ALEXANDER THE GREAT Narrative BY W. W. TARN CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS CAMBRIDGE LONDON ' NEW YORK MELBOURNE Published by the Syndics of the Cambridge University Press The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 IRP Bentley House, 200 Euston Road, London NWI ~DB 32 East 57th Street, New York, NY 10022, USA 296 Beaconsfield Parade, Middle Park, Melbourne 3206, Australia Copyright Cambridge University Press 1948 First published 1948 Reissued and first paperback edition 1979 Printcd in Grcat Britain at the University Press, Cambridge ISBN o 521 22584 I hard covers ISBN o 521 29563 7 paperback PREFACE Volume I of this book gives a narrative in compendious form; Volume 11, which is the main part of the work, contains a number of special studies. It has been arranged that either volume can be purchased separately, as a straight- forward narrative may appeal to a class of readers who do not want anything further; the work is therefore in essence almost two books. The narrative in Volume I consists in the main of my chapters XIand xnr in volume VI of the Cambridge Ancient History, but the text has been carefully corrected and brought upto date, and a considerable amount has been rewritten, making the present narrative rather longer; my general view of Alexander remains unchanged. I desire to express my gratitude to the Syndics of the Press both for permitting me to use these chapters and for allowing me a completely- free hand over the rest of the work which they had undertaken to publish. In the circumstances, I have written a separate prefatory note to Volume II; but I may say here that some such examination of the sources as forms Part I of that volun~eis long- overdue, and that the twenty-five studies called Appendices, some of them long essays, which form Part II of that volume, do not claim to cover all the problems raised by the Alexander story; they only deal with matters on which I thought I had something to say which needed saying ; but they do include an examina- tion of the things which are really important for our judge- ment of one of the greatest of nlanlund. No apology is needed, in 111y view, for stressiilg ail i~idividi~alman rather than streains of tendency or the inass mind or other 'idols of the cavc'. Preface As for some time I have had no access to libraries, I am almost bound to have missed some modern work; even had it been otherwise, what was written in France, Germany and Italy during the war is only now becoming accessibl;. I trust, however, that I have not missed much of real importance, for the history of Alexander has never received much help from new material, such as inscriptions; it depends- cLefly on the examination and interpretation of literary texts. My best thanks are due to the friends who have sent me references, notably Professors H. M. Last, N. H. Baynes, and A. D. Nock; Mr Nock also read Ap- pendix 22for me, and Mr Last and Mr Baynes most kindly copied out for me extracts from books which I could not get sent to me. I thank the Council of the Hellenic Society for permission to make the use I have made in Appendix 24 of an article of mine ~ublishedin theJouma1 of the Hellenic Society for 1939, and also the Royal Geographical Society for kindly sending me a copy of the article by the late Sir A. Stein, published after his death, which is utihsed in Appendix 8 ii. But my great indebtedness is to Professor F. E. Adcock, not merely for sending me some references and material, but for undertahg the labour of reading both volumes in proof with minute care and malung a number of suggestions which have greatly improved the book, for which I am most gateful. In conclusion, besides my already expressed thanks to the Syndics of the Press for publishing the book, I should hke to thank the printing staff for setting up the book so well from my manuscript, it being impossible for me to get it typed. W. W. TARN MUIRTOWN HOUSE INVBRNESS September, 1947 CONTENTS Abbreviations Page Chapters I. The Conquest of Persia 11. The Conquest of the Far East III. Personality, Policy and Aims Index Map CONTENTS OF VOLUME I1 (SOURCES AND STUDIES) Part I. The so-called 'Vulgate' and its Sources The Problem. Cleitarchus and Alexander's Expedition. The Date of Cleitarchus. Aristobulus and Cleitarchus. Cleitarchus' Book. The Poetasters. Diodorus XVII. Diodorus' Method of Work. Quintus Curtius Rufus. Curtius' Use of Diodorus. Justin, Books XI and XII. Summary. Part 11. Appendices M I LI T A R Y. Alexander's Macedonian Troops. The Short Mace- donian Cubit. Alexander's Communications. The Cardaces. The Battle of Gaugamela. The Battle of the Hydaspes. CITIES. Alexander and the Greek Cities of Asia Minor. Alexander's Foundations. SOME HISTORICALITEMS. Caranus. The Gordian Knot. The Death of Batis. The Murder of Parmenion. The Alleged Massacre of the Branchidae. Alexander and the Ganges. Contents of Volume I1 D o c u M E N T A R Y. The Speeches in Arrian (and some in Curtius). Plutarch's Liji of Alexander. The Date of the Gazetteer of Alexander's Empire. PERSONAL.Alexander's Attitude to Sex. The Queen of the Amazons. 