Power Dynamics in the Hellenistic World: A Study of Olympias of Macedon
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ANA GARCÍA ESPINOSA PHD CANDIDATE
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
GarciaEspinosaA@cardiff.ac.uk
POWER
Reward Power
it relies in the ability to reward (either with
something tangible, such as money, or with something
abstract, such as praise, responsibility or influence)
Coercive power
it stems from the expectation that there
will be a punishment or negative outcome for an individual
if they do not conform to something.
Legitimate power
it comes from internalised norms,
values, or socially prescribed behaviour. It depends on:
Cultural values.
Acceptance of social structures.
Designation by a legitimising agent.
Referent power
it resides on the identification with the
person that is to exercise power, relying on a feeling of
oneness or a desire for such an identity.
Expert power
its strength dwells on the extent of the
knowledge (or the perception of such) within a certain
area.
French, J. R. P., Jr., & Raven, B. (1959).
The bases of social power
in D. Cartwright (Ed.),
Studies in social power (pp. 150–167). University of Michigan.
Soft power
Ability to get what you want
through attraction rather than
coercion or payments.
Soft power = attractiveness
(culture, political ideas, policies,
etc.)
Legitimate actions.
Hard power
Ability to coerce.
Hard power = military and
economic might.
Nye, J. S. Jr. (2006)
Soft Power and European-American Affairs
, in L.
Ilgen (ed.) Hard Power, Soft Power and the Future of Transatlantic
Relations (pp. 25 – 35). Ashgate: UK.
LEADERSHIP
Referent of the example
to be a good example for a
group of individuals by showing how things should be done.
Fear
capacity to punish either physically or through other
methods an individual or group of individuals.
Tradition
inherited authority, fame, or good reputation.
Religion
shared religious beliefs of a group of individuals
or population for someone’s authority.
Persuasion/influence
capacity to convince others to
follow through one’s charisma or a possible benefit for
doing so.
Education
having what is considered a good education
in the main fields of ‘expertise’ of the considered period.
Experience
in the field where the claim for leadership is
taking place.
Management
capacity of someone to proof that they
are good at managing a diverse range of resources.
LEGITIMATE POWER
Moreover, Olympias, as Eratosthenes says, when she
sent Alexander forth upon his great expedition, told
him, and him alone, the secret of his begetting, and
bade him have purposes worthy of his birth. Others,
on the contrary, say that she repudiated the idea,
and said: “Alexander must cease slandering me to
Hera.”
ἡ δὲ Ὀλυμπιάς, ὡς Ἐρατοσθένης φησί, προπέμπουσα τὸν
Ἀλέξανδρον ἐπὶ τὴν στρατείαν, καὶ φράσασα μόνῳ τὸ περὶ
τὴν τέκνωσιν ἀπόρρητον, ἐκέλευεν ἄξια φρονεῖν τῆς
γενέσεως. ἕτεροι δέ φασιν αὐτὴν ἀφοσιοῦσθαι καὶ λέγειν·
“Οὐ παύσεταί με διαβάλλων Ἀλέξανδρος πρὸς τὴν Ἥραν;”
Plut
. Vit. Alex.
3.2, trans Bernadotte Perrin
Ὀλυμπιὰς μὲν οὖν, μέγιστον τῶν καθ᾿ αὑτὴν ἐσχηκυῖα
ἀξίωμα καὶ γεγενημένη θυγάτηρ μὲν Νεοπτολέμου τοῦ
βασιλέως τῶν Ἠπειρωτῶν, ἀδελφὴ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ
στρατεύσαντος εἰς Ἰταλίαν, ἔτι δὲ γυνὴ μὲν Φιλίππου τοῦ
πλεῖστον ἰσχύσαντος τῶν πρὸ αὐτοῦ κατὰ τὴν Εὐρώπην
δυναστευσάντων, μήτηρ δὲ Ἀλεξάνδρου τοῦ πλεῖστα καὶ
κάλλιστα κατεργασαμένου τοιαύτης καταστροφῆς ἔτυχε.
Such was the end of Olympias, who had attained to
the highest dignity of the women of her day, having
been daughter of Neoptolemus, king of the Epirotes,
sister of the Alexander who made a campaign into
Italy, and also wife of Philip, who was the mightiest of
all who down to this time had ruled in Europe, and
mother of Alexander, whose deeds were the
greatest and most glorious
Diod. Sic. 19.51.6, trans. Russel M. Geer
When, however, the armies were drawn up facing
each other, the Macedonians, out of respect for the
position of Olympias and remembering the benefits
that they had received from Alexander, changed
their allegiance.
