All Alexander’s Women: The Facts (2nd edition)
Copyright © 2013 Robbert Bosschart
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1439272018
ISBN 13: 9781439272015
eBook ISBN: 978-1-63003-154-1
Cover design: J. Peralta
The goddess Inanna depicted on an Old-Babylonian clay tablet of c. 2000 BC, holding up the Rings of Kingship that bestow on mortals the “monarchy by divine right”: she can make or break kings and queens on earth. This means that Inanna has inherited all the powers of the Great Goddess of the primitive era.
CONTENTS
Dates/facts in Alexander’s career
Persia’s King List
Family Tree of Sisygambis
Family Tree of Alexander
Foreword
1 Alexander’s Women
Kallixeina and Telesippa
Ada II, princess of Karia
Kampaspe and Stateira
Timokleia
The Amazons
The prophetess of Apollo
Thais, from Athens
Cynnane and Thessalonike, half-sisters
Barsine
Roxane
The Susa Brides
Alexander’s advisers
Olympias, Alexander’s mother
Ada I, queen of Karia
The Syriac soothsayer and the Indian queen
Sisygambis, queen-mother of Persia
2 The Great Goddess, Inanna, Anahita and Isis
3 Women in Ancient Persian Society
4 Early History of Karia, and Queen Ada
5 The era of Eurydike, Oympias and Kleopatra
6 The Susa Weddings & Queen Amastris
7 Secret Keepers of the Empire: The King’s Eye
8 Death of Hefaistion
9 After Alexander
10 The Liber De Morte Propaganda
11 End of the Empire
with: Cleopatra, queen and pharaoh
Acknowledgements
Notes on Spelling, and Money
with: Persia’s astounding wealth
Arrian and other historians on Alexander
List of classical sources & quotes on Alexander’s women
Reference Works
Biographical/geographical index
Maps
HISTORICAL DATES/FACTS IN ALEXANDER’S LIFE
356 BC:
Alexander is born to queen Olympias and king Philip II in Pella, capital of Makedon, on July 20th. That night the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, burns down in Efesos.
352-343:
Alexander is educated at palace by private tutors like Leonidas, his mother’s kinsman; the Iliad epic of Homer and the Histories of Herodotos are his textbooks. He meets Persian prince Artabazos, exiled in Pella with his family including his daughter Barsine who is a few years older than Alexander (they return to Persia in 342).
343-340:
the famous Makedonian philosopher/biologist Aristotle teaches Alexander and other youngsters of the Court at a private school; here, Hefaistion becomes his foremost companion and lover for life.
338:
August, 2: Philip’s final victory over the rest of Greece is sealed at the battle of Chaironea. Alexander leads the left wing of the army, is the first to break through the frontline of Athenians and Thebans, and so decides the outcome. / Autumn: Philip begins to plan the invasion of Ionia, the W-coast of Asia Minor occupied by the Persian empire.
337:
Spring: the king of Karia in Asia Minor offers his daughter Ada to the heir of Makedon. The intended bridegroom is Arridaios, Philip’s eldest son. Alexander intervenes secretly, offering to marry Ada himself. Philip punishes him by exiling his advisors. / Autumn: at Philip’s marriage to a new (seventh) wife, her powerful family proclaims Alexander cannot be legitimate heir any more; he quarrels with them ánd with Philip. Olympias goes in exile to Molossia, and Alexander to Illyria. It takes Philip nearly a year to mend fences and make him return to Makedon.
336:
October: at the festivities for the state marriage of Alexander’s sister Kleopatra to the king of Molossia, a disgruntled bodyguard murders Philip. Alexander is proclaimed king, but faces fierce uprisings at Makedon’s borders and in southern Greece (Thebes, Athens).
335:
September: the siege/sack of Thebes puts an end to Greek resistance. The League of Corinth recognises Alexander as Hegemon in Philip’s place to lead the invasion against Ionia. Also in Corinth, Alexander speaks with Diogenes. In Delphi, Alexander obtains a favourable remark from the prophetess.
334:
May: Alexander lands in Asia / Early June: Battle at the Granikos, Persians routed /July: Sardès and Miletos captured / Summer: two-month siege of Halikarnassos, occupied by Memnon. Ada of Karia adopts Alexander.
