 BC, which coincided with Alexander's birth. She was finally named Stratonice, which was likely an epithet attached to Olympias following her victory over Eurydice in 317 BC.
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