To the contrary of Arrian and Plutarch, however, Alexander does fully appreciate the mettle of his new ‘mother’. Ada is a born royal who will administer the country wisely, and whose advice on statecraft can be very interesting to him.
Karia’s rulers have maintained a special relation with the Achaemenid dynasty ever since queen Artemisia was honoured by High King Xerxes himself. (He asked her to supervise the education of several of his sons.) And Ada’s dynasty has been keeping a keen eye on political upheavals in Persia for three generations running. In recent times, both Ada’s brother Maussolo, as a sometime ally of Persia in the Satraps’ Revolt, ánd Ada’s husband Hidrieus as the key provider of naval support to Artaxerxes III, must have exchanged military and political intelligence with top-level Achaemenids. So Ada knows who truly counts in Susa. In fact, she is by far the most probable source of Alexander’s knowledge of the Persian queen-mother’s place within that power structure.
The queen of Karia has updated information that may be helpful for Alexander’s assault on Persia. He knows his classics, and has learnt much from Xenofon and other authors –like Herodotos, the historian from Ada’s own capital Halikarnassos– about the awesome past of the Persian empire. But that is background information, only useful when one has a trustworthy informer to tell the difference between what is relevant or not to the present situation. And who would be more willing to feed him up to the last scrap of secret intelligence about Persia, than his new ‘mother’?
The deep respect that Alexander feels and demonstrates towards Ada also is a consequence of that curious episode of the ‘Karian bride’, when a niece and namesake of Ada’s was offered to marry the crown prince of Makedon. At that time, Alexander certainly had himself thoroughly updated on the Karian dynasty. And now that he gets to know Ada personally, he immediately sees that this woman has as much experience of power politics as his own mother.
Moreover, I think that Ada also reminded him of Olympias in that their views were based on similar religious and social tenets. A vision that Olympias identified herself with at the Mysteries of Samothrace; and that in Ada’s case was also strongly related to the worship of the Great Goddess. (In the Karian vernacular, her father’s name means “Servant of the Temple of the Great Goddess”; and the name of her brother Maussolo derives from the title of the Karian mother goddess Ma.)
With women of such quality Alexander finds himself in a comfortable relation between equals. It allows him to establish the bond of profound trust and attachment that he expresses by calling them “mother”.
THE SYRIAN SOOTHSAYER AND THE INDIAN QUEEN
But before I move on to describe the adoptive mother who plays the most fascinating role in Alexander’s career, we will have a little intermezzo with two different, and rather mysterious, women.
The first is a soothsayer. We do not even know her name, and in the end she will disappear from the scene as unheralded as she came into Alexander’s life. But her presence of several years among his most intimate attendants turns out to be absolutely vital.
She would have remained hidden in the swirling mists of history, if it were not for Alexander’s engineer Aristoboulos. He knew her well, because on the long campaign through Persia, Central Asia and India they both had free access to Alexander’s tent. In his memoirs, Aristoboulos describes her as follows:
“A Syrian woman, who was under the inspiration of the deity, used to follow Alexander about. At first she was a subject of mirth to Alexander and his courtiers. But when all that she said in her inspiration was seen to be true, he no longer treated her with neglect. She was allowed to have free access to him both by night and day, and she often took her stand near him even when he was asleep.”
All historians agree she saved him, in 327 BC, from being murdered by his page Hermolaos. Unexpectedly, one night she asked Alexander to stay away from his tent. She did not say why. He did not return there until the shift had changed and other pages had taken over Hermolaos’ duty.
Shortly afterwards it was found that he had been persuaded to try and murder Alexander that night. He failed because the Syriac had intervened. From that night on, nobody in the army would question Alexander if he acted on this soothsayer’s advice. She was one of the decisive women in his life, even if we know nearly nothing about her.
