Heracles of Macedon

Who was Heracles of Macedon?

Heracles of Macedon was a reputed illegitimate son of Alexander the Great of Macedon by Barsine, daughter of Satrap Artabazus of Phrygia. Heracles was named after the Greek mythological hero of the same name, from whom the Argeads claimed descent.

It cannot be established definitively whether Heracles was Alexander’s son or not. Of the ancient sources, both Plutarch and Justin mention Barsine and Heracles but Arrian in the Anabasis Alexandri mentions neither. Plutarch recounts that Alexander took Barsine as his mistress, but on the arguably spurious grounds that she was recommended to him by Parmenion. Of Barsine, Mary Renault states that:

If Heracles was Alexander’s illegitimate child, then it also raises the pointed question as to why he, as Alexander’s only living son at the time of his death, was not immediately drawn into the succession disputes, and why he was passed over in favour of Philip Arrhidaeus - himself illegitimate - who was only a son of Alexander’s father Philip, and thus a more distant claimant than Heracles. Renault concludes that the romance with Barsine was invented retrospectively to validate Heracles' parentage.