In Search of the Lost Testament of Alexander the Great

by David Grant

  30.Discussed in Ligota (1987) p 44.

  31.Herodotus 2.53 claimed Homer lived some 400 years before his own time, thus ca. 850 BCE. Estimates of the dating of Homer vary across sources with some preceding this by 250 years.

  32.Discussion in Borchardt (1986) pp 27-35. Quoting Grafton (1990) p 61.

  33.Quoting Weiss (1962) pp 101-20.

  34.For full discussion see Borchardt (1986) pp 27-35.

  35.Grafton (1990) p 23.

  36.Discussed in detail in Grafton (1990) pp 78-81.

  37.Momigliano (1966) p 145. Most educated Romans were expected to have mastered Greek.

  38.Seneca Quaestiones Naturales 7.16, translation by J Clarke, 1910.

  39.Scaliger’s work was published as De emendatione temporum, discussed in Grafton (1975) pp 164-166.

  40.Grafton (1990) p 116 for the legacy of Goropius. Valla exposed the fraud in 1440 in his De falso credita et ementita Constantini Donatione. For discussion of the Donation of Constantine see R Fubini (1996) p 80.

  41.Discussion in Mallory (1989) pp 9-10.

  42.Quoting Syme (1971) p 265 and taking Annius’ contention from Ligota (1987) p 46.

  43.Excerpt from the Catalogue of the Exhibition Alexander the Great in European Art, edited by Nicos Hadjinicolaou, Thessalonica, 22 September 1997 to 11 January 1998.

  44.Ligota (1987) pp 52-53.

  45.Diairei kai basileue (Greek Διαίρει καὶ βασίλευε), translated divide and rule, comes to replace, in this case, the Latin divide et impera.

  46.Ligota (1987) for ‘organon of the truth’. See discussion in Grafton (1990) pp 95-97. Casaubon, Porphyry and Reitzenstein each exhibited bias in their critiques.

  47.Discussed in detail in Casson (2001) p 138; it was Edward Gibbon who proposed the material fueled the 4,000 baths for six months.

  48.‘Rational analysis fought stubborn faith’, quoting Glenn W Most, speech at the Israel Society for the Promotion of Classical Studies 42nd Annual Conference. Following Russell (1946) p 462 for the unpopularity of the Renaissance.

  49.Scaliger (1583) De emendatione temporum, with a second edition in 1598. Between them Scaliger had published his Epistola de vetustate et splendore gentis Scaligerae et JC Scaligeri vita (1594). The New Testament preacher called into question was Dionysius the Areopagite. The Jesuit reply came in the form of Gasparus Scioppius’ Scaliger Hypobolimaeus or The Supposititious Scaliger, a polemic against his character. A complete list of his works appeared in a biography by Jakob Bernays, Berlin, 1855. Discussed at length in Grafton (1983). Scaliger’s response included the Confutatio fabulae Burdonum.

  50.Digory Whear De Ratione et Methoda Legendi Historias (On the Plan and Method of Reading Histories), October 1623. Further discussion in Levine (1991) p 279.

  51.Varro attempted to ‘correct’ the calendar inefficiencies by inserting both dictatorial years and anarchic years in Rome’s past. Augustus canonised the system and had it inscribed in his Arch. Fragments of the inscription survive as the so-called Fasti Capitolini.

  52.Digory Whear De Ratione et Methoda Legendi Historias.

  53.Quoting Ehrman (2014) Introduction and Momigliano (1954) p 23.

  54.This appears in the bibliography as Speyer (1971).

  55.Following the observation made by Ehrman (2014) p 31 and Metzger (1972) p 13.

  56.Full discussion at The Freethought Exchange, no. 37-38, 1998, article titled Thirty Centuries of Forgeries pp 1735-1837 now available online at christianism.com. The so-called Angel Scroll is an example of newly emerging deceptions. Summarising NC Gross The Mystery of the Angel Scroll: Find of the Century or Elaborate Hoax? Jerusalem Report, 11 October 1999. For a full discussion of their authenticity see Berry (1999) and Pagels (1979). The definitive study of the Decretals of Pseudo-Isidore is H Fuhrmann, Einfluß und Verbreitung der pseudoisidorischen Fälschungen, 3 vols. Schriften der Monumenta Germaniae Historica 24, i-iii, 1972-3.