KLEOFIS OF MASSAGA
Another scarcely documented ‘woman of Alexander’ is the Indian queen Kleofis. In 326 BC she ruled over Massaga, a heavily fortified city in the Katgala pass that controls access to the Swat valley (in present-day Pakistan). Her son the king had recently died. Against the opinion of Kleofis, who preferred a compromise with Alexander, the garrison commander decided to put up fierce resistance against the transit of the Makedonian army. As a result, Alexander decided it was too much of a risk to pass by Massaga and leave such a threat at his rear.
The conquest of the fort turned into a bloodbath, and the killings did not end until Kleofis in person intervened. She went to Alexander to present her submission, and placed her youngest child –some say, her grandchild– on his knees. He then attended to her plea to save what remained of her city, and also decided to reinstate her as queen of Massaga.
Diodoros reports: “Impressed by Alexander’s generosity, the queen sent him expensive gifts, and promised to obey all his orders”. But he too was fascinated, an old chronicle remembers: “Alexander was visibly impressed by Kleofis. Her bearing made clear beyond any doubt she was of high lineage, and endowed with all the qualities of a royal ruler. He stayed at her side in the city for several days,” we can read in the Metz Epitome.
Centuries after the fact, however, some Roman historians preferred to substitute the stately grandmother with a scandalous seductress. Curtius is particularly spiteful with this Indian queen; Justin and others denigrate her saying that “Cleophis recovered the throne by acting as a royal whore”. An unjustifiable smear without any base in the classical Greek sources, the academic experts assure.
Therefore, some think that the name Cleophis –or Cleophylis, in other versions– is a forced transcription in order to make it sound similar to Cleopatra. (The authentic name of the queen was “Kripa”, specialists in Sanscrit language affirm.) The fact that this taint appears only in the days of the first Caesars makes it doubly suspect. In those times, a writer could profitably excite the public with a Cleophis modelled on Cleopatra, the stereotypical ‘depraved oriental queen’ created by Augustus’ propaganda machine.
In any case there was no need for scandalous suggestions, to explain why Alexander would want to interrupt his march on India to stay some days with Kleofis/Kripa. The chronicles emphasize that she had “all the qualities of a royal ruler”; that would include, in the first place, a thorough intelligence of the land.
Here, Alexander was moving over terrain that was totally unknown to him and to his staff. Not even Cyrus the Great had reached this far. And the Makedonian conqueror had plans that went much further. He wanted to subdue the whole country to the coast of the (Indian) Ocean, not yet knowing that this meant covering vast distances. Kleofis had impressed him as a sensible woman whose counsel he should listen to; and as a queen with intellectual capacities similar to those of his mother Olympias and his adoptive mothers Ada and Sisygambis.
But for Curtius and other Roman sensationalists it was more attractive to thrill their audience with insinuations about the sexual charms of an oriental queen. This also explains how she became the source of inspiration for another mythical ‘love affair’ of Alexander: the legend of his liaison with Candace. This impossible event (for Candace was said to be queen of Nubia, a place he never reached) is a staple of the Alexander Romance tradition. Now, let’s return to reality.
SISYGAMBIS OF PERSIA
The key person in the decisive formation of Alexander’s world vision, which made him evolve from barbarian conqueror to heir of the Achaemenid dynasty, was the Persian queen-mother Sisygambis. At first sight, this conclusion does not appear in the classical
sources. They simply relate a few anecdotes about her. The best known is about an incident that features not only in all history books but also on famous paintings.
On November 5th, 333 BC, king Darius III suffers a bloody rout and flees at all speed from the battlefield of Issos. His family remains behind in an undefended rear camp, that is plundered by an undisciplined horde of soldiers. The Persian women hear the news that the king’s war chariot stands empty amidst piles of corpses. They fear he has found his death there, and raise a wail of mourning and terror.
Alexander is told of the reason for that noise. He sends one of his Companions, who speaks some Persian, to control the situation. Laomedon orders safety measures for Darius’ family, tells them that the Persian king did not die but flee, and gives them Alexander’s pledge that they will receive a decent treatment according to their rank. Alexander himself will come to visit them the next morning, he announces.
