In Search of the Lost Testament of Alexander the Great

by David Grant

  156.See chapter titled The Wrath of Peleus’ Son for more on the dichotomies within Aristotle’s Politics.

  157.Parmenio sold the population of Grynium into slavery in 335 BCE; Diodorus 17.7.8.

  158.Coincidentally, a proxenos was a public guest-friend, a type of ambassadorial relationship where ‘a person who, in his own city, assisted citizens from another city that had appointed him proxenos of its citizens’, quoting the explanation of Hansen (1999) p 403. A proxenos might formally introduce his guest-friend to the assembly or magistrates of the host city. Here Xenophon would in return have been a widioxenos, an invited guest-friend. Xenophon Anabasis 1.1.2. Proxenus was a friend of Xenophon and already with Cyrus. He invited Xenophon to Sardis with a promise to introduce him to the Persian prince.

  159.Isocrates Letter 5 (of nine extant letters), discussed in Worthington (2007) p 73.

  160.Originally credited to Aristotle but more recently to Anaximenes of Lampsacus; discussed in Worthington (2007) pp 104-120. Quintilian refers to Anaximenes in his Institutio Oratio 3.4.9 and the reference may be to the Rhetoric to Alexander.

  161.Isocrates To Philip, II 3.5, translation by G Norlin.

  162.Diogenes Laertius 2.58, Xenophon Anabasis 7.7.57 for Xenophon’s own exile; discussed in Warner (1966) p 12.

  163.Justin 9.5 for the Spartan’s position: ‘stood aloof’. The Lacedaemonian xenalasia laws were designed to preserve Spartan ‘purity’ of customs and bloodlines by banning its citizens from travelling outside the state and foreigners from entering, except in religious festivals and on state business.

  164.Herodotus 8.109-110 for Themistocles’ warning that no king should rule Asia and Hellas too; the text heads the chapter.

  165.Justin 11.5.5, Plutarch 15.3-5, Moralia 342d-e for the handing out of land grants. For Alexander’s financial position pre-loan see Plutarch 15.1-3, Curtius 10.2.24 and Arrian 7.9.6 for his borrowing 800 talents. For interest rates see Bellinger (1979) p 37. Athenian interest rates were typically anywhere between twelve per cent and eighteen per cent depending upon the venture; risky maritime loans were higher still; see Tarn (1927) p 115. Also see Archibald-Davies-Gabrielson (2005) p 145 and Tarn’s comments in Bury-Barber-Bevan-Tarn (1923) p 115.

  166.For Philip’s debt see Plutarch Moralia 327d and Plutarch 15. Duris suggested the Macedonians had sufficient money for thirty days campaigning where Aristobulus claimed Alexander had 70 talents in total, whilst Curtius 10.2.24 and Arrian 7.9.6 claimed 60 talents. Pearson (1960) pp 90-92 for discussion and the allusion to Cyrus the Younger and his plight detailed in Xenophon’s Anabasis.

  167.See Hammond-Atkinson (2013) footnote to 7.9.6; 1 talent was sufficient to pay 6,000 Athenian hoplites for one day; whether a formal wage was being paid to Macedonian soldiers is uncertain but as Greek mercenaries arrived in the ranks, remuneration must have been broadly equalised. Plutarch 15.1-3 and Moralia 327d-e for the various statements of the campaign funds; Aristobulus stated 200 talents debt with only 70 talents with Alexander on campaign.

  168.Rodgers (1937) p 21 for the estimate of 250 talents a month. Tarn 1 (1948) p 14 reckoned the army would have cost 200 talents per month with another 100 for the Graeco-Macedonian fleet.

  169.Arrian 1.20.1 for the disbanding of the Macedonian navy. Heckel-Jones (2006) pp 20-21 for soldiers’ pay rates. Plutarch 17.1 Diodorus 17.21.7, Arrian 1.17.3-8 for the treasury at Sardis. Green (1974) pp 192-193 for discussion of the fleet disbandment; they were costing 100 talents per month. For Tarsus see Arrian 2.4.2-6, Curtius 3.4.14-15, Justin 11.8.1-2.

