In Search of the Lost Testament of Alexander the Great

by David Grant

  410.Justin 12.12.3 ff for the 1,000 Persian bodyguards and sentiment that he trusted them as much as Macedonians at Diodorus 17.110.1 Plutarch 71.4.

  411.Quoting and following Briant (1974) pp 113-112. Curtius 8.5.1 regarded the Asiatic epigonoi as ‘hostages’.

  412.Discussion of the mercenary tendencies in Carney (1996) pp 19-44.

  413.For the demobilisation of veterans to be escorted home under Craterus, Justin 12.11.4, 12.7, Arrian 7.12.1, Diodorus 17.109.1, 18.4.1, 18.16.4, Curtius 10.10.5. Full discussion in Hammond (1991) p 146. For the insult thrown at Alexander see Plutarch 71.1, Diodorus 17.109.2. Following the observation in Olbrycht (2008) p 240 for the rejection of Alexander’s ‘terrestrial father’. For Alexander’s resulting fury, Diodorus 17.108.3, Arrian 7.8.3, Justin 12.11.6. Curtius 10.2.3 for the executions. Drowning as a means of execution was documented in Babylonia; see Olbrycht (2008) p 243 for discussion and p 245 for the alleged request by those sentenced to be killed by Macedonians and not foreigners; Curtius 10.4.1-3. Hammond (1994) p 48 for the punishment for sacrilege, here referring to the aftermath of the Battle of the Crocus Field when 3,000 prisoners were supposedly drowned.

  414.Curtius 9.4.15 for the beginnings of a mutiny before entering Mallia; an Assembly gathering had to be called.

  415.This assumes the Attic talent was being referred to. See chapter titled The Tragic Triumvirate of Treachery and Oaths for pay rates. 1 talent = 6,000 drachmas = 36,000 obols, equivalent to 6 obols per day for sixteen years; most infantrymen received 4 per day. Top pay would equate to 1/10 of a talent per man per year.

  416.The hypaspists remained loyal at Susa/Opis enabling Alexander to round up the ringleaders; Arrian 7.8.3. For the repayment of debt see Curtius 10.2.8, Diodorus 17.109.2 and quoting Justin 12.11.2-4. For the talent per man see Arrian 7.12.2. More details follow in this chapter. Where the debt repayment took place remains debatable, possibly Susa and before Opis to soften the blow of the planned dismissal of veterans. Following the observation of Roisman (2012) pp 41-44. Diodorus 17.71.2, Strabo 15.3.9 for leaving the treasury behind (except a basic float); cf Curtius 5.6.9.

  417.Cicero De Officiis 2.15.

  418.Curtius 10.2.12 for his new Asian capital, and for the mutiny Arrian 7.8.1-7.12.4, Diodorus 17.108.3, 17.109.103, Plutarch 71.1-5, Justin 12.11.5-12.12.10, Curtius 10.2.8-10.4.2.

  419.Aristobulus’ account of the sophists at Taxila captured by Arrian 6.22.4-8 included reference to Phoenicians ‘who had been following the expedition in search of trade’ collecting spikenard, myrrh, gum and other roots.

  420.Ada was reinstated as satrap of Caria and she adopted Alexander; see Arrian 1.23.8. Alexander addressed Sisygambis, Darius’ mother, in terms that suggest he adopted her as his second mother; see Curtius 5.2.22. Curtius 8.4.26 for the comparison to Briseis and Achilles; see Homer Iliad 2.688-694 for the capture of Briseis. Plutarch 21.7-9. Roxane was Bactrian or Sogdian; the campaign and siege of the so-called Rock of Sogdia, the Rock of Sisimithres (Chorienes) and the Rock of Ariamazes are confused; see Heckel (2006) pp 241-242 and 187 for identifications and Heckel (1987) p 114 for discussion. Barsine and Parysatis were from Persian royal lines, see Arrian 7.4.4-7 The prominent non-Macedonian drinking partners mentioned at Alexander’s final komos were Medius from Thessaly, Heracleides the Thracian, Ariston of Pharsalus, Nearchus the Cretan and Stasanor, a Cypriot; Heckel (1988) p 10 for a further list of those present. Holcias may have been Illyrian (see chapter titled The Silent Siegecraft of the Pamphleteers) and Lysimachus was originally Thessalian but became a naturalised Macedonian; Heckel (2006) p 153.

