Lanassa (
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 ...
: Λάνασσα) was a daughter of king
Agathocles Agathocles (Greek: ) is a Greek name, the most famous of which is Agathocles of Syracuse, the tyrant of Syracuse. The name is derived from , ''agathos'', i.e. "good" and , ''kleos'', i.e. "glory".
Other personalities named Agathocles:
*Agathocles, ...
of
Syracuse, Sicily
Syracuse ( ; it, Siracusa ; scn, Sarausa ), ; grc-att, wikt:Συράκουσαι, Συράκουσαι, Syrákousai, ; grc-dor, wikt:Συράκοσαι, Συράκοσαι, Syrā́kosai, ; grc-x-medieval, Συρακοῦσαι, Syrakoûs ...
, perhaps by his second wife Alcia. In 295 BC Agathocles married Lanassa to King
Pyrrhus of Epirus
Pyrrhus (; grc-gre, Πύρρος ; 319/318–272 BC) was a Greek king and statesman of the Hellenistic period.Plutarch. ''Parallel Lives'',Pyrrhus... He was king of the Greek tribe of Molossians, of the royal Aeacid house, and later he becam ...
. Agathocles himself escorted his daughter with his fleet to Epirus to her groom. Lanassa brought the island of
Corcyra
Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...
as dowry into the marriage. The couple had two sons:
Alexander
Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
and Helenus. However, Lanassa could not accept her husband's polygamous lifestyle, and so she left Pyrrhus in 291 BC, went to Corcyra, and offered this island as dowry to
Demetrius I Poliorcetes
Demetrius I (; grc, Δημήτριος; 337–283 BC), also called Poliorcetes (; el, Πολιορκητής, "The Besieger"), was a Ancient Macedonians, Macedonian nobleman, military leader, and king of Macedon (294–288 BC). He belonged to t ...
, then king of
Macedonia, if he would become her new husband. The courted diadoch came to Corcyra, married Lanassa and occupied the island. After the death of Agathocles (289 BC) Pyrrhus, as former husband of Lanassa, asserted hereditary claims to
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
. On the basis of these claims the inhabitants of Syracuse asked Pyrrhus in 279 BC for assistance against
Carthage
Carthage was the capital city of Ancient Carthage, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classi ...
.
[Diodorus Siculus, ''Bibliotheca historica'' 22.8.2]
References
*Felix Stähelin: ''Lanassa 2)''. In: ''
Realencyclopädie der Classischen Altertumswissenschaft''. Vol XII, 1 (1924), col. 617-618.
Notes
Ancient Epirote queens consort
Ancient Syracusans
Pyrrhus of Epirus