ἀντιταχθέντων δὲ ἀλλήλοις τῶν στρατοπέδων οἱ
Μακεδόνες ἐντραπέντες τὸ τῆς Ὀλυμπιάδος ἀξίωμα καὶ
τῶν εὐεργεσιῶν ἀναμιμνησκόμενοι τῶν Ἀλεξάνδρου
μετεβάλοντο.
Diod. Sic. 19.11.2-3, trans. Russel M. Geer
REWARD POWER
She says: “I beg thee to find other ways of conferring
favours on those thou lovest and holdest in honour;
as it is, thou makest them all the equals of kings and
providest them with an abundance of friends, whilst
thyself thou strippest bare.”
“Ἄλλως,” φησίν, “εὖ ποίει τοὺς φίλους καὶ ἐνδόξους ἄγε·
νῦν δ᾿ ἰσοβασιλέας πάντας ποιεῖς καὶ πολυφιλίας
παρασκευάζεις αὐτοῖς, ἑαυτὸν δὲ ἐρημοῖς.”
Plut
. Vit. Alex.
39.5, trans. Bernadotte Perrin
Olympias invited him to come and take charge of
Alexander’s little son and rear him, feeling that plots
were laid against his life
Ὀλυμπιάδος μὲν παρακαλούσης ἐλθόντα τὸ Ἀλεξάνδρου
παιδίον παραλαβεῖν καὶ τρέφειν ὡς ἐπιβουλευόμενον
Plut.
Vit. Eumenes
, 13.1, trans. Bernadotte Perrin
COERCIVE POWER
And as for suspicions of poisoning, no one had any
immediately, but five years afterwards, as we are
told, upon information given, Olympias put many
men to death, and scattered abroad the ashes of
Iolas, alleging that he had administered the poison.
φαρμακείας δὲ ὑποψίαν παραυτίκα μὲν οὐδεὶς ἔσχεν, ἕκτῳ
δὲ
ἔτει φασὶ μηνύσεως γενομένης τὴν Ὀλυμπιάδα πολλοὺς
μὲν ἀνελεῖν, ἐκρῖψαι δὲ τὰ λείψανα τοῦ Ἰόλα τεθνηκότος,
ὡς τούτου τὸ φάρμακον ἐγχέαντος.
Plut
. Vit. Alex.
77.1, trans. Bernadotte Perrin
She therefore sent to her a sword, a noose,
and some hemlock, and ordered her to
employ whichever of these she pleased as a
means of death, neither displaying any respect
whatever for the former dignity of the victim
whom she was unlawfully treating, nor moved
to pity for the fate that is common to all.
Accordingly, when she herself met with a
similar reversal, she experienced a death that
was worthy of her cruelty.
Diod. Sic. 19.11.6-7; 9, trans. Russel M. Geer
εἰσέπεμψεν οὖν αὐτῇ ξίφος καὶ βρόχον καὶ κώνειον
καὶ συνέταξε τούτων ᾧ βούλοιτο καταχρήσασθαι
πρὸς τὸν θάνατον, οὔτε τὸ προγεγενημένον ἀξίωμα
τῆς παρανομουμένης ἐντραπεῖσα τὸ παράπαν οὔτε
τῆς κοινῆς τύχης εἰς οἶκτον ἐλθοῦσα. τοιγαροῦν τῆς
ὁμοίας μεταβολῆς τυχοῦσα τῆς ὠμότητος ἀξίαν ἔσχε
τὴν τοῦ βίου καταστροφήν.
But by glutting her rage with such atrocities,
she soon caused many of the Macedonians
to hate her ruthlessness
; for all of them
remembered the words of Antipater, who,
as if uttering a prophecy on his death bed,
advised them
never to permit a woman to
hold first place in the kingdom
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REFERENT POWER
“(…)
but he had little faith in Eumenes’ promises because of the
latter’s loyalty to Olympias and the kings;”
οὐ λίαν δ᾿ ἐπίστευεν αὐτοῦ
ταῖς ἐπαγγελίαις διὰ τὴν πρὸς Ὀλυμπιάδα καὶ τοὺς βασιλεῖς φιλίαν·
Diod. Sic. 19.44.2, trans. Russel M. Geer
This oath Eumenes corrected and then submitted it to the
Macedonians who were besieging him, requesting them to
decide which was the juster form. Antigonus, namely, for form’s
sake, had mentioned the kings
at the beginning of the oath, and
then had made the rest of it refer to himself; but Eumenes wrote
at the head of the oath the names of Olympias and the kings,
and proposed to swear fealty, not to Antigonus alone, but also to
Olympias and the kings, and to have the same enemies and
friends as they.
