Alexander

by Guy Maclean Rogers

  trademark procedures of striking rapidly, finishing the job quickly (within forty days), and then

  founding cities at strategic points within his newly conquered possessions.

  Alexander and his court then began to make their way to Babylon. On his way he was greeted by

  embassies from Libya and from the Bruttians, Lucanians, and Etruscans in Italy. Carthage also sent a

  delegation. Others came from the Ethiopians, the European Scythians, the Celts, and the Iberians.

  The peoples of the western Mediterranean had especially pressing reasons to seek Alexander’s

  favor. This was true of the Carthaginians, in particular; the assistance they had promised Tyre during

  the siege of that city years earlier must have seemed in retrospect an embarrassing and potentially

  fatal mistake. The Indians had been annihilated, Alexander was back, and Carthage lay along the route

  of Alexander’s planned conquest of the western Mediterranean. He never forgot anyone who crossed

  him. His forgiveness extended only to old friends and, like most gifts, could be redeemed just once.

  After that, Alexander’s response invariably was lethal. The Carthaginians had every reason for

  concern.

  Later, after Alexander entered the city of Babylon, Greek delegations came to him to offer him the

  victor’s crowns and to congratulate him on his many victories, especially those in India. In fact, so

  many deputations appeared that Alexander had to make a list of them and arrange a schedule of

  audiences.

  First, in order of the importance of their sanctuaries, the king heard those ambassadors who came

  on matters concerning religion—yet another indication of Alexander’s priorities. Alexander dealt

  with the Eleians, then the Ammonians, next the Delphians, then the Corinthians, the Epidaurians, and

  the rest.

  Second, he saw those who brought gifts. Third, he received those who had disputes with their

  neighbors. Fourth came those who had problems concerning themselves alone. Finally, we are told,

  he listened to those who wished to present arguments against receiving exiles back.

  Only this last group of embassies presented serious political or potential military problems. From

  Diodorus, we know that Alexander, by a letter read at the Olympic Games in early August 324, had

  announced the restoration of exiles throughout the Greek world (except the Thebans) and the

  restoration of the exiles’ confiscated property. His motive appears to have been a mixture of desire

  for glory, as he himself claimed, as well as political gain, for the returned exiles naturally would

  become his partisans in their cities. The only exceptions, besides the one for Thebes, applied to

  exiles judged guilty of sacrilege or, possibly, murder. Antipater had been ordered to enforce the

  decree.

  Nevertheless, the beginning of the return of these exiles had caused unrest in many cities, and

  nearly war with the city of Athens, whose settlers on the island of Samos would be replaced by

  returning Samians if the decree were enforced.

  The embassies that came to Alexander in Babylon about the Exiles’ Decree were there, however,

  only to discuss how it affected their own cities or situations, not to debate the constitutionality of the

  decree itself. Alexander’s publication of the decree clearly indicates that he no longer saw himself

  merely as the leader ( hegemon) of a pan-Hellenic league (the League of Corinth) that was

  theoretically a body of autonomous equals, as his father, Philip, had intended the alliance to be seen.

  That idea had died long ago, after the murder of Darius. Alexander was now the king of all Asia—and

  of Hellas too, in effect, although this was not stated openly. The publication of the Exiles’ Decree

  was really a taste of the power Alexander now felt confident enough to exercise throughout his

  empire.

  To the envoys who approached him the king now paid honors. He also gave to them the statues,

  images, and other votive offerings that Xerxes had removed from Greece, including the bronze statues

  of the so-called Athenian tyrant slayers, Harmodius and Aristogeiton, and the Celcaean Artemis

  (which were returned to Athens). Harmodius and Aristogeiton, as we have seen, were wrongly

  believed by many Athenians to have slain the last of the Athenian tyrants during the late sixth century

  and thus to have laid the foundations for the development of the Athenian democracy. The irony of the

  return of these statues of two heroes of the Athenian democracy by a Macedonian king, who now was

  the ruler not only of Persia but of Greece as well, cannot have been lost upon the Athenians.

  Aristus and Asclepiades declare that a certain small city in central Italy also sent envoys to

  Alexander at this time. When Alexander discerned the orderliness of the envoys and their diligence

  and freedom and learned about their constitutions, he prophesied something of their future greatness.

  Or, alternatively and somewhat more ominously, it was also reported that, as part of his future plans

  of conquest, Alexander intended to make for Sicily and the Iapygian coast, being rather distressed

  already at the extension of Rome’s fame.

  PROPHETS’ BEST GUESSES

  Before Alexander received all these embassies, however, there were suggestions that the king should

  look after his own well-being. After Alexander crossed the Tigris, but before he had even entered

  Babylon, priests of Bel came to him and advised him to halt his advance to Babylon. They had an

  oracle from their god, they claimed, that his approach to Babylon at the time would lead to disaster.

  Alexander replied to the priests with a line from a now lost play of Euripides: “Prophets are best

  who make the best guess.”

  Hearing this, the priests urged him at least not to look toward the west, nor to lead his army

  westward, but rather to wheel his force and lead it eastward.

