View source for Cynane

{{Short description|Half-sister of Alexander the Great (c.357–323 BC)}}
{{Distinguish|text=[[Hydrogen cyanide|Cyanane]]}}
{{primary sources |date=April 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name         = Cynane
| native_name  = Kυνάνη
| title        = Princess of [[Macedonia (ancient kingdom)|Macedon]]
| birth_date   = {{circa|357&nbsp;BC}}
| birth_place  = 
| death_date   = 323&nbsp;BC
| death_place  = 
| burial_place = [[Vergina]]
| spouse       = [[Amyntas IV of Macedon]]
| children     = [[Eurydice II of Macedon|Eurydice]]
| family       = [[Argead dynasty|Argead]]
| father       = [[Philip II of Macedon]]
| mother       = [[Audata]]
}}

'''Cynane''' ({{langx|el|Kυνάνη}}, ''Kynane'' or {{lang|el|Κύνα}}, ''Cyna'' or {{lang|el|Κύννα}}, ''Cynna'';<ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0104:entry=cynane-cyna-bio-1 A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Cynane, Cyna]</ref> 357<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Greenwalt |first=William S. |date=1988 |title=The Marriageability Age at the Argead Court: 360-317 BC |jstor=4350303 |journal=The Classical World |volume=82 |issue=2 |pages=93–97 |doi=10.2307/4350303}}</ref> – 323&nbsp;BC{{sfn|''DGRBM'' s.v. "Cynane"}}) was half-sister to [[Alexander the Great]], and daughter of [[Philip II of Macedon|Philip II]] by [[Audata]], an [[Illyrians|Illyrian]] princess. She is estimated to have been born in 357 BC.

==Biography==
According to Polyaenus, Audata trained her daughter in "the arts of war" in the Illyrian tradition. Cynane's father gave her in marriage to her cousin [[Amyntas IV of Macedon|Amyntas]], by whom she had a daughter and by whose death she was left a widow in 336 BC. In the following year Alexander promised her hand, as a reward for his services, to [[Langarus]], king of the [[Agrianians]], but the intended bridegroom became ill and died.

Cynane continued unmarried and employed herself in the education of her daughter, Adea or [[Eurydice III of Macedon|Eurydice]], whom she is said to have trained, after the manner of her own education, in martial exercises. It was Eurydice who took command of Cynane's troops after her death.{{sfn|Loman|2004|p=}}{{page needed |date=April 2024}} When her half-brother [[Philip III of Macedon|Philip Arrhidaeus]] was chosen king in 323 BC, Cynane determined to marry Eurydice to him, and crossed over to [[Asia]] accordingly.

Out of all royal Macedonian women in the Hellenistic Period, Cynane was one of only three to fight on the front lines.{{sfn|Loman|2004|p=}}{{page needed |date=April 2024}} Macurdy claims that Cynane killed an Illyrian queen in battle and is, in fact, one of the only women recorded to have killed an enemy in battle.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Macurdy |first=Grace H. |date=1927 |title=Queen Eurydice and the Evidence for Woman Power in Early Macedonia |jstor=290125 |journal=American Journal of Philology |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=201–214 |doi=10.2307/290125 |issn=0002-9475}}</ref> She also defeated an army of the now dead Alexander the Great when facing [[Alcetas]], brother of [[Perdiccas]] (the regent).{{sfn|Loman|2004|p=}}{{page needed |date=April 2024}}
Her influence was probably great, and her project to marry off Eurydice alarmed [[Perdiccas]] and [[Antipater]], the former of whom sent his brother [[Alcetas]] to meet her on her way and put her to death. Alcetas did so in defiance of the feelings of his troops, and Cynane met her doom with an undaunted spirit. Upon her death, Alcetas' troops rioted and virtually ensured Eurydice's wedding took place, which was Cynane's ultimate goal.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Carney |first=Elizabeth Donnelly |title=Women and monarchy in Macedonia |date=2021 |publisher=University of Oklahoma Press |isbn=978-0-8061-3212-9 |location=Norman, OK |pages=69–70 }}</ref> Unfortunately, both daughter and son-in-law were eventually killed by [[Olympias]]. In 317 BC, [[Cassander]], after defeating [[Olympias]], buried Cynane with Eurydice and Arrhidaeus at [[Vergina|Aegae]], the royal burying-place.<ref>See {{section link||Ancient sources}}.</ref>