333:
Winter: Karia, Lykia, Pamfylia & Frygia conquered / Spring: Memnon dies suddenly / April-July: Alexander cuts the Gordian Knot; late July: Alexander leaves Gordion, Darius leaves Babylon/ 5 Nov.: Battle of Issos. Darius’ family captured on the battlefield, and Barsine in Damascus / Dec.: Darius negotiates in vain with Alexander.
332:
February-July: siege of Tyre / Spring: Persian fleet dispersed / July: Hefaistion sent to name a king in Sidon and appoints Abdalonymos / Sept-Nov.: Siege of Gaza / Alexander marches on Egypt.
331:
January: Alexander proclaimed pharaoh at Heliopolis and Memfis / March: visit to Ammon’s oracle at Síwah / April 7th : Alexander founds Alexandria on the Nile Delta shore / June-Sept: march and campaigns in Fenicia, Syria, Mesopotamia / Oct. 1st : Battle of Gaugamela (Arbela) / Oct 22nd: Mazaios surrenders Babylon / 15 Dec.: Abulites surrenders Susa, Alexander reinstalls Sisygambis and her grandchildren at the Old Palace / 22 Dec.: Alexander leaves to attack Persepolis; the Uxians captured, but Medates pardoned at Sisygambis’ plea.
330:
Jan-May: Alexander at Persepolis, palaces sacked & burned; then he marches north / Darius flees Ekbatana but is murdered c. 17 July at Thara by Bessos, who styles himself “king” / Winter: Demetrios & Dimnos try to murder Alexander; Filotas & Parmenion executed.
329:
Late May: Alexander crosses the Hindu Kush northward into Sogdia / c. 1 June: Bessos captured and turned over for punishment to prince Oxyatres, who has become a top officer on Alexander’s General Staff / Autumn: punitive expedition against the Saka tribe near the Aral Sea.
328:
Winter: Alexander at Baktra / Summer: Campaigns in Baktria and Sogdia. At a drunken party in Marakanda (Samarkand), Alexander clashes with, and kills, ‘Black’ Kleitos. Hefaistion becomes sole chiliarch of the cavalry, and increases his political role.
327:
Winter: Alexander in Marakanda / Spring: Sogdian Rock captured / Early summer: marriage to Roxane / Late summer: conspiracy of the pages; Kallisthenes condemned – he dies in prison / Fall: Alexander recrosses the Hindu Kush southward, to conquer India.
326:
Feb.: Hefaistion leads the army advance through Gandara to Indus / Alexander conquers Massaga, reinstalls Kleofis (her Sanskrit name is Kripa) as its queen / May: Alexander’s famous warhorse Boukefalos dies of age / Battle of the Hydaspes river against king Poros, who is routed but reinstated as king / At the Hydaspes camp, Roxane loses a son in or after childbirth / July: at the Hyfasis (Beas) river, the army refuses to advance further into India / Nov.: river voyage down the Indus begins.
325:
January: Mallia taken by storm, Alexander wounded / July: the army reaches the mouth of the Indus / 15 Sept.: Nearchos starts on his sea voyage, Alexander comes near death in the Gadrosia desert / December: punishment of corrupt satraps, Peukestas appointe
d to govern Persia / Alexander builds up naval programme against Arabia and Carthago.
324:
Feb.: Alexander in Pasargadai, Cyrus’ tomb restored / March: Susa Weddings / Aug.: mutiny at Opis / Decree on the Exiles proclaimed in Greece / Oct.: Alexander at Ekbatana; Hefaistion dies (poisoned?)
323:
April-May: Alexander in Babylon, grand funeral for Hefaistion / Arabian campaign readied / June 11th : Alexander dies.
CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF PERSIAN KINGS
Achaemenes/Hakhâmanish, c. 700 BC a subject of the Median Empire, unified nomadic tribes in Parsa, around present-day Shiraz.
Teispes, his son, vassal king in Parsa, c. 630 occupied neighboring Elam.
Cyrus I, his son, r. 600-580, made Elamite Susa the seat of Persia’s kings.
Cambyses I, his son, r. 580-559, married into the royal family of Media.
Cyrus II the Great, his son, r. 559-530, conquered Media, Asia Minor, Babylonia, and regions bordering on Sogdia and India.
