In search of Alexander By George K.

Mallios

On the 28th of the Macedonian month Daisios (that is on the 10 th of June) in the year 323 B.C. Alexander, king of Macedon and ruler of Asia, died in Babylon. He was just 33. He had been king of the Macedonians no more than 13 years. Yet in this very short lifetime of his he had succeeded to conquer the mighty Persian Empire, bringing the Greeks in the East and opening up for them a vast area of riches, knowledge and opportunities. A later Greek historian and philosopher, Plutarch of Chaironeia, wrote a book about Alexander asking a simple but fundamental for the understanding of this great personality question: was Alexander a child of good fortune or was he a really competent ruler like no one else the world had seen before? Following Plutarch, we can imagine the once mighty king of Macedon lying on his bed during his last anguishing moments and being visited by the goddess Fortune. She declares that Alexander is her own characteristic handiwork and hers alone. I think that he, however weakened and pale, would bluntly reply to her (I quote Plutarch): Slander not my virtues, nor take away my fair name by detraction. Darius was your handiwork: he who was a slave and courier of the king, him did you make the mighty lord of Persia; and Sardanapalus, upon whose head you placed the royal diadem, though he spent his days in carding purple wool. But I, through my victory at Arbela, went up to Susa, and Cilicia opened the way for me into the broad land of Egypt; but to Cilicia I came by way of the Granicus, which I crossed, using as a bridge the dead bodies of Mithridates and Spithridates. Adorn yourself, proud Fortune, and vaunt your dominion over kings that never felt a wound nor shed a drop of blood. For they have been Fortune's favorites, men such as Ochus was and Artaxerxes, whom at the very hour of their birth you placed upon the throne of Cyrus. But my body bears many a token of an opposing Fortune and no ally of mine. It is not easy to talk about Alexander when his presence can be traced in an area that extends from the Balkans to India and from the Danube River to the Nile. Therefore I prefer to stop short at searching Alexander in Macedonia proper. After all Alexander was born and raised as a Macedonian prince and as a king of Macedon he led his forces to the highlands of Punjab and the banks of Indus River. And even though he envisioned a universal empire in which all men would be subject to the same Law, he could not have reached his vision if it had not been for his education in the fatherland and his Macedonians in arms.

We will follow then the steps in Alexander, from his birth until his departure to Asia, in four Macedonian cities; it will be shown that much of his endeavors and achievements during his later reign was actually based on his Macedonian experience. The four cities on which we shall focus are: Pella, Mieza, Aegeai and Dion. Pella. Alexanders birthplace. Philip, the 3rd son of Amyntas, king of Macedon, met his future wife, Olympias, during the festivals of the Great Gods on Samothrake Island. She was the young princess of Epirus in Western Greece. They fell in love at fist sight. However they did not marry till after Philip was named king of the Macedonians. Their relation was full of passion and tension. Olympias was no easy woman to deal with. And Philip was a well known womanizer. By the end of his life he had married no less than 8 women. Even so, Olympias had the highest rank amongst them. And her son, Alexander, born in Pella in the year 356 B.C., was considered the heir of the kinship from the beginning. Ancient writers stress that Philip received the news of Alexanders birth while being informed that his forces had pushed the Illyrians away and his horses had been victorious at the Olympic Games. It is also said that the very night that Olympias gave birth to Alexander the great temple of Artemis in Ephesus, run by Asiatic priests and eunuchs, was set on fire and destroyed. The Greeks perceived that as an omen: the Asiatic empire of the Persians would be devastated by Alexander just as the temple of Ephesian Artemis was ruined on the night of his birth. Alexander was indeed an exceptional kid. He was bold and quick in both thinking and acting. He was never afraid to speak up loud and express his opinion even in front of much older men. This is what happened one day in Pella, when young Alexander was 12 years old. Philonicus the Thessalian brought the horse Bucephalus to Philip, offering to sell him for thirteen talents (that is more than 200,000 $!); but when they went into the field to try him, they found him so very vicious and unmanageable, that he reared up when they endeavoured to mount him, and would not so much as endure the voice of any of Philip's attendants. Upon which, as they were leading him away as wholly useless and untractable, Alexander, who stood by, said: What an excellent horse do they lose for their lack of competence to tame him! Philip at first took no notice of what he said; but when he heard him repeat the same thing several times, and saw he was much vexed to see the horse sent away, Do you reproach, said he to him, those who are older than yourself, as if you knew more, and were better able to manage him than they? I could tame this horse, replied he, better than others do. And if you do not, said Philip, what will you forfeit for your rashness? I will pay, answered the boy, the whole price of the horse. At this the whole company fell a-laughing; and as

