Read The Nature of Alexander Online
Authors: Mary Renault
It has been widely assumed that he was being asked to choose a successor from among his chief officers. But by now, if Barsine-Stateira was pregnant, he may have confided a secret of such dynastic importance to high-ranking friends like Perdiccas and Nearchus. If so, he had two unborn children of unknown sex; and, in case they should both be male, was being confronted by Macedonians with the age-old question of the polygamous Macedonian kings.
Arrian gives his answer: “Hoti to kratisto”—to the strongest; words which acquired the force of prophecy during the succession wars. But it can also mean, “To the best.” He was dying; explanations were beyond him; he may have meant that when the children were of age, the Macedonian Assembly should choose between them. Superlative for comparative in colloquial speech was probably used as loosely then as now. That is, if “kratisto” was what he really said.
Normally pronounced, “kratisto” and “Kratero” are not very much alike. But whispered by a man rattling and gasping with pneumonia they could be confused quite easily; especially if it was convenient. Craterus was the man highest in Alexander’s trust. He had already been appointed Regent of Macedon. If he was now meant to take over the Regency of the empire, on behalf of the unborn heirs, it would hardly be welcome news to Perdiccas, present holder of the royal ring. Probably Alexander’s words were barely audible, except to someone leaning over him. There may have been an expedient mistake.
Early next morning, Peucestas and his friends returned from the healing shrine. They had asked the god whether it would help Alexander if he were carried into the sanctuary; but the oracle had replied that it would be better for him where he was.
No doubt the deity was concerned for his professional reputation; but his advice was sound. It allowed Alexander to produce, for the last time, that basic ingredient of all the multiform legends which his death was in process of bringing to birth—his indestructible sense of style. Curtius, for once renouncing rhetoric, gives his parting words. When Perdiccas asked him at what times he wished to have his divine honours paid him, he answered, “When you are happy.”
A dark mist crossed the sky, and a bolt of lightning was seen to fall from heaven into the sea, and with it a great eagle. And the bronze statue of Arimazd in Babylon quivered; and the lightning ascended into heaven, and the eagle went with it, taking with it a radiant star. And when the star disappeared in the sky, Alexander too had shut his eyes.
The legend had begun.
A
FTER MUCH WRANGLING, INTRIGUE
, and intervals of actual fighting, it was agreed among the generals that it was unthinkable the throne should pass to anyone not of Alexander’s blood. The feeble-minded Arridaeus was brought out to rule under Perdiccas’ regency, pending the birth of Roxane’s child.
In Curtius’ account, confused references are made in the debate to a child of Barsine. That Darius’ daughter is referred to seems probable in Plutarch. The most persuasive evidence for this is the action of Roxane. Unlike Alexander when he lost Hephaestion, she proceeded at once to practical matters. She sent off by fast courier a letter to the Princess, forged in Alexander’s name, summoning her immediately to Babylon. It must have been by using the royal post relay, which raced day and night, that the news of the death was outrun. If it met her on the road, she did not turn back, still expecting to be met with honour. She arrived with Drypetis her sister, Hephaestion’s widow. Roxane had both of them killed, and their bodies thrown in a well. It was precisely what Olympias would have done in her position; when the two queens met, they must have found much in common.
Plutarch says that Perdiccas was her accomplice in the deed; but this is most unlikely in view of the fact that the sex of her own child was still unknown. Faced, however,
with the
fait accompli,
and only a single child of Alexander now in prospect, he most probably helped to cover up for her.
The son, Alexander IV, was thirteen years old when Cassander murdered him together with Roxane. No shred of information about his character or appearance has survived.
Olympias had been lynched four years before: Cassander’s soldiers, who had themselves voted for her death, could not bring themselves after all to kill the mother of Alexander. Cassander handed her over to the numerous relatives of those she herself had killed. She met her fate, of which the details are mercifully lacking, with unflinching courage.
She had outlived her son seven years. Sisygambis, the Queen Mother of Persia, survived the news of his death five days. On receiving it she bade her family and friends farewell, turned her face to the wall and died by fasting.
