Cleopatra of Macedon

Cleopatra grew up in the care of her mother in Pella. Cleopatra, Olympias, Leonidas, and Alexander's friends were Alexander's closest relationships until Alexander was sent to Mieza at 13. In 338 BC, Cleopatra stayed in Pella with her father while her mother Olympias fled to exile in Epirus with her Molossian brother Alexander I of Epirus (Cleopatra's uncle), and Cleopatra's brother Alexander fled to Illyria. Soon Philip felt he had to ally himself to Alexander I by offering his daughter's hand in marriage. == Rule in Epirus ==

Immediately after her father's murder, Cleopatra and her husband-uncle Alexander went from Macedon back to Epirus. It is believed that the couple had two children, Neoptolemus II of Epirus and Cadmeia (named for her brother's defeat of the Theban revolt which began by attacking the garrison on the Cadmea). Cleopatra held her brother Alexander's official favor, and likely kept in close contact with him while he was on his conquest to the east. Alexander considered her and Olympias as the inner circle of his basileia. ("welcomers of sacred ambassadors"), in the recently established Epirote alliance. Cleopatra was significantly the only woman on the list. Her position as official welcomer would have allowed her to keep a finger on whatever was happening anywhere in Greece. Cleopatra may also have been instrumental in implementing her brother's policies regarding grain shipments. with a handsome young man. At some point in her rule, Olympias joined Cleopatra as regent, though the extent of their power is unclear. A passage in Plutarch says that Cleopatra and Olympias shared the rule, with Cleopatra ruling Macedonia and Olympias Epirus. This relationship is portrayed as a close political one against Antipater. Towards the end of her brothers's life, Cleopatra may have given up the Molossian regency entirely. After her brother's death, Cleopatra's status in relation to her mother's was tenuous. They continued to work together politically, and Olympias likely saw Cleopatra's marriage to a general and future children as a way to solidify their safety. Cleopatra's hand was sought in marriage by several of his generals, who thought to strengthen their influence with the Macedonians by a connection with the sister of Alexander the Great. Leonnatus is first mentioned as putting forward a claim to her hand, telling Eumenes that he received a lettered promise of marriage if he came to Pella. Cleopatra had extended her hand because she knew Leonnatus had the ambition and ability to overthrow the new mentally unfit king Philip III of Macedon. Meanwhile Leonnatus, before he arrived for the wedding and in an attempt to enhance his claim to the throne, stopped to lift the siege from the rebellious Greeks in Lamia and rescue Antipater. However he was killed in this action, so the marriage never occurred. ==Time in Sardis and assassination==

Cleopatra arrived in Sardis in 322/321 BC to marry Perdiccas, but found that he had already proposed to Antipater's daughter, Nicaea. Though Eumenes reportedly promoted Perdiccas's marriage to Cleopatra, Perdiccas's brother, Alcetas, argued against this union. Still, Perdiccas planned to repudiate Nicaea to wed Cleopatra. This, along with Cyanne's murder, turned Antipater and Craterus against the Perdiccas. ==References==