In Search of the Lost Testament of Alexander the Great

by David Grant

  86.Arrian 2.5.9 confirmed Alexander’s descent from the Argive Heracleidae. Isocrates To Philip 32: ‘Argos is the land of your fathers.’ Also Isocrates To Philip 115 for his descent from Heracles.

  87.Hammond (1994) p1 for discussion of the Spartan and Aleuadae connections.

  88.Quoting Jaeger (1939) p 347 for Euripides exploiting rhetorical device and for ‘the first psychologist’. See Green (1996) pp 69-71 for the Temenid line and its ascendancy over the Argead line. Athenaeus 12.537d recorded that Nicobule said: ‘In his last dinner, Alexander in person acted from memory a scene from the Andromeda; perhaps he favoured the poet for his Macedonian links.’ Greenwalt (1999) p 164 ff, quoting Hammond for Euripides’ play and the development of the Caranus myth. Temenus was the alleged ancestor of King Perdiccas I; Herodotean tradition has it he ruled Macedonia in the early or mid-7th century BCE.

  89.Justin 7.2.2-4 for Perdiccas’ son Argaeus and St Stephanus of Byzantium for the son of Macedon; Polyaenus 4.1 for Argaeus’ deeds and Herodotus 8.137-139 for the Macedonian line. Anson (2013) p 14 for additional detail. See Borza (1995) pp 114-115 for the etymology of Argead and history of the Argives.

  90.Appian Syrian Wars 63. Also see discussion of links to Argos and Orestis in Jarde (1997) p 324 ff. Orestis had formerly been part of the Molossian tribal region of Epirus. The other tribal coalitions were Thesprotians and Chaonians; Hammond (1994) p 120.

  91.Herodotus 5.22 for the story that Alexander 1 of Macedonia was allowed to compete after proving his Argive roots; Justin 7.2.13-14. Macedonians were at that time not permitted to enter the games and only allowed Greeks to compete. Herodotus’ treatment of geography and ethnology following discussion in Jaeger (1939) p 382. FGrH 4 F-74 for Hellanicus’ claim see Roisman-Worthington (2010) p 16 for discussion and Anson (2004) p 200 and p 90 (Engels). Apollodorus Chronica 3.8.1 also followed the contention of Hellanicus of Mytilene.

  92.Stewart (1993) p 277 for the Greek proverb and its use. Hammond (1994) p 158 for Philip’s coinage. Roisman-Wilkinson (2010) pp 50-51 for the bimetallic minting in the Attic and Chalcidian standards.

  93.See Carney-Ogden (2010) pp 70-71 for the titles credited to Philip after the Sacred Wars against the defilers of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. For stamping his coins with his chariot victories, Plutarch 4.8-9; Roisman-Worthington (2010) p 52 for the imagery stamped: youth on horseback and chariot. On the reverse of the silver stater appeared a bearded horseman in cloak and hat raising a hand in salutation. Also for Philip’s coinage carrying iconography of his Olympic victories see discussion by O Palagia in Carney-Ogden (2010) p 33. Anson (2004) p 213 for detail of Philip’s three victories in 356 BCE, 352 BCE and 348 BCE.

  94.The statues were to be of himself, his parents Amyntas and Eurydice, Olympias and Alexander; Pausanias 5.17.4 (states, probably incorrectly, that Eurydice was the wife of Arrhidaeus), 5.20.9-10. Scholars debate whether the Eurydice being referred to was his mother or last wife, niece of Attalus, otherwise named Cleopatra (Arrian 3.6.5 for the rename of Cleopatra to Eurydice); discussed by O Palagia Carney-Ogden (2010) pp 33-41; p 38 for the marble argument identity of Eurydice. Alexander and Olympias had fled Macedonia to Epirus and Illyria following Philip’s wedding to Attalus’ niece, Cleopatra; O Palagia therefore suggests including them in the family statues was an act of reconciliation; Carney-Ogden (2010) p 37; however if Eurydice was his new young wife Philip was walking a dangerous path. The Philippeion description comes from Pausanias 5.20.9-10 and is discussed in Carney (1995) p 380.

