ANCIENT AND MODERN TREATMENT OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT by JOAN HILL submitted in ...

187 Pages·2014·5.03 MB·English

ANCIENT AND MODERN TREATMENT OF
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
by
JOAN HILL
submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for
the degree of
MASTER OF ARTS
in the subject
ANCIENT HISTORY
at the
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AFRICA
SUPERVISOR: DR RJ EVA NS
JOINT SUPERVISOR: MS MEADE MARRE
FEBRUARY 2002
II
Student Number: 333-016-8
I declare that "ANCIENT AND MODERN TREATMENT OF ALEXANDER THE
GREAT" is my own work and that all the sources that I have used or quoted have been
indicated and acknowledged by means of complete references .
.... ~ .... ~. ...k ..... .
J~LL(Mrs)
12 February 2002
lll
SUMMARY
This dissertation examines the different interpretations of the secondary sources for Alexander the
Great by three modern historians, Nicholas Hammond, Peter Green and Mary Renault.
The Introduction looks briefly at the lost pnmary Alexander-histories, the extant works of
Diodorus Siculus, Quintus Curtius, Plutarch and Arrian and includes an abbreviated curriculum
vitae of each modern author.
Chapter I concerns modern interpretations of the controversial circumstances surrounding the
accession of Alexander and the assassination of Philip. Chapter II covers the elimination of
possible rivals, Attalus, Alexander Lynccstcs and Amyntas son of Pcrdiccas, two major
conspiracies - the Philotas Affair and the death of Parmenio, the conspiracy of the Royal Pages
and death of Callisthenes - and the killing of Cleitus the Black. Chapter III deals with modern
explanations of the death of Alexander.
The Conclusion highlights significant theories and trends presented by the modern historians,
which influence their interpretations of the ancient sources.
KEYWORDS:
Alexander the Great; Hammond; Green; Renault; ancient/extant sources; access10n;
conspiracy/conspirator; opposition; death; cause of death; modern scholars; interpretation; theory;
trends.
iv
For my husband, Derek,
and for my parents, Harry and Edna Bramley.
v
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... vi
Prefa ce ........................................................................................................................ vii
Abbreviations ............................................................................................................ viii
Introduction .................................................................................................................. 1
Legend, Propaganda and History ........................................................................ 3
The Secondary Sources ...................................................................................... 8
Three Twentieth Century Historians ................................................................. 16
Chapter I: The Accession of Alexander III of Macedonia ........................................ 19
The Marriage of Philip and Cleopatra(? Spring 337) ....................................... 20
The Insult and the Flight from Pella(? Spring 337) ........................................... 25
The Pixodarus Affair(? after the Spring of 337) ............................................... 28
Pausanias the Assassin ..................................................................................... 31
Conspiracy? ..................................................................................................... 35
Alexander ........................................................................................................ 39
Olympias ......................................................................................................... 42
Anti pater ......................................................................................................... 44
The Three Bodyguards ..................................................................................... 46
The Lyncestian Brothers .................................................................................. 50
Demosthenes ................................................................................................... 5 1
Darius .............................................................................................................. 53
The Evidence ................................................................................................... 56
Chapter II: Conspirators and Conspiracies .............................................................. 58
The Conspiracy and Death of Attalus ............................................................... 59
Amyntas son of Perdiccas ................................................................................ 66
The Conspiracy and Death of Alexander the Lyncestian ................................... 70
The Philotas Affair and the Death of Parmenio (October 330) .......................... 76
The Death of Cleitus the Black (Autumn 328) .................................................. 90
The Conspiracy of the Royal Pages and the Fate of Callisthenes (Spring 327) .. 98
Chapter III: The death of Alexander ....................................................................... 112
Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 131
Hammond ...................................................................................................... 131
Green ............................................................................................................. 138
Renault .......................................................................................................... 143
Appendix I:
Summary of Evidence for the Accession of Alexander III of Macedon ................... 149
Appendix II: Summary of Evidence for Conspirators and Conspiracies ................ 155
Appendix III: The Ephemerides ................................................................................ 158
Appendix IV: The Battle of the Granicus River ...................................................... 165
Appendix V: Hephaestion ........................................................................................ 171
Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 176
Figures and Plans
Stemma - The Argead dynasty of Macedonia ............................................................... 72
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
My sincere thanks go to my supervisor, Dr. Richard Evans, for his encouragement, advice, good
humour and expert guidance and to my assistant supervisor, Ms. Martine de Marre for her positive
feedback and willing assistance. They, and other members of the Department of Classics, have
greatly enriched my life by their willingness to share their knowledge and expertise.
