Alexander's Early Life

J. R. Hamilton

doi:10.1017/S001738350001528X

Alexander's Early Life

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2009

J. R. Hamilton

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Alexander's parents were both striking personalities. Olympias, a native of Epirus, whose family traced their ancestry back to Achilles, was jealous and possessive—and terribly passionate. Her emotions found an outlet in the wild orgiastic rites of Dionysus, and at Alexander's accession and again after his death her desire for vengeance erupted in acts of unbridled savagery. This streak of cruelty reappears in Alexander, especially when in his later years he was under increasing strain. Philip, too, was capable of great passion although he nearly always managed to control himself. It is scarcely surprising therefore that their son should occasionally be subject to volcanic outbursts. To call him, as Mithridates VI of Pontus has been called, a ‘barbarian varnished’ would be absurd; it is scarcely less so to expect from him the conduct of a Greek gentleman or the product of one of our public schools. He also reproduced some of Philip's most notable qualities. We see in him the same reckless, even foolhardy, bravery, the same dogged persistence, the same open-handed generosity. From his father he inherited too his capacity for managing men and affairs.

Type: Research Article
Information: Greece & Rome , Volume 12 , Issue 2 , October 1965 , pp. 117 - 124

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S001738350001528X [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Classical Association 1965

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^{page 117 note 1} Berve, ii. 283ffGoogle Scholar. (no. 581). For her career after Alexander, 's death CAH vi. 463ff., esp. 481.Google Scholar

^{page 117 note 2} Tarn, W. W., Hellenistic Civilisation ³ (London, 1952), 170.Google Scholar

^{page 117 note 3} D. xvi. 34. 5.

^{page 117 note 4} P. 9. 5; Athenaeus, 13. 557d–e.Google Scholar

^{page 118 note 1} Berve, i. 10ff.Google Scholar

^{page 118 note 2} P. 6. On Chares see Pearson, L., The Lost Histories of Alexander the Great (New York, 1960), 50ff.Google Scholar

^{page 118 note 3} Berve, ii. 235 (no. 469).Google Scholar

^{page 118 note 4} Berve, ii. 241 (no. 481).Google Scholar

^{page 118 note 5} P. 15. 5; A. i. 12. I; cf. D. xvii. 17. 2; J. xi. 5. 12.

^{page 118 note 6} Pearson, , op. cit., 8ff.Google Scholar

^{page 118 note 7} P. 5. 6.

^{page 118 note 8} P. 5. I ff.

^{page 118 note 9} Jaeger, W., Aristotle ² (Oxford, 1948), 117ff.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 1} So Russell, Bertrand, A History of Western Philosophy (London, 1946), 183Google Scholar. He supposes that Aristotle's influence was ‘nil’!

^{page 119 note 2} Yeats, W. B., Among School Children.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 3} Jaeger, loc. cit.; Wormell, D. E. W., YCIS v (1935), 61ff.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 4} By Merlan, Philip, Historia iii (1954–1955), 60ff.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 5} See Berve, ii. 70(no. 135).Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 6} P. 8. 2; 26. I; Strabo, xiii. 594.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 7} e.g. P. 10. 7; 53. 2, 4.

^{page 119 note 8} P. i. 11. 12; A. i. 9. 10.

^{page 119 note 9} P. 8. 3.

^{page 119 note 10} Ehrenberg, V., Alexander and the Greeks (Oxford, 1938), 89ff.Google Scholar

^{page 119 note 11} P. 9. 1. On Antipater, , Isocr. Ep. 4.Google Scholar

^{page 120 note 1} Theopompus, (F. Gr. Hist. 115)Google Scholar, fr. 110; Plut. Mor. 520BGoogle Scholar; Pliny, , NH iv. 41Google Scholar; cf. D. xvi. 71. 2.

^{page 120 note 2} Wilcken, 58Google Scholar; Tarn, ii. 248fGoogle Scholar. doubts whether it was founded by Alexander.

^{page 120 note 3} See Badian, E., Historia vii (1958), 442, n. 71.Google Scholar

^{page 120 note 4} P. 9. 2. ff.; D. xvi. 86.

^{page 120 note 5} J. ix. 4. 5; Polybius, v. 10.Google Scholar

^{page 120 note 6} Berve, ii. 213fGoogle Scholar. (no. 434); see especially P. 9. 6 ff. On the Pixodarus episode and the murder of Badian, Philip E., Phoenix xvii (1963), 246Google Scholar. His arguments for Alexander's guilt are conclusive.

^{page 120 note 7} On the connexion, C. vi. 9. 7.

