The Legacy of Alexander: Politics, Warfare and Propaganda under the Successors

322 Pages·2002·32.99 MB·English

by  A. B. Bosworth

The Legacy of Alexander
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The Legacy of Alexander
Politics, Warfare, and Propaganda under
the Successors
A. B, Bosworth
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
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ISBN 978-0-19-815306-1
Preface
This book has had a long gestation. The idea was implanted
long ago when I was an undergraduate, wading through the
first chapter of Tarn and Griffith's Hellenistic Civilisation
with its dense and abbreviated summary of events after
Alexander. My friend Richard Hawkins remarked that there
had to be a more extended and lucid introduction to the
period, and the comment has been in the back of my mind
for nearly 40 years. I engaged more closely with the period
when I wrote my early article on the death of Alexander the
Great, and discovered to my chagrin, that I knew virtually
nothing about the Babylon Settlement and its aftermath. A
long learning process ensued, and 1 became more and more
convinced that there was an urgent need for a full historical
coverage of the half century after Alexander, something that
did not exist, and still does not, despite the series of biograph-
ies which have been published over the last decade, devoted
to the careers of individual dynasts. There still remains the
difficult task of integration and collation, drawing out the
general trends and exploring the complex interrelations of
ruler and subject, city and empire.
The present work is a prelude to the larger project. There
is a strong narrative core, dealing with the conflict between
Eumenes and Antigonus the One-Eyed, which probably did
more than anything to define the shape of the Hellenistic
world but has been astoundingly ignored in modern scholar-
ship. The central chapters amount to a history of the period
318—311, which saw the formation of the Antigonid and
Seleucid monarchies, and the Introduction provides an
analysis of developments in the five years after Alexander's
death. The early chapters set the scene. An intensive analysis
of the Babylon Settlement sheds new light on the power
groups as they emerged in 323 and the political interplay
which resulted in the overriding problem of the period, a
central monarchy with token kings, nominally exercising
vi Preface
authority over powerful regional satraps but with almost no
practical control over their supposed subjects. The political
setting leads to the main social issue, the practical dismem-
berment of what had, been the Macedonian national army.
A close investigation of the sources (often misinterpreted)
illustrates the gradual dissipation of the central army group
as it had served under Alexander. As early as 319 the bulk of
the Macedonian troops had been transferred from the royal
court, now in Pella, to serve under Antigonus (and provide
the foundation for his future empire). As the army dispersed
and Macedonians became less important, the kingship itself
lost any authority it may have had, and a new type of dynast
emerged. The final chapter accordingly addresses the prob-
lem of legitimation and explores the means by which power
was maintained or—equally important—lost.
Source analysis bulks large in my work. The period is
dominated by a shadowy literary colossus, Hieronymus of
Cardia, who by common consent lies behind the narrative of
the most detailed extant narrative, that of Diodorus Siculus.
It is heady material, a colourful, well-documented exposi-
tion from a contemporary of events and a friend of success-
ive kings. Information there is in plenty, as is generally
acknowledged, but there must also be disinformation—as is
increasingly realized to be the case with Hieronymus' closest
counterpart, Thucydides. Chapter 5 is a historiographical
investigation into the famous ethnographic digressions in
which Hieronymus subtly intrudes his own social and per-
sonal commentary. That is paralleled by the discussion of
the Babylon Settlement where (in the Latin account of
Curtius Rufus) we have a counter-tradition embellished with
late rhetoric and also affected by the political interests of the
court of Ptolemy. Almost all our literary evidence comes
from the entourage of the great dynasts, and propaganda is
pervasive. There is little documentary evidence. What there
is comes predominantly from Babylonia, in a large and varied
corpus of cuneiform tablets that still awaits full investigation.
I have tried to address this evidence throughout the work,
and I must admit frankly that it would have been, impossible
without the help of two gifted young Assyriologists. Cornelia
Wunsch worked with me as a Research Associate, funded
Preface vii
by the Australian Research Committee and explained the
multiple ambiguities of interpretation, 1 also had a very
informative correspondence with Tom Boiy, whose compre-
hensive doctoral thesis has become an indispensable research
tool. I am conscious that some of my chronological conclusions
are not welcomed by cuneiform specialists, but they are the
product of integrating the Hellenic and Babylonian evidence,
and such dialogue is essential if there is to be progress in
the field,
1 have many other obligations. In 1998 I was a visiting fel-
low at All Souls College, enjoying its unparalleled hospitality
and exploiting the resources of the Bodleian and Ashmolean
libraries. Robert Parker suggested that I give a number of
seminars on the post Alexander period, and with that stimulus
I was able to write the first drafts of chapters 2, 3 and 6. 1 am
grateful for the invitation and for the helpful comments made
on those occasions by him, Robin Lane Fox, Robin Osborne,
John Ma, and many others. An invitation to Stanford
University in 1999 resulted in the final chapter. For detailed
advice and guidance on the complexities of things Nabataean
I am indebted to David Graf of Miami and to my colleague
David Kennedy. I should also acknowledge the support of my
university and department, for generous leave and financial
support for travel. I am particularly grateful to Pat Wheatley
for almost literally working through the manuscript with me
and injecting much of his considerable enthusiasm, and also to
Honours students in Perth and Newcastle who have been
inflicted with working drafts of the individual chapters.
Finally, and most importantly, I must pay tribute to my part-
ner, Elizabeth Baynham, who has lived through the work
from its outset, read and criticized the successive drafts, and
been an unfailing source of encouragement and inspiration.
I owe her more than I can say,
A.B.B.
September 2001
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Contents
Abbreviations x
1. Introduction I
2. The Politics of the Babylon Settlement 29
3. Macedonian Numbers at the Death of
Alexander the Great 64
4. The Campaign in Iran: Turbulent
Satraps and Frozen Elephants 98
5. Hieronymus' Ethnography: Indian
Widows and Nabataean Nomads 169
6. The Rise of Seleucus
2IO
7. Hellenistic Monarchy: Success and
Legitimation
246
Appendix: Chronology of events between
323 and 311 BC
279
Bibliography 285
Index 297