But there is also no doubt that he would not have come to be known as Alexander the Great were it not for an equally remarkable woman: his mother. We know Olympias only from snippets—mostly disapproving asides from male historians more concerned with chronicling the deeds of her great son. But the picture that emerges is of a woman who makes Alexander seem almost pale by comparison: a priestess and sorceress, power-monger and murderess. Even her warrior-king husband, Philip, was said to be scared of her after he found her sleeping with a giant snake—surely, he concluded, a visiting god. It was Olympias who taught Alexander to believe in his heroic destiny, then cleared the way for him to fulfill it. The ancient sources claim that Philip II of Macedon fell instantly for the young princess from the neighboring state of Molossia while they were both being initiated into a mystery cult. But romantic as that may sound, King Philip was generous with his affections: he already had three wives when he married Olympias, and he subsequently took a further three more.