To pronounce her plea for her family, Sisygambis steps forward when Alexander, accompanied by Hefaistion, arrives at the tent. She falls on her knees – but not before Alexander.
Diodoros writes:
“So at daybreak, the king took with him the most valued of his Companions, Hefaistion, and came to the women. They were both dressed alike, but Hefaistion was taller and more handsome. Sisygambis took him for the king and did him obeisance. As the others present made signs to her and pointed to Alexander with their hands she was embarrassed by her mistake, but made a new start and did obeisance to Alexander.
He, however, cut in and said: “Never mind, Mother, for actually he too is Alexander.” By thus addressing the aged woman as ‘Mother’, with this kindliest of terms he gave the promise of coming benefactions to those who had been wretched a moment before. Assuring Sisygambis that she would be his second mother, he immediately ratified in action what he had just done orally.”
This description –Alexander’s friendly reaction to the dumb mistake of a doddering old lady– sets the tone for all further references to Sisygambis by the classical Greek and Roman writers. And that means they underestimate her in a seriously misleading way.
Alexander has sound reasons to address Sisygambis as ‘Mother’: she is just as an exceptional woman as his own mother Olympias. Or maybe even more outstanding, in view of her uncommon long experience at Persia’s center of power. In that era, few women reach such a high age as the 70 years that Sisygamis has at Issos.
Many of those years she has lived at the court of her father the High King Artaxerxes II. For she married late; much later than her elder sister Rodogune who was married out to the family of Artasyras, the King’s Eye (that is, the chief of the secret service).
At palace, Sisygambis must have received a high level education. Her parents Artaxerxes and Stateira worshipped the goddess Anahita, a Persian successor to the Great Goddess/Inanna deity. That meant they had a ‘modern’ view on the role of women in society. Her aunt Roxane, sister of Stateira, was widely known in Persia as an independent-minded, publicly active woman: “Not only beautiful to behold, but also extremely expert in handling the bow and javelin”, the court doctor Ktesias recorded.
Professor Amélie Kuhrt, a top expert on the period, adds: “Although this is the only surviving mention of a Persian woman equipped with military and hunting skills, it is likely that the education of royal and noble women included this generally.” (Kuhrt 2007, p. 600.)
It was probably the fact that she stood her ground and would not hesitate to confront adversaries –even in the dangerous court intrigues–, that became Roxane’s undoing. She was condemned to death on a (false?) accusation of incest. Ktesias, who loves sensational gossip, says that she was “flayed alive” on orders of the queen-mother Parysatis.
With such a family background, Sisygambis will not have been a submissive wallflower, either. And her mother Stateira (later, poisoned by her mother-in-law Parysatis in another political intrigue) must have taught her the hard lessons of power-mongering at the Persian court.
The cruelty of political infighting at Susa and Persepolis was brought home to Sisygambis when her half-brother Artaxerxes III Ochus had all his male siblings murdered, to occupy the throne in 358 BC. Her cousin and husband Arshama was one of those dozens of assassinated Achaemenids. It is a wonder that she herself, with her two nearly adult sons, escaped the bloodbath. Her eldest, Darius, later became an admired warrior when he single-handedly routed the champion of the rebellious Kadoussians. As a reward, he was appointed satrap of Armenia, the birthplace of his grandmother Stateira. This turned out to be his stepping stone to the throne, after the sons of Artaxerxes III had been eliminated in diverse palace coups.
In other words: by the time she became queen-mother, in 336 BC, Sisygambis had personally seen in action the entire Who’s Who of Persian power politics, and was perfectly capable of judging each and all of them. At the Achaemenid court the office of queen-mother signified, already since the days of the famous Atossa (daughter of Cyrus the Great, wife of Darius the Great, and queen-mother of Xerxes), a daily exercise in political decision-making. This was the result of a long tradition. The specialist Dr. Maria Brosius states:
“The playwright Aischylos chose Atossa as the central character of his Persai for an even more critical reason; not just because she was a link between three kings, but primarily because she held the most important position at the Persian court.” <…>
“The mother of the Persian king, Sisygambis, was also acknowledged as Alexander’s mother. It appears it was politically expedient to express the relationship between ruler/son and predecessor/parents in a positive way. For the new ruler it was not sufficient to gain political power through military superiority. He also needed to demonstrate his right to power by officially acknowledging his predecessor and his predecessor’s mother. There is reason to believe this practice originated in the Near East; it is attested as early as the end of the second millennium BC. <…>It is clear that the king-mother’s position was recognised at the Assyrian and Babylonian courts; the Persian court followed their example.”
