Alexander Histories and Iranian Reflections: Remnants of Propaganda and Resistance

205 Pages·2012·0.99 MB·English

by  Parivash Jamzadeh

Alexander Histories and Iranian Reflections
Studies in
Persian Cultural History
Editors
Charles Melville
Cambridge University
Gabrielle van den Berg
Leiden University
Sunil Sharma
Boston University
VOLUME 3
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/spch
Alexander Histories
and Iranian Reflections
Remnants of Propaganda and Resistance
By
Parivash Jamzadeh
LEIdEn • BOStOn
2012
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Jamzadeh, Parivash.
 Alexander histories and Iranian reflections : remnants of propaganda and resistance / by
Parivash Jamzadeh.
  p. cm. — (Studies in Persian cultural history, ISSn 2210-3554 ; v. 3)
 Includes bibliographical references.
 ISBn 978-90-04-21746-1 (hardback : alk. paper) — ISBn 978-90-04-21752-2 (e-book) 1. Iran—
History—Macedonian Conquest, 334–325 B.C.—Propaganda. 2. Iran—History—Macedonian
Conquest, 334–325 B.C.—Religious aspects. 3. Iran—History—Macedonian Conquest, 334–325
B.C.—Historiography. 4. Greece—History—Macedonian Expansion, 359–323 B.C.—Campaigns—
Iran. 5. Alexander, the Great, 356–323 B.C.—travel—Iran. 6. darius I, King of Persia, 548–485 B.C. 
I. title.
 dF234.37.J36 2012
 935’.7062—dc23
2012014205
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ISSn 2210-3554
ISBn 978 90 04 21746 1 (hardback)
ISBn 978 90 04 21752 2 (e-book)
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This book is dedicated to the memory of my parents:
Dr. Shahjahan Jamzadeh & Homayun Khosravi-Jamzadeh

COntEntS
Acknowledgments  .......................................................................................... ix
Introduction  ..................................................................................................... 1

I the Plight of the Achaemenid Royal Women  ........................... 7
1. According to Ancestral Custom  ............................................... 7
2. Alexander and darius’ Mother  ................................................. 20
3. Alexander and darius’ Wife  ...................................................... 30
4. Alexander and the Granddaughter of Ochus  ....................... 36
5. Episodes in Cyropaedia  ............................................................... 38
II darius’ Letters to Alexander and the Responses: Ideology of
Conquest in Retrospect  ..................................................................... 41
III the Campaign for Persia in Iranian & Zoroastrian Lights  ..... 51
1. Alexander’s Advances and tribulations  ................................ 51
2. Mutilated Greek Captives’ Story  .............................................. 61
3. Persepolis’ Final Fate and the Sources’ Arguments  ........... 64
IV darius’ Last days & Counter-Propagandas  ................................. 71
V Bessus’ Fate  ........................................................................................... 91
VI Alexander’s Persian Attire  ................................................................ 99
VII Reflections from darius I’s Rhetoric  ............................................. 105
1. Alexander as a Mock-divinity  .................................................. 105
2. the Incident of Cyrus’ tomb  .................................................... 110
3. the King and the Ideology of truth  ....................................... 114
4. Bessus’ Punishment  ...................................................................... 117
5. darius I’s World Order  ................................................................ 118
VIII Zoroastrian Echoes in Alexander Histories  ................................ 121
1. Zoroastrian References in the Story of Clitus  ...................... 121
2. the Boar Motif and its Zoroastrian Relevance  .................... 125
viii contents
3. the Sogdian Campaign and its Zoroastrian Features  ........ 127
4. Iranian and Zoroastrian Features of Hephaestion’s
Funeral .............................................................................................. 131
IX Iranian Echoes in Mutiny’s Accounts  .......................................... 139
X Alexander’s Final days and Iranian Reflections  ....................... 147
XI Alexander’s Entombment and Iranian Echoes  .......................... 151
XII the Plight of Alexander’s Family  ................................................... 163
XIII Reverence for the Fravashī of Alexander ..................................... 169
XIV testimony of Zoroastrian Sources  ................................................. 173
XV Concluding Remarks .......................................................................... 177
Bibliography  ..................................................................................................... 185
Index  ............................................................................................................... 191
ACKnOWLEdGMEntS
this study has been possible thanks to access to the rich collections at
the library of Western Washington University, as an independent scholar.
Other material was provided by the Bellingham Public Library’s inter-
library loans and the efforts of its librarian, Fay Fenske.
I am grateful to Prof. Phillip Harding of the University of British Colum-
bia for kindly responding to my questions and clarifying difficulties speci-
fied in the text. Although the responsibility for conclusions and mistakes
is mine.
I thank Prof. david Stronach for a copy of his paper, noted in the text.
Gratitude is also due to Brill, its reviewers and editors for their atten-
tion to my work.