In Search of the Lost Testament of Alexander the Great

by David Grant

  168.Borza (1987) for discussion of malaria in Alexander’s army.

  169.Atkinson (2009) pp 35-36 for discussion of mind-altering drugs. For his paranoia and fears Plutarch 74.2-5, translation from the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1919 and Plutarch 73.7-9. Arrian 7.24-25 described that Alexander and his friend, whilst playing ball, beheld a man seated on the king’s throne, in silence, wearing the royal diadem and robes. He claimed the god Serapis had come to him and bid him sit on the throne. Alexander had him ‘put out of the way’ as advised by his seers. The whole episode sounds remarkably like the Babylonian ritual of the substitute king; following Oates (1979) p 140, Green (1974) p 472.

  170.For paranoia see Suetonius Caligula 56-57 and on his excesses 52,54,58; for paranoia, see Suetonius Nero 46 and for excesses Nero 42.

  171.Bevan (1913) p 32 and quoting Adams (1996) p 33 on ‘political freedom’.

  172.See discussion Bury-Barber-Bevan-Tarn (1923) p 26. The name Stoicism comes from the Stoa Poikile or ‘painted arch’ from where Zeno commenced teaching in the Agora at Athens. That the early successors declared themselves Stoics was observed by Murray (1915) p 47. Long (1986) p 18 for explanation of logos.

  173.Following Tarn (1927) p 325 and the comment that the school of Plato (after 266 BCE when Arcesilaus centred Platonism on Scepticism) became a ‘parasite upon the Stoa’. Long (1986) p 235 for the fate of the Stoa.

  174.See discussion on Polybius’ use of tyche in Brouwer (2011) pp 111-132 and McGing (2010) pp 195-201.

  175.Cicero’s references to Panaetius can be found in his De Finibus 4.9 in the De Officiis 1.26, Laelius De Amicitia 27; Pro Murena 31; De Natura Deorum-Velleius 1.13.3.

  176.Cicero De Officiis 1.35 for his thoughts on moral duty.

  177.Brown (1949) for the career of Crates and his links to both philosophical schools.

  178.Photius (anonymous) Life of Pythagoras 11.

  179.Macaulay (1828).

  180.Quoting from Brown (1950) p 136.

  181.Quoting Whitehead (1929) p 63 and Homer Odyssey 1.351-2. Plato’s borrowings from Zoroaster were parodied by the Epicurean Colotes; discussed in Momigliano (1977) pp 18-19.

  182.Pitcher (2009) p vii.

  183.Arrian excerpts from 1.1.1-3. Here basileia meaning ‘kingship’ not queen, differentiated in Greek by a diacritic (not used here).

  184.Arrian 7.5.2-3.

  185.Lucian How to Write History 2.40-41 noted that many people believed Homer’s account of Achilles’ deeds as he wrote long after the hero’s death and hence had no agenda as a historian. Arrian stated something similar in his opening page of his Alexander biography.

  186.Lucian and Arrian were broadly contemporaries. However Lucian outlived him and made reference to Arrian’s works with which he was undoubtedly familiar. We propose Arrian’s opening statement about Ptolemy’s may in fact mirror Ptolemy’s opening, which Lucian may also have read.

  187.Both Plato and Pythagoras objected to suicide except in exceptional circumstances. See Plato Phaedo 61d-e; Pythagoras prohibited suicide; see discussion in Riedweg (2005) p 110.

  188.Discussed in Long (1986) p 206. Also see Cicero De Finibus 3.60-61. The Moirae were the three parthenogenous daughters of the Goddess of Necessity: Clotho, Lacheis and Atropus. Under the Roman Stoic doctrine, the meanings of fate and fortune became hardly discernible. See discussion in Levene (1993) p 13.

  189.Tacitus 6.29; see Griffin (1986) p 193 for full discussion on Tiberian treatment of suicide.

  190.Following Griffin (1986) p 193 and Pliny 2.5.27 and 7.5.190.

  191.Discussed in Magee (1998) p 45.

  192.From the Stoic term kathekon; Cicero ambiguously translated it as officium. For discussion see Shipley (2000) pp 188-190. Zeno first developed the term along with apatheia, from which we derive ‘apathy’. The teachings of Epictetus were preserved by Arrian in the Discourses and Encheiridion Epictetou.

  193.Plato Phaedo 67a-68b.