διὸ πέμψας Ἱερώνυμον ἐσπένδετο τῷ Εὐμένει, προτείνας ὅρκον, ὃν ὁ
Εὐμένης διορθώσας ἐπέτρεψεν ἐπικρῖναι τοῖς πολιορκοῦσιν 2αὐτὸν
Μακεδόσι, πότερος εἴη δικαιότερος. Ἀντίγονος μὲν γὰρ ἀφοσιώσεως ἕνεκεν
ἐν ἀρχῇ τῶν βασιλέων ἐπιμνησθεὶς τὸν λοιπὸν ὅρκον εἰς ἑαυτὸν ὥρκιζεν,
Εὐμένης δὲ πρώτην μὲν ἐνέγραψε τοῖς ὅρκοις Ὀλυμπιάδα μετὰ τῶν
βασιλέων, ἔπειτα ὤμνυεν οὐκ Ἀντιγόνῳ μόνον εὐνοήσειν οὐδ᾿ ἐκείνῳ τὸν
αὐτὸν ἐχθρὸν ἕξειν καὶ φίλον, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ὀλυμπιάδι καὶ τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν.
Plut.
Vit. Eumenes
, 12.2, trans. Bernadotte Perrin
EXPERT POWER
Angelina Jolie as Olympias in Alexander (2004)
All the women of these parts were addicted to the Orphic
rites and the orgies of Dionysus from very ancient times
(being called Klodones and Mimallones), and imitated in
many ways the practices of the Edonian women and the
Thracian women about Mount Haemus, from whom, as it
would seem, the word “threskeuein” came to be applied
to the celebration of extravagant and superstitious
ceremonies. Now Olympias, who affected these divine
possessions more zealously than other women, and carried
out these divine inspirations in wilder fashion, used to
provide the revelling companies with great tame serpents,
which would often lift their heads from out the ivy and the
mystic winnowing-baskets,
or coil themselves about the
wands and garlands of the women, thus terrifying the men.
Plut
. Vit. Alex.
2.5-6, trans. Bernadotte Perrin
THANK YOU
Exploration of power dynamics in the Hellenistic world through the multidimensional exercise of power by Olympias of Macedon. The study delves into various forms of power such as reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, and expert power, shedding light on their roles in shaping leadership and influence. Additionally, the concept of soft power and hard power is discussed, highlighting the ability to coerce versus attract in achieving desired outcomes.
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Olympias of Macedon: Woman, Queen and of a Multidimensional Exercise of Power in the Hellenistic World ANA GARC A ESPINOSA PHD CANDIDATE CARDIFF UNIVERSITY GarciaEspinosaA@cardiff.ac.uk
Reward Power it relies in the ability to reward (either with something tangible, such as money, or with something abstract, such as praise, responsibility or influence) Coercive power it stems from the expectation that there will be a punishment or negative outcome for an individual if they do not conform to something. Legitimate power it comes from internalised norms, values, or socially prescribed behaviour. It depends on: Cultural values. Acceptance of social structures. Designation by a legitimising agent. Referent power it resides on the identification with the person that is to exercise power, relying on a feeling of oneness or a desire for such an identity. Expert power its strength dwells on the extent of the knowledge (or the perception of such) within a certain area. French, J. R. P., Jr., & Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power in D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 150 167). University of Michigan. POWER
Soft power Hard power Ability to coerce. Ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion or payments. Hard power = military and economic might. Soft power = attractiveness (culture, political ideas, policies, etc.) Legitimate actions. Nye, J. S. Jr. (2006) Soft Power and European-American Affairs, in L. Ilgen (ed.) Hard Power, Soft Power and the Future of Transatlantic Relations (pp. 25 35). Ashgate: UK.
