[lit-ideas] Alexander, We Loebs Thee
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 9 Nov 2007 13:06:00 EST
Yes, I think I browsed through Miss Challans ("Mary Renault")'s book on
Alexander, but found it boring, paperbackish, and no illustrations.
I was interested to learn that Alexander is short for "alexo", to protet,
and "andro" man. If we add the epithet, "megas", his name symbolically means,
"the great protector of men" as I think his biography reads.
Alexander the Great (Megas Alexandros; July 20 356 BC – June 10 323 BC) Born
in Pella, Macedonia. According to Plutarch, his father descended from
Heracles through Caranus and his mother descended from Aeacus through
Neoptolemus
and Achilles. Plutarch relates that Alexander's father dreamt of his son's
future birth. In the dream, he sealed his wife's womb with the seal of the
lion. Alarmed by this, he consulted the seer Aristander of Telmessus, who
determined that his wife was pregnant and that the child would have the
character
of a lion. In his early years, Alexander was raised by his nurse Lanike.
Following this, Alexander was educated by a strict teacher: Leonidas, a
relative of his mother Olympias. Leonidas thought Alexander narcissistic and
silly, and was equally disliked by Alexander. Reportedly, when Alexander
threw a
large amount of sacrificial incense into a fire, Leonidas harshly
reprimanded him, telling him that when he had conquered the spice bearing
regions, he
could waste as much as he wanted. Years later, when Alexander had conquered
Gaza, a city directly on the Persian spice trade route, he sent back over 15
tons of myrrh to Leonidas as a sort of ultimate comeback.
Aristotle, however, was Alexander's most famous and important tutor since he
gave Alexander a thorough training in rhetoric and literature and stimulated
his interest in science, medicine, and philosophy. Aristotle gave him a copy
of the Iliad which he always kept with him and read frequently.
When Alexander was ten years old, a Thessalian brought a black horse to sell
to Philip. The horse turned out to be wild and no man could mount him.
Alexander went to the horse, and turned him towards the sun, for he had
noticed
that the horse was just afraid of his own shadow. He was then able to mount
and
ride it. His father and other people who saw this were very impressed, and
when the Alexander returned and dismounted the horse Philip kissed him with
tears of joy and said, "My son, seek thee out a kingdom equal to thyself;
Macedonia has not room for thee." This line probably had as much paranoid fear
in
it as pride. Philip II knew perfectly well what happened to Macedonian kings
with ambitious sons. The horse was named Bucephalus (which means "ox-head").
Bucephalus would be his companion and one of his best friends for the next two
decades until the horse died (according to Plutarch due to old age, for he
was already 30). Alexander then named a city after him called Bucephalia or
Bucephala.
After traveling to Ecbatana to retrieve the bulk of the Persian treasure, his
lover Hephaestion died of an illness, or possibly of poisoning. Alexander
mourned by Hephaestion's side for six months. On the afternoon of June 10–
11, 323 B.C., Alexander died in the palace. He was just one month short of
attaining 33 years of age. Alexander's health had fallen to dangerously low
levels after years of heavy drinking and suffering several appalling wounds.
Alexander died of a high fever on June 10 or 11 of 323 BC. His son Alexander
IV
would be born after his death, and his other son was by a concubine, not a
wife). Alexander's high fever was syphilis. The testament read: "I want he
completion of a pyre to Hephaestion."
Alexander's lifelong companion thus was Hephaestion, the son of a Macedonian
noble. Hephaestion also held the position of second-in-command of
Alexander's forces until his death, which devastated Alexander. The full extent
of his
relationship with Hephaestion is the subject of much historical speculation.
The truth was that Alexander was homosexual, in the Ancient Greece it was
normal, he was gay. Persians called him, Alexander the kundad.
One personage from the court of Darius III with whom he was intimate was the
eunuch Bagoas.
Alexander was admired during his lifetime for treating all his lovers
humanely. In the early Empire, educated Roman citizens used Greek to discuss
philosophy or any other intellectual topic. No Roman wanted to hear it said
that
his mastery of the Greek language was weak. Throughout the Roman world, the one
language spoken everywhere was Alexander's Greek. Alexander and his exploits
were admired by many Romans who wanted to associate themselves with his
achievements.
The murder of his friend Cleitus, which Alexander deeply and immediately
regretted, is often cited as a sign of his paranoia, as is his execution of
Philotas and his general Parmenion for failure to pass along details of a plot
against him. Partially in response to the ubiquity of positive portrayals of
Alexander, an alternate character is sometimes presented which emphasizes some
of Alexander's negative aspects. Some proponents of this view cite the
destructions of Thebes, Tyre, Persepolis, and Gaza as examples of atrocities,
and
argue that Alexander preferred to fight rather than negotiate.
It is further claimed, in response to the view that Alexander was generally
tolerant of the cultures of those whom he conquered, that his attempts at
cultural fusion were severely practical and that he never actually admired
Persian art or culture. Alexander's character also suffers from the
interpretation of historians who themselves are subject to the bias and
idealisms of their
own time.
Good examples are W. W. Tarn, who saw Alexander in an extremely good light,
and Peter Green, who wrote after World War II and for whom Alexander did
little that was not inherently selfish or ambition-driven. Tarn wrote in an
age
where world conquest and warrior-heroes were acceptable, even encouraged,
whereas Green wrote with the backdrop of the Holocaust and nuclear weapons.
The primary sources, texts written by people who actually knew Alexander or
who gathered information from men who served with Alexander, are all lost
Contemporaries who wrote full accounts of his life include the historian
Callisthenes, Alexander's general Ptolemy, Aristobulus, Nearchus, and
Onesicritus.
