Classical ideal no longer prevailed.”(Pomeroy, 137) This now allowed women to enter gymnasiums and exercise nude in the close proximity to men – although this happened quite rarely. The next aspect of the liberation of Hellenistic women is that of the strength and cleverness of the royal women. Three of these women come to the table when considering who they are; Alexander’s mother, Bernice II and Cleopatra VII. All three of these women used their cunning and influence to get what they wanted. With Alexander’s mother she had to compete with other women to get her son into position to take the throne after Philip II’s death. As Pomeroy put it: “Many Macedonian kings indulged in both formal and informal polygamy, and because they often chose not to confer most-favored status on one of their wives – thereby making clear as well which of their sons was the designated successor to the throne – they fostered a climate of intrigue and struggle for power within their courts which could end in their own death at the hands of a power-hungry mother plotting of behalf of her son.” (Pomeroy, 121) This caused Alexander’s mother to have to conspire against the other women in Philip’s court and lie and deceive the king himself to put Alexander where she wanted him. Bernice II was the wife of Ptolemy III. She exercised real political power and who left her mark on poetry and religion. She had access to a large fortune, which she spent on perfume of roses and racehorses (traditionally a male hobby). Her income was from the shipping in her city of Cyrene. She owned ships that transported grain on the Nile, which also added to her wealth. Her power came not from the trickery that she had to perform, but from her economic situation. She came to the table with wealth and didn’t have to fight to be able to ensure her kin to the throne. But Cleopatra VII was the most famous. Cleopatra inh...