  95.The Succession Myth related the cruel lineage of the Titans from the primordial Uranus and Gaia. Cronus, the youngest son, killed his father Uranus, who prophesized a similar fate for the line of Cronus who swallowed his own children whole to evade that fate. Only the youngest son, Zeus, survived. Refusing to free his sibling from Tartarus, the fiery abyss, his wife, Rhea and mother, Gaia, conspired against Cronus; Cronus coughed up the three children whereupon Zeus freed them from Tartarus, and so started a war between he and Cronus lasting ten years which eventually saw Zeus take his place amongst the gods. Whilst Ouranus is generally considered the first god of the sky with Gaia as his wife, Hesiod’s Theogonia 126 ff cited him as the son of Gaia, Mother Earth. For its link to the Babylonian creation myth, Enûma Elis, see discussion in West (2008) Introduction xii.

  96.Following the observation from Sabine Müller in Carney-Ogden (2010) p 31.

  97.Euripides Medea 288; mentioned at Plutarch 10.6.

  98.Justin 9.5.9 for claims of adultery and mention of divorce (also 9.7.1), Arrian 3.6.5 for ‘rejection’; Carney (2006) p 11 believed Justin may have sourced that from the Romance. Justin 9.7.1 for the divorce and Plutarch 10.6 for suspicions falling on Alexander.

  99.Badian (1963) pp 245-6 for the suggestion of Philip favouring his nephew over Alexander. Plutarch Moralia 327c-d for the preference of Amyntas and the sons of Aeropus. Curtius 6.9.17, Justin 12.6.4. Arrian 1.25.2, Justin 11.2.2 for Lyncestis’ show of support for Alexander. Arrian 1.25.1 for the murder of two of the three sons of Aeropus.

  100.Plutarch Moralia 327c-d.

  101.Diodorus 17.2.3, Justin 9.5.9 for ‘sister’.

  102.Diodorus 16.93.7 for Attalus’ prominence at court and Curtius 8.8.7 for Alexander’s distrust and lack of forgiveness for Attalus’ comment that Cleopatra may produce a ‘legitimate’ heir to the throne; Plutarch 9.7-9, Satyrus fr.5, Romance 1.21.1, Justin 9.7.3 for the banquet at which Attalus insulted Alexander. Plutarch 9.4-11 for events that led to the flight of Alexander and Olympias. Also Justin 9.7.5 for Alexander in Illyria. Athenaeus 13.557e, Diodorus 17.2.3 for Cleopatra’s daughter; Justin 9.7.2 for Cleopatra giving birth to a daughter and a son; see Lane Fox (2011) p 385 for discussion. Some consider that Alexander had Illyrian blood himself: Carney (2006) p 90 for Philip’s Illyrian blood through his mother Eurydice, though contested. Plutarch Moralia 14b-c and Libanius through the Suda stated Eurydice was Illyrian of the Taulanti tribe but Eurydice’s father, Sirrhas, was probably of Lyncestian (so Upper Macedonian) origin, which makes sense when considering his recent defeat at Illyrian hands.

  103.Justin 11.2.3 alone claimed Alexander killed a brother (Caranus, should read ‘half-brother’) by his ‘mother-in-law’ thus we assume Cleopatra, which suggests a second child. Justin 9.7 and Satyrus via Athenaeus 13.557e claimed Cleopatra had a daughter, Europa. Heckel (2006) p 78 argues, Justin’s claim this should be ignored. Diodorus 17.2-5, Curtius 7.1.3,8.4.2, Justin 12.6.14 for the murder of Attalus. Justin 9.7.12, Pausanias 8.7.7, Plutarch 10.8 for the murder or mistreatment of Cleopatra.

  104.Plutarch 10.1-2 for the Pixodarus episode. Plutarch 10.3 for the implication that Philotas revealed the plot; detailed below.

  105.Plutarch 9.1-4 for Alexander’s campaign in Thrace, the founding of the city and events that followed.

  106.Following the proposals of S Ruzicka in Carney-Ogden (2010) pp 4-11 for the importance, timing and implications of the Pixodarus affair. Justin 9.7.7 for Alexander’s plans to overthrow his father and Plutarch 10.4 for Thessalus’ presence on Corinth; Philip demanded he be returned in chains. Demaratus’ role at Plutarch 9.12-14, Moralia 197c.

