In Search of the Lost Testament of Alexander the Great

by David Grant

  124.Aristotle Meteorology 1.14.25, Strabo 17.1.25, Pliny 6.33.165 for origins with Sesotris. Herodotus 2.158, Aristotle Meteorology 1.14 P 352b, Strabo 17.1.25, Pliny 6.33.166 ff for Darius I. Diodorus 1.33, Herodotus 2.158-159 for Necho II. The same authors (except Pliny) claim it was only completed by Ptolemy II Philadelphos.

  125.Arrian 5.6.5 and Homer Odyssey 4.477 and 4.581 for the original name of the Nile and origins of Egypt.

  126.Aristotle Meteorology 1.14.25.

  127.For details of Ptolemaic irrigation in the region see DJ Thompson, Irrigation and Drainage in the Early Ptolemaic Fayum, in A Bowman and E Rogan (editors), Agriculture in Egypt from Pharaonic to Modern Times, Oxford University Press, (1999), pp 107-122.

  128.Chugg (2002) p 8 for the population of Alexandria in Napoleonic times.

  129.Plutarch Coriolanus 1.1. Most vividly described in Livy 2.33-35, Dionysius of Halicarnassus Roman Antiquities book 7, and Plutarch Coriolanus.

  130.Livy 5.1.3 recorded that the Etruscan city of Veii fell to the Romans when the Etruscans abandoned her due to her continued kingships. Whether factual of a reflection of Roman opinion of monarchy is debatable. See Barker-Rasmussen (2000) for full discussion.

  131.Virgil’s Aeneid developed the story in Naevius’ Bellum Punicum in which Aeneas journeyed from Troy to found Rome. Ennius’ Annales followed (Fabius Pictor used the theme). Aeneas was supposedly the maternal grandfather of Romulus. Boardman (1964) p 207 for the tomb paintings. Herodotus 1.94 for Etruscan origins.

  132.Herm (1975) p 191 for discussion of the Etruscan link. Recent gene tests suggest racial similarities between likely Etruscan descendants and Western Anatolian stock. This was originally thought a link to Lydia but linguistic evidence argues against it and against the claim at Herodotus 1.94 that Etruscans were migrated Lydians. Boardman (1964) p 199 for Greek opinion of Etruscan origins.

  133.Quoting M Pallottino in his review of DH Lawrence’s 1986 reprint of the 1927 Etruscan Places, Olive Press, London, pp 13-14.

  134.Suetonius Caligula 52, Cassius Dio 59.17.3; there is however no evidence Caligula visited Egypt as an adult.

  135.Strabo 13.1.27: ‘This is not the site of ancient Ilium, if one considers the matter in accordance with Homer’s account’; translated by HC Hamilton and W Falconer, published by Henry G Bohn, London, 1854.

  136.Quoting D Feeney from Raeburn-Feeney (2004) Introduction xxix for ‘compendium of myth’. Diogenes Laertius Pythagoras 4. It was Heracleides of Pontus who made the claim of reincarnation. Ovid Metamorphoses book 15 lines 160-175 for references to Pythagoras’ reincarnation and recollections of the Trojan War.

  137.Arrian 1.11.8, 6.9.3, 6.10.2 for Alexander taking the shield from the Trojan War from the temple of Trojan Athena. Homer 16.786-16.85. Hoplon is the route of Hoplite, and was the shield carried by Greek infantry. Otherwise called an aspis, a more generic term for a shield. The fall of Troy dated back past 1,100 BCE.

  138.Suetonius Nero 19.

  139.Suda α 1128= FGrH 618 T2.

  140.Nero’s career discussed in detail in chapter titled Comets, Colophons and Curtius Rufus.

  141.Dio Crysostom Discourses 21: On Beauty, translation from the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1939.

  142.Discussed in detail by Champlin (2003) pp 10-13.

  143.Cassius Dio 80.18.1-3.

  144.See Champlin (2003) 12-16 for relevant extracts from the Sibylline Oracles. St Augustine City of God 20.19.

  145.Suetonius Nero 51, translation from the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1914.

  146.Suetonius Nero 35 and the fragmentary Lucan in his partly extant Illustrious Writers, and from Statius’ Silvae 2.7. Nero claimed they were both implicated in the conspiracy plot of Piso. Tacitus 15.60-64 for Seneca cutting his veins.

  147.For the various accusations of matricide and reporting of Agrippina’s death see see Tacitus 14.1-8, Suetonius Nero 34 and Cassius Dio 63.11-14. Seneca allegedly amassed a fortune according to Tacitus 13.42.4 and Cassius Dio 61.10.3 and 61.14.3 has 400,000,000; discussed in Finlay (1973) p 56. As a broad guide, one million sestertii at current gold prices (it was linked in value to the gold aureus) translates to over three million US dollars.

