Olympias’ pharmaka? Nature, causes, therapies and physicians of Arrhidaeus’ disease

The nature, causes, and therapies of Arrhidaeus’ disease are obscure in the sources. Plutarch, in his Life of Alexander, relates it to Olympias’ pharmaka, but others ascribed to the prince a “great disease” (Justin), a “mental infirmity” (Diodorus) and “epilepsy” (the anonymous work On Alexander’s History). The paper aims to investigate the truthfulness of the last assertion. Starting from the doctors who healed Philip, or had strong links with important members of the Macedonian court such as Antipater and Aristotle, it assumes that Philip could consult his physicians in order to treat and heal his son’s epilepsy.