I would not doubt for a moment that Alexander knew this, when he addressed Sisygambis as ‘Mother’. But that was not something he had learnt from Aristotle, nor from the Greek writers he knew by memory; though Xenofon might have put him on the trail. What we see here, I am sure, is the result of the wise counsel of his other mother, Ada of Karia, who had all the details of Persian court etiquette at her fingertips.
At Issos, Alexander’s homage to Sisygambis can not yet be ascribed to advice from Barsine, who would not be brought to his tent until several weeks later. But it does make sense to deduce that the further evolution of Alexander’s relationship with Sisygambis owes a great deal to Barsine’s explanations about the real status of her great-aunt the queen mother; plus her help as interpreter for their conversations.
By the way, I would also posit that Sisygambis’ dumb mistake at Issos very much amused Alexander for being anything but a mistake. The queen mother had a full night to think through her first meeting with Alexander. And of course she knew perfectly well that Alexander was not so tall.
A whole crowd of Persian princes and courtiers had taken a sharp look at Alexander on the battlefield of the Granikos. All classical sources state they were vying with each other for the opportunity to attack him personally. No doubt they recounted their experience of him in full as soon as they returned to court. In Persia it was a longstanding tradition to describe the High King as a tall man, to stress his “natural majesty”. In the case of Darius III this was borne out by reality: he was famous for being a tall, handsome man. So the courtiers must have told him, and Sisygambis, over and over again that Alexander in comparison was a midget.
In consequence I suspect that Sisygambis, with the apparent error of directing her obeisance to Hefaistion, tried to counterbalance her captive’s disadvantage by upstaging Alexander. His swift and intelligent reaction must have given her, as an expert judge of character, as much to think about as hi
s decision to address her as “Mother”.
Before long, they had built up a real mother-son relationship. This is clear from Curtius’ mention that Alexander, in accordance with the traditional homage of Persian men to their mother, would never take a seat in Sisygambis’ presence until she invited him to do so. The anecdote reveals that they often had conversations; for how else could the courtiers gossip that Alexander “always” waited for her invitation to sit down and talk? Being a Roman –thus lacking any such courtesy towards women–, Curtius is so surprised that he exclaims: “There cannot be more solid proof of the great respect women received in that country at the time.”
The fact that Sisygambis retained the full influence of a queen-mother soon became common knowledge among the Persians, as shown by the ‘Uxian affair’. In December 331, Alexander installed Sisygambis in her own palace of Susa again, with all the trappings of her rank. Then, the army went on to complete the conquest of the Persian heartland. Advancing on Persepolis, Alexander met fierce resistance from the tribe of the Uxians. He beat them back, and besieged their leader Medates in his stronghold.
Expecting total defeat and harsh punishment, Medates sent a plea to the queen-mother through family channels: his wife was a niece of hers. Sisygambis then appealed to Alexander by private message. He was so pleased at the opportunity to do her a favor publicly, that he not only spared the lives of Medates and his warriors, but also gave the Uxians a tax remission to show how much he honoured Sisygambis.
Queen Ada’s advice that Sisygambis was anything but a doddering old lady (plus the family stories about her great-aunt that Barsine would tell Alexander in the intimacy of their bedchamber) made him realise that he had found his best possible source of information on Persia. He kept her at his side for two years, from November 333 in Issos to December 331 in Susa. Quite understandable, as it must have taken him a long time to convince Sisygambis that his plans coincided, at least in part, with her interests. For that was the simple truth.
All Alexander's Women Page 5