'Barsine ' and her Son Heracles. ANIKH TOZ. T HE M A I N P R o B L E M S. Alexander's Deification. The Embassies to Babylon. Alexander's Supposed Plans and the ' World-kingdom'. Brotherhood and Unity. viii To all the friends, living arzd dead, who have helped me over many years ABBREVIATIONS Berve. H. Berve, Das Alexanderreich, 2 vols., 1926. C.A. H. Cambridge Ancient History. Jacoby. F. Jacoby, Die Fragmente der griechischen ~istoriker (FGrHist). In progress. Kornemann. E. Kornemann, Die Alexandergeschichte des Konigs Ptolemaios I von Aegypten, 193 5. Phy. C. Phus Secundus, Naturalis Historia. Rostovtzeff, Soc. and Econ. Hist. M. Rostovtzeff, The Social and Economic History of the Hellenistic World, 3 VO~S.,1941. S. V.F. H. von Arnim, Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta, 3 vols., 1903-5- Susermhl. Fr. Susermhl, Geschichte dergriechischen Literatur in der Alexandrinerzeit, 2 vols., 1891, 1892. Tarn, Hell. C~V.~W. W. Tam, Hellenistic Civilisation, 2nd ed., 1930. Tam,Bactria and India. W.W. Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India, 1938. ALEXANDER THE GREAT CHAPTER ONE THE CONQUEST OF PERSIA LEXANDER 111, son of Philip I1 and the Epirote rincess Olympias, was born in summer 356, and Apwas twenty when in 336 he succeeded to the throne of Macedonia. Though both his parents claimed Greek descent, he certady had from his father, and probably from his mother, some Illyrian, i.e. Albanian, blood. When his son was thirteen, Phhp- invited Aristotle to Macedonia to be his tutor; and, so far as his character was influenced by others, it was influenced by Aristotle and Olympias, by a philosopher who taught that moderation alone could hold a kingdom together1 and by a woman to whom any sort of inoderation was unknown. Olympias was proud and terribly passionate, with an emotional side which made her a devotee of the orgiastic worships of Thrace; but she kept her son's love all his life, and, though he Inherited from Philip the solid qualities of capacity for affairs and ditary talent, his nature was largely hers, though not his mind. For if his nature was passionate, his mind was practical; he was found, when a boy, entertaining some Persian envoys by questioning thein about the routes across Asia. For physical pleasures, except hunting, he cared little ; but he read much poetry, and shared Euripidks' diske of the professional athlete. His heroes were his I Arist. Pol. vrn (v), I I, 13 I 3 n, 19. The Conquest of Persia traditional ancestors AcMes and Heracles, and he kept under his pdow a copy of the Iliad which Aristotle had revised for hun. During their three years together at Mieza, Aristotle taught him ethics and hls own views on politics and on the geography of Asia, and perhaps some metaphysics; later he wrote for him a treatise on the art of rhg,and perhaps another on colonisation. He also gave him a general interest in pldosophy, scientific investigation, and medicine. The last two bore fruit in Alexander's care for his army's health in Asia and in the great contributions he made to the knowledge of geography, hydrography, ethnology, zoology, and botany; the first is illustrated by the phdosophers who accompanied hmto Asia, and by the treatise on kmgship written for him by Xenocrates, while hs admiration for Heracles may have been quickened by the Cynic teaching which was already mhgof Heracles the ideal king, labouring incessantly for the good of man- kind. In appearance, Alexander was fair-shed, ruddy, and clean-shaven ; Lysippus' portrait-statues rendered famous the inchation of his head to the left side and the soft, upturned eyes. For the rest, he was at his accession easy to persuade but impossible to drive; generous, am- bitious, masterful, loyal to fiiends, and above all very young. HISdeeper qualities, for good or evil, remained to be called out by events. At sixteen he had governed Macedonia in Philip's ab- sence and defeated a Thracian rising; at eighteen he had commanded Pldp's left at Chaeronea, and broken the Sacred Band of Thebes. At nineteen he was an exlle. Relations between PhiLp and Olympias had long been strained, for Olympias was not the woman to tolerate Philip's harem; and the trouble came to a head when, in Alexander's youth 3 3 7, PMip married Cleo~atra,niece of hs general Attalus, which, unUe most of pup's 'marriages', threatened Olympias' position.