  170.See Arrian 1.17-1.29 for clearest examples of his eclectic administrations and treatment of captured cities. Sardis was garrisoned and its treasury turned over despite its submission (1.17.3-8) and a tribute levied upon the city; Ephesus was pardoned (1.17.10-12), no other action was ‘taken at this time’; Magnesia and Tralles, like Ephesus, were returned to ‘democracies’ (1.18.1-2) but we may assume tribute was to be paid to the Macedonians for the privilege, as well as to their temples. Miletus was besieged and the defenders killed in the city (1.19. 1-7), those who swam to safety were pardoned; cities between Miletus and Halicarnassus were taken by assault (1.20.2), Halicarnassus was besieged (1.20.4-1.23.6) and (the citadel?) razed to the ground; what remained was garrisoned. In Lycia Termessus, Pinara, Xanthus, Patara and Phaselis and thirty smaller towns initially submitted but the terms are unknown (1.24 5-6). Aspendus was initially left ungarrisoned but it paid the price of 50 talents’ contribution, along with horses, to the campaign expenses (1.26.2-3) but rebelled and hostages were taken and the levy increased to 100 talents (1.27.1-5). Side submitted but was garrisoned (1.26.4-5). The Pisidian cities were attacked (including a force of Telmessians (1.27.6-1.28.8) though what terms were levied upon them is not mentioned: probably tribute and garrisons.

  171.Full discussion of Alexander’s siegecraft in Kern (1999) pp 201-335. Poliorketes translated as ‘the besieger of cities’. Philip besieged six cities between 357 and 354 BCE (Amphipolis, Pydna, Potidaea, Pagasai, Methone, Olynthus) and more after; Gabriel (2010) p 91.

  172.For discussion on nomographoi see O’Neil (2000) pp 424-431. They were specially qualified men entrusted to draft new laws for the polis as well as to record existing legal codes.

  173.Thucydides 2.34-2.46 inserted a fictional dialogue that pitched Melos’ claim for neutrality with Athenian aggression, forcing them to side against Sparta or be destroyed. Plutarch Solon 5; state of affairs recalling a warning the Scythian Anacharsis once gave to Solon in Athens.

  174.Herodotus 1.29, Plutarch Solon 25.1 for Solon’s departure; as an example of the backfiring decrees, learning that he was about to cancel all debt, his friends took out loans to purchase land; suspected of complicity, Solon was forced to cancel all debts to himself. His friends never paid up: Plutarch Solon 15.

  175.Tarn (1948) p 200 ff for discussion of the state of affairs with the Greek cities of Asia Minor; Mytilene is an example of a harbour city that did enter the League of Corinth, as well as Tenedos; Tarn 1 (1948) p 31.

  176.Arrian 1.18.2 for the tribute due to the Persians now redirected to Alexander; here referring to Aeolian and Ionian cities in Hellespontine Phrygia under his new strategos, Calas.

  177.Tarn 1 (1948) p 34 and Tarn (1949) p 213 for his arguments on intervention in Chios. For a full translation of the letter see Heckel-Yardley (2004) pp 87-88. For dating discussion see Heisserer (1973). Blackwell (1999) p 38 footnote 18 for Chios being a member of the Common Peace and p 39 for the quote from Badian. Anson (2013) p 133 quoting Badian on the ‘will of one man’.

  178.Following the comments in Heckel-Yardley (2004) p 87; Briant (1974) pp 78-79 for Chios’ position in the League.

  179.Diogenes Laertius 6.44 Diogenes. The messenger’s name was Athlios, which in Greek meant ‘wretched’ or ‘miserable’, so this is a play on names, implicating Philip, Alexander and Antipater to whom the message was being sent. Translation from CD Yonge 1853, Bohn’s Classical Library.

  180.Aeschines Against Ctesiphon 164, discussed in Worthington (2000) p 93.

  181.See chapter titled Lifting the Shroud of Parrhasius for money on the captive lists at Issus and Damascus. Curtius 13.13.16 for the sums secured.

