Roxana (Bactrian: Roshanak, meaning "little star") wife of Alexander the Great, was born earlier than the year 327 BC although the date remains uncertain. The daughter of a Bactrian nobleman named Oxyartes, she married Alexander in 327 BC. The marriage was an attempt to politically win over the Bactrian satrapies although ancient sources describe Alexander's professed love for her. Roxana accompanied Alexander on his campaign in India in 326 BC. She bore Alexander a posthumous son called Alexander IV Aegus, after Alexander's sudden death at Babylon in 323 BC. With Alexander's death, Roxana and her son became victims of the political intrigues of the collapse of Alexandrian empire. They were protected by Alexander's mother, Olympias at Macedon, however her assassination in 316 BC allowed Cassander to seek kingship. As Alexander IV Aegus was the legitimate heir to the Alexandrian empire, he was murdered along with Roxana c.309 BC.