  57.Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 8.2.

  58.E Gibbon Vindication. It was an attack on Eusebius’ treatise on pseudos in his Praeparatio Evangelica 12.31.

  59.Gibbon’s own words about the popularity of his book cited in Highet (1949) p 344 and pp 352-354 for Gibbon’s bias against Christianity. Quoting Macaulay’s History from Miscellaneous Essays and Lays of Ancient Rome, first published in the Edinburgh Review January-May 1828, Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London, 1828, p 358.

  60.Eusebius Praeparatio Evangelica 9.5.1. For Theotecnus see Metzger (1972) pp 3-24.

  61.Pilate discussed in Wroe (1999). Tacitus’ origins discussed in Alonso-Núñez (1987) p 70.

  62.Discussed in Attridge Oden (1981). References to Sanchuniathon are found in Eusebius’ Praeparatio evangelica 1. 9-10.

  63.Quoting Blackburn (2006) p 1.

  64.Discussed in Grafton (1990) pp 14-16.

  65.The Letter of Aristeas 10-11, translation from Bartlett (1985) pp 20-21.

  66.Full discussion in Heller-Roazen (2002) p 141.

  67.Lucretius De Rerum Natura 1.101.

  68.Heading taken from Ovid Metamorphoses, Prologue.

  69.Galen Corpus Mediocorum Graecum 9.1; full text in Heller-Roazen (2002) p 146; ‘self-proclaimed’ as Galen wrote a work titled The Best Physician is also a Philosopher.

  70.Discussed in Grafton (1990) p 12 and pp 73-77; Callimachus’ catalogue’s full title was The Tables of Persons Conspicuous in every Branch of Learning and a List of Their Compositions.

  71.Casson (1971) p 45. Ex ploion meant literally ‘from the ships’.

  72.1 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. In terms of 1 talent of silver, that was approximately 57 lb (26 kg) of silver, the equivalent of 6,000 drachmas which would have amounted to something like sixteen years of an infantryman’s generous pay.

  73.Galen reported competition between Pergamum and Alexandria. For references to Ammonius Saccas see Gudeman Greeks (1894) p 61. Full discussion in Metzger (1972).

  74.Galen On His Own Books 2.91-92. Galen is said to have written over 600 treatises; see Kotrc-Walters (1979). A reading of the Life of Diogenes by Diogenes Laetius will, for example, illustrate the number of times a story was additionally credited to other individuals.

  75.Diogenes Laertius Aristotle 13.

  76.Eusebius Praeparatio Evangelica 10. As further examples, Eusebius accused Theopompus of stealing entire passages from Xenophon; Apollonius suggested he plagiarised Isocrates word for word. Lucian How to Write History 59, Eusebius Praeparatio Evangelica 10.3.1, Porphyry The Study of Philology Book 1: On the Greeks as Plagiarists, cited in Shrimpton (1991) p 5. Grafton (1990) p 78 for Apollonius’ criticism of Theopompus and for Ephorus stealing 3,000 of Duris’ lines.

  77.Eustathius published extant commentaries of the Homeric works, the Eustathii archiepiscopi Thessalonicensis commentarii ad Homeri Iliadem 1194, published by Hildesheim G Olms, 1960.

  78.Quoting Macaulay (1828).

  79.Quoting Shakespeare As You Like It, scene III and Plato Republic 377d 4-6.

  80.Aristotle Poetics 1451a36-8; translation from Gill-Wiseman (1993) p 182.

  81.Diogenes Laertius Heraclitus. Herodotus 2.2.23; Herodotus’ father discussed in Pitcher (2009) p 156. Thucydides’ criticism of Homer discussed by JL Moles in Gill-Wiseman (1993) pp 100-101, citing Thucydides 1.9.3,10.1,10.3-5,11.1-2.