  421.Greenwalt (1999) for the strategic position of Pella and its silting problems.

  422.For discussion of the Achaemenid tradition of the great royal tent see Albrycht (2008) p 234 and Briant (1974) p 128.

  423.Arrian 7.4.6.

  424.Aristocritus had supposedly acted for Pixodarus and Thessalus for Alexander in his own failed bid to marry the daughter of the Carian dynast. Plutarch 10.1-4 for Thessalus’ mission to Pixodarus and Athenaeus 12.538f for his performance at Susa, along with Athenodorus and Aristocritus.

  425.Arrian 7.4.6 stated eighty marriages in total, whereas Chares cited ninety-two; see Athenaeus 12.538b-539a. Arrian’s statement came after his naming key personnel and could have been designed to exclude them.

  426.Badian (1964) p 203. Arrian Events After Alexander 1.2; see Arrian 6.28.4 for the previous seven, who became eight with Peucestas. Hephaestion had died in 324 BCE. Eumenes may have been elevated after that; see chapter titled The Tragic Triumvirate of Treachery and Oaths.

  427.Plutarch 43.7, Curtius 6.2.11 for Oxyathres’ hetairos status; Diodorus 17.77.4, Curtius 7.5.40, Metz Epitome 2 for his enrolment into the Bodyguards.

  428.Arrian 3.30.5 for Bessus’ capture and arrival naked in a collar. For the cruel end administered to Bessus see Diodorus 17.83.9, Curtius 7.5.40-42 and 7.5.43, Arrian 30.30.5 and 4.7.3. Curtius stated he was crucified though other traditions have him beheaded and torn apart by recoiling trees.

  429.Quoting E Will and discussed in Briant (1974) p 184.

  430.Diodorus 17.73.3; Arrian 3.22.1, Justin 11.15.15, Plutarch Moralia 343b, Pliny 36.132 for Darius’ royal burial.

  431.Pausanias was pro dual hegemony and peaceful co-existence with Athens, whereas Lysander was for harsher treatment; see discussion in Cartledge (2003) pp 200-201. The lines come from Plutarch Lysander 15.3-4.

  432.Lane Fox (1973) p 436.

  433.Arrian 2.12.6-8, Curtius 3.12, 15-17, Justin 11.9.12, Diodorus 17.11.4.2 (implied at 17.114-34 also) for Alexander’s reply. The Persian Queen Mother Sisygambis, mistook Hephaestion for Alexander on account of his height. Plutarch 21.6 for Darius’ height: ‘the tallest man in the Persian Empire’ thus kings were supposed to be so.

  434.Diogenes Laertius Aristotle.

  435.Quoting Plutarch 72 for Alexander’s sacrifice to the shades of Hephaestion and ‘blood-soaked hunt’. Plutarch Pelopidas 34.2 for the shearing of horses and mules, Arrian 7.14.5 for the references to the temple of Asclepius in Ecbatana.

  436.Following the observation in Briant (1974) p 126 for the three remaining Persian governors.

  437.Curtius 10.2.8.

  438.A theme running through Isocrates’ Philippos.

  439.Plutarch 65 related how Calanus threw hide on the ground and stepped around its edges observing how the opposite edge rose up. The demonstration was supposed to show Alexander that he needed to concentrate his weight on the centre if he was to keep the empire under control.

  440.Polybius 11.13.

  441.Plutarch Galba 1 for Iphicrates’ advice. Alexander 6.17.4 gave Hephaestion orders to populate fortified cities on the far banks of the Indus in the land of Musicanus; the Macedonians had ravaged the area and Musicanus had been crucified. Presumably the settlers included mercenaries or there was little point; Arrian 6.21.5 and 6.22.3. Hyrcania, renowned for its thick forests, translated as ‘land of wolves’. Remains of a so-called ‘Wall of Alexander’ exist, though it cannot specifically be identified as a campaign defence. It is positioned in modern Golestan, a northern region of Iran and separates the region from Turkmenistan.