  194.Metz Epitome 97 for the allegation that Onesicritus avoided naming guests at Medius’ party. This might be a later addition or it might have originated with the author of the Pamphlet.

  195.Justin replaced the allusion to ‘games’ with a wholly darker premonition on the bloodshed and slaughter that would follow, but this could have originated with Trogus, not Cleitarchus.

  196.Xenophon Cyropaedia, translation by HG Dakyns, Epilogue, section 2.

  197.Lucian How to Write History 40-41, translation from Brown (1949) p 5. See discussion of the authenticity of this extract in Brown (1949) p 2.

  198.Homer Iliad 2.705 for his slaying by Hector. Protesilaus was Thessalian and the first Greek to step ashore at Troy. His wife negotiated his leave to visit her from Hades for a few hours. This was referred to in many later works, for example Lucian’s Charon of the Observers 1 and Ovid’s Heroides 13.

  199.Thucydides 2.87 and Plutarch Moralia 333c (On the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander).

  200.Onesicritus’ dialogue with the Indian sages preserved in Strabo 15.1.63-65; discussion of question 6 in Brown (1949) p 47.

  201.Plutarch Pyrrhus 9-10 for the story of Oedipus and his advice to his sons. Taken from Euripides’ Phoenissea line 68. Translation from the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1920. Oedipus had invited his sons, unwittingly fathered with his own mother, to fight for the kingdom to the death, which they were to do.

  202.Plutarch Pyrrhus 3.3.

  203.Justin 12.15-16.

  204.Arrian Enkheiridion Epiktetou 5, Opinions Disturb.

  205.Lucian A True History 2.18.

  206.See Baynham (1995) p 105 for a discussion of tyche important in Hellenistic biography. Demetrius of Phalerum Peri Tyches 29.21 1-7 discussed in Bosworth-Baynham (2000) p 295. Also Billows’ discussion on Polybius and tyche referenced in Bosworth-Baynham (2000) pp 294-295.

  207.See Atkinson (2009) pp 161-162 for a useful summary of Curtius’ use of pothos and other motifs of ‘common desire’.

  208.Thucydides 6.24.3, Pindar Pythian 4.184-5. Pothos is a hapax in Thucydides and certainly conspicuous. The term appeared often in Herodotus. See discussion in Hornblower (2004) p xv, and p 454.

  209.Theophrastus Enquiry into Plants 6.8.3.

  The lion hunt floor mosaic found in the so-called House of Dionysus in Pella, dating to ca. 325-300 BCE. Some scholars believe it depicts Alexander being assisted by his veteran general, Craterus, in a game park in Syria, based on similar bronze figures at Delphi, dedicated by Craterus or his son. The design could suggest that Alexander’s left foot had been trapped by the lion’s paw, but the identifications remain unsubstantiated. Archaeological Museum, Pella.

  The fresco on the northern wall inside Tomb I at ancient Aegae depicting the mythical Abduction of Persephone by Hades. This remarkable decoration in what is known as The Tomb of Persephone is possibly the ‘restrained palette’ of Nicomachus of Thebes, and points to the importance of its inhabitant, once thought to be King Amyntas III or King Alexander II. Discussed in Postcript. Of Bones, Insignia and Warrior Women: The Return to Aegae.

  The entrance of Tomb II at of ancient Aegae, widely held to be the tomb of Philip II, Alexander’s father. The iron and gold-encrusted breastplate, along with the gold larnax below that contained the cremated bones of a male thought to be in his forties when he died, were found in the main chamber.

  The Scythian gorytos (quiver) and a pair of ornate greaves were photographed as they were found lying in the antechamber. One of the greaves is shorter and narrower than the other; recent analysis of the bones confirm the female, estimated to have been in her early or mid-thirties at death, had experienced a major fracture to her left tibia. See Press Report: The Tomb of Philip II Confirmed and Postcript. Of Bones, Insignia and Warrior Women: The Return to Aegae.

  The so-called ‘Alexander Sarcophagus’ which takes pride of place in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. Made from Pentelic marble, it was discovered with three others in a necropolis near Sidon in 1887 and has been linked to Abdalonymus, appointed king of Sidon by A
lexander in 333 BCE, or Darius’ former satrap, Mazaeus. It is noteworthy that within the Greek workmanship and carved on one pediment is a relief thought by some to depict the murder of Alexander’s former chiliarch, Perdiccas. Its background and history discussed in chapter titled Lifting the Shroud of Parrhasius.

