Didymea or Didymeia (flourished 4th and 3rd centuries BC,

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ''η Δηιδάμεια'') was a Macedonian Greek noblewoman. She originally came from the Macedonian highlands and her family were petty landholders in Europus. Didymeia was the daughter of Antiochus and Laodice of Macedonia. Her father served as a military general under King

Philip II of Macedon Philip II of Macedon ( grc-gre, Φίλιππος ; 382 – 21 October 336 BC) was the king ('' basileus'') of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia from 359 BC until his death in 336 BC. He was a member of the Argead dynasty, founders of the ...

and gained distinction as one of Philip’s officers. Her brother

Seleucus I Nicator Seleucus I Nicator (; ; grc-gre, Σέλευκος Νικάτωρ , ) was a Macedonian Greek general who was an officer and successor ( ''diadochus'') of Alexander the Great. Seleucus was the founder of the eponymous Seleucid Empire. In the po ...

was one of the

Diadochi The Diadochi (; singular: Diadochus; from grc-gre, Διάδοχοι, Diádochoi, Successors, ) were the rival generals, families, and friends of Alexander the Great who fought for control over his empire after his death in 323 BC. The War ...

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

and her paternal uncle was a Greek soldier called

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

. She had married an unnamed Greek nobleman and had two sons: Diodotus and Nicomedes. Diodotus, as a nephew of Seleucus I, would become Seleucid satrap of Bactria and his son, Diodotus I Soter would rebel in 255 BC, forming the rival Diodotid Kingdom (see

Seleucid Dynastic Wars The Seleucid Dynastic Wars were a series of wars of succession that were fought between competing branches of the Seleucid royal household for control of the Seleucid Empire. Beginning as a by-product of several succession crises that arose from ...

). Didymeia’s name and the name of her sons were typical Greek names of their time. She may have been the Didymeia that is associated with the mythology of Seleucus I. Her mother’s alleged sexual relations with

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

to the allegation that the oracle of the Branchidae that greeted her brother as ‘King’ in 312 BC (see Didyma).

Sources

*Grainger 1990, p. 3 * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Didymeia (Sister Of Seleucus I Nicator) 4th-century BC Greek women Seleucid dynasty 4th-century BC Greek people