soon as the wager was settled amongst them, he immediately ran to the horse, and taking hold of the bridle, turned him directly towards the sun, having, it seems, observed that he was disturbed at and afraid of the motion of his own shadow; then letting him go forward a little, still keeping the reins in his hands, and stroking him gently when he found him begin to grow eager and fiery, he let fall his upper garment softly, and with one nimble leap securely mounted him, and when he was seated, by little and little drew in the bridle, and curbed him without either striking or spurring him. Presently, when he found him free from all rebelliousness, and only impatient for the course, he let him go at full speed, inciting him now with a commanding voice, and urging him also with his heel. Philip and his friends looked on at first in silence and anxiety for the result, till seeing him turn at the end of his career, and come back rejoicing and triumphing for what he had performed, they all burst out into acclamations of applause; and his father shedding tears, it is said, for joy, kissed him as he came down from his horse, and in his transport said, "O my son, look thee out a kingdom equal to and worthy of thyself, for Macedonia is too little for thee. Bucephalus served Alexander in numerous battles and died in the age of thirty, after he and his master had won the Battle of Hydaspes against King Porus of the Indians. Alexander built a city in the area which he named Bucephaleia in honor of his horse. In the museum of Pella there are two portraits of Alexander. One represents him with two small horns like the rustic god Pan. It is difficult to understand the connotations of this image. However one might recall that Pan was the god whose very presence caused extreme panic to the Persians in Marathon and it is perhaps legitimate to assume that Alexander is shown here as another cause of panic for the Persians. The other portrait, made sometime in the early or middle Hellenistic period, is perhaps one of the oldest images of Alexander which have survived since Antiquity. It bears all the characteristics of the Alexandrian portraits known from the ancient sources. Alexander trusted for his sculptural portraits only Lysippus and for his painted ones Apelles. In the same museum of Pella one can see this masterpiece of ancient mosaic art, the lion hunt. Theres no time for me to describe it and talk about it in detail. After all Kostas will show it to you tomorrow. Let me just point that this mosaic may depict the Sidonian hunt when Craterus, officer and friend of Alexanders, saved the king from death at the claws of the beast.

Mieza and the school years by Aristotle. Leaving Pella we may stop for a moment in nearby Mieza. It was built at the foot of mount Vermion, on the site of todays Naoussa. Mieza was famous for its ancient sanctuary of the Nymphs where Aristotle chose to build his school for Alexander and his age-mates. In a rocky landscape, next to river Olganus and abundant water springs, the royal architects built a two storey portico with many rooms. This was called in Greek Peripatos and it was perhaps the first time that Aristotle held courses in such a building which gave its name to his philosophical school: peripatitic. But the boys he taught were not trained for philosophers; they were to become high rank army and political officers of Macedonia, Alexanders companions in his march in the East. They took courses in history, poetics, rhetorics and politics, maths and science. They were also trained in riding, fighting and gymnastics. Ptolemy, Seleukos, Leonnatos, Cleitus, Marsyas and others were among Alexanders school mates. But Hephaistion from Pella was by far the dearest of all his friends. He was Alexanders alter ego. The two youngsters were inseparable, just like their Homeric exemplars, Achilles and Patroclus. Hephaistion followed his king and friend in Asia where he served in several high offices. He died of typhoid fever in 324 B.C. and was given a magnificent funeral. Alexander saw to it that shrines were erected to Hephaistions memory. Cult rituals were performed in his honor as this votary relief in Thessaloniki shows. Aristotle and his scientific team had stayed in Mieza for 4 years before leaving for Athens where they founded (with Macedonian money) the Lyceum academy. The great philosopher was fortunate to find an eager student who was thirsty of knowledge. During his campaign in the East Alexander was accompanied by a team of scientists who would gather and study exotic plants, animals, minerals, even customs, constitutions and religions and send the information back to Aristotle. No wonder that he is said to have written more than 400 books of all kinds. Aristotle presented a manuscript of Iliad with his commentary to Alexander, which the king carried in a special box. In the homeric epics Alexander would find the heroic examples of his life, especially his kinsman, Achilles. And although he never followed strictly all of the lessons Aristotle taught him, he nevertheless never ceased stressing: My being I owe to my parents but my well being I owe to my teacher. And when Aristotle published some of his treatises Alexander wrote to him the following letter: Alexander to Aristotle, greeting. You have not done well to publish your books of oral doctrine. For what is there now that we excel others in, if those things which we have been particularly instructed in be laid open to all? For my part, I assure you, I had rather excel other in the knowledge of what is excellent, than in the extent of my power and dominion. Farewell.