  Alexander, however, suspected that the priests were less concerned with his health than with their

  own self-interest. Xerxes, it was alleged, had razed the temple of Bel, and Alexander intended to

  rebuild it on a larger scale. But the Babylonian “contractors” had pursued the rebuilding languidly,

  and Alexander proposed to complete the work. The priests, Alexander perhaps believed, were

  worried that he would compel them to subsidize the reconstruction of the temple from their own

  surplus revenues.

  Despite his suspicions concerning the priests’ motives, Alexander nevertheless attempted to avoid

  entering the city from the west. But this proved to be too difficult for the army. Because of swampy

  land and pools around the other approaches, Alexander with the army finally entered the city from the

  west after all.

  PREPARATIONS IN BABYLON

  In Babylon the most important item on Alexander’s agenda was the detailed preparation for the next

  campaign. Nearchus, with his fleet, already had been summoned up the Euphrates to Babylon. Two

  Phoenician quinqueremes (in which the upper and middle oars were rowed by two men, the lower by

  one man), three quadriremes, twelve triremes, and thirty thirty-oared galleys also had been

  disassembled on the Phoenician coast, brought overland to Thapsacus, and sailed down the

  Euphrates.

  But Alexander was having a new flotilla built as well, using the cypresses of Babylonia. To

  accommodate this enormous fleet of 1,000 warships, the harbor of Babylon was being dredged. At the

/>   same time, Miccalus of the city of Clazomenae was sent to Phoenicia and Syria with 500 talents with

  which to hire or purchase men familiar with the sea.

  These naval preparations were to be directed against the Arabs, ostensibly because they alone of

  the barbarians had sent no delegation or done anything complimentary to pay honor to Alexander. But

  the wealth of the country was also an incentive, particularly its cassia, its frankincense and myrrh, and

  its cinnamon and nard. Alexander also had heard that Arabia had harbors everywhere suitable for his

  fleet, which also might provide sites for prosperous new cities.

  Finally, Alexander had heard that the Arabs worshipped only two gods, Uranus and Dionysos.

  Since he had achieved even more famous deeds than Dionysos, Alexander did not think it

  inappropriate to provide the Arabs with a third god for their small pantheon: himself. But in truth, of

  course, as Arrian understood, Alexander simply was insatiate for further conquest.

  In assessing Alexander’s plan to conquer Arabia, some historians have supposed that, after the

  march across Gedrosia and the death of Hephaestion, Alexander really had no purpose left and that

  there was nothing left worth doing, as far as Alexander was concerned.

  But planning the invasion of Arabia was not the activity of a man in the depths of despair. There is

  no evidence that Alexander had lost his mind, that his mental capacities had deteriorated in any way,

  or that he had lost his desire to go on by 324/3.

  What is incredible and indisputable is rather that after all of the battles he already had fought; after

  all the miles he and the Macedonians had marched together; the drunken brawls; the wounds; the

  deaths of Philotas, Parmenio, Cleitus, Bucephalas; the mutinies; Gedrosia; and the loss of his best

  friend, Alexander’s fundamental desire to conquer was undiminished and unchanged. But he had

  always conquered to live, and there was no end in sight.

  If the plan were mad, it had ever been thus, and Alexander now approached the next phase of his

  grand plan with the same care that he had devoted to the conquest of the Persian empire and India.

  FINAL TOUCHES

  The gigantic fleet was put together and exploratory expeditions to the islands of Icarus (Falaika) and

  Tylos (Bahrain) were made by the famous pilots Archias and Androsthenes. Androsthenes in fact

  ended up sailing around a part of the Arabian Peninsula. A third shipmaster, Hieron of Soli, was

  instructed to go even farther, circling the entire peninsula as far as Heröopolis on the Red Sea; but he

  turned back, reporting that the peninsula was of tremendous size, nearly as big as India, and that a

  great headland ran far out into the ocean.

  But even the conquest of Arabia was only stage one of the larger enterprise. Alexander also

  commissioned Herakleides of Argos to explore the shores of the Caspian in furtherance of

  Alexander’s wider goal of linking his eastern conquests to his European empire.

  While the great fleet was assembling, Alexander also busied himself and his men clearing the

  canals of the Euphrates and founding the last of his Alexandrias after sailing down the Pallacopas (a

  canal leading off from the Euphrates) to the Arabian lakes. This city lay in what is now Kuwait and

  was populated by Greek mercenaries, volunteers, and superannuated or unfit veterans.

  Back in Babylon, the fleet was exercising constantly, with frequent rowing races and trials of skill

  for the helmsmen. The land invasion force was also mustering. Peucestas had brought 20,000 troops

  from Persia, including the Cossaeans (conquered just the year before) and Tapurians. Philoxenus had

  brought an army from Caria. Menander led troops from Lydia, and Menidas came with his cavalry.