I
N COURTESY TO THEIR
fellow scholars, classical historians naturally and properly take for granted a previous knowledge of the ancient source material. This book is meant for general readers; and the following list may serve as a guide to those wishing to make their own assessments and explorations. Almost all the works are available in translation; the relative reliability of the more important has been discussed in the text.
Arrian,
History of Alexander
Quintus Curtius,
History of Alexander
Plutarch,
Parallel Lives:
Life of Alexander
Diodorus Siculus,
History
(Book XVII for Alexander’s reign; but also XVI and XVIII for events preceding and following)
Justin,
Epitome of Trogus
Additional biographical details or anecdotes
Plutarch,
Lives:
Demosthenes; Eumenes; Phocion
Plutarch, Moralia
:
On the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander; Sayings of Kings and Commanders
Strabo, Geography (Book XV for many quotations from Nearchus)
Athenaeus,
The Diepnosophists
(discursive gossip)
L. Pearson,
The Lost Histories of Alexander the Great
(collected fragments, with commentary on the writers). American Philological Association, New York; also printed in Great Britain 1960
Works relevant to Alexander’s life and times
Demosthenes,
Orations
Aeschines,
Orations
Isocrates,
Epistles and Orations
Aristotle, especially the
Politics
and
Ethics
Diogenes Laertius,
Lives of the Philosophers:
Life of Aristotle
Works known to Alexander, which certainly or probably influenced his thought
Homer,
Iliad
R. Lattimore’s verse translation, published by University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London 1962, is preferable to E. V. Rieu’s prosy one, published by Penguin Books, Harmondsworth 1950)
Xenophon,
Anabasis; Cyropaedia
Herodotus,
History
Euripides, Tragedies (especially, perhaps,
The Bacchae,
written and first performed in Macedon)
For the legend
E. A. Wallis Budge,
The Alexander Book in Ethiopia.
Oxford University Press. London 1933
George Cary,
The Mediaeval Alexander,
ed. D. J. A. Ross. Cambridge University Press. London 1956
A. M. Wolohojian (trans.),
The Romance of Alexander the Great by Pseudo-Callisthenes
(a recent translation from a good Armenian version). Columbia University Press. New York and London 1969
H. W. Clarke’s quaint literal translation (1880) of the thirteenth-century Persian
Sikandar Noma E Bora
is unfortunately scarce.
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X
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Z
Abdalonymus,
111
Academy (Plato’s),
39
,
40
,
54
,
188
Achilles,
6
,
22
,
24
,
28-9
,
44
,
75
,
90
,
113
,
118
,
202
,
208
,
240
,
241
,
247
,
257
Ada (Queen of Caria),
27
,
94-5
,
97
Admetus,
115
Aelian,
33
Alexander III, the Great: accession,
30
,
63
,
69
; ancestry,
24
,
28
,
121-2
; army,
25
,
30
,
93
,
98
,
101-2
,
127-8
,
141-2
,
149
,
166-7
,
200-12
,
233-5
,
263-4
; in Athens,
54
; Athens’ submission,
86
; attitude towards killing,
65-6
,
128
,
180-1
; at Babylon,
139-41
,
248-66
; in Bactria,
168-9
,
185
; and Bagoas (
q.v.
),
154-5
,
161
,
185
,
186
,
220
,
222
,
223
; battle tactics,
78
,
101-2
,
133
,
134
; birth,
22
; birth legends,
8
,
22
,
24
,
122
,
231
; books,
28
,
71-3
,
128
,
142
; and Bucephalas (
q.v.
),
33-4
,
102
,
138
,
158
,
198
; Callisthenes’ murder,
187-8
; in Caria,
94-7
; Cleitus’ murder,
180-1
; at Chaeronea (
q.v.
),
51-3
; childhood,
23-4
,
29
,
30
; daily routine,
125-9
; at Damascus,
109-10
; and Darius III (
q.v.
),
108-9
,
132
,
149-57
; death,
4
,
266
; Demosthenes’ view,
68
,
82
; divinity,
5
,
6
,
7
,
12
,
119
,
121-2
,
174
,
230-1
; at Dodona,
57
; drinking habits,
128-9
,
179-80
,
239-40
,
262-3
; early court duties,
29-30
; at Ecbatana,
239-44
; education,
26-7
,
39-43
,
44
,
46
; in Egypt,
118-23
; at Ephesus,
94
; Exile’s Decree,
231-2
,
249
; explorative urge,
78
,
189
,
254
; father (Philip II,
q.v.