  107.Justin 9.7.

  108.Diodorus 16.1.3 stated a twenty-four-year reign; the additional year depends upon whether he initially acted as regent for his nephew, Amyntas, or immediately proclaimed himself king.

  109.Curtius 6.11.20 and 8.6.28 clearly (though uniquely) stated Macedonian law demanded the death of all those related by blood to the guilty party, though here no trial or Assembly meeting was held; see chapter titled The Reborn Wrath of Peleus’ Son for more on the purge. Justin 9.7.7 claimed Alexander was aware of the plot to kill Philip.

  110.Plutarch 10.5, Arrian 3.6.5 for the exile of Alexander’s friends. For Philip’s death see Diodorus 16.91.2-.94.4, Justin 9.7, Plutarch 10.6-7; Heckel (2006) p 194 for other sources, Heckel (2006) p 197 and Heckel Somatophylakes (1978) for their inter-relationships. Diodorus 16.94.4 and Justin 9.7.9-12 for the death of Pausanias, the s
layer of Philip. Justin claims he was caught alive and hung on a cross. He had been pursued by Attalus, Perdiccas and Leonnatus who killed him even though he was reportedly helpless after tripping and falling to the ground. This suggests they may have been covering up a plot to kill Philip. Both Perdiccas and Pausanias were from Orestis. Attalus (much) later became Perdiccas’ brother-in-law. Justin 9.7.10-13 alleged that Olympias put a gold crown on the crucified Pausanias after she returned from Epirus, scattering his ashes on Philip’s grave and providing him with a tomb of his own. See Hammond (1978) pp 339-349 for discussion of the veracity of events.

  111.Euripides Medea 288; mentioned at Plutarch 10.6. Justin 9.7 for the mounts.

  112.Quoting Diodorus 17.2.1; discussed in Hammond (1978) p 339.

  113.Diodorus 17.51.2-3, Curtius 4.7.28 for the oracle’s answer on Philip’s assassins. For the journey to Siwa see Diodorus 17.49.2-52.7, Arrian 3.4-5, Curtius 4.7.8-4.89, Plutarch 26.3-27.11, Justin 11.11.1-13, Strabo 17.1.43, Itinerarium Alexandri 48-50.

  114.Herodotus 5.17-21 for Macedonia first accepting Persian dominance. For more on Xerxes’ invasion, and Macedonian complicity, see Hammond (1991) pp 14-19 and quoting Hammond p 17 for ‘double game’. Herodotus 9.31.5 for support for Persian at Plataea.

  115.Meiggs (1982) pp 43 and 47 for timber types. Perdiccas II would also construct a treaty with Athens on the promise of timber.

  116.Justin 7.4.1-3 for Xerxes placing Alexander I in command of an expanded Lower Macedonia, stemming from the marriage of Bubares, a Persian ambassador, to his sister. Demosthenes 4.48 reported Philip II sending envoys to Artaxerxes III in 351/350 BCE; this may have reconciled Artabazus, taking refuge in Macedonia, with the Great King. Hammond (1994) p 57 for discussion. Demosthenes 6.11 termed Alexander I a traitor. Herodotus 7.173, 8.34, 8.136-144, 9.44-45 for Alexander I’s participation in the Persian invasion. In the wake of the Persian Wars lower Paeonia with Pella, Ichnai, Mygdonia beyond the Axius (Thracian) and territories to the Strymon river were added to the kingdom: Hatzopoulos (1996) p 106. Hammond (1991) pp 16-19 for the politics of the Persian occupation.

  117.Anson (2013) p 55 for Persian origins of the hypaspist corps; discussion in chapter titled Sarissa Diplomacy: Macedonian Statecraft. Pausanias 10.19.9 ff suggests one explanation of why the Persian guardsmen named ‘Immortals’ as casualties were immediately replaced to keep the number static. Borza (1980) cited in Anson (2013) p 52 and pp 53-55 for polygamy discussion of Persian origins including the agema of the hypaspists, Somatophylakes and paides basilikos; pp 58-59. Heckel-Jones (2006) p 11 for the observation that the pages were from Upper Macedonia and Roisman-Worthington (201) pp 447-448 for the origins of ‘Friends’ units. The Persian chiliarch who commanded the 10,000 Immortals and was second only to the Great King. The term traditionally meant ‘commander of a thousand men’, but the Persian usage was adopted; Heckel (2006) pp 32-48 for discussion.

