Da Fila a Ftia di Macedonia. Riflessioni Sulla regalità femminile degli Antigonidi

Building on literary and documentary evidence this paper focuses on third-century Hellenistic queenship and its relation with coeval monarchic institutions. It considers the Antigonid instances of queenship, from Phila I to Phthia of Macedonia, to explore the history of the status of the Hellenistic basilissa as well as of the title used to identify it. Stressing the cross-familial and cross-cultural nature of the phenomenon, the study eventually shows that the condition of basilissa altered its meaning according to the spatial and chronological context, owing to the diversity of institutional answers given to specific cultural and administrative requirements.