Referent of the example to be a good example for a group of individuals by showing how things should be done. Fear capacity to punish either physically or through other methods an individual or group of individuals. Tradition inherited authority, fame, or good reputation. Religion shared religious beliefs of a group of individuals or population for someone s authority. Persuasion/influence capacity to convince others to follow through one s charisma or a possible benefit for doing so. Education having what is considered a good education in the main fields of expertise of the considered period. Experience in the field where the claim for leadership is taking place. Management capacity of someone to proof that they are good at managing a diverse range of resources. LEADERSHIP
, , , , . ; Moreover, Olympias, as Eratosthenes says, when she sent Alexander forth upon his great expedition, told him, and him alone, the secret of his begetting, and bade him have purposes worthy of his birth. Others, on the contrary, say that she repudiated the idea, and said: Alexander must cease slandering me to Hera. Plut. Vit. Alex. 3.2, trans Bernadotte Perrin
, , , , . Such was the end of Olympias, who had attained to the highest dignity of the women of her day, having been daughter of Neoptolemus, king of the Epirotes, sister of the Alexander who made a campaign into Italy, and also wife of Philip, who was the mightiest of all who down to this time had ruled in Europe, and mother of Alexander, whose deeds were the greatest and most glorious Diod. Sic. 19.51.6, trans. Russel M. Geer
. When, however, the armies were drawn up facing each other, the Macedonians, out of respect for the position of Olympias and remembering the benefits that they had received from Alexander, changed their allegiance. Diod. Sic. 19.11.2-3, trans. Russel M. Geer
, , , . She says: I beg thee to find other ways of conferring favours on those thou lovest and holdest in honour; as it is, thou makest them all the equals of kings and providest them with an abundance of friends, whilst thyself thou strippest bare. Plut. Vit. Alex. 39.5, trans. Bernadotte Perrin
Olympias invited him to come and take charge of Alexander s little son and rear him, feeling that plots were laid against his life Plut. Vit. Eumenes, 13.1, trans. Bernadotte Perrin
, , , . And as for suspicions of poisoning, no one had any immediately, but five years afterwards, as we are told, upon information given, Olympias put many men to death, and scattered abroad the ashes of Iolas, alleging that he had administered the poison. Plut. Vit. Alex. 77.1, trans. Bernadotte Perrin
, . . , . She therefore sent to her a sword, a noose, and some hemlock, and ordered her to employ whichever of these she pleased as a means of death, neither displaying any respect whatever for the former dignity of the victim whom she was unlawfully treating, nor moved to pity for the fate that is common to all. Accordingly, when she herself met with a similar reversal, she experienced a death that was worthy of her cruelty. But by glutting her rage with such atrocities, she soon caused many of the Macedonians to hate her ruthlessness; for all of them remembered the words of Antipater, who, as if uttering a prophecy on his death bed, advised them never to permit a woman to hold first place in the kingdom Diod. Sic. 19.11.6-7; 9, trans. Russel M. Geer
() but he had little faith in Eumenes promises because of the latter s loyalty to Olympias and the kings; Diod. Sic. 19.44.2, trans. Russel M. Geer
, , 2 , . , , , . This oath Eumenes corrected and then submitted it to the Macedonians who were besieging him, requesting them to decide which was the juster form. Antigonus, namely, for form s sake, had mentioned the kingsat the beginning of the oath, and then had made the rest of it refer to himself; but Eumenes wrote at the head of the oath the names of Olympias and the kings, and proposed to swear fealty, not to Antigonus alone, but also to Olympias and the kings, and to have the same enemies and friends as they. Plut. Vit. Eumenes, 12.2, trans. Bernadotte Perrin
Angelina Jolie as Olympias in Alexander (2004) All the women of these parts were addicted to the Orphic rites and the orgies of Dionysus from very ancient times (being called Klodones and Mimallones), and imitated in many ways the practices of the Edonian women and the Thracian women about Mount Haemus, from whom, as it would seem, the word threskeuein came to be applied to the celebration of extravagant and superstitious ceremonies. Now Olympias, who affected these divine possessions more zealously than other women, and carried out these divine inspirations in wilder fashion, used to provide the revelling companies with great tame serpents, which would often lift their heads from out the ivy and the mystic winnowing-baskets,or coil themselves about the wands and garlands of the women, thus terrifying the men. Plut. Vit. Alex. 2.5-6, trans. Bernadotte Perrin
