Attalus
Attalos
Macedonian noble of the Argead inner circle, uncle and guardian of Cleopatra (the young Macedonian noblewoman whom Philip II married as his seventh wife in 337 BC, sometimes called Cleopatra-Eurydice in modern reconstruction to distinguish her from Philip's daughter Cleopatra of Macedon). At the wedding-feast at Pella in autumn 337, Attalus rose to make the customary toast and prayed, in Plut. *Alex.* 9.4's account, that the gods grant Philip 'lawful successors' (γνησίους διαδόχους) — a public assertion in front of the assembled court that Alexander, by the foreigner Olympias, was illegitimate. Alexander hurled his cup at him, calling him 'O villain'; Philip drew his sword on his son and stumbled at the table; the breach drove Olympias and Alexander into exile in Epirus and Illyria. In spring 336 Attalus was sent across the Hellespont with Parmenion at the head of the ten-thousand-strong advance force tasked with securing the Asian beachhead for the coming Persian campaign (Diod. 16.91.2 + Justin 9.5). Philip was assassinated at Aegae in October 336 before he could follow. One of Alexander's first acts as king was to send orders to the army in Asia: Attalus was killed by his own soldiers under Hecataeus of Cardia (Diod. 17.5 + Curt. 7.1), removing the last figure with a credible alternative-Argead claim through Cleopatra's infant son.