  182.Diodorus 18.36.6 and 17.33.3 for the missiles; Diodorus did add that the collisions made the missile impact weaker, but clearly the numbers are questionable. Arrian 2.11.8 suggested Ptolemy was the source of the numbers. Curtius 3.11.27 corroborates the numbers but added that 4,500 of Alexander’s men were wounded. Curtius stated 504 wounded, 32 infantrymen killed and 150 cavalrymen. Justin 11.9 for casualty and prisoner numbers.

  183.Curtius 3.10.9 for Alexander’s encouragement to the Thracians and Illyrians; 3.12.1-13 for his treatment of the Persian women.

  184.Diodorus 17.38.1-3 for the promised dowries and also Justin 11.9.10-11.10.4. Hephaestion married Drypetis at Susa, Alexander ‘wanting to be uncle to his children’; see Arrian 7.4.5.

  185.Diodorus 17.38.3-7 for his eulogy to Alexander
’s behaviour.

  186.Arrian 2.13.1 for mercenary escapees.

  187.It is reckoned Darius had 20,000 Greek mercenary infantry at the Granicus and Alexander 10,000 according to Arrian 1.12.8 and 1.14.4. Also at Issus Darius had 30,000 Greek mercenaries facing 10,000 according to Arrian 2.8.6 and a fragment of Callisthenes from Polybius 12.17-18 has 30,000 mercenaries facing the Macedonians. Diodorus 17.9.5 for the Theban proclamation.

  188.Arrian 1.7.10-11 stated that the Theban exiles who incited Thebes to revolt against Alexander in 335 BCE were members of the Boeotian Confederation that had supposedly been disbanded with the King’s Peace (or Peace of Antalcidas) in 386 BCE.

  189.Anson (2004) p 235 for discussion of the exiled mercenaries. Curtius 5.11.5, Pausanias 8.52.5 for 50,000 and discussed in Parke (1933) pp 179-185, Green (1974) p 157 footnote; a similar figure was given by Pausanias 8.52.5 but for returning mercenaries under Leosthenes before the Lamian War. Arrian 1.16.6-7 for their fate if captured.

  190.Arrian 2.24.4 stated 8,000 dead civilians. Curtius 4.2.15 for the treatment of the envoys. Curtius 4.4.10-21 stated 6,000 civilians were killed and 2,000 crucified. Diodorus 17.46.4 stated 7,000 with 2,000 crucified. Legend had it that Cadmus, son of King Agenor of Tyre, founded Thebes; Herodotus 5.58-5.591.

  191.Herm (1975) p 25 for the self-identification as Canaanites and pp 52-63 for the Amorite-Canaanite migrations that saw the cities settled. Herodotus recorded that Phoenicians carried off Io, daughter of the king of Argos. In retaliation the Greeks abducted Europa from Tyre and so Paris stole Helen from Sparta.

  192.Curtius 4.2.5 for Alexander’s threat to make Tyre ‘a part of the mainland’. Diodorus 17.41.5 for the width of the mole.

  193.Engels (1978) p 55 for the grain requirement of the siege.

  194.Snodgrass (1967) p 111 for Dionysius’ siegecraft.

  195.Tarn (1948) p 39 for ‘the man who took Tyre’. For the siege engines see Plutarch 25.5; Justin 12.2.14; Arrian 2.21-22. Vitruvius 10.13.3. See summary of sources in Heckel (2006) p 111. Full discussion on the siege engines of Diades in Whitehead-Blyth (2004) pp 85-90. Hammond (1994) p 133 for Polyidus’ ingenuity and his On Machines. Diodorus 16.74.2 for machines used at Perinthus; Gabriel (2010) pp 91-92 for discussion on the ‘belly shooters’ and katapeltai Makedonikoi. Diodorus 17.43.1-2 and 17.45.3 for the spinning spoked wheels used in defence and Diodorus 17.44.4 for fire-throwers. Arrian 2.22.6 and 2.23.2 for the machine-carrying ships; discussed in Murray (2012) p 177. Philip’s use of artillery discussed in Keyser (1994). Examples at Diodorus 16.53 and 16.54.3-4 (Olynthus), 17.74.2-76.4 (Perinthus), 16.77.2-3 (Byzantium). For Alexander’s siege of Miletus, Arrian 1.18.3-19, Diodorus 17.22.1-3, Plutarch 17.2; Diodorus 17.24.1 for the transfer of siege equipment from Miletus to Halicarnassus, and Arrian 1.20.8-1.22.2, Diodorus 17.24.6-17.26.6 for the siege and use of catapults. For catapults at Tyre see Arrian 4.21.1-2, 4.22.6-23.1, Curtius 4.3.24-26, Diodorus 17.41.3-4, 17.43.1-2,17.43.7-17.44.5, 17.45.3-4.

