Arybbas of Epirus: King of the Molossians and His Historical Role

Introduction

Arybbas (ruled 370–343/2 BC) was a king of the Molossians in Epirus, a son of Alcetas I and a member of the ruling Molossian house. On their father’s death in 370 BC he and his brother Neoptolemus I divided the kingdom; following Neoptolemus’s death around 360 BC Arybbas became sole ruler of Epirus.

His reign included an effective defensive response to an Illyrian invasion circa 360 BC, when he evacuated non-combatants to Aetolia, permitted the invaders to pillage, and then concentrated Molossian forces to rout the Illyrians. He achieved personal prestige as an Olympic and Pythian victor in the tethrippon, the four-horse chariot race. Arybbas’s rule ended in 343/2 BC when Philip II of Macedon expelled him and installed Alexander I on the Epirote throne; Arybbas was driven into exile. He was father of Alcetas II and Aeacides and grandfather of Pyrrhus, providing a direct dynastic link to later Epirote rulers.