Deidameia
2. Daughter of Pyrrhus II., king of Epeirus, after the death of her father and the murder of her uncle Ptolemy, was the last surviving representative of the royal race of the Aeacidae.
She threw herself into Ambracia, but was induced by the offer of an honourable capitulation to surrender. The Epeirots, however, determining to secure their liberty by extirpating the whole royal family, resolved to put her to death; she fled for refuge to the temple of Artemis, but was murdered in the sanctuary itself. (
Polyaen. 8.52; Justin,
28.3, by whom she is erroneously called Laudamia Pats. 4.35.3.)
The date of this event cannot be accurately fixed, but it occurred during the reign of Demetrius II. in Macedonia (B. C. 239-229), and probably in the early part of it. Schorn (
Gesch. Griechenl. p. 86) supposes Deidameia to be a daughter of the elder Pyrrhus, not the younger, but this is certainly a mistake.
[
E.H.B]
