A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Philla
PHILLA
Was daughter of Antipater, governor of Macedon, daring the absence of Alexander, B.C. 834. She was a woman of remarkable powers of mind, being consulted when quite young by her father, one of the wisest politicians of the time, on affairs of the greatest moment. By skilful management she prevented an army, full of factions and turbulent spirits, from making an insurrection; she married poor maidens at her own expense, and opposed the oppressors of innocency with such vigour, that she preserved the lives of many guiltless persons. Philla first married Craterus, one of Alexander's captain's, and the favourite of the Macedonians; and after his death Demetrius the First, son of Antigonus, King of Asia. He was a voluptuous man, and though she was the chief of his wives, she had little share in his affections. Philla poisoned herself on hearing that Demetrius had lost his possessions in Asia, in a battle at Ipsus, B.C. 301, with three of Alexander's former generals. She had by Demetrius a son and a daughter, the famous Stratonice, who was the wife of Seleucus, and yielded to him by his son Antiochus. Diodorus Siculus gave a history of this excellent princess but unfortunate woman, in which he extolled her character and talents.