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CLAS 0810A: Alexander the Great and the Alexander Tradition

HalloweenOctober 31, 2014

PART VII: The Developmentof the Legendary Alexander

Alexander and the (supposed)“brotherhood of man”

Some long-lived impacts of Alexander’s actions:

• City-founding, the spread of urbanism and Hellenism in the East

• Divinity within his own lifetime? The divine right of kings

• The notion of the “unity of mankind” or the “brotherhood of man”

W.W. Tarn:

“… a dream of the various races of mankind (at least, those known

to Alexander) becoming of one mind together and living in unity

and concord”

The alleged policy of fusion was “the most important thing

about Alexander”… because it led on to the spiritual climate of

The Roman Empire and, later, Christianity.

Some relevant topics:

• Court protocol.

The fuss over Proskynesis

• Make-up of the army.

Increasing use of Persians and other ethnic groups, alongside

Macedonians and Greeks

• Administration. Use of Persian nobles as satraps or garrison commanders

• City Foundations.Greek in concept, but with very mixed populations

• Intermarriage.

The mass marriages at Susa in 324 BC, etc.

• Alexander’s so-called “Last Plans”.Alleged scheme for population exchanges between Asia

and Europe

Helmut Berve (1938)• Creation of a new “master race” based solely on

fusion of Macedonians and Persians• Blutvermischung (mixing of blood)

W.W. Tarn (1948, but writing 1918-39)

• Alexander a man with a dream of homonoia

(concord, harmony), not “genetic fusion”

• Impact of the League of Nations, the British

Commonwealth, decolonization

Tarn relies heavily on three passages:

The Banquet at Opis, 324 BC

• Alexander proposes to send army veterans home to Macedonia

• Macedonians think this means a planned transfer of the seat of power

from Macedonia to Asia

• Open mutiny; demand that everyone return home

• Alexander arrests ringleaders

• Delivers a passionate harangue, dismisses whole army from service

• Sulks in his tent

• Banquet of reconciliation, with 9,000 guests

• Libations drunk from Darius’ own krater

• Alexander offers a prayer for peace and homonoia

Source: Arrian 7.11

Alexander the Greatquells the mutiny at Opis

André Castaigne (1899)

The Banquet at Opis, 324 BC

• Alexander proposes to send army veterans home to Macedonia

• Macedonians think this means a planned transfer of the seat of power

from Macedonia to Asia

• Open mutiny; demand that everyone return home

• Alexander arrests ringleaders

• Delivers a passionate harangue, dismisses whole army from service

• Sulks in his tent

• Banquet of reconciliation, with 9,000 guests

• Libations drunk from Darius’ own krater

• Alexander offers a prayer for peace and homonoia

Source: Arrian 7.11

(2) Strabo, Geography I.4,9

Now, towards the end of his treatise — after witholding praise from those who

divide the whole multitude of mankind into two groups, namely, Greeks and

Barbarians, and also from those who advised Alexander to treat the Greeks

as friends but the Barbarians as enemies — Eratosthenes goes on to say that

it would be better to make such distinctions according to good and bad

qualities. For not only are many of the Greeks bad, but many of the

Barbarians are civilized — Indians and Arians, for example, and, further,

Romans and Carthaginians, who conduct their governments so admirably.

And this, he says, is why Alexander, disregarding his advisors, welcomed as

many as he could of those of good repute and treated them favorably.”

(3) Plutarch, On the Fortune of Alexander 329b-d

Alexander did not follow Aristotle’s advice to treat the Greeks as their leader, but the

barbarians as their master; to regard the Greeks as friends and kinsmen, but deal with

the barbarians as though they were animals or plants; for to do so would have been to

encumber 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 mediator of

the entire 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 camp, as akin to them all good men, and as foreigners

only the wicked. They should not distinguish between Greek and barbarian by cloak

and shield, scimitar and jacket. The distinguishing mark of the Greek should be seen

In virtue, that of the barbarian in iniquity. Dress, food, marriage, and way of life

they should regard as common to all, blended into one by ties of blood and children.

A more limited view is probably correct:

• Alexander did not radically alter Greek and Macedonian attitudes

to “the other”

• Acting out of expediency

• Sensible to appoint Persians to high command

• Sensible to let Macedonians marry Persian and other local women

• Mixed offspring would produce loyal soldiers and help consolidate

the empire from a military standpoint

• Sensible to encourage homonoia within the empire

Nevertheless… Notions of the Brotherhood of Man: — did enter Stoic philosophy— strongly influenced the Roman world— affected the spred of Christianity— were spread almost literally worldwide by the Alexander Romance