Olympias

the wife of Philip II. of Macedonia, and mother of Alexander the Great; divorced by Philip, who married another, she fled to Epirus, and instigated the a a ination of Philip and the execution of her rival; returned to Macedonia on the acce ion of her son, who always treated her with respect, but allowed her no part in public affairs; on his death she dethroned his succe or, but driven to bay in her defence afterwards, she was compelled to surrender the power she had a umed, and was put to death 316 B.C.