Roxana
Ῥωξά̄νη, ἡ.
- Paus. 1.6.3
- wife of Alexanderthe Great: Paus. 9.7.2
(Ῥωξάνη). Daughter of Oxyartes the Bactrian. She fell into the hands of Alexander the Great on his capture of the hill-fort in Sogdiana named “the Rock,” B.C. 327. Alexander was so captivated by her charms that he married her. Soon after Alexander's death (233) she gave birth to a son (Alexander Aegus), who was admitted to share the nominal sovereignty with Arrhidaeus, under the regency of Perdiccas. Roxana afterwards crossed over to Europe with her son, placed herself under the protection of Olympias, and threw herself into Pydna along with the latter. In 316 Pydna was taken by Cassander; Olympias was put to death; and Roxana and her son were placed in confinement in Amphipolis, where they were murdered by Cassander's orders in 311 (Plut. Alex.; Arrian, Anab. vii. 27; Diod. bks. xviii. and xix.).