Courtesy www.pdfbooksfree.pk Alexander the Great: The Invisible Enemy Courtesy www.pdfbooksfree.pk Alexander the Great: The Invisible Enemy A biography John Maxwell O’Brien London and New York Courtesy www.pdfbooksfree.pk First published in 1992 by Routledge First published in paperback 1994 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 1992, 1994 John Maxwell O’Brien All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available. ISBN 0-203-13492-3 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-17843-2 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-10617-6 (Print Edition) Courtesy www.pdfbooksfree.pk For Dorothy Peluso O’Brien, whose love and strength of character enabled me to endure this labor Courtesy www.pdfbooksfree.pk Contents Preface viii Acknowledgments x Frequently cited sources in the text xii List of maps xiii Prologue 1 1 The coming of age in Macedonia 5 Dionysus in the Royal Tombs 5 Macedonian drinking 6 Philip and Alexander 8 Olympias and Alexander 11 The Dionysiac cult in Macedonia 13 Olympias, Philip, and Alexander 16 The Gardens of Midas (343–340 BC) 18 Heroic models 20 Regent (340 BC) 23 The battle of Chaeronea (338 BC) 23 Athens (338 BC) 25 The wedding of Philip II and Cleopatra (337 BC) 27 The Pixodarus affair (336 BC) 30 The assassination of Philip II (336 BC) 32 2 A Homeric king 42 The accession (336 BC) 42 Alexander in Greece (336 BC) 44 Northern campaigns (335 BC) 47 Courtesy www.pdfbooksfree.pk vi The destruction of Thebes (335 BC) 51 Dium (335 BC) 54 Alexander’s sexuality 55 Alexander at the Hellespont (334 BC) 58 The battle of the Granicus River (334 BC) 60 Asia Minor (334 BC) 63 The Gordian knot (333 BC) 68 The battle of Issus (333 BC) 73 Phoenicia (333–332 BC) 76 The siege of Tyre (332 BC) 79 Egypt (332 BC) 83 Alexandria (331 BC) 83 The journey to Siwah (331 BC) 84 The battle of Gaugamela (331 BC) 88 Babylon and Susa (331 BC) 94 3 The metamorphosis 97 The signs of change 97 The burning of Persepolis (330 BC) 100 Orientalization 106 The Philotas affair (330 BC) 112 The death of Cleitus (328 BC) 123 Proskynesis 136 Callisthenes 137 The pages’ conspiracy (327 BC) 140 Nysa and Aornus (327 BC) 142 4 The ambivalent victor 149 Into “India” (326 BC) 149 The battle of the Hydaspes (Jhelum) River (326 BC) 151 “Mutiny” at the Hyphasis (Beas) River (326 BC) 158 Ocean (325 BC) 164 Courtesy www.pdfbooksfree.pk vii The Gedrosian Desert (325 BC) 172 Carmania (325–324 BC) 177 Persis (324 BC) 185 Cyrus’ tomb (324 BC) 187 Susa (324 BC) 189 Deification (324 BC) 193 The Opis “mutiny” (324 BC) 196 The death of Hephaestion (324 BC) 202 5 Death in Babylon 208 The last plans (323 BC) 208 The death of Alexander (323 BC) 213 Epilogue 219 Appendix A: The Royal Tombs 221 Appendix B: Attributes of wine in Alexander the Great’s readings 223 Postscript 229 Key to abbreviations of frequently cited journals 230 Notes 232 List of topics in the Bibliography 273 Bibliography 275 Index 322 Courtesy www.pdfbooksfree.pk Preface Early in his illustrious career, Alexander the Great faced the challenge of attempting to undo the Gordian knot. Legend had it that the man who could accomplish this feat would rule all of Asia (i.e., the Persian Empire). The knot, however, had no visible ends, and it remained intact, despite the resolute efforts of resourceful men. In the most familiar account of Alexander’s endeavor at Gordium, the king, utterly frustrated, raises his sword and slashes straight through the knot. In another version, however, Alexander utilizes an oblique stratagem. He simply removes the dowel holding the knot in place, exposes a loose end, and unties it. This book examines Alexander’s personality in a manner that evokes the alternative version of the Gordium incident. The enigma of Alexander the man is the formidable knot that unravels when the dowel—the god Dionysus—is removed. This work will direct the reader’s attention to those interludes in Alexander’s life when his path crossed that of the wine god. Enough loose ends surface in the process to justify a fresh look at certain aspects of Alexander’s personality that have thus far defied explanation. The most perplexing of all such considerations is Alexander’s metamorphosis. Even as he performed one epic deed after another, this superb warrior began to exhibit a disturbing personal transformation. During the last seven years of his life Alexander became increasingly unpredictable, sporadically violent, megalomaniacal, and suspicious of friends as well as enemies. What could have caused such a