Meda of Odessa

Odessa

Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...

 , was a Thracian princess, daughter of the king Cothelas

Cothelas

Cothelas, also known as Gudila, was a Getae king, who ruled an area near the Black Sea, between northern Thrace and the Danube. His polity also included the important port of Odessos. Around 341 BC he concluded a treaty with Macedonian king Philip II, becoming his vassal...

 of Getae

Getae

The Getae was the name given by the Greeks to several Thracian tribes that occupied the regions south of the Lower Danube, in what is today northern Bulgaria, and north of the Lower Danube, in Romania...

  and wife of king Philip II of Macedon

Philip II of Macedon

Philip II of Macedon "friend" + ἵππος "horse" — transliterated ; 382 – 336 BC), was a king of Macedon from 359 BC until his assassination in 336 BC. He was the father of Alexander the Great and Philip III.-Biography:...

. Philip married her after Olympias

Olympias

Olympias was a Greek princess of Epirus, daughter of king Neoptolemus I of Epirus, the fourth wife of the king of Macedonia, Philip II, and mother of Alexander the Great...

. When Philip died, Meda committed suicide so that she would follow Philip to the Ades. The people of Macedonia, who were not used to such honours to their kings by their consorts, buried her with him at the Great Tumuli of Vergina

Vergina

Vergina is a small town in northern Greece, located in the peripheral unit of Imathia, Central Macedonia. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Veroia, of which it is a municipal unit...

, in a separate room. The second larnax found in the tomb might belong to her.