  82.In the 4th century Q Septimius published Dictys Cretensis Ephemeridos belli Troiani, in six books, a work that professed to be a Latin translation of the Greek version. Dares’ work was published as Daretis Phrygii De excidio Troiae historia and is dated to the 5th century. Aelian 11.2 reports that Dares’ original Iliad predated Homer. Quoting Heckel (1987) p 114 on ‘charlatans’ referring to deceptive anonymae in general.

  83.Discussion of Nero’s part on the translation of Dictys’ diary in Gudeman (1894) p 152.

  84.Translation of Nepos’ letter by RM Fraser from
Martinez (2011) 2011 p 17. There is however a warrior named Dares in Homer Iliad 5.9; discussed in Highet (1949) pp 52-53.

  85.Benoit de Sainte-Maure’s Le Roman de Troie was one of the inspirations for Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde. For full discussion see Nolan (1992). Highet (1949) p 55 for discussion of the later adaptations and p 104 for the Latin Odyssey.

  86.Highet (1949) p 114 for Samxon’s edition of the Iliad.

  87.Polybius 23.10 for the proverb ‘justice has an eye’. The Latin translation was by Boccaccio, a friend of Petrarch, aided by Leontius Pilatos, the first professor of Greek in Western Europe; quoting Highet (1949) Introduction p 15 for ‘wooden’.

  88.Plutarch On the Malice of Herodotus 43, or Moralia 873f.

  89.Plutarch Agesilaus 15.4 for a ‘battle of mice’; chapter titled Sarissa Diplomacy: Macedonian Statecraft for more on the battle at Megalopolis.

  90.Strabo 9.1.10 and also implied at Plutarch Solon 10.1. The inserted verse referred to the Iliad 2.557-558.

  91.Herodotus 7.6.

  92.Casson (2001) pp 29-30 for discussion. The reference to Lycurgus comes from Pseudo-Plutarch Lives of the Ten Orators 841f. Metzger (1972) p 9 for dramatis personae. Also discussed in more detail in Gudeman Greeks (1894) p 55. Plutarch Solon 29.4-5 for Thespis’ lies.

  93.Aulus Gellius 3.3 quoted in Grafton (1990) p 13; termed Varronian as Varro used a sound method to detect the genuine plays.

  94.Quoting Grafton (1990) p 118.

  95.This partially quoted text fragment belongs to Terentianus Maurus (3rd century) and constitutes verse 1286 of his work De litteris, De Syllabes, De Metris. Full quotation text is Pro captu lectoris habent sua fata libelli, translated as ‘According to the reader’s capabilities, books have their destiny’.

  96.Madan (1893) p 2.

  97.Many books printed after 1500 followed this format but Bernhard von Mallinckrodt in his prima typographicae incunabula chose an arbitrary date of 1500 as the end of the ‘infancy of printing’, thus incunabula, Latin for ‘cradles’.

  98.From the German publication titled Gutenberg-fest zu Mainz imjahre 1900, quoting a letter Mark Twain had sent them to celebrate the opening of the Gutenberg Museum.

  99.Kenyon (1899) p 14 for the dating of the oldest extant papyri.

  100.Pliny 13.74-82; as an example see Theophrastus Enquiry into Plants for the many uses of papyrus.

  101.First argued by Theodor Birt in his Das Antike Buchwesen (1882) and discussed in Madan (1893).

  102.Pitcher (2009) p 2 for Sillabos detail. Polybius 11.1a.1-5. This was the contents list on the outside of a scroll and distinct from the proekthesis, an introductory narrative inside.

  103.Pliny 13.74-82.

  104.Discussed in Madan (1893) pp 8-12. Pliny 13.17 claimed parchment was invented at Pergamum but the differentiation to vellum is unclear. Pliny 13.21 for charta Pergamena. Herodotus 5.58 for its earlier development by the Ionians.