A monumental Macedonian tomb was discovered almost 50 years ago in the cemetery of ancient Mieza. It has a two storey faade and is brilliantly decorated with murals and relieves. Four panels with paintings fill the spaces on the walls between the doric half columns on the ground floor. We shall focus on them. The diseased standing and with his body turned ready to set out on the great journey to Hades is led by the conductor of the souls, psychopompos, Hermes. He is awaited by the judges of the Underworld, the sons of Zeus, Aiakos and Rhadamanthys, one seated and the other leaning on his staff, both of them wreathed. These murals remind us of the text of Platos Gorgias: I, said Zeus, have appointed sons of my own to be judges; two from Asia, Minos and Rhadamanthys, and one from Europe, Aiakos. They shall give judgment in the meadow at the dividing of the road, whence are the two ways leading, one to the Isles of the Blest, and the other to Tartarus hell. And those who come from Asia shall Rhadamanthys try, and those from Europe, Aiakos. And to Minos I will give the privilege of the final decision. The diseased is a Macedonian military officer. It is very likely that he was well educated since he knew the work of Plato. He died around 300 B.C. and one can assume that he was a agemate of Alexander. Why should he be presented in front of the judges of both Europe and Asia? I think that the most obvious reason would be that the diseased had participated in the campaign in the East and had been granted some offices in Asia. He was buried however in his fatherland. And it would not be a wild guess if we supported the view that in this great tomb was buried Alexanders bodyguard and schoolmate in Aristotles school, Peukestas, a local nobleman of Mieza. His deeds were narrated by the ancient historians and are mirrored in the relief frieze depicting the battles of Greeks against the Persians. On the metopes below an analogous battle is represented, the conflict between the Lapithes, a legendary Greek tribe of Thessaly and the Centaurs, half-men and half-horses. The meaning of these two scenes, one historical, the other mythical, is but one and the same. It is the conflict of civilization and order represented by the Greeks, against the chaos, the brutality and the barbarianism represented by the Persians and the Centaurs.

Aigeai. The royal burial ground and the election of Alexander to king. The ancient capital of the Macedonians is the city of Aegeai. According to a myth the first Macedonian King, an ancestor of Alexander from the Peloponnesian Argos, founded the city and named it after the animal which had guided him and pointed the very spot: a goat (which is aiga in Greek). The same king had warned his son and successor: As long as our descendants shall be buried in the cradle of our kingdom the royal power will remain in our family. Indeed there was a long tradition of royal burials in Aegeai (archaeologists recognize some royal tombs as early as the 6th century B.C.) and Philips burial was no exception.