  The Persians, with whom Alexander intended to rule over his empire in harmony and fellowship,

  now were enrolled in various Macedonian brigades, so that the Macedonian line of infantry soldiers

  consisted of a Macedonian leader and two of his countrymen, twelve Persians, and then another

  Macedonian. Thus the Macedonians lined up first, second, and last in a line, with twelve Persians in

  between. These infantry lines provided the momentum behind the three ranks of pikemen at the front of

  the phalanx. Alexander had successfully incorporated Persians into the traditional Macedonian

  infantry brigades.

  All was in readiness. More delegations from Greece then presented themselves, wearing

  ceremonial crowns. These delegates solemnly approached Alexander and adorned him with gold

  crowns, as if they had come as sacred ambassadors to honor a god. Whether they (or their cities)

  signified by the wearing of such crowns that they actually believed Alexander to be a god (as he

  clearly was conceived of in some Greek cities by 323) is a vexed, and perhaps unanswerable,

  question. In Sparta, apparently in response to Alexander’s own order that the Greeks should vote on

  declaring him to be divine, the Spartans passed a decree saying, “Since Alexander wishes to be a

  god, let him be a god.” More seriously, we know that in Athens the politician Demades certainly had

  proposed a decree declaring Alexander a god. Whatever the envoys or the Athenians believed about

  Alexander, or whatever the king thought about himself, however, the end was not far off.

  CHAPTER 29

  Death in Babylon

  THE EVE OF DESTRUCTION

  By late spring of 323, Alexander was back in Babylon, receiving delegates from the Libyans and the

  Carthaginians. A massive armada had been built for his Arabian campaign, and a formidable land

  army of mixed Macedonian and Persian infantry had been mustered.

  After his planned conquest of Arabia, Alexander had his eye trained on the western Mediterranean.

  The shores of the Caspian and the Black Sea also had been designated for exploration. The purpose of

  these exploratory missions was to lay the foundation for further military campaigns, leading to the

  eventual unification of Alexander’s Asian and European empires.

  Although Alexander had been wounded in battle eight times, had lost his best friend, and was

  drinking heavily, his appetite for conquest had only been whetted by his already unprecedented

  victories. Lawrence of Arabia was shattered by the revelation that he enjoyed giving and receiving

  pain. The inner citadel of Alexander’s self-esteem was never punctured by the wounds he either dealt

  out or received. Alexander was not a broken man in the spring of 323. The real question was whether

  he was only a man, either in his own eyes or in others’.

  Then, only a few days before the conquest of the rest of the known world was to begin, the god

  died.

  Alexander’s death, just as some Greek cities were about to accord him divine honors, is every bit

  as controversial as his life. That was probably to be expected. Alexander never gave himself or

  anyone else any rest while he was alive. Why should we have expected him to have gone gentle into

  that good night—or to have left us with a clear understanding of what, or who, finally conquered a

  man who could not be killed on any field of battle? Of course, Alexander’s death, like Mozart’s, is

  steeped in mystery, and the ancient sources are in irrevocable disagreement about its causes.

  Moreover, it almost inevitably attracted to it the charge that Alexander had been poisoned, not by

  some jealous Macedonian Salieri, but by the greatest philosopher in Western
history, none other than

  his old tutor, Aristotle. For many, the appeal of a murder mystery in which the West’s greatest

  conqueror was done in by its greatest philosopher has proved to be irresistible. But does it have any

  support from the evidence?

  THE STORY OF THE FEVER

  One tradition about Alexander’s death was based upon the so-called Royal Diaries, in which his

  royal secretary, Eumenes of Cardia, and Diodotus of Erythrae supposedly recorded Alexander’s daily

  activities. After Alexander’s death the Royal Diaries were made public to document the course of the

  fever that reportedly killed him.

  The story of the fever began as follows. Alexander gave a splendid banquet in honor of his Cretan

  friend Nearchus, the admiral of his fleet. After the banquet Alexander took a bath with the intention of

  going to bed. But a man named Medius from Larissa invited the king to come to his house to join

  another party, and there was drinking all through the next day. Alexander began to feel feverish while

  he was still at Medius’ party.

  On the eighteenth of the Macedonian month of Daisios (late May), according to the diaries,

  Alexander slept in a bathing room because of his fever. After taking a bath the next day the king

  moved to his bedchamber, where he spent the day playing dice with Medius. When it was late,

  Alexander took another bath, performed sacrifices to the gods, and ate a little, but remained feverish

  through the night. On the twentieth he bathed again, made his customary sacrifice, and, lying down on

  the floor of the bathing room, listened to Nearchus tell the story of his voyage and the great sea.

  On the twenty-first of Daisios, Alexander spent the day in the same way, but was more inflamed

  and at night was grievously ill. The following day his fever was also very high. By the side of the

  bath the king nevertheless conversed with his officers about vacant posts in the army, and how they

  might be filled by experienced men.

  On the twenty-fourth Alexander’s fever was violent and he had to be carried to perform his

  sacrifices. He ordered his greatest officers to wait in the court of the palace (probably the palace of

  Nebuchadnezzar) and the commanders of brigades and companies to spend the night outside. The next