),
26
,
33
,
34
,
45-6
,
54
,
55-6
,
58-65
; first colony,
45
; friendships,
26
,
44
,
48-9
,
58
,
66
,
80
,
99
,
113-14
,
128
,
141
,
143
,
162
; funeral cortège,
5-6
; at Gaugamela,
34
,
132-9
; at Gaza,
117
; Gordian knot,
98-9
; at the Granicus,
90-3
; half-brother
(see
Arridaeus); at Halicarnassus,
96-7
; and Hephaestion (
q.v.
),
43-4
,
48
,
54
,
60
,
90
,
104
,
105
,
121
,
126
,
162
,
185
,
186
,
193
,
240-4
,
251-3
; Hermolaus’ plot; historians’ views; humor; at the Hydaspes; identification with Achilles (
q.v.
); illnesses
&
injuries,
99
,
104
,
117
,
118
,
171
,
172
,
207-9
,
256
,
257-66
; in Illyria,
57-58
; Illyrian campaigns,
47-8
,
80-1
; in India,
188
ft.; inheritance,
89
; at the Issus,
99-107
; at the Jaxartes,
171-2
; legends,
7-16
,
72
,
182
; on the Makran desert,
215-20
; at Miletus,
95-6
; mother (Olympias,
q.v.
),
23-4
,
32
,
48
,
55
,
56-7
,
58
,
59
,
63
,
64
,
121
,
126
,
237
; at Multan,
206-10
; musical interests,
32-3
,
38-9
,
70
,
90
; omens.
89
,
95
,
96
,
117
,
119
,
144
,
202
,
245
,
246-7
,
254-6
,
258
,
261
; at Opis,
233-7
; oracles consulted,
57
,
120-21
,
258
; at Persepolis,
145-9
,
223-4
; Persian King,
172-8
,
229-30
; Philotas’ plot,
162-6
; physical appearance & dress,
26
,
27
,
68-70
,
92
,
160
; and Ptolemy (
q.v.
)
,
5-7
,
30-2
; purge of rivals,
73-5
; quoted,
37
,
46
,
55-6
,
70
,
89
,
103
,
104
,
109
,
116
,
133
,
197-8
,
234
,
235
,
253
,
266
; re-founding of Stagira,
46
; as regent,
44-5
,
46-7
,
62
; regents for,
10
,
237
; river crossings—Hydaspes,
195-6
—Indus,
193
,
211
—Ister,
78-80
—Oxus,
169-70
—Tigris,
130-1
; sacrifices & offerings,
27-8
,
80
,
87
,
89
,
90
,
93-4
,
112
,
119
,
122
,
123
,
125
,
131
,
134
,
144
,
202
,
205
,
213
,
222
,
262
; at Sardis,
93-4
; sexual nature,
48
,
55
,
70
,
88
,
95
,
155
,
184-5
,
239
; at Sidon,
110-12
,
113
,
114
; Sikandar myth,
8
,
9
; sister
(see
Cleopatra
); and Sisygambis (
q.v.
)
,
104-5
,
106
,
132
,
144
; in Sogdiana,
182-5
,
190
; the Successors,
229-30
,
235
; at Susa,
142-4
,
224-32
,
248
; at Tarsus,
99
; theatrical interest,
70
,
71
,
123
; Theban campaign,
82-6
; in Thessaly,
75
; tomb,
6-7
; Triballians defeated,
77
; at Troy,
89-90
; at Tyre,
112
,
114-15
,
123
; wealth & financial arrangements,
82
,
89
,
93
,
96
,
103
,
110
,
123-4
,
140-1
,
142-4
,
146
,
157
,
227
,
228
,
229
,
238
; weddings,
183-4
,
225-7
; wives—Roxane (
q.v.
)
,
183-5
,
186
,
190
,
193
,
204
,
239
—Barsine-Stateira (
q.v.
)
,
109-10
,
226
,
227