  148.The Pharsalia was actually labelled De Bello Civile, On the Civil War in the manuscripts.

  149.Tacitus 15.49 claimed Nero became jealous and banned Lucan’s poems; according to Suetonius’ Lucan, Nero lost interest in his poet friend who responded by insulting the emperor. Both Vacca’s Life of Lucan and Statius’ Silvae 2.7 refer to the contents of Lucan’s De Incendiis Urbis. Lucan’s treatment of Alexander discussed in chapter titled Classicus Scriptor, Rhetoric and Rome and his death in chapter titled Comets, Colophons and Curtius Rufus.

  150.Plutarch 55-56 for the various reports of Callisthenes’ death. The caging seems extreme but Curtius 7.1.5 did report that Alexander Lyncestis was caged for three years after his sentencing for treason; possibly also Vulgate fabrication. Justin 15.3 and Arrian 4.14.1-4 for other reports of chaining and torture. Athenaeus 434d, Plutarch Moralia 454e (On Control of Anger) for Callisthenes’ refusal to drink; its authenticity is questionable; see discussion in Brunt (1974) p 67. The Loeb Classical Library edition, 1939, footnote on another interpretation reads: ‘A jibe at Alexander’s assumed divinity’, Alexander taking the place of Dionysus, the wine god, until the physician god, Asclepius, would have to be called in; on the authenticity of the story see Macurdy, Jour. Hell. Stud. (1930), pp 294‑297.

  151.Preserved by Plutarch 14.1-6 and Moralia 331f or Fortune 10 and Diogenes Laertius 6.38 Diogenes, Cicero Tusculan Disputations 5.32.

  152.See Brown (1949) pp 27-28 for the background to the dialogue between Alexander and Diogenes.

  153.Diogenes Laertius Diogenes 40 and 60 for examples of publicly being called a ‘dog’.

  154.It remains unclear exactly what he was charged with. Diogenes Laertius Diogenes 74 for his life in slavery. Diogenes 6.20 suggested his father was a banker or moneychanger (trapezites) and he became involved in a scandal concerning the defacing of currency; possibly a political statement. A number of defaced currencies from Sinope and dating to the middle of the 4th century BCE had been discovered; discussion in Seltman 1938. Finlay (1973) pp 166-167 for the treatment of those charged with debasing currency.

  155.Diogenes Laertius Diogenes 63 for kosmopolites. Various traditions given by Diogenes Laertius Diogenes 1.1 involved Diogenes with tampering with the currency of Sinope, which caused both him and his father to flee. Alternative versions blame his father and others still have Diogenes claiming he was persuaded to the act by artisans, when he was one of the curators. He apparently consulted Apollo at Delphi or Delos on whether he should undertake the scam.

  156.Diogenes Laertius Diogenes 6 and 79 and Plutarch Moralia 717c for Diogenes’ death.

  157.Lucian Menippus 15 contained a scene depicting the piles of bones found in the underworld, where heroes and villains lay indistinguishable. Menippus appears to have provided much detail on Diogenes’ life to later doxographers.

  158.Diogenes Laertius Diogenes 6.54; Aelian 14.33 for the comparison to a ‘mad’ Socrates.

  159.Plutarch 46.1-3 for Thalestris’ meeting with Alexander; also Curtius 6.5.24-32, Justin 12.4.5-7, Diodorus 17.77.1-3. Justin provided an alternative name, Minithyha.

  160.See discussion of the episode in Hammond (1993) pp 293-294.

  161.The Women Warriors – the Sarmatians, The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies and Archaeological and Cultural News: ‘Amazon graves found in what is today known as Kazakhstan’, 2001. More detail from the archeologist, Jeannine Kimball-Davis can be found at CSEN.org. Also Bosworth A in the East (1996) p 81 for the female warriors amongst Sacan nomads. Arrian 4.15.2-5 suggested this was close to Colchis on the Black Sea, where Curtius 6.5.24-26 for example suggested Hyrcania in the plains of the River Thermodon. Fully detailed in Mayor (2014) pp 34-52. It is also worth noting that over 112 weaponry-filled graves of Scythian women aged sixteen to thirty, previously identified as m
en, have been discovered at tombs between the Danube and River Don; see Antikas-Wynn Antikas (2014) p 7. Tarbell (1920) for the Amazonomachy in Greece. Hanson (1991) p 25 for Amazon light battle-axes.

  162.Arrian 7.13.2-6 for the Amazon affair. Arrian 4.15.2-5 for the earlier encounter with the Scythians and offers of marriage with the daughter of the Scythian king or the regional chiefs. Following the observation in Heckel (2006) p 61 concerning Atropates. Arrian 7.13.1-4; 4.1-3,7.15.4 for further embassies from Scythians.

