father, but while Antipater was the next in line for the throne, Thessalonike demanded that it be shared between Philip and Alexander. Antipater, becoming jealous of the superior favour which his mother showed to his younger brother Alexander, put his mother to death, in 295 BC. The legend of Thessalonike Thessalonike is the focus of a popular Greek legend which describes a mermaid who lived in the Aegean for hundreds of years who was thought to be Thessalonike. The legend states that Alexander, in his quest for the Fountain of Immortality, retrieved with great exertion a flask of immortal water with which he bathed his sister's hair. When Alexander died his grief-stricken sister attempted to end her life by jumping into the sea. Instead of drowning, however, she became a mermaid who passes judgment on mariners throughout the centuries and across the seven seas. To the sailors who encounter her, she always poses the same question: "Is king Alexander alive?" (Greek: Ζει ο βασιλιάς Αλέξανδρος;), to which the correct answer would be "He lives and reigns and conquers the world" (Greek: Ζει και βασιλεύει, και τον κόσμο κυριεύει!). Given this answer, she would allow the ship and her crew to sail safely away in calm seas. Any other answer would transform her into the raging Gorgon, bent on sending the ship and every sailor onboard to the bottom of the sea. Notes References External links Thessalonike The Tragic Queen at Ancient Worlds (archived) Thessalonike at lysimachos.com (archived) The pedigree of Thessalonice of Macedonia 295 BC deaths 4th-century BC Macedonians 4th-century BC Greek women Alexander the Great in legend Family of Alexander the Great Ancient Macedonian queens consort People who died under the coregency of Antipater II Murdered royalty of Macedonia (ancient kingdom) Ancient Macedonian princesses Mermaids 340s BC births