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Alexander’s Legacy
Transformations in Greek Politics and Culture
Walbank on Alexander
“The change in Alexander’s attitude towards Persia and his
attempt to transform his army from a primarily Macedonian
force, which still exercised the residual powers of the
Macedonian people, into a cosmopolitan international force
owing loyalty only to himself, in many ways anticipates the
military foundation on which the personal monarchies of the
Hellenistic age rested. By 323 ‘king Alexander’ was the
personal ruler of a vast spear-won empire which had little to
do with Macedonia. His successors likewise were to carve out
kingdoms for themselves with the help of armies bound to
them only by personal bonds.”
Greek/Barbarian Bipolarity
A New Cultural Politics
Examples of More Traditional Uses
Isocrates, Philip 10
“I am going to advise you to become the leader of
both Greek unity and of the expedition against
the barbarians; it is advantageous to employ
persuasion with Greeks and a useful thing to use
force against barbarians.”
Arrian, Anabasis 2.14
Alexander to Dareius III
“Your ancestors invaded Macedon and the rest of Greece
and did us harm although we had not done you any
previous injury. I have been appointed commander