Queen to Pyrrhus of Epirus
Bircenna (Ancient Greek: Βιρκέννα; ruled c. 292 – 272 BC) was an Illyrian princess and later an Epirote queen.
Bircenna was the daughter of Bardylis II, and granddaughter of Cleitus.[1] Bircenna was the fourth out of the five wives of Pyrrhus of Epirus; she married him around 292 BC.[2] Pyrrhus married Bircenna for diplomatic reasons and to increase his power in southern Illyria as he was an ally of Bircenna's father. Bircenna had a son named Helenus, who at an early age accompanied his father in his ambitious campaigns conducted in the Italian peninsula.[3] Lanassa, one of the wives of Pyrrhus, left him because she claimed that he took better care of his 'barbarian' wives.[4]
See also
References
- ^ The Ancient Library - Bardyllis
- ^ Plut.Before her, Pyrrhus married Antigona, Antigone, a daughter of Autoleon, king of the Paeonians; and Lanassa, the daughter of Agathocles of Syracuse. After Bircenna he married the daughter of Ptolemy Keraunos. 9.
- ^ Plutarch, Parallel Lives: Pyrrhus, §9
- ^ Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historica 22.8.2