  196.Marsden (1971) pp 1-14 for discussion of artillery sources.

  197.Thucydides 1.15.3, Herodotus 5.99 for what we now name the Lelantine War; Strabo 10.1.12 for the banning of missiles; discussed in Lenden (2005) p 17 and quoting Archilochus 3. Quoting Heron’s Belopoeika introduction 72 in Marsden (1971) p 19.

  198.Curtius’ account spans 4.2.1-4.4.21.

  199.The previous siege was mentioned in the Old Testament books of Jeremiah 27:3–11 and Ezekiel 26:7–14. Curtius 4.3 23 for the child sacrifice tradition; it was well known in Greece, see Fears (1976) p 218 footnote 26 for other sources.

  200.Athenaeus 12.526 for the value of Tyrean purple dye, citing Theopompus.

  201.Arrian 7.19.4 for the murex divers. Arrian 2.24.5 stated 30,000 were sold into slavery at the fall of Tyre, whereas Diodorus 17.46.4 stated 13,000 with 2,000 crucified and Curtius added that 15,000 were smuggled to safety. So 30,000 seems an aggregate total. Tarn 1 (1948) p 7 and footnote 2 calculates 7,500 slaves from the resulting 440 talents; Tarn terms Diodorus’ 30,000 a stereotyped figure and Tarn 1 (1948) p 40 suggests the result had no effect on the world slave market; p 40.

  202.There are many references to Tarshish in the Old Testament as well as other trading posts and sources of silver. Boardman (1964) pp 210-217 for the mineral trading.

  203.Boardman (1964) p 213 for Colaeus’ journey and return with a horde of silver. Kings 1.10.22 and Ezekiel for references to the ships of Tarshish; discussed in Herm (1975) p 95. Tarshish was possibly Tartessus near Cadiz.

  204.Curtius 4.18. Various conflicting sources place the founding of Carthage around 825 BCE; Josephus Against Apion 1.18 placed Dido’s departure in the seventh year of Pygmalion, her brother, quoting Menander the Phoenician historian.

  205.Arrian 2.24.5 for the Carthaginian envoy with Darius. Justin 21.6.1-7, Orosius 4.6.21, Frontinus Stratagemata 1.2.3. Trogus did record the founding of Carthage and its links to the early Tyrian kings.

  206.Diodorus 17.46.6 for the renaming of Tyrean Apollo. Hermippus fr 63 K-A for the fragment mentioning Carthage’s exports.

  207.Quoting Plutarch Themistocles 29.5; the lines credited to Artaxerxes II’s cousin Mithropaustes in the time of Themistocles’ exile in Persia.

  208.Aristotle Ethics 1.1.

  209.See Robinson (1953) p 69 for the fragment. It is recorded as a miracle in the Romance 1.28. Strabo 17.1.43 (following Callisthenes) for the sacred spring at Branchidae, dry for some 160 years, flowing again once Alexander arrived.

  210.Plutarch 17 quoting the poet Menander, translation from the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1919. Arrian 1.26.1 also recorded the incident and mentioned the relation of the winds; Plutarch implied Alexander gave a more sober description of the event.

  211.Xenophon Anabasis 1.4.17-18 and Herodotus 1.189-190 for the feat of Cyrus the Great and 7.33-36 and 7.54-57 for Xerxes’ bridging the Hellespont. Onomacritus the oracle monger had been banished from Athens by editing the prophecies of Musaeus; discussed in chapter titled The Precarious Path of Pergamena and Papyrus. As for prevailing doctrine, see Herodotus 8.109-110 for Themistocles’ warning that no king should rule Asia and Hellas too.

  212.Arrian 1.26.1-2; Plutarch 17.6-8. Romance 2.14-16 for the River Stranga episode.