  442.For Philip’s governorship and rapidly expanding provinces, Arrian 5.8.3, 5.20.7, 6.2.3,6.4.1, 6.14.3, Plutarch 60.16. For his death Arrian 6.27.2 and Curtius 10.1.20. For the revolt of 3,000 mercenaries, Curtius 9.7.1-11.

  443.Plutarch 37.4 and 56.1 alleged Demaratus burst into tears for the Hellenes who fell in battle before seeing Alexander throned.

  444.Plutarch 68.3 stated the empire was in chaos. See Diodorus 17.106.2 and 17.111.1 for his decree that all satraps disband their mercenary forces as a result. Griffiths (1935) p 39 for the 100,000 mercenary numbers. Parke (1933) p 196 for Artaxerxes Ochus’ ordering provincial governors to dismiss their mercenary recruits.

  445.For the timing of the drafting of the Exiles Decree see Bosworth (1988) p 221 and Blackwell (1999) pp 14-15.

  446.Unconstitutional as votes of the League were needed t
o change its laws and as the return of exiles was banned under the terms of the League of Corinth; following the observation in Worthington (2000) p 102. A useful discussion in Bosworth (1988) pp 220-228. Diodorus 18.8.7 for the Athenian occupation of Samos. See Kebric (1977) p 3 for discussion of Samos’ loss of freedom and p 4 for possible Sicilian exile and p 19 for Iasus.

  447.Bagnall-Derow (2004) pp4-6 for the Tegean diagramma.

  448.Diodorus 18.8.2-7 for its aftermath.

  449.Diodorus 17.111.3 for Athens authorising Leosthenes to recruit mercenaries and 18.9.1 for the sum of 50 talents he was provided with. Pausanias 1.25.5 for his appointment as commander-in-chief of Greek forces following Alexander’s death. Diodorus 18.9.12 for the alliance with Locris, Phocis and Aetolia. Anson (2014) p 29 for the amassed 18,000 talents at Athens. See chapter titled The Wrath of Peleus’ Son for discussion of Harpalus’ flight; Harpalus left Asia with 5,000 talents and when turned away by Athens he reentered the city a second time with 700 talents; Blackwell (1999) pp 11-31 for sources and discussion.

  450.Pausanias 8.52.5 gave 50,000 soldiers but Diodorus 18.9.1 for 8,000 dismissed satrapal mercenaries, 18.9.5 for 7,000 Aetolians, 5,000 Athenian foot, 500 horse and 2,000 mercenaries. Heracles is said to have found the entrance to the underworld at Cape Taenarum (also known as Cape Matapan) in his final labour to capture Cerberus. Four locations were associated with the oracles of the dead, Taenarum, Heraclea Pontica, Acheron in Threspotia and Avernus in Campania; discussion in Ogden (2001). For reference to the Temple of Poseidon, Diodorus 11.45.4, Pausanias 3.25.4; discussed in Anson (2014) p 30.

  451.For Demosthenes’ lack of political activity between 330 and 324 BCE see discussion in Worthington (2000) pp 93-94. The accusations against Demosthenes embodied in Plutarch Demosthenes 25-26, Hyperides Against Demosthenes; also Pseudo-Plutarch Hyperides, also Plutarch Phocion 21, Athenaeus 8.342f. Demosthenes was probably not guilty of stealing the gold but perhaps guilty of freeing Harpalus; see discussion in Worthington (2000) p 105 and he was in fact attempting to appease Alexander so he could argue for a repeal of the Exiles Decree. For Harpalus’ death see Diodorus 17.108.8, 18.19.2, Curtius 10.2.3, Arrian Events After Alexander 1.16, Strabo 17.3.21, Pausanias 2.33.4-5. For Nicanor’s possible ties to Aristotle see Diodorus 18.8.3 (Stagira), Aristotle by G Grote, John Murray, 1880, footnotes 23-24 and Heckel (2007). Blackwell (1999) pp 14-31 for a good summary of events and pp 18-19 for Philoxenus’ identity; he captured Harpalus’ steward and extracted a list of bribed Athenians; Pausanias 2.33.4-5.