Another influential account is by Cleitarchus who, while not a direct witness
of Alexander's expedition, used sources which had just been published. His
work was to be the backbone of that of Timagenes, who heavily influenced many
historians whose work still survives. None of these works survives, but we do
have later works based on these primary sources.
The five main surviving accounts are: (I) Anabasis Alexandri by Arrian
(LOEB) of Nicomedia, writing in the 2nd century AD, and based largely on
Ptolemy
and, to a lesser extent, Aristobulus and Nearchus. It is considered generally
the most trustworthy source. (II) Historiae Alexandri Magni, a biography of
Alexander in ten books, of which the last eight survive, by the Roman
historian Quintus Curtius Rufus (LOBE), written in the 1st century AD, and
based
largely on Cleitarchus through the mediation of Timagenes, with some material
probably from Ptolemy; (III) Life of Alexander (see Parallel Lives) and two
orations On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander the Great (see Moralia), by
Plutarch (LOEB) based largely on Aristobulus and especially Cleitarchus. (IV)
Bibliotheca historia (Library of world history) LOEB, written in Greek by
Diodorus Siculus, from which Book 17 relates the conquests of Alexander, based
almost entirely on Timagenes's work. The books immediately before and after,
on Philip and Alexander's "Successors," throw light on Alexander's reign. (V)
The Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus by Justin, which
contains factual errors and is highly compressed. It is difficult in this case
to understand the source, since we only have an epitome, but it is thought
that also Pompeius Trogus may have limited himself to use Timagenes for his
Latin history.
Much is also recounted incidentally in other authors, including Strabo,
Athenaeus, Polyaenus, and Aelian. The "problem of the sources" is the main
concern (and chief delight) of Alexander-historians. In effect, each presents a
different "Alexander", with details to suit. Arrian is mostly interested in the
military aspects, while Curtius veers to a more private and darker Alexander.
Plutarch can't resist a good story, light or dark. All, with the possible
exception of Arrian, include a considerable level of fantasy, prompting Strabo
to remark, "All who wrote about Alexander preferred the marvelous to the
true."
Nevertheless, the sources tell us much, and leave much to our interpretation
and imagination. Perhaps Arrian's words are most appropriate, "Alexander laid
one on the tomb of Achilles, calling him a lucky man, in that he had Homer
to proclaim his deeds and preserve his memory." Alexander was a legend in his
own time.
There is a prophetic reference to Alexander the Great in Daniel 8:5-8 and
21-22. The prophecy states that a King of Greece that will conquer the Medes
and
Persians but then die at the height of his power and have his kingdom broken
into four kingdoms. In Biblical prophecy, the speed of his conquest as well
as the foretold split of his kingdom into 4 kingdoms is represented by a
leopard with four heads and with four eagle's wings.
Alexander was briefly mentioned in the first Book of the Maccabees Chapter 1,
verses 1-7. He was described as Alexander son of Philip the Macedonian. He
defeated Darius, king of the Persians and succeeded him as king (Alexander
previously became king of Greece). He gathered a strong army and ruled over
countries and nations. He fell sick and perceived that he was dying so he
summoned his officers and divided his kingdom among them. After Alexander
reigned
for twelve years, he died.
The name Αλέξανδρος derives from the Greek words αλέξω (to repel,
shield, protect) and ανήρ (man; genitive case ανδρός), and means "protector
of men."
bbc.co.uk - Health Alexander's death riddle is 'solved'
Plutarch, Alexander 2.1. Plutarch, Alexander 2.2–3. Plutarch, Phocion, 17
Worthington, p. 162, from an extract of A. K. Narain, 'Alexander the Great',
Greece and Rome 12 1965, p 155–165. Curtius. Plutarch, Vita Alexandri, 62
Plutarch, Alexander 63.5. Aelian, Varia Historia; XII.7 Plutarch, Alexander,
21 Plutarc's Moralia II "On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander", 6
Frank L. Holt, Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions,
University of California Press. Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca historia, vol.
8
Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander, English translation by Aubrey de
Sélincourt (1971, first published 1958) Penguin Classics published by the
Penguin
Group, London Green, Peter. Alexander of Macedon: 356–323 B.C. A Historical
Biography. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1992.
Lane
Fox, Robin, Alexander the Great, London (Allen Lane) 1973,Lane Fox, Robin,
The Search for Alexander, Little Brown & Co. Boston, 1st edition (October
1980). Renault, Mary. The Nature of Alexander, 1st American edition (November
12,
1979),
Wilcken, Ulrich, Alexander the Great, W. W. Norton & Company; Reissue
edition (March 1997). Worthington, Ian, Alexander the Great, Routledge; 1st
edition
(February 1, 2003). Alexander the Great in Fact and Fiction, edited by A.B.
Bosworth, E.J. Baynham. New York: Oxford University Press (USA), 2002
Baynham, Elizabeth. Alexander the Great: The Unique History of Quintus
Curtius. Ann
Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998 (hardcover, Brill's Companion to
Alexander the Great by Joseph Roisman (editor). Leiden: Brill Academic
Publishers, 2003.
Cartledge, Paul. Alexander the Great: The Hunt for a New Past. Woodstock,
NY; New York: The Overlook Press, 2004 PanMacmillan, 2004 (hardcover, ); New
York: Vintage, 2005 (paperback,Gergel, Tania Editor Alexander the Great (2004)
published by theLonsdale, David. Alexander the Great, Killer of Men:
History's Greatest Conqueror and the Macedonian Way of War, New York, Carroll
& Graf,
2004, Thomas, Carol G. Alexander the Great in his World (Blackwell Ancient
Lives). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 2006 (Plutarc, Life of Alexander
(English) Plutarc, Of the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander the Great (English)
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Upload)
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