  118.Atkinson (2009) p 178 and Collins (2001) pp 260-261 proposed chiliarchos was the equivalent post of the Achaemenid hazarapati, the king’s second in command; Collins (2001) p 266 for cupbearer. Diodorus 11.69.1, 18.48.4-5 (‘…the post and rank of chiliarch had been brought to fame and glory under the Persian kings.’) and Nepos Conon 3 for the Persian chiliarchy, also Diodorus 18.48.4-5 gives an explanation as ‘second in command’. Arrian Events After Alexander 1.3 and 1.38 for Perdiccas and Cassander holding the post.

  119.The aristocratic code of conduct in classical Greece was termed the kalos kagathos; discussion in Jaeger (1939) p 4.

  120.Quoting Jaeger (1939) p 53 for the Homeric epics containing the germs of all Greek philosophy. The importance of the Homeric epics in the mindset of the Greeks discussion in Lendon (2005) p 36.

  121.‘Pella’ translated as ‘stone’ in ancient Macedonian, or perhaps ‘stone enclosure’ from the Doric apella. Livy 44.46 for the description of Pella. Strabo 7 fragment 20 did mention its position on the River Axius.

  122.Discussion of hetairoi and the synedrion in Billows (1990) pp 19-21 and p 246 for discussion of the synedrion and its function. Quoting Anson (2014) p 4 for the make-up of the common infantry.

  123.M Boyce A History of Zoroastrianism Volume II (1982), Brill, p 171 for the Greeks at the Persian court. Boardman (1964) pp 102-110 for Greek presence at the Persian court. Democedes and Ctesias were doctors at the Achaemenid court later.

  124.Cook (1983) pp 1-2 and pp 25-28. Medea was the daughter of the king of Colchis in the Southern Caucasus, present Georgia. Perseus’ wife was Andromeda, of Ethiopian origin, and through their nine children they established the line of Mycenae. The Achaeans have been linked to both the Hittites (through the similarity of Akhaioi and Ahhiyawa of Hittite texts) as neighbours in the region of Troy and thus to the Trojans.

  125.Plato’s Menexenus termed Cadmus, Pelops, Danaus and Aegyptus ‘by nature barbarians’…who nevertheless ‘pass as Hellenes’.

  126.Quoting Nietzsche On the Use and Abuse of History for Life, translation by A Collins, 1909. Herodotus 7.150. Xerxes claimed the Persians were descended from Perseus to gather support from the Argives for their invasion of Greece.

  127.Discussed in Dalley (1994) p 47. Herodotus 1.179 and Strabo 16.1.16 included Babylon in Assyria.

  128.Curtius 3.4.1, 4.5.7-8, 11.5, 7.8.18 for the broader use of ‘Lydia’; discussed in Anson (1988) p 474.

  129.Herodotus 1.107-195. Quoting Momigliano (1966) p 213.

  130.Dalley (2013) p 190 for Cyrus’ Elamite origins. Xenophon Cyropaedia1.2.1-2 for his median and Perseidae roots.

  131.Plutarch Artaxerxes 1.2 for ‘sun’.

  132.Dalley (2013) for the Assyrian architecture of Persepolis modelled on Nineveh. Full discussion in RG Kent The Oldest Old Persian Inscriptions, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1946, pp 1-10.

  133.Examples of Ptolemaic inscriptions include the Canopus Stone of 238 BCE of Ptolemy III Euergetes, the Memphis Stele ca. 218 BCE by Ptolemy IV, and the Rosetta Stone itself, erected by Ptolemy V Epiphanes in 196 BCE.

  134.Roisman-Worthington (2010) pp 87 and 343-344 for Yauna. Takabara means ‘wearing shields on their heads’. The epithet possibly refers to the shield-shaped flat hat, the kausia.

  135.Quoting Bosworth (1988) p 229.

  136.Quoting Tarn 1 (1948) p 8.