  105.Martial first described the codex format and its handy compactness for travel in a series of poems written between 84-86 CE. Full discussion in Needham (1979) p 4 and following Casson (2001) p 126.

  106.Kenyon (1899) pp 17-18 for the lengths of unrolled papyri.

  107.Aulus Gellius 7.17 for the fate of the Pergamum library. Chapter titled Sarissa Diplomacy: Macedonian Statecraft for further discussion of the battle between King Perseus and the Roman general, Aemilius Paullus. Mark Antony gifted Cleopatra much of the Pergamum library; Plutarch Antony 58. Archaeological excavation suggests the library at Pergamum may have been large enough to hold 160,000 scrolls.

  108.Discussed in Momigliano (1966) p 124.

  109.Casson (2001) pp 125-127. Over seventy per cent of Oxyrhynchus finds have been on papyrus and less than 1.5 per cent in total were in the codex format.

  110.Neleus’ activity detailed in Athenaeus 1.4.3a-b, Strabo 13.1.54, Plutarch Sulla 26.1-2, Diogenes Laertius 5.52-56. Discussed in Fortenbaugh-Schütrumpf (2000) p 344 and Casson (2001) p 35.

  111.Athenaeus 5.53.214d-e.

  112.Quoting Harris (1999) pp 40-41.

  113.Strabo 13, Plutarch Sulla 26. Also discussed in Casson (2001) pp 70-71.

  114.Porphyry Vita Plotini 24 mentioned the classifications and arrangement that Aristotle’s and Theophrastus’ works were subjected to by Andronicus.

  115.Diodorus 1.4.2.

  116.Plutarch Lucullus 74.3 described his rule of Africa as carried out with ‘the highest degree of justice’.

  117.Plutarch Caesar 49.8. Aulus Gellius 7.17. Ammianus Marcellinus and Orosius concur that Caesar started the fire, though the burning of the Library was accidental.

  118.Also Shipley (2000) p 235 for discussion and Casson (2001) p 138. The earthquake and subsequent tsunami were recorded by Ammianus Marcellinus 26.10.15-19.

  119.Caesar Civil Wars Book 3.111. For Cassius Dio’s claim see discussion in Casson (2001) p 46.

  120.Caesar The Alexandrian War 1 and Lucan De bello civili 10.440 ff; 486-505. Full discussion in Heller-Roazen (2002) p 148.

  121.Discussed in Casson (2001) p 79. Detailed discussion of the damage caused by Caesar and the final destruction of the Library at Alexandria in Heller-Roazen (2002) pp 147-149. There is some doubt as to whether the fire actually affected the Library at all; see Heller-Roazen (2002) pp 150-151.

  122.Augustus later favoured Varro and his writing was again encouraged.

  123.Suetonius Julius Caesar 56.1 and 56.3 for confirmation of Hurtius’ praise.

  124.The lost Codex Fuldensis discussed in Rolfe (1913) p 207.

  125.Suetonius Caesar 55.

  126.Other sources for the fire and book numbers destroyed are Orosius, 6.15.31-2, Aulus Gellius 7.17 and Seneca On the Tranquillity of the Mind 9.5, Ammianus Marcellinus Roman History 22.16.13-15; other citations: Pseudo-Aristeas (200,000 increasing to 500,000 echoing Demetrius of Phalerum’s promise to Ptolemy), Orosius 6 (400,000), Epiphanius Weights and Measures 9 (54,800), Isidore of Seville Etymologies 6.3.3 (80,000), John Tzetezes Prolegomena to Aristophanes (490,000). Full discussion of the size of the library and its traditions in Bagnall (2002).

  127.Discussion of the composite scrolls in Heller-Roazen (2002) p 140. Following Bagnall (2002) p 356 for the doubt that Callimachus could have listed all the works. Boardman-Griffin-Murray (1986) p 392 for the Serapis library. Vrettos (2001) p 34 for the Serapeiana. Vrettos (2001) p 40 for the mixed rolls.

  128.Athenaeus 5.203e.

