Antigonid queenship: remarks on the power of the Basilissa in third century BCE documents

This study examines the political role of Antigonid royal women who bore the title basilissa during the third century BCE. While recent scholarship has increasingly explored the power and influence of Hellenistic queens, Antigonid women – aside from Phila I – have received limited attention, largely due to the scarcity of surviving evidence compared to their Ptolemaic and Seleucid counterparts. Through an analysis of epigraphic sources, this research investigates the political agency of the four Antigonid basilissai: Phila I, Phila II, Phthia, and Polycratia. It argues that these women played an active and enduring role within the Antigonid monarchical system, participating in broader inter-dynastic power structures from the late fourth to the first centuries BCE.