Polygamy, Prostitutes and Death

A guide to the history of royal women and their court intrigues throughout the Hellenistic period. It supplies a narrative and an analysis of the strategic in-fighting involving the numerous Cleopatras, Laodices and Stratonices, their female rivals, their male relatives, and enemies.

The hellenistic royal families, from Alexander the Great to the last Cleopatra, took part in dynastic in-fighting that was vicious, colourful and instructive. In this they anticipated by centuries the better-known excesses under Roman potentates such as Claudius and Nero.

This new enhanced and revised edition of a major study explores the intricate quarrels and violence within the ruling hellenistic families. A main theme is the role of 'amphimetric' disputes, competition between a ruler's offspring from different women, and especially between the women themselves. The book also includes a full exploration of the role of courtesans in the political and sexual intrigues of the hellenistic courts.