Cambyses II, his son, reigned 529-522, and conquered Egypt.
Darius I the Great, grandson of Cyrus II’s brother, r. 521-486, reorganized the empire and continued the westward expansion from Ionia; in 507 even Makedon had become a vassal state.
Xerxes I, his son, r. 486-465; he lost the dominions in Greece and Ionia.
Artaxerxes I, his son, reigned 465-424; in 460 he faced a serious rebellion of Egypt, that won back its independence in 405.
Xerxes II, his eldest son, reigned in 423 (only for 45 days).
Sogdanios, his second son, reigned in 423 (only for half a year).
Darius II (‘the Bastard’), a third son by a concubine, reigned 423-404.
Artaxerxes II, his son, reigned 404-359; completed the recovery of Ionia that had begun c 410.
Artaxerxes III, his son, reigned 358-338, reconquered Egypt and Levant.
Artaxerxes IV, his son, reigned 338-336.
Darius III, another grandson of Artaxerxes II, reigned 336-330, and lost all.
Alexander the Great reigned as High King in Persia 330-323.
NOTE: Of the nine Persian High Kings that followed Darius the Great, six were murdered in palace intrigues: Xerxes I and Xerxes II, Sogdanios, Artaxerxes III, Artaxerxes IV, and Darius III (while fleeing from Alexander the Great, he was killed by his relative Bessos.)
FOREWORD
This book swims against the current of a conventional wisdom that presents Alexander the Great simply as a conqueror. But he is much more than a one-sided warrior hero in a men’s world! This story of Alexander and his women offers you the indispensable facts to complete the picture.
Besides his mother Olympias and his sister Kleopatra1, that epic centers on several Eastern women –mainly, relatives of the routed Persian king Darius– who play an essential role in his life and legacy. And who would have done yet more so, if Alexander had received more time to consolidate his multicultural empire. This would have spared us, I am convinced, our ugliest inheritance from Athens and Rome: the oppression of women. And thus, the ages-old stupidity to scorn the talents of half humankind.
Alexander would have advanced women’s rights by 2,000 years, (re)introducing a solid Persian tradition into our Western culture. The texts of the Persepolis Fortification tablets prove that Persian women had their independent place in society, many of them being well-paid professionals in a great variety of callings.
Women of the Achaemenid (imperial) House appear in these texts as notably active persons: enterprising, and capable of taking their own decisions. They make long journeys throughout the realm to control the production of their lands and factories. They regulate and oversee the efforts of their salaried labourers. This totally debunks the idea that they are confined to a secluded life as the Greek and Roman writers say.
The tablets register the activities of some 15,000 persons at over 100 localities, and show that salaries were paid not according to gender distinctions, but to professional qualifications. Exceptionally well paid, for example, were the women managers called Arasharas, set over other (both male and female) workers.
But the fall of the Achaemenid empire destroyed the principal society model of the Ancient World, and the result was an irreparable deterioration of the position of women in public life. Had Alexander’s successors not put an end to his policy of maintaining Persian traditions, no doubt women throughout ancient and modern social history would have been far better off.
This said, which ‘women of Alexander’ should we take a fresh look at? In rising order of importance, and grouped here according to the theme they may illustrate, they are:
“Alexander and sex or no sex”
*Kallixeina, Thessalian callgirl hired by Olympias to seduce him c 342 BC
*A married Makedonian girl he sends away from his bed in Pella c 336 BC
*Kampaspe, a hetaira he presents as a ‘gift’ to Apelles, in Ionia c 334 BC
*The sexy harp player offered to him by Antipatrides (in Lykia c 334 BC?)