  452.The request for divine honours from Athens is most colourfully recorded in Aelian 2.19 and 5.12, Plutarch Moralia 804b and 842d, Polybius 12.12b.3, and Pausanias 8.32.1 mentions what is considered to be a shrine at Megalopolis dedicated to Alexander, housing a statue of Ammon. Discussed in full in Blackwell (2006). Hyperides Against Demosthenes 31 and Deinarchus Against Demosthenes 94 for Demosthenes proposing divine honours. Yet Timaeus (see Polybius 12.12b.3) suggested Domosthenes had voted against divine honours though the timing is uncertain; see Blackwell (1999) p 151 ff for discussion.

  453.Tarn 1 (1948) p 42 for discussion of the presence of a cult to Ammon in Athens before 371/370.

  454.Discussed in Worthington (2000) p 105. Demades’ quip is preserved in Valerius Maximus 7.2.13.

  455.Athenaeus 6.251b, Aelian 5.12 for Demades’ fine, Plutarch Phocion 26.2. Diodorus 18.18.1-2 for his losing citizenship. Plutarch Phocion 23.2 reported that Phocion likened Lesothenes’ inciting speeches to a cypress tree, large and towering but bearing no fruit. See chapter titled Babylon: the Cipher and Rosetta Stone for Leosthenes’ statement on Macedonian disarray following Alexander’s death from Plutarch Moralia 336e-f. Hyperides Funeral Oration 6 or Hyperides over Leosthenes and his Comrades in the Lamian War for the eulogy to Leosthenes.

  456.Quoting Borza from Wilken (1931) Introduction p IX.

  457.Quoting De Polignac (1999) p 3, translation by Ruth Moriss.

  458.For Alexander’s refusal at Opis to let veterans return to Macedonia with their Asiatic children, Arrian 7.12.2 and for the eighty marriages at Susa, Arrian 7.4.6, and 7.4.8 for the 10,000 total Macedonians who had married Asian wives, a suspiciously high number.

  459.According to Aeschines Against Ctesiphon 162 and Marsyas FGrH 135/6 F2, Demosthenes sent Aristion to Hephaestion to secure ‘immunity and reconciliation’ from Alexander. See Heckel (2006) p 110 for further discussion.

  460.See Worthington (2000) p 101 for a summary of Demosthenes’ activity in 323/4.

  461.Plutarch 7.7; translation from the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1919. Acroamatic: those to be disseminated orally only, implying only the elite initiates were worthy of hearing them.

  462.Plutarch 55. The letter had allegedly been sent to Antipater, the regent in Macedonia.

  463.Aristotle discussed in Thomas (2007) p 197. These lost works, supposedly dedicated to Alexander, discussed in Ober (1998) p 348.

  464.Aristotle Athenian Constitution 2.2. Quoting the introductory note prepared by Ian Johnston for students in Liberal Studies and Classics classes at Malaspina University-College, Nanaimo, BC, Canada, released May 1999. Diogenes Laertius Aristotle 13 for the ‘double criterion of truth’. Athenaeus 9.398e for Aristotle’s grant from Alexander, though when this was made is uncertain.

  465.Aristotle Politics 3.1285a-b, translated by Benjamin Jowett 1885. WS Greenwalt in Carney-Ogden (2010) pp 115-163 for discussion on Aristotle’s position on Macedonian politics.

  466.Aristotle On Monarchy only permitted absolute monarchy if the ruler was intelligent and enlightened beyond his subjects to the extent that a man exceeds an animal’s intelligence. For the five subcategories see Aristotle Politics 3.1284b35-1285b33; discussed in Roisman-Worthington (2010) p 380.

  467.Diogenes Laertius Plato 81-90.

  468.Athenaeus 12.537e cited Ephippus as claiming Alexander dressed as Ammon, Artemis and Hermes. Tarn (1948) p 97.

  469.Blackburn (2006) p 18.

