Alcetas II of Epirus: King of the Molossians and His Reign

Introduction

Alcetas II of Epirus, a member of the Aeacid dynasty and son of King Arybbas, ruled as king of the Molossians from about 313 to 306 BC. Exiled in youth by his father because of an uncontrollable temper, he was recalled from exile after the death of his younger brother Aeacides in battle against Cassander, and thus resumed the kingship. Early in his renewed reign he resisted an invasion sent by Cassander under the general Lyciscus; after initial fighting he concluded an agreement with Cassander in 312 BC and even supplied part of his forces for Cassander’s operations in the region.

Contemporary sources record that Alcetas governed with marked harshness; popular outrage at his conduct led the Epirotes to rise against him and murder him along with two of his young sons, named in the tradition as Esioneus and Nisos. His death ended his brief restoration and opened the way for the child Pyrrhus, son of Aeacides, to be placed on the Epirote throne with the support of the Illyrian king Glaukias in 306 BC. Alcetas’s reign is therefore remembered for his violent return from exile, a short-lived accommodation with Cassander, and a domestic brutality that cost him his life and dynasty’s immediate continuity.