A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology

Smith, William

A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. William Smith, LLD, ed. 1890

or CYNNA (Κυνάνη, Κύνα, Κύννα), was half-sister to Alexander the Great, and daughter of Philip by Audata, an Illyrian woman. Her father gave her in marriage to her cousin Amyntas, by whose death she was left a widow in B. C. 336. [AMYNTAS, No. 3.] In the following year Alexander promised her hand, as a reward for his services, to Langarus, king of the Agrianians, but the intended bridegroom was carried off by sickness. Cynane continued unmarried, and employed herself in the education of her daughter, Adea or Eurydice, whom she is said to have trained, after the manner of her own education, to martial exercises. When Arrhidaeus was chosen king, B. C. 323, Cynane determined to marry Eurydice to him, and crossed over to Asia accordingly. Her influence was probably great, and her project alarmed Perdiccas and Antipater, the former of whom sent her 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. In B. C. 317, Cassander, after defeating Olympias, buried Cynane with Eurydice and Arrhidaeus at Aegae, the royal burying-place. (Arr. Anab. 1.5, apud Phot. p. 70, ed. Bekk.; Satyr. apud Athen. xiii p. 557c.; Diod. 19.52; Polyaen. 8.60; Perizon. ad Ael. V. H. 13.36.)

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