  137.Strabo 9.2.40 and following its citation by Shipley (2000) p 36.

  138.Demosthenes On the Crown 270; the excerpt heads chapter titled Sarissa Diplomacy: Macedonian Statecraft.

  139.For discussion on the League of Corinth see Hammond-Griffith (1979) p 639. Also Heckel (2006) p 349 for the significance of the role of hegemon. See Bosworth-Baynham (2000) pp 98-99 for the significance and origination of the league, a successor to the Hellenic League of 480 BCE.

  140.Diodorus 16.89.3 for the Common Peace. Justin 11.3 uniquely mentioned the same inherited position in the Thessalian League. Other citations to the Common Peace at Diodorus 17.4, Arrian 1.1.1, Justin 11.2.5, Plutarch 14.1. Anson (2013) p 102 for the Amphictionic Council seats; he controlled the seats in the name of Thessaly too; p 132 for the life archonship of the Thessalian League.

  141.The kyria ekklesia was an assembly meeting in Athens held ten times each year to vote on city and state issues on the rocky hill known as the Pnyx which acted as a natural auditorium.

  142.Translation from the inscription still surviving in Athens.

  143.Polybius 18.11.3-7 stated ‘fetters’ was a term first used by Philip V of Macedonia. Following Anson (2014) p 142 and the observations in Worthington (2000) p 97 for the strategic value of these cities.

  144.Diodorus 17.22.5 for the twenty triremes Athens provided from a navy of 400; Blackwell (1999) p 50 and Green (1970) p 89 for discussion of the total Greek contribution of men.

  145.Anson (2103) p 25 quoting Stagakis for the eighty-four hetairoi.

  146.See Anson (2004) pp 244-245 for discussion of the Greeks who held satrapal governorships under Alexander during the campaign and military commands.

  147.Arrian 1.16.2-3 and Plutarch 16.12
-15; Arrian 1.14.4 suggested there was a similar number (‘little less’) of mercenaries to the Persian cavalry stated at 20,000, and that all died bar 2,000 prisoners; 1.16.2. The Macedonians allegedly lost only eighty-five cavalry and thirty infantry (less according to Aristobulus, so claimed Plutarch). Modern interpretations suggest more like 5,000 mercenaries were present; discussion in Parke (1933) p 180, Green (1974) p 179 and in detail pp 499-500.

  148.Finlay (1973) p 162 for the trade with the Kingdom of Bosphorus. Demosthenes against Leptines 31-3 for Greek corn imports.

  149.As examples where Macedonians are distinguished from the allied Greek forces under Alexander see Arrian 4.11.8, 7.4.5, Plutarch 47.9, Diodorus 18.56.1-3.

  150.Diodorus 17.70.6.

  151.Arrian 4.11.7.

  152.As reported by Plutarch 60.6, translation from the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1919.

  153.The speech of Alcibiades at Thucydides 6.89.6 translated by Richard Crawley, Project Gutenberg, 2009. Xenophon’s attitude to democracy discussed in R Warner (1949) p 8 and in Warner (1966) p 9 ff.

  154.Thucydides 6.18.

  155.See discussion of Aristotle’s linking the phalanx with the Greek polis in Lenden (2005) p 44. Aristotle Athenian Constitution 24.3 for the breakdown of city employees and discussed in Finlay (1973) p 173. For Athenian income in the time of Socrates and the Peloponnesian War see Xenophon Anabasis 7.1.27. This had not significantly changed by Alexander’s day. See discussion in Roberts (1984) p 74. For confirmation of Athens’ annual income in the time of the Diadokhoi see Athenaeus 12.542g, where he alleged Demetrius of Phalerum spent most of Athens’ 1,200 talents income on parties rather than the army or city administration; confirmed by Aelian 9.9 but this was some years later. Athenaeus 6.20 for the census of Demetrius of Phalerum (313 BCE) recording slave numbers at 400,000; Hyperides estimated 150,000 including mining district slaves; both seem excessive. The population was given at 84,000 (313 BCE) and 172,000 estimated in 431 BCE; 100,000 is an extrapolated number for Aristotle’s day; numbers discussed in Kamen (2013) p 9. Finlay (1973) p 151 for the liturgy system.