In the beginning of the year 336 B.C. Philip gathered the most prominent Macedonians and many of his friends from the Greek cities to celebrate the weddings of his daughter Kleopatra. Instead they witnessed his murder by the lethal dagger of Pausanias. The king was dead; long live the new king Alexander, who was elected almost immediately by the Macedonian Assembly. According to a papyrus discovered in 1978: Philip having died, Alexander (acting as the new ruler of the state and directly offended by the crime) dismissed the Macedonians and the others who were in the theater (expecting to attend to the wedding ceremony). At the same time he allowed the Macedonians to punish the terrible insult committed against the throne. Thereupon they cruelly killed the murderer. As to Philips body, he turned it over to the retinue to wash and prepare for burial. And he ordered those who were in charge of the burial to build a pyre for his father. (the rest of papyrus is damaged beyond reconstruction). We can assume that the new King was the one who lit his fathers pyre so as the flames could consume Philips mortal body according to the heroic ideology of the Macedonian kings. It is very probable that he oversaw the construction of the tomb and also gave the instructions to the painters of the royal hunting scene on the large ionic frieze. Thats why the central position in the scene is reserved for the commissioner. There is however another monument in the same area in which we can also feel Alexanders presence. It is the tomb of his son, Alexander IV. He was born by Roxane, the princess of Bactria, just few months after Alexander had died. Alexander junior was assassinated along with his mother by the usurper of the Macedonian throne, Kassander, in 309 B.C. Alexander was then no more than 14 years old. His body was cremated and his relics were deposited in a silver funerary urn with a gold wreath on its shoulder. Young Alexander was the last survivor of the original Macedonian royal family to be buried in Aegeai. Instead, his father, Alexander the Great, was not buried here. And the Macedonians believed, according to the oracle mentioned above, that the line of the family came to extinct exactly because he had changed the place of sepulture. In both tombs, that of the grandfather and that of the grandson, many and precious weapons were found: spears, shields, cuirasses, pectorals, swords, a helmet and a quiver with arrow points. All these give us the opportunity to discuss in short the structure of the Macedonian army as it had been formed by Philip and was exploited by Alexander during his Asiatic campaign. The main unit of the Macedonian army was the infantry phalanx. Only free men of Macedonian origin could serve in the phalanx and that made it a pure ethnic army. The phalanx was developed by Philip who equipped his soldiers with an irresistible weapon, the sarissa. This was a 4 to 6 meter long, double-pointed pike which replaced the traditionally short spear. It

weighted more than 10 pounds; the size and weight of the sarissa required the soldiers, phalangitai, to wield the pike with both hands allowing them to carry a relatively small shield (no more than 60-70 cm. in diameter). At close range the long pikes were of little use, but as the weapons of the first five rows of men all projected beyond the front of the formation, there were more spearpoints than available targets at any given time. We can then understand that an intact phalanx could easily keep its enemies at a distance. This is exactly how Philip and Alexander actually used the phalanx: to hold the enemy in place, while their heavy cavalry broke through their ranks. The heavily armored Macedonian knights were the Hetairoi, those near the king (Companions). The Hetairoi (Companions) could be members of the Macedonian aristocracy or commoners of any Greek origin who enjoyed the trust and friendship of the Macedonian regent. In Alexander's day, each knight carried a rather long spear, and wore a bronze cuirass, shoulder guards and a helmet but bore no shield.[4] A machaira or kopis (curved slashing sword) was also carried for close combat, should the spear break. The horses had a large amount of thick felt draped over their sides, while they probably had partial breast and head plating for protection against spears, missiles etc. In battle the Companion cavalry and the phalanx infantry would form part of a hammer and anvil tactic: the Companions would be used as a hammer, in conjunction with the phalanx, which acted as their anvil. The phalanx would pin the enemy in place, while the Companions would attack the enemy on the flank or from behind. In battle, Alexander the Great personally led the charge at the head of the royal squadron of the Companion cavalry, usually in a wedge formation. In a pitched battle, the Companions usually fought on the right wing of the Macedonian army, next to the shield bearing guards, the Hypaspists, who would guard the right flank of the phalanx. The Hypaspists were probably armed like the ordinary Greek hoplites, with a large, round shield (aspides), full hoplite armor and a relatively short spear. This unit was very agile and well trained; this is why it was usually assigned with risky and difficult tasks. Under Alexander's command, the Companions' and Hypaspists role was decisive in most of his battles in Asia. Let me give you an example. At the Battle of Issus the Macedonian phalanx, a solid wall of 10,000 men and pikes was deployed against the elite units of the Persians: the guard of Dareius (the so called Immortals) and the Greek hoplite mercenaries. The Persian cavalry attacked from the left. The Macedonian plalanx had to hold the wing against superior forces long enough for Alexander to make his calculated cavalry strike and break the positions of the Persian army. Alexander led the Companion cavalry to the right, forcing a part of the Persians to move in the same direction, thereby creating a gap near the centre. Then, Alexander with his Hypaspists wheeled towards the gap, broke through the enemy lines and attacked the Persian centre. At the same time, the phalanx quitted the defensive position, crossed the river and made a frontal attack on the Persian right wing and the Greek mercenaries. Darius had been fighting from his chariot until his guard was annihilated. He was now forced to leave the battlefield in

