Thessalonike of Macedon

Thessalonike (; 353/2 or 346/5 BC – 295 BC) was a Macedonian Greek princess, the daughter of King Philip II of Macedon by his Thessalian wife or concubine, Nicesipolis. History links her to three of the most powerful men in Macedon—daughter of King Philip II, half-sister of Alexander the Great and wife of Cassander.

Life Thessalonike's date of birth is unknown. While there is a consensus that her name commemorates her father's victory in Thessaly (it is a composite of "Thessaly" and "nike," the Greek word for "victory"), it is unclear which victory it specifically references. Some historians cite her birth as being as early as 353 or 352 BC, but 346/5 may be more accurate. Nicesipolis did not live long after Thessalonike's birth. According to Stephanus of Byzantium, Philip gave the baby to a woman named Nice to raise. Olympias, who may have been a friend of Nicesipolis, may have taken Thessalonike to be raised as her own daughter following her mother's death.

Little is known about Thessalonike's early life. Philip II did not arrange Thessalonike's marriage, as he did for her sisters, likely due to her youth at the time of his death. The fall of Pydna and the execution of her stepmother threw her into the power of Cassander, who embraced the opportunity to connect himself with the Argead dynasty by marrying her, possibly by force.

Thessalonike became queen of Macedon and the mother of three sons, Philip, Antipater, and Alexander. After the death of Cassander, Thessalonike appears to have at first retained much influence over her sons in 295 BC. The legend states that Alexander, in his quest for the Fountain of Immortality, retrieved with great exertion a flask of immortal water. In some versions of the story, he used the water to wash his sister's hair, making her immortal; in others, he forgot to tell her the contents of the flask and so used it to water a wild onion plant. When Alexander died his grief-stricken sister attempted to end her life by jumping into the sea. Instead of drowning, however, she became a mermaid who passes judgment on mariners throughout the centuries and across the seven seas. To the sailors who encounter her, she always poses the same question: "Is king Alexander alive?" (Greek: Ζει ο βασιλεύς Αλέξανδρος;), to which the correct answer would be "He lives and reigns and conquers the world" (Greek: Ζει και βασιλεύει, και τον κόσμο κυριεύει!). Given this answer, she would allow the ship and her crew to sail safely away in calm seas. Any other answer would transform her into the raging Gorgon, bent on sending the ship and every sailor on board to the bottom of the sea.