I am also indebted to the Council of the University of South Africa for financial assistance in the
form of a Master's Exhibition, without which I would not have been able to continue studying.
The support and encouragement of my family has been invaluable. My sincere thanks go to my
son John and my daughter Patricia for their cheerful enthusiasm and to my husband Derek, who
has lived with Alexander as a constant companion for the past two years, and who has endured it
with patience, encouragement and generous praise.
vii
PREFACE
Philip JI of Macedonia was the subject of my long essay for my Honours degree and the beginning
of my fascination and enthusiasm for Macedonian studies. When I came to choose a topic for a
dissertation, it was an easy and logical step to proceed from the father to his more famous son.
But, because Alexander the Great has been the subject of so many books, articles, and other
publications, it was necessary to approach the topic from a different angle. When researching the
extraordinary circumstances that surrounded the death of Philip, I had been struck by the range of
opinions and theories offered by modern scholars and thus the idea was born to examine how three
twentieth century scholars had used the evidence provided by the ancient sources. This approach
would provide the opportunity to study a selection of the more controversial aspects of
Alexander's life and expedition while exploring the equally controversial academic debate that
inevitably accompanies Alexander-studies. The modern authors, Hammond, Green and Renault,
were chosen precisely because of their different styles and opinions and the result of the
investigation, for me at least, has been absorbing, enlightening and, occasionally, surprising.
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ABBREVIATIONS
Modern Studies
Modern works which are referred to more than once are subsequently given in an abbreviated
form, which should be self-explanatory. The following works are noted for the sake of clarity:
Atkinson Commentary JE Atkinson, A Commentary on Q. Curtius Ru.fits
Historiae Alexandri Magni Books 3 and 4.
of Power", AUMLA (1962).
Brunt Introduction and Notes PA Brunt, "Introduction to Arrian ", History of
Alexander and Jndica.
Griffith HM II NGL Hammond and GT Griffith, A History of
Macedonia Vol. II - 550 - 336 BC
Hamilton Introduction and Notes JR Hamilton, "Introduction to Arrian", The Campaigns
ofA lexander.
Hammond HM Ill NGL Hammond and FW Walbank, A History of
Macedonia (Vol. Ill) 336-I67 BC
Heckel Introduction and Notes W Heckel, "Introduction to Quintus Curtius Rufus",
The History ofA lexander.
McQuecn Commentary EI McQueen, Diodorus Siculus: The Reign of
Phillip II - The Greek and Macedonian Narrative
from Book XVI. Translation and Commentary.
Scott-Kilvert Forward and Notes I Scott-Kilvert, "Translator's Forward and Notes", The
Age ofA lexander.
Welles Introduction and Notes CB Welles, "Introduction and Notes", Diodorus
Siculus Vol. VIII
Journal Titles
The abbreviations of journal titles are those listed in L 'Annee Philologique.
Dates
All dates are BC unless otherwise stated.