^{page 120 note 8} P. 10. 4 lists those exiled (see p. 121, n. 5) as Ptolemy, Harpalus, and the Greeks Nearchus and Erigyios. A. iii. 6. 5 adds Laomedon, the brother of Erigyios.

^{page 121 note 1} Schachermeyr, F., Alexander der Grosse (Graz, Salzburg, Wien, 1949), 54ff.Google Scholar; Badian, E., AUMLA xvii (1962), 80.Google Scholar

^{page 121 note 2} P. 9. 12ff.

^{page 121 note 3} P. 10. 1 ff. (the sole source). On Arrhidaeus, , Berve, ii. 385 f. (no. 781).Google Scholar

^{page 121 note 4} Punctuating at P. 10. 3 τὸν ‘Αλέξανδρον, εἰς τὸ δωμάτιον Παραλαβὼν τὼν φίλων αὐτοῦ καὶ συνηθῶν ἓνα Φιλώταν τὸν Παρμενίωνος, ἐπετίμησεν ἰσχυρῶς … and translating Παραλαβών as ‘taking as a witness’.

^{page 121 note 5} For their names see p. 120, n. 8. A. iii. 6. 5 vaguely places their exile in the period after the wedding of Philip and Cleopatra.

^{page 121 note 6} Schachermeyr, , op. cit., 87Google Scholar, oddly thinks that Alexander is shown to be innocent by the cowardly method employed. Had he wished to kill his father, he would have done so in fair fight!

^{page 121 note 7} Berve, ii. 308fGoogle Scholar. (no. 614). The main account is D. xvi. 93 f.

^{page 121 note 8} J. ix. 6. 5 ‘primis pubertatis annis’.

^{page 122 note 1} They may even have been Alexander's personal bodyguard; see Welles, C. B. (Diodorus [Loeb edition], vol. viii, p. 101, n. 2).Google Scholar

^{page 122 note 2} P. 10. 6; J. ix. 7. 1.

^{page 122 note 3} Berve, ii. 17f.Google Scholar (no. 37), Cf. ibid. 80 (no. 144), 169 (no. 355).

^{page 122 note 4} His marriage: Polyaenus, viii. 60Google Scholar. His murder: J. xii. 6. 14; cf. C. vi. 9. 17.

^{page 122 note 5} Berve, ii. 94 (no. 182).Google Scholar

^{page 122 note 6} P. II. 1 f.; D. xvii. 3. 1ff.; A. i. I. 1 ff.

^{page 123 note 1} D. xvii. 8. 1 ff.; A. i. I. 4–6. II.

^{page 123 note 2} Wilcken, 67ff.Google Scholar; Fuller, J. F. C., The Generalship of Alexander the Great (London, 1958), 219ffGoogle Scholar. We may compare in its aims and methods the Scythian campaign of Darius.

^{page 123 note 3} A. i. 7–10; D. xvii. 8. 3–15. 5.

^{page 123 note 4} As Plutarch recognizes, P. II. II.

^{page 123 note 5} Mor. 326D–333C and Mor. 333C–345B. On the value of the essays and the Life see Wardman, A. E., CQ, N.s. v (1955), 96ff.Google Scholar; cf. Badian, E., Historia vii (1958), 436 f.Google Scholar

^{page 123 note 6} On Plutarch's Lives in general, Gomme, A. W., A Commentary on Thucydides I (Oxford, 1945), 54ff.Google Scholar

^{page 123 note 7} Wardman, , op. cit. At P. 2. 6Google Scholar, a passage not used by Wardman, Aristander interprets Philip's dream to mean that Olympias' son will be θυμοειδὴς καὶ λεοντώδης.

^{page 123 note 8} Tarn i. 2.

^{page 123 note 9} P. I. 2.

^{page 124 note 1} P. 23. I. Cf. Tarn i. 73 —not borne out by A. iv. 8. 2. For Macedonian drinking habits see Ephippus, (F. Gr. Hist. 126) fr. i.Google Scholar

^{page 124 note 2} For Alexander's reaction to Hephaestion's death, Berve, ii. 174 (no. 357)Google Scholar. Cf. CQ, N.S. iii (1953), 156f.Google Scholar

^{page 124 note 3} Tarn, i. 79Google Scholar; Wilcken, 150f.Google Scholar

^{page 124 note 4} Berve, ii. 394ffGoogle Scholar. (no. 802). On the ‘conspiracy’ of Philotas, see especially Badian, E., TAPA xci (1960), 324 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 124 note 5} Berve, ii. 194ffGoogle Scholar. (no. 408); see especially P. 55. I ff.

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