  The Palaces of Nimrud Restored, a reconstruction of the palaces built by Assurbanipal on the banks of the Tigris, from Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon by Austen Henry Layard, 1853, colour litho. At the ancient Assyrian capital of Nineveh clear signs of horticulture and an irrigation system exist, with descriptions confirmed by tablets and in panel sculptures. These intricate gardens also existed at Kalhu, later named Nimrud, and Dur-Sharrukin, the ‘Fortress of Sargon’, modern Khorsabad. The ‘Hanging Gardens’ of Babylon may have been located at Nineveh, known as ‘Old Babylon’ in antiquity. Discussed in chapter titled Babylon: Cipher and Rosetta Stone.

  A map annotated in Latin dating to 1807 showing Alexander’s route (in red) through the Persian Empire. Nearchus’ naval voyage from the Indus delta to the Persian Gulf is also shown (in black).

  A page from the Greek Alexander Romance manuscript MS Bodleian 264, folio 218, recto, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford University. The manuscript illuminations in gold (gilding), silver and vibrant inks, were produced by the workshop of the Flemish illuminator, Jehan de Grise, between 1338 and 1344, and were ubiquitous through the Gothic period. By kind permission of Oxford University Press. See detail in chapters titled Mythoi Muthodes and the Birth of Romance and The Precarious Path of Pergamena and Papyrus.

  An ekphrasis in late-medieval art was reasserted throughout the Renaissance merging contemporary and classical themes. One example is Albrecht Altdorfer’s The Battle of Alexander at Issus painted in 1529 and commissioned by Duke Wilhelm of Bavaria. Soldiers wear turbans in Turkish style and women wear feathered toques in the fashion of the German court. Painted when the Turkish push towards Vienna threatened apocalyptic events, Altdorfer’s canvas has been described as capturing a ‘cosmic Armageddon’. More in chapter titled The Reborn Wrath of Peleus’ Son.

  The kingdoms of Alexander’s successors after the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BCE. The map is reproduced from the Historical Atlas by William Shepherd (1923-26). For the background to the successor kingdoms see chapter titled Sarissa Diplomacy: Macedonian Statecraft.

  A map of the Macedonian-governed empire ca. 200 BCE at the beginning of the struggle with Rome. Both maps provided by the kind permission of University of Texas at Austin.

  8

  WILLS AND COVENANTS IN THE CLASSICAL MIND

  Would kings, dictators and statesmen have used Wills in the classical world to assure successions, pass down estates and document their last wishes?

  Is the claim that Alexander made a Will at Babylon supportable in the context of the social practice, succession precedents and legislation of the time?

  We review the development of what we now refer to as the Last Will and Testament, and look at infamous examples of their manipulations, implementations and the world-changing repercussions in the classical world.

  ‘Thus it is an error of men who are not strictly upright to seize upon something that seems to be expedient and straightaway to dissociate that from the question of moral right. To this error the assassin’s dagger, the poisoned cup, the forged Wills owe their origin; this gives rise to theft, embezzlement of public funds, exploitation and plundering of officials and citizens; this engenders also lust for excessive wealth, for despotic power and finally for making oneself king even in the midst of a free people.’1

  Cicero De Officiis

  ‘All will be well but in case anything should happen, I make these dispositions’; thus began typical Greek Wills in the age of Alexander, and so opened the Wills of both Aristotle and Theophrastus, legends of the Lyceum in Athens and contemporaries of the campaigning king.2 These were not the hastily penned bequests of men dying unexpectedly, but highlighted a judicious respect for mortality in a legal system that recognised trusts, inheritances and estate planning.

  Aristotle’s Will was substantial enough to provide Anton Chroust with sufficient detail for a treatise on Greek estate law.3 A product of the Peripatetic School, Aristotle’s diatheke (Greek: διαθηκη), more literally a ‘covenant’ denoting a formal and legally binding declaration of benefits given by one party to another, did not have room for rhetoric; the testament was precise, practical, and provided for multiple scenarios. We have many other examples that demonstrate the intricacy, ceremony and sophistication that Wills had attained by the 4th century BCE, along with the challenges and frauds that accompanied them.

  Hipponax, an Athenian doctor, noted the arrangements of his patient, Lycophron, as his death approached: ‘He made his Will and called in his friends to witness it, and one must hope there can be no doubt about the validity, the signets attached etc, for otherwise the heirs may find themselves in a pretty lawsuit.’4 Lycophron’s Will pledged his young wife and the guardianship of his daughter to a trusted bachelor friend, and it included instructions for his tomb with financial legacies to other named associates; lastly, three reliable friends were appointed as the executors. The full title of the testator – the person making the Will – was Lycophron the Marathonian, for Athenian legal documents recorded the demos – the residential district of the interested parties (each deme had its own sanctuary and founding deity) – alongside the onoma, a personal name, and the father’s name, the patronymikon.5 Good examples would be Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides – Alcibiades, son of Cleinias from the deme of Scambonidai – and Demosthenes, son of Demosthenes, of the deme Paiania.6 In the case of a metoikos, a foreign resident, the place of birth was required.

  The description of Lycophron’s funeral rites made it clear that the formalities demanded were part of a highly ritualised event. The Will was replete with litigious connotations suggesting an attention to detail in accordance with the demands of (the still not fully deciphered) Athenian legislation.7 By the time the Athenian Constitution had been drafted, the mechanism of passing an estate had been formalised into what we term today the Last Will and Testament, derived from the Roman testamentum. Not all Greek states permitted the individual such latitude, yet the use of Wills was undeniably widespread in the developing Hellenic world.

  So, would the type of Will that survives in the various redactions of Alexander’s Romance and in the Metz Epitome have truly been the mechanism Alexander would have used to assure a clean succession? The answer lies in part in our analysis of the Macedonian king and in our interpretation of the authority a Will could have carried in the unique position Alexander found himself at Babylon in June 323 BCE.8 But how much of the original was transmitted faithfully by the author of the Pamphlet is another question altogether.9

  THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE GREEK DIATHEKE

  Wills did not originate in Classical Greece. Bronze Age texts preserve the death-covenants of northern Mesopotamia preceding the neo-Babylonian period (626-539 BCE), where tablets and other inscriptions reveal the double estate share due to the eldest sons.10 Older still are the written testaments of Egypt. Sir Flinders Petrie, the ‘father of Egyptology’ who excavated at Oxyrhynchus, Tanis, Hawara and Abydus and into mummy cases at Gurob, discovered their oldest recorded forerunners dating back 4,500 years; they have been described as ‘so curiously modern in form that it might almost be granted probate today’.11 The Greeks adopted much from Egypt and that may well include the architecture of legal inheritance, and its development in Hellas is evidenced.

  Hesiod composed his highly valued Works and Days sometime around 700 BCE (though dating is speculative); it was a didactic poem that captured a dispute with his brother, Perses, over his squandering of a disproportionate share of their father’s estate that had avowedly been left to them equally in his Will, and the bribed judges who ruled against Hesiod were attacked through his book. The 800 lines of agricultural instruction, the ‘first that spoke to men of his own time’ (po
etry usually recalled ages past), no doubt boosted Hesiod’s career as a professional rhapsode, and may have prompted, in the circumstances, his aphorism, ‘the half is greater than the whole’.12

  According to Plutarch, a Spartan ephor, Epitadeus, proposed the Lycurgan law, rhetra (legend dates it to 885 BCE), of leaving all possessions to one’s son were outdated so that new Will bequests were needed as well as lifetime gifts; Lacedaemonian inheritance was further complicated by land lots that could not be bought or sold in life or passed from father to son, but which could be bequeathed at death to anyone, claimed Aristotle in a hostile appraisal of its constitution which claimed that two-fifths of the state was owned by women as a result.13 In Athens, Solon began the articulation of estate planning in his set of laws constituting the seisachtheia (literally: ‘shaking off the burdens’), enacted in 594/3 BCE once he had been appointed archon and diallaktes (arbiter on social issues).

  Although Solon was praised for introducing Wills, the law under the Draconian Statutes still firmly favoured the Athenian nobility, a class that dominated in Attica longer than in other regions of Greece. Solon’s own father had ‘impaired his estate in sundry benevolent charities’, prompting him to apparently declare: ‘Wealth I desire to have; but wrongfully to get it, I do not wish. Justice, even if slow, is sure.’14 However, by 500 BCE, in line with Cleisthenes’ transformation of the Areopagus – the aristocratic judicial court – into a more citizen-represented boule (council), laws on intestacy evolved: inheritance rules relating to orphans and heiresses, property settlement, donations and adoption (eispoiesis) were debated, refined, and inevitably, contested.15