Caranus (

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 ...

: ) was the son of

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

and a half-brother of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...

. It used to be thought that his mother was

Cleopatra Eurydice Eurydice (Greek: Εὐρυδίκη), born Cleopatra (Greek: Κλεοπάτρα) was a mid-4th century BC Macedonian noblewoman, niece of Attalus, and last of the seven wives of Philip II of Macedon, but the first Macedonian one. Biography Cleo ...

and so Caranus was an infant at the time of his death. Cleopatra Eurydice bore Philip a female child,

Europa Europa may refer to: Places * Europe * Europa (Roman province), a province within the Diocese of Thrace * Europa (Seville Metro), Seville, Spain; a station on the Seville Metro * Europa City, Paris, France; a planned development * Europa Cliff ...

, shortly before his death in October 336 BC. However, since the probable date for Philip and Cleopatra's marriage was spring 337 BC, that would mean that Cleopatra bore two children in 18-20 months. That is possible but unlikely. According to

Justin Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...

, Alexander had killed Caranus soon after his accession in 336 BC because he feared him. Alexander would have been more likely to fear a teenager brother than an infant as a rival for the throne. It seems probable that Caranus was the son of one of Philip's other wives, either Phila or Philinna. Pausanias reports that

Olympias Olympias ( grc-gre, Ὀλυμπιάς; c. 375–316 BC) was a Greek princess of the Molossians, and the eldest daughter of king Neoptolemus I of Epirus, the sister of Alexander I of Epirus, the fourth wife of Philip II, the king of Macedonia a ...

was responsible for the deaths of Cleopatra and her son.

References

People executed by Alexander the Great 4th-century BC Macedonians Executed royalty of Macedonia (ancient kingdom) Year of birth unknown 336 BC deaths {{AncientGreece-bio-stub

See also

References