[[Polyaenus]], half a millennium later, in the second century C.E., wrote:

{{blockquote|Cynane, the daughter of Philip was famous for her military knowledge: she conducted armies, and in the field charged at the head of them. In an engagement with the Illyrians, she with her own hand slew [[Caeria]] their queen; and with great slaughter defeated the [[Illyrian army]]. She married Amyntas, son of [[Perdiccas III of Macedon|Perdiccas]]; and, soon after losing him, never would take a second husband. By Amyntas she had an only daughter named Eurydice: to whom she gave a military education, and instructed her in the science of war. Upon Alexander’s death, in exclusion of the royal family, his generals parceling out his dominions among themselves, she crossed the [[Strymon (river)|Strymon]]; forcing her way in the face of [[Antipater]], who disputed her passage over it. She then passed the [[Hellespont]], to meet the [[Ancient Macedonian army|Macedonian army]]: when Alcetas with a powerful force advanced to give her battle. The Macedonians at first paused at the sight of Philip’s daughter, and the sister of Alexander: while after reproaching Alcetas with ingratitude, undaunted at the number of his forces, and his formidable preparations for battle, she bravely engaged him; resolved upon a glorious death, rather than, stripped of her dominions, accept a private life, unworthy of the daughter of Philip.<ref>{{cite book |author=Polyaenus |title=Stratagemata |trans-title=Stratagems of War |translator-last=Shepherd |translator-first=E |url= |at=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070304233526/http://websfor.org:80/alexander/polyaenus/polyaenus5.asp 8.60] }} (excerpts: those stratagems concerning Alexander and some of the Diadochi) </ref>}}

== References ==
{{reflist|20em}}

== Bibliography ==
=== Modern sources ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Loman |first=Pasi |date=2004 |title=No Woman No War: Women's Participation in Ancient Greek Warfare |jstor=3567878 |journal=Greece & Rome |volume=51 |issue=1 |pages=34–54 |doi=10.1093/gr/51.1.34 |issn=0017-3835}}
* {{Cite DGRBM |url=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aentry%3Dcynane-cyna-bio-1 |title=Cynane |ref={{harvid|''DGRBM'' s.v. "Cynane"}} }}
{{refend}}

=== Ancient sources ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* [[Claudius Aelianus|Aelian]], ''Varia Historia'', [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/aelian/varhist13.xhtml xiii. 36]
* [[Arrian]], ''[[Anabasis Alexandri]]'', [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/46976/46976-h/46976-h.htm#Page_18 i. 5]
* [[Athenaeus]], ''[[Deipnosophistae]]'', [http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/Literature/Literature-idx?type=turn&entity=Literature000801890080&q1=cynna&pview=hide xiii. 5]
* [[Diodorus Siculus]], ''Bibliotheca'', xix. 52
* [[Photius I of Constantinople|Photius]], ''Bibliotheca'', [http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_03bibliotheca.htm cod. 92]
* [[Polyaenus]], ''Stratagemata'', [http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/erudits/polyen/huit.htm viii. 60]
{{refend}}
{{Illyrians}}

[[Category:4th-century BC births]]
[[Category:323 BC deaths]]
[[Category:Ancient Macedonian queens consort]]
[[Category:Family of Alexander the Great]]
[[Category:Women in Hellenistic warfare]]
[[Category:People who died under the regency of Perdiccas]]
[[Category:Murdered royalty of Macedonia (ancient kingdom)]]
[[Category:Illyrian women]]
[[Category:4th-century BC women]]
[[Category:Daughters of kings]]