*Stateira, the gorgeous wife of Darius III, c 332 BC
“Alexander’s respect for women and women’s rights”
*Timokleia, sister of an enemy general; Alexander sets her free in 335 BC
*The mythical Amazon Thalestris (an updated Penthesileia, or the Scythian bride offered –in vain– by king Karthasis in 330 BC)
*Telesippa, a hetaira whose freedom Alexander upholds in early 324 BC
*The 100 ‘Amazons’ sent to him by Atropates, near Ekbatana, in 324 BC
“Alexander’s public image in Makedon and Greece”
*The Karian bride princess Ada II (Alexander’s political intrigue, 337 BC)
*The Delphi Pythia (Alexander uses her remark as if prophecy, in 335 BC)
*Thais (representing ‘Athens’ in the Persepolis propaganda, 330 BC)
*Cynnane, Thessalonike (half-sisters who play a role only áfter 323 BC)
*Adea (Cynnane’s daughter), warlike queen of Makedon in 321-317 BC
“Alexander’s plans for an integration policy in Persia”
*A wife of Hystaspes, token of a planned return of Darius’ women, 330 BC
*The Persian royal/noble ladies as political allegiance-builders, whom he chooses as brides for his top generals [besides Drypetis for Hefaistion, and Stateira and Parysatis for himself] in Susa, 324 BC. They include:
- Amastris for Krateros; Apame (daughter of Spitamenes) for Seleukos
- Artakama and Artonis (sisters of Barsine) for Ptolemy and Eumenes
- N.N. (maybe also called Barsine), daughter of Barsine, for Nearchos
- N.N. daughter of Atropates, satrap of Media, for Perdikkas
“Alexander as successor of the Achaemenid dynasty”
*Barsine (358-309 BC; mother of Herakles), his bedmate in 333-327 BC
*Roxane (340-311 BC; mother of Alexander IV), child-bride in 327 BC
*Barsine/Stateira as mother of the future High King (as from 324 BC)
*Drypetis, with Hefaistion eventual Regents for this heir (324 BC)
*Parysatis II, the –unused– alternative for Barsine/Stateira (324 BC)
“Alexander’s world vision, and women as political advisors”
*Olympias (373-316 BC), princess and later Regent of Molossia; queen in Makedon, where her social/political activities recall the example of Alexander’s grandmother Eurydike
*Kleopatra (355-308 BC), Alexander’s full sister, queen in Molossia, and Alexander’s ‘shadow Regent’ in Makedon
*Ada (380-323 BC), queen of Karia, who adopts Alexander as her son
*Sisygambis (403-323 BC), queen-mother of Persia, just as influential under her firstborn Darius III as under her ‘son’ Alexander
Also to be placed, partly, in this category:
*The Syriac soothsayer, as his protectress c. 327 BC
*Queen Kleofis, as his advisor on India c. 326 BC
Note, moreover, the precedents of historical ‘women of power’ in this region: the queens Amytis, Kassandane, Ird
abama, Atossa, Irtashduna and Amastris in Persia, all of them served by Arasharas. And in Assyria, Sammur-Amat; in Scythia, Tomyris of the Massagetai; in Karia, Artemisia I and II; and in Kilikia, Epyaxa.
Later icons are Cleopatra VII of Egypt, Amanirenas of Meroé, and Zenobia of Palmyra.
• 1 •
ALEXANDER’S WOMEN
This tale could be told in strict chronological order, beginning with the first girl on record. She is ‘Kallixeina’ (a professional alias meaning the beautiful stranger): the sex bomb from Thessaly sent to Alexander’s bed by his mother Olympias – probably to see if thát could counter Hefaistion’s growing influence. Quite a juicy story.
Even so, I think I had better follow Homeros’ example, and make a 10-year ‘fast-forward jump’ to the end phase, where the sense of the narrative is unfolded. In those short years, Alexander has changed world history. He has developed, and now reveals, his full character. It shows clearly in an event that the biographer Plutarch relates in no less than three different places of his works; he must have sensed the power of this anecdote.
TELESIPPA
Early 324 BC, Alexander is talking with one of his Makedonian men about a woman, Telesippa, who is going back to Greece. The lovesick soldier cannot live without her, and has submitted a false application for invalidity leave. Alexander understands, and trying to help the man, asks him “whom one should speak to, regarding Telesippa” (for he thinks she is a brothel slave and could be bought). No, says the soldier, she is a free woman. “Ah, but that changes the situation,” Alexander answers. “We will have to try to persuade her to stay, with good arguments and gifts – for we do not have the right to compel a free woman.”
The man saying this, is Alexander the ruler of nearly the whole known world; the one depicted in Athens as an Orientalised despot. But the truth is that Alexander recognises and maintains the rights of a free woman. This was not part of his education. The culture he came from had no regard for women’s rights. Not even his great teacher Aristoteles had come that far. What, then, does this personal stance of Alexander mean?
All Alexander's Women Page 1