  163.See chapter titled The Reborn Wrath of Peleus’ Son for Alexander’s emulation of Achilles. Quintus of Smyrna Posthomerika 18 ff for Penthesilea’s arrival at Troy and Diodorus 2.46 for her legend; Pseudo-Apollodorus Epitome of the Bibliotheke 5.1 for her death at Achilles’ hand. Pausanias 10.31.1 and 5.11.2 for the art that suggested Achilles repented the death of a woman he had fallen for.

  164.Borza-Palagia (2007) p 114 for the decoration on the shield found in Tomb II.

  165.Plutarch 46.4-5 for the episode involving Onesicritus and Lysimachus; more in chapter titled Hierarchic Historians and Alexandrian Alchemy. For Alexander’s thirteen-day tryst with Thalestris, Justin 12.3.7, Curtius 6.5.32, Diodorus 17.77.3.

  166.Aelian 16.39 for dragons; Strabo 15.1.43 for 300 and 500-year-old elephants; Strabo 15.1.28 for 180 cubit long snakes.

  167.Curtius 8.10.32-36 for the whole Cleophis affair and siege of Massaga; Metz Epitome 45 for Cleophis’ beauty, and Justin 12.7.9-11 for the further scandal. See Heckel (2006) pp 90-91 and the Curtius, Penguin Classics edition, 1984, p 294 footnote 68 for discussion of its authenticity. Romance 3.18-24 for the Candace episode. For the massacre of the mercenaries at Massaga see Diodorus 17.84.1-6 for the most damning version though it was captured by Plutarch 59.6-7; Arrian 4.28.7-4.30.4 claimed Alexander killed them as they planned to desert. Quoting Plutarch 59.6.

  168.Lucian How to write History 7.

  169.Strabo 11.6.4.

  170.Suetonius Julius Caesar 7. De Polignac (1999) p 1 for the Arab tradition and the Straits of Gibraltar.

  171.Quoting Macaulay (1828) Plutarch Caesar 15.5, Appian Celtica 1.2 for the one million slaves.

  172.See Pitcher (2009) p 81 for discussion, taking Asinius Pollio’s criticism cited in Suetonius Julius Caesar 56.4; and quoting Wilkes (1972) p 186.

  173.Suetonius Julius Caesar 56.2-3; Suetonius was quoting from Cicero’s Brutus 262.

  174.Chrétien de Troyes was the author of Perceval.

  175.The Arthurian origins discussed in Duggan (2001) p 48. Perceval was continued by four later writers, the later chapters known as the Four Continuations. The professional storytellers who maintained the oral tradition were known as jongleurs. Fraser (1996) p 210 for ‘pre-texts’. General discussion of what the pre-texts were in pp 211-227.

  176.Pearson (1960) p 157.

  177.Pearson (1960) p 262.

  178.Brown (1949) p 54 contends Musicanus was a people, not a person or king.

  179.The influences are well discussed in Stoneman (1994), Introduction. For Ctesias’ tales from India see discussion in Pitcher (2009) p 155. Pearson (1955) p 446 for the letters suggesting Callisthenes had no accomplices in the conspiracy of the pages. Plutarch 55.6 for the letters to Craterus, Attalus and Alcetas in which the pages named no accomplices; thus suggesting Callisthenes’ innocence.

  180.Quoting K Dowden Pseudo Callisthenes. The Alexander Romance (2008) cited in and following the argument of Arthur-Montagne (2014) p 11.

  181.Romance 3.34.106 for the oracles determining the fate of the body.

  182.Discussion in Schmeling (1996) p 665.

  183.In Ayesha, The Return of She Haggard developed the characters Khan Rassen and his wife, the Khania Atene, who claimed to be descendants of the generals of Alexander the Great.

  184.The so-called ‘golden age of automata’ refers to the period broadly spanning 1860 to 1910 which itself followed the earlier 19th century automata exported in great quantities to China.

  185.See Stoneman (1991) pp 14-17 for discussion. Recensions ‘e’ and ‘g’ of the Romance include this detail. For Alexander’s visit to Jerusalem see Josephus 11.329-335 and 12.3-10 for Ptolemy’s captives. The Jewish Quarter of Alexandria discussed in Vrettos (2001) pp 6-7.

  186.Discussion of the numbers in Philo of Alexandria, Philo’s Flaccus, The first Pogrom, PW van der Horst, Brill, 2003, p 136.

  187.Quoting Spencer (2002).

  188.Macaulay (1828).

  189.The opinion of Himmelfarb (1986) p 163.

  190.Braudel (1949) p 27.

  191.See discussion on the works of Parsons and Jones in Mallory (1989) pp 13-14. Parsons’ credibility was also undermined by his claim that the languages of the North American Indians were Japhetic too, in other words related to Japheth, one of the sons of Noah. Parsons additionally concluded the route language was Irish Magogian.