ANCIENT AND MODERN TREATMENT OF
ALEXANDER THE GREAT
INTRODUCTION
"This is his true claim to be called 'Alexander the Great': that he did not crush or
dismember his enemies, ... nor exploit, enslave or destroy the native peoples, ... but that
he created, albeit for only a few years, a supra-national community capable of living
internally at peace and of developing the concord and partnership which are so sadly
lacking in the modem world. "1
"Philip's son was bred as a king and a warrior. His business, his all-absorbing obsession
through a short but crowded life, was war and conquest. It is idle to palliate the central
truth, to pretend that he dreamed, in some mystical fashion of wading through rivers of
blood and violence to achieve the Brotherhood of Man by raping an entire continent. "2
These two opinions illustrate the passionate debate that has always surrounded the life and
deeds of Alexander the Great (356-323 BC). The legend and the controversy around
Alexander began before he died in Babylon, and both continue to grow, even after the passage
of over two thousand years as men and women are attracted by the spell of his youth and glory,
or repelled by the perception of his corruption and self-deification. The "real" Alexander is the
victim of his own fame, or infamy, and has been obscured by the stories, legends, propaganda
and the conflicting emotions that surround his life and conquests. And, as each successive
generation interprets Alexander in terms of its own background, culture and experience, often
divorcing him from his fourth century Macedonian heritage and retrojecting onto him alien
values and belief-systems, it becomes increasingly difficult to recover the truth about this
complex and enigmatic man.
Part of the problem of discovering Alexander lies in the nature of the sources. The earliest
literary source, the Alexander Romance, which probably dates from the third or second century
BC,3 ensured that fantastic accounts of his fame spread from Africa to Iceland and from Spain
to China, but the Alexander of the Romance bears little relation to the historic soldier-king. Of
the many contemporary accounts of Alexander's life not one survives. The modem Alexander
scholar relies on a mere five complete, or substantially complete, narratives, all of which are
derivative and late - the earliest dates from three hundred years after Alexander's death - and
1 Hammond, NGL,Alexander the Great: King Commander and Statesman (London: 1981) 269.
2 Green, Peter, Alexander ofM acedon (Hannondsworth: 1974) 488.
3 Cary, G, The Medieval Alexander (Cambridge: 1967) 9, 356; Stoneman, R, "The Alexander Romance from history
to fiction", Greek Fiction: The Greek Novel in Context (Morgan, JR and Stoneman, R. Eds.) (London: 1994) 118.
2
all were written under the Roman Empire by men who did not understand Alexander or his
Macedonian background. The evidence of archaeology, coins and inscriptions usually helps to
control and supplement the literary sources, but for the reign of Alexander this type of
evidence is extremely scarce. Modem historians depend almost exclusively on the written
accounts and must assess the purposes and prejudices of this flawed material and must
distinguish propaganda from apology and fact from fiction in their attempt to recover the
historical Alexander. Their individual approaches to the ancient sources vary greatly and it
follows that their interpretations of Alexander are equally diverse. For, like the ancient
authors, modem scholars bring to the search for Alexander their personal prejudices,
background and experiences and sometimes their own goals and these inevitably colour their
portrait of Alexander the Great. In addition, modern scholars, faced with apparently
incomprehensible situations, may distort the meaning of the sources to fit their preconceived
opinion or desired interpretation.
The histories of Diodorus Siculus, Flavius Arrianus, and Quintus Curtius Rufus, and the
biography of Plutarch, form the constant framework for the research of modern Alexander
historians. After noting the information available from these sources in connection with three
aspects of the life of Alexander, this dissertation will focus on the work of three Twentieth
Century scholars, Nicholas Hammond, Peter Green and Mary Renault. Their use of the
discrete material provided by the sources will be examined and an attempt made to discover
differences of opinion, and the possible reasoning or motivation that has resulted in divergent
interpretations of the situations and the ancient evidence.4 The episodes in question are:
• the accession of Alexander the Great and the immediate aftermath of the
assassination of Philip II (336 BC)
• the main conspiracies that beset Alexander's rule, up to 327 BC, and
• the death of Alexander (323 BC).
4 Lane Fox, Robin, Alexander the Great (London: 1973) 25-27; Hamilton, JR, Alexander the Great (Pittsburgh:
1973) 11-12; HanunondAlexander the Great4; Renault, Mary, The Nature ofA lexander (London: 1975) 13-16.