ALEXANDER I
ALEXANDER I., king of Epirus about 342 B.C., brother of Olympias the
mother of Alexander the Great, and son-in-law of Philip of Macedon, whose
daughter Cleopatra he married (336). In 332 he crossed over to
Italy to assist the Tarentines against the Lucanians, Bruttians and Samnites.
He gained considerable successes and made an arrangement with the Romans for a
joint attack upon the Samnites ; but the Tarentines, suspecting him of the
design of founding an independent kingdom, turned against him. Although the
advantage at first rested with Alexander, he gradually lost it, and his
supporters dwindled away. In 330 (or earlier) he was defeated at
Pandosia and slain by a Lucanian emigrant.
See Justin viii. 6, ix. 6, xii. 2; Livy viii. 3, 17, 24; Aulus Gellius
xvii. 21; and article MACEDONIAN EMPIRE.