lamentable transformation? This book explores that question in a way that requires the reader’s forbearance until exposed threads begin to reveal patterns in Alexander’s behavior. The elusive god Dionysus, who is profiled in the Prologue, plays an important role in this book. His character is fleshed out as the text develops and his burgeoning impact on Alexander becomes more apparent. The respect Dionysus required in antiquity has been extended to him here. The god will manifest himself in various forms, and is therefore treated as a real, vital force in Alexander’s life. Alexander is said to have slept with a copy of Homer’s Iliad under his pillow. He emulated its hero, Achilles, from boyhood. The young king also demonstrated a particular interest in Greek drama, and especially in the plays of Euripides. He quoted from that tragedian’s Bacchae extemporaneously. Excerpts Courtesy www.pdfbooksfree.pk ix from these two masterpieces are interspersed throughout the text. Removed from their original context, virtually stripped of punctuation, and used in an unorthodox fashion, they serve, in some ways, as a Greek chorus, providing commentary on the action, and expressing thoughts that may have echoed through Alexander’s own mind on occasion. The excerpts are also employed to illustrate and intensify the heroic and Dionysiac dimensions of Alexander’s experience. As the reader progresses through this work, it will become evident that it is the precarious balance of these elements that lends a tragic quality to the man’s life. This book has been written with the general reader in mind and with an eye to students and scholars. Military matters and political considerations have been kept to a bare minimum because of the focus on Alexander’s personality, but interested parties can pursue these questions through the Notes and Bibliography. I have reluctantly declined to include an analysis of the ancient sources because of the nature of the present work and the fact that so many of these studies (particularly the impressive contributions of A.B.Bosworth) are now readily available. I must make it clear that a definitive study of Alexander’s personality is unattainable because of the fragmentary and contradictory nature of the sources. All efforts to fathom the man remain little more than educated guesses, colored by the investigator’s interests and presuppositions. Most of the assertions made here, however, have the advantage of being rooted in the ancient sources, both apologetic and critical. These assertions, I believe, would have been intelligible to Alexander and his contemporaries. To those who object to the way in which the great conqueror is portrayed, I commend the words of his tutor, Aristotle, who reminds us that “no one is able to attain the truth adequately, while, on the other hand, no one fails entirely, but every one says something true about the nature of things” (Metaph. 993b). Courtesy www.pdfbooksfree.pk Acknowledgments This research was supported (in part) by a grant from the City University of New York PSC-CUNY Research Award Program. The Interlibrary Loan units at Queens College and Teikyo Post University were instrumental in my efforts to complete this work. The book has profited inestimably from the criticisms and suggestions of scholars who were kind enough to read portions of the manuscript at various stages in its evolution: Thomas W.Africa, Beate Hein Bennett, A.B.Bosworth, Elizabeth D.Carney, Ernst A.Fredricksmeyer, J.R.Hamilton, Waldemar Heckel, J.Donald Hughes, Harry Gene Levine, Paul R.Lonigan, Robert Emmet Meagher, R.D.Milns, J.M.Mossman, Robin Room, Wolfgang Zeev Rubinsohn, Edward-David E.Ruiz, Frank Salvidio, Alan R.Schulman, Sheldon C. Seller, David Sider, and last, but by no means least, Robert S.Tilton. I accept exclusive responsibility for any residual defects. Non-specialists contributed with unfathomable generosity. The Herculean efforts of Anita T.Bello, Barney Rickenbacker, Sondra Rosenberg, and Karen Salomone have humbled me with gratitude. Other splendid people have also made significant contributions to this volume: Marjorie Adler, Stuart Astor, Goldie Baron, Thea Bergere, Lewis Beshers, Gina Bianchi, Nora Bird, William H.Bohner, Alessandro Boselli, Thomas Brennan, M.D, Thomas J.Byrne, Suzanne Chemtob, Karen Conroy, Marianne Conti, Deanna Crooks, Andreana Filiotis, Basile Filiotis, Georgia Filiotis, Vasiliki Filiotis, Eleanor Friedman, Dennis Galik, Edythe B.Gardner, Colette Golinski, Gertrude Halpern, Thomas Heckman, Dorothy Higgins, R.D.R.