  213.Strabo 13.1.27 and Plutarch 8.2, Plutarch Moralia 327f and Pliny 7.29.108 for the casket Iliad.

  214.Quoting Romm (1988) p 5.

  215.Following the observation and discussion in Wilkins-Hill (2006) p 168 for Dionysus’ traits. Stewart (1993) p 79 for discussion of Dionysus and his origins. Euripides Bacchae 13-22 for Dionysus hailing from Bactria. Whilst Ephippus did not include Dionysus in the list of gods Alexander impersonated, it does not mean he was excluded from the king’s psyche; Athenaeus 12.537e. Moreover the Ptolemies visibly associated Alexander with Dionysus; discussion in Stewart (1993) p 238. Following Carney (2006) p 99 for the inspiration for the Bacchae. Hammond (1991) p 12 for the suggestion that Phrygians introduced the worship of Dionysus.

  216.Euripides Herakleidai lines 88-89, based on the translation by R Gladstone from Euripides I, The Complete Greek Tragedies, edited by D Grene and R Lattimore, The University of Chicago Press, 1955.

  217.See discussion of Thucydides in Momigliano (1966) p 130.

  218.Following the descriptions and observations of Momigliano (1966) p 134.

  219.Quoting Jaeger (1939) p 10 for ‘an immortal aristocracy’. Heracles and the Waggoner, a fable attributed to Aesop for the ‘gods help those who help themselves’.

  220.For example Iliad 22.273; Athena stepping in to recover Achilles’ spear in his battle with Hector at Troy.

  221.Protesilaus’ grave was plundered by Artacytes, a satrap under Xerxes during the invasion of Greece; Herodotus 9.116-120, 7.23. Xenophon Hellenika 3.4.2-5, Plutarch Agesilaus 6.6-11 for the abortive attempt to sacrifice at Aulis.

  222.Diodorus 17.17.3, Justin 11.5.12 for the sacrifices at Troy. Diodorus 16.89.2 for Philip’s declaration of war and the causes. Strabo 13.1.25-26 described the temple as ‘small and che
ap’.

  223.When Alexander disembarked from the first ship to land on Asian shores, he cast his spear into the soil to claim it by spear; Diodorus 17.17.2, Justin 11.5.10. Robbins (2001) p 67 and Arrian 1.11 for Alexander’s sacrifice to Protesilaus before crossing the Hellespont and for his disembarkation as the first to set foot of the invading force again on Asian soil, and subsequent crowning.

  224.Plutarch 8.2 quoting Onesicritus’ claim that Alexander kept a dagger and the Iliad under his pillow.

  225.Following Heckel’s footnote to Curtius 3.8.22, footnote 55, p 274, Penguin Classics 2001 edition. Arrian 1.11.1-2, Diodorus 17.16.3-4, Plutarch Moralia 1096b, Athenaeus 12.538c, 539d for the sharing of sacrificial meat. The noun, sphagia, is cognate with the verb sphazein, ‘to pierce the throat’; Hanson (1991) p 197 ff.

  226.Polyaenus 4.3.14 for Alexander having the sacrificial bodies carried through the camp if the omens were positive. Iliad 18 for Achilles’ sacrifice before fighting Hector. Arrian 3.1.4 for Apis and Egyptian gods and 3.16.5 for Bel.

  227.Hesiod Work and Days lines 825-828.

  228.Curtius 9.4.29.

  229.Arrian 7.16.6 for Alexander’s reply to the Chaldeans warning him not to enter Babylon. This appears to come from a Euripides fragment 963 in Nuake’s edition of collected fragments; see Hammond-Atkinson (2013) footnote 22 for Arrian 7.16.6 p 3.

  230.Hammond (1994) p 176 for discussion; a fragment of the report of the trial following Philip’s death is preserved.

  231.Diodorus 16.91.2 for the reply Philip received from the Pythia.

  232.Herodotus 1.53. The reply from the Delphic Oracle warned Croesus that if he invaded Cappadocia, a mighty empire would fall. He did not consider that it might mean his own. Cicero De Divinatione 2.116 believed Herodotus made up the story.