  192.Discussed in Lincoln (2002) pp 1-18.

  193.Quoting Pearson (1960) p 5.

  194.The Metz Epitome is essentially Vulgate in style and hence probably Cleitarchus-derived though the source of the unique information it provides is problematic. See Heckel-Yardley (1997) XXII-XXIII for discussion.

  5

  CLASSICUS SCRIPTOR, RHETORIC AND ROME

  Did the Roman-era historians faithfully preserve the detail they found in the accounts of Alexander’s contemporaries?

  The surviving biographies of Alexander and his successors are the output of the Roman-era. These are ‘secondary’ or even ‘tertiary’ sources whose testimony may have come to us through intermediary historians, some of them still anonymous. They were products of a no-less challenging environment than their Greek and Macedonian predecessors, as Rome’s republic was transformed into an empire and free speech all but disappeared. Vulnerable to the censorship of warring dictators or a lengthening imperial shadow, these writers overlaid their own contemplations, biases and ideologies – and inevitably those of the state – on the story of Alexander.

  We look at the effects of the prevailing doctrines and rhetoric to appreciate the extent to which Alexander was misrepresented, misinterpreted or simply mishandled by the Roman-era historians.

  ‘It is hardly surprising if this material [the polished arrangement of words] has not yet been illustrated on this language, for not one of our people dedicated himself to eloquence, unless he could shine in court cases and in the forum. The most eloquent of the Greeks, however, removed from judicial cases, applied themselves first to other matters and then especially to writing history.’1

  Quoting Marcus Antonius in Cicero De Oratore

  ‘Eusebius, like any other educated man, knew what proper history was. He knew that it was a rhetorical work with a maximum of invented speeches and a minimum of authentic documents.’2

  Arnaldo Momigliano Essays in Ancient and Modern Historiography

  ‘This is not the site of ancient Ilium, if one considers the matter in accordance with Homer’s account.’3

  Strabo Geography

  The city of Troy is still referred to as ‘legendary’. Yet Thucydides, Arrian, and Alexander, who commenced his campaign with sacrifices at what were presented to him as the tombs of his Homeric heroes, were never in any doubt of its past glory.4 Neither were the historians and geographers who dated the fall of the city anywhere from 1184 to 1334 BCE based upon the Dorian occupation of the Peloponnese supposedly two generations after.5

  Modern excavations of the remains of the hill at Hissarlik in northwest Anatolia suggest some accuracy to Homeric geography, and this argues for Heinrich Schliemann’s 1868 dissertation Ithaka, der Peloponnes und Troja, in which ‘the father of Bronze Age archaeology’ first claimed his Trojan find, though the diplomat-archaeologist, Frank Calvert, and before him the geologist, Charles Maclaren, had significantly pointed the way.6 Yet the modest scale of the fortified mound, as Strabo’s Geography noted, argues against its fabled size. Moreover, archaic references to Troy remain somewhat ambiguous.

  Dardanus (a son of Zeus and Electra) was suppose
dly the founder of an eponymous settlement (Dardania) in the Troad and also a tribe, the Dardanoi, who were referred to interchangeably as Trojans in some sources. But the nearby city of Troy was known to the Greeks of the classical world as both Ilios and Troia (or Trosia) after two of Dardanus’ descendants, Ilos and Tros. Wilusiya and Taruisa, two states comprising the Assuwan Confederacy listed in Hittite texts, remain contenders for the site whose origins were lost along with Greek knowledge of the Hittite Empire itself. References scattered through the texts of Herodotus and Strabo provide an interwoven genealogy of the tribes of Asia Minor, many with links to Crete as well as the legendary city, apparently justifying Homer’s inclusion of Cretans, Lycians, Ionians and Paphlagonians among the diverse allies in the defence of Troy.

  Schliemann himself was not good at differentiating fact from legend and he has since been termed a ‘pathological liar’.7 Nine distinct ‘cities’ have now been identified in the Hissarlik mound and none has turned up a definitive link to the citadel of Priam. The last settlement, Novum Ilium, was planted by Rome, no doubt to reinforce her own ancestral claims.8 Rome was warned of rebuilding on the soil of Troy lest she suffer the same ill-fated fortune, and true to the prophecy, like its breached walls and the vaster empire of Alexander, her borders were to crumble and her temples were to fall.9

  Alexander and Rome shared a common heritage and one symbolically apt for our claims. But if a homogenous metropolis had once existed in the Troad, does that mean the decade-long battle to bring its walls down was truly acted out? If the Epic Cycle is endemic to the recounting of Alexander’s deeds, it is a historical fusion that raises many questions. We know the Macedonian conqueror lived, but just as with the crumbled ruins at Hissarlik, do we have the genuine article, or are we treading the literary foundations of later Roman construction?