panic. The Battle of Issus is depicted in the famous Alexander mosaic in Pompeii. We can see Darius on his chariot retiring from the battlefield. Compare the look of Alexander, full of self confidence and faith in victory, with that of the anguishing Persian king. Alexander gave 3 major battles against the Persians. That of Issus, in November 333 B.C. was the second one and opened up the whole eastern Mediterranean for Alexander. The first battle was given one year before at Granicus River. The final confrontation took place in the year 331 at Gaugamela or Arbela, in modern day North Iraq. It resulted in a massive victory for the Macedonian Army and led to the fall of the Persian Empire. Alexander became ruler of Asia. Yet he did not stop dreaming of new conquests. His aim was to bring his army in India where he would defeat many local rulers, especially King Porus and his war elephants by the Hydaspes River. Alexanders triumphant march which brought the Greeks in Far East was marked by dedications in many Greeks cities. The most memorable one was the shields of the Persians hang on the Parthenon. The votive inscription wrote: These shields from the Barbarians who live in Asia are dedicated by Alexander, son of Philip, and the Greeks except the Lacedaimonians (Spartans). With this dedication in mind one of the most prominent Modern Greek poets, K. Kavafis, living in Alexandria Egypt, wrote this poem: In The Year 200 B.C Alexander, son of Philip, and the Greeks except the Lacedaimonians..." We can very well imagine how completely indifferent the Spartans would have been to this inscription. "Except the Lacedaimonians"-naturally. The Spartans weren't to be led and ordered around like precious servants. Besides, they wouldn't have thought a pan-Hellenic expedition without a Spartan king in command was to be taken very seriously. Of course, then, "except the Lacedaimonians." That's certainly one point of view. Quite understandable. So, "except the Lacedaimonians" at Granikos, then at Issus, then in the decisive battle where the terrible army

the Persians mustered at Arbela was wiped out: it set out for victory from Arbela, and was wiped out. And from this marvellous pan-Hellenic expedition, triumphant, brilliant in every way, celebrated on all sides, glorified incomparable, we emerged: the great new Hellenic world. We the Alexandrians, the Antiochians, the Selefkians, and the countless other Greeks of Egypt and Syria, and those in Media, and Persia, and all the rest: with our far-flung supremacy, our flexible policy of judicious integration, and our Common Greek Language which we carried as far as Bactria, as far as the Indians. How can one talk about Lacedaimonians now!

Dion: the sacred city of the Macedonians Dion is one of the most ancient Macedonian sites. It was built at the feet of Mt. Olympus and was dedicated to the Lord of the Gods and forefather of the Macedonians, Zeus. According to a papyrus fragment the first altar of Zeus was founded in Dion by Deukalion, the son of Prometheus, after the Great Flood. The remains of the Hellenistic altar of Zeus were yielded 10 years ago. We know that Alexander performed a Hecatomb, a sacrifice of 100 cattle, just before leaving for Asia. He could then expect the help and guidance of Zeus in his quest. The Macedonian kings were very pious and god-fearing. Their reverence to Zeus is shown by the depiction of the god on their coins. I am showing a coin of Alexander with Zeus enthroned, holding a scepter and an eagle, his sacred bird. Alexander however had even more reasons to worship Zeus. There was a legend among the Macedonians and other peoples that Alexander was a son of the god who had a sexual intercourse with Olympias in the form of the two horned Ammon. Now, Ammon is of course an old Egyptian god. But he had long been identified with Zeus in the Greek representations. Indeed, in the city of Aphytis in Chalkidiki peninsula, a temple to Ammon Zeus at the time of Alexanders birth. Alexander was certainly flattered by the idea of a divine origin. After the risky crossing of the desert, some prophet of Ammon is said to have greeted Alexander as the Son of the god.

