Eurydice’s Public Image after Her Death

Abstract

This is a chapter about the public memory (long and short term) of Eurydice in Macedonia and elsewhere in Greece, after her death. It concludes that she died no later than 343/2. It describes the tomb at Vergina Andronikos attributed to Eurydice, paying particular attention to the back wall of the main chamber and to the throne in the main chamber whose back has a painting depicting Persephone and Hades in a chariot. It considers whether the tomb contained a burial of a woman, whether or not she was a royal woman, whether it was indeed the burial of Eurydice herself, and how the tomb fits into the general development of Macedonian tombs. It discusses the Philippeum, a monument Philip II had constructed at Olympia and whether or not Eurydice was one of the five members of the Argead dynasty whose image stood within it. The chapter concludes with analysis of the reasons Eurydice’s great-granddaughter, initially named Adea, took Eurydice’s name at the time she married her half-uncle, Philip III Arrhidaeus. The chapter ends with an overview of the career of Eurydice, arguing that she was a Penelopean figure.