  470.Plutarch Demetrius 1.7.

  471.Oedipus answered the ‘many footed’ riddle of the sphinx and thereby avoided strangulation. His answer was that man was born on all fours, walked with two feet in life and ended with three, when a walking stick was required. Recorded by Apollodorus Library 3.5.8. This was a standardisation of an extremely old legend and probably represents just one possible version of the riddle.

  472.Berossus’ Babylonaika was written around 290-278 BCE for King Antiochus Soter, son of Seleucus. It is not extant, but a number of classical writers referenced it in their works. See discussion of the dating of Berossus in Pearson (1960) p 231; he dated Berossus’ writing to between 293 and 281 BCE. Drews (1975) p 50 ff for Berossus’ contribution to ‘history’.

  473.Excerpt from the Book of Arda Viraf (alternately Arda Wiraf or Wiraz) 3-7, a Zaroastrian religious text from the Sassanid era, written in Middle Persian; translation from CF Horne The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Volume VII: Ancient Persia, 1917.

  474.Seven feet if the Attic cubit was being referred to; at 18.25 inches it was longer than the Macedonian cubit of 14 inches. Diodorus 17.88.4, Arrian 5.19.1, Plutarch 60.12 agreed King Porus was over seven feet tall, i.e. 5 cubits. Tarn (1948) p 170 suggests the Macedonian cubit was being referred to. Arrian 5.18-19. Diodorus 17.89.1 reported that two of Porus’ sons were amongst the 12,000 Indian dead.

  475.Verbrugghe-Wickersham (2000) for discussion of the writings of Berossus and Manetho and their influence.

  476.Quoting Momigliano (1966) p 134.

  477.Following the details in Hadjnicolaou (1997) for the printed editions in France.

  478.Nicolas de Soulfour L’ Alexandre francois, 1629.

  479.Quotation from N Beauzée Histoire d’ Alexandre Ie Grand par Quinte Curce, 1781.

  480.Dante The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Circle 7, Canto 12.

  481.Rodrigo Borgia took the title Alexander VI in admiration. He, and later Alessandro Farnese, pope from 1534 to 1549 under the name Paul III, decorated the Va
tican apartments with scenes from Alexander’s life. See discussion in Hadjinicolaou (1997).

  482.Avcioğlu (2011) p 126 for emulation of Alexander by Louis XIV and Mehmet II.

  483.Following Voltaire Rights, 1771.

  484.Machiavelli The Prince chapter 17.

  485.See discussion of Machiavelli’s use of Polybius’ political theories in McGing (2010) pp 215-216 and Brouwer (2011) pp 111-132.

  486.Nicolo Machiavelli Discorsi (Discourses on first ten years of Titus Livy), translated by Ninian Hill Thompson, 1883, 13.19.

  487.Discussed in Hale (1961) p 139.

  488.Droysen (1877); detailed discussion of biographer opinions in Green (1974) p 481 ff.

  489.Tarn (1948).

  490.Schachermeyr (1944).

  491.Badian (1958), Green (1974) p 487.

  492.Green (1974) p 487. Lane Fox’s view appears to have influenced Oliver Stone’s 2004 movie to which he consulted; discussed by G Nisbet in Carney-Ogden (2010) pp 217-231; ‘historiophotic’ was a term coined by Hayden White in 1988 in his Historiography and Historiophoty, American Historic Review 93, to describe the ‘representation of history’ and our thoughts about it in visual images and filmic discourse.

  493.Polybius 12.23.5.

  494.Heckel (1993), final page of the review.

  495.Atkinson (1996) pp xvi and p 218, and Atkinson (1963) p 125.

  496.Diodorus 13.68.5 and Plutarch The Comparison of Alcibiades with Corolianus 6.

  497.A good summary of the relative views of these modern historians is given in Baynham (1998) pp 63-66.

  498.Ekphrasis derives from the Greek ‘out’ (ek) ‘to speak’ from ekphrazein, and a term often used to capture the rhetorical devices in artistic expression. See chapter titled The Precarious Path of Pergamena and Papyrus for discussion of medieval text supplements.