Besides the confirmation of his divine origins the king is also said to have received from the oracle the promise of invincibility and a universal empire. Much more than a mere psychological need of Alexanders, this story could serve highly political purposes. It happened at a time when, having inherited the legacy of the Persian king Darius, Alexander was preparing the ground for an imperial and absolute monarchy, radically opposed to the traditions of the constitutional Macedonian royalty. As Francois De Polignac once said, In this context, whatever the conquerors innermost belief about his birth, the idea of his divine origins and invincibility was very useful in making his exceptional nature known and freeing him from ordinary laws. The young king of the Macedonians, conquer of the East, was gradually transformed to a legendary figure with super powers starring in a variety of adventures extended from the Balkans to Ethiopia and from Europe to Indonesia. I quote de Polignacs view in that Few myths have had as widespread a diffusion among different civilizations as the legend of Alexander the Great. From its beginning during Alexanders lifetime, the myth aimed at illustrating special rights to universal sovereignty. For this very reason, it was of long-lasting interest to various figures in Mediterranean history who, for political, ideological or religious motives, made claims to world-wide authority. But since Alexander had built his own image not as the hero of a conquering civilization, but as a universal figure mediating between various peoples, his myth could never be appropriated, and remains one of the transcultural bridges our time so dramatically needs. You can see some illustrated versions of his legend in various cultures. One can say that Alexander is the thread that joins the Mediterranean with the Indian Ocean and Christianity with Judaism, Islam and Buddhism, since he features in all these traditions. Even today there are remote tribes in the Orient, like the Kalash in Pakistan, who pride themselves on their origins from Alexander and his Macedonians. Alexander certainly perceived himself as a universal sovereign. And as that, he no more distinguished his subjects between Greeks and Barbarians, conquers and slaves. To him all the peoples he reigned were his people, whether Greeks or Egyptians, Persians, Phoenicians, Phrygians etc. This is why he promoted intermarriages between his soldiers and local women and accepted foreigners as officers of his state and army. By this point he had completely overlooked the lectures of his teacher Aristotle who was still bound to a Greek nationalist approach of the international relationships. Alexanders vision was much wider and closer to the stoic ideology of Zenon who dreamt of a commonwealth of mankind, as Plutarch points out: Moreover, the much-admired Republic of Zeno, the founder of the Stoic sect, may be summed up in this one main principle: that all the inhabitants of this world of ours should not live differentiated by their respective rules of justice into separate cities and

communities. But that we should consider all men to be of one community and one polity, and that we should have a common life and an order common to us all, even as a herd that feeds together and shares the pasturage of a common field. This Zeno wrote, giving shape to a dream or, as it were, shadowy picture of a well-ordered and philosophic commonwealth; but it was Alexander who gave effect to the idea. For Alexander did not follow Aristotle's advice to treat the Greeks as if he were their leader, and other peoples as if he were their master; to have regard for the Greeks as for friends and kindred, but to conduct himself toward other peoples as though they were plants or animals; for to do so would have been to cumber his leadership with numerous battles and banishments and festering seditions. But, as he believed that he came as a heaven-sent governor to all, and as a mediator for the whole world, those whom he could not persuade to unite with him, he conquered by force of arms, and he brought together into one body all men everywhere, uniting and mixing in one great loving-cup, as it were, men's lives, their characters, their marriages, their very habits of life. He bade them all consider as their fatherland the whole inhabited earth, as their stronghold and protection his military camp, as akin to them all good men, and as foreigners only the wicked; they should not distinguish between Greek and Barbarians by Greek cloak and shield, or sword and jacket; but the distinguishing mark of the Hellenicity should be seen in virtue, and that of the Barbarianism in iniquity; clothing and food, marriage and manner of life they should regard as common to all, being blended into one by ties of blood and children.

This is perhaps why the name of Alexander became legendary and many peoples would like to appropriate him. However he legend was treasured mostly by the Greeks. According to the most popular version Alexander had a sister, Thessaloniki, who accidentally spilled the water of life which Alexander had previously acquired. She was cursed to become a mermaid and wander perpetually in the Seas. She would stop the ships and ask the sailors: Is King Alexander alive? If they ignorantly answered: He has long been died, she would become furious and raise a terrible storm dooming the ship. But if they answered, He lives and reigns and conquers the world, she would be pleased and would calm the waters wishing the ship farewell. This is what I wish to you, as well. Thank you for your listening.