  129.Polybius 38.5.21. Also recorded in Appian Hannibalic Wars 132. Scipio’s quote is from Homer Odyssey 6.448.

  130.Polybius 38.19 made it clear he had advised Scipio on technical details. Ammianus Marcellinus 24.2.14-17 for the storming of the gate; see citation in McGing (2010) p 142; p 141 for the technical capacity and Polybius 38.19 for his presence at Carthage.

  131.Cicero claimed Scipio Aemilianus was an avid reader of the Cyropaedia. See discussion in Pitcher (2009) p 152.

  132.Quoting Hornblower (1981) p 104 and also the discussion on the ‘weeping’ of great generals in McGing (2010) p 27. Appian chapter 19 (or section 132, Punic Wars) for Polybius’ tears.

  133.The loss of Polybius’ books discussed in McGing (2010) p 13.

  134.Discussed in Green (2007) pp XXVII-XXIX and Momigliano (1977) pp 72 and 76. Plutarch Philopoemen 21.5 for Polybius’ funeral role.

  135.Quoting Digory Whear on Cicero in On the Plan and Method of Reading Histories 1623. Cicero expressed his regret for the destruction of Corinth in his De Officiis 1.11. He possibly took the analogy from Hegesias, who compared Thebes and Corinth to the ‘two eyes of Greece’. Discussed in Pearson (1960) p 246. The ‘two eyes of Greece’ was a common analogy apparently; Anaximenes had used it for Athens and Thebes after Thebes’ destruction by Alexander; see Pearson (1960) p 246 for discussion.

  136.Septimus Severus was born in Leptis Magna south of Carthage and his father was of Punic or Berber origin; see the Historia Augusta, Life of Septimus Severus 1-3. Cassius Dio 77.15 for Severus’ quote.

  137.Virgil Aeneid 4.645. Dido
, queen of Carthage, fell in love with Aeneas, who, in his quest to found a new dynasty in Italy, left her in Carthage, after which she committed suicide, pledging revenge and predicting eternal strife between the two races. Also Ovid Metamorphoses 14.75 ff for the story of Aeneas’ arrival in Africa.

  138.The fate of the Metz Epitome discussed in Baynham (1995) p 62. Texts now rely upon the editions of D Volkmann (Nuremberg, 1886) and O Wagner (Strasburg, 1900); more on the surviving editions in Thomas Review (1963).

  139.Theopompus’ epitome detailed in Flower (1994) p 35.

  140.Discussed in Heckel-Yardley (1997) Introduction p 1.

  141.Some manuscripts describe the work as an epitome of Livy but this is obviously inaccurate for its text provides post-Livy commentary.

  142.Quoting Hornblower (1981) pp 19-20 and 28-29.

  143.In the preface to his epitome of Trogus’ forty-four books Justin followed his explanation of methodology with, ‘I made a short work, comprised of the choicest flowers as it were…’, translation by TJ Ryan from Baynham (1998) p 31.

  144.Livius Andronicus’ translation discussed in Highet.

  145.Discussed in Baker-Saldanha (2009) p 35.

  146.Quoting Grant (1995) p 97 and Suetonius Life of Horace.

  147.Strabo 15.2.8 suggested the people of Ariana (Iran and Central Asia) including Persians, Bactrians, Medes and Sogdians as ‘… speaking approximately the same language. With slight variations.’ Discussed on Olbrycht (2008) p 243.

  148.Onesicritus’ conversations with the Indian sages are preserved at Strabo 15.1.63-65; full discussion in Brown (1949) pp 38-39 and p 44 for the translation discussion.

  149.An acrostic is a writing format in which the first letter, syllable, or word of each line, spells out a word or message.

  150.Following and quoting from Nisetich (1980) pp 15-16. Highet (1949) pp 222-224 for Pindar’s stanzas.

  151.Discussed in detail in Casson (2001) p 43.

  152.Discussed in Gudeman Greeks (1894) p 69. Fitzgerald (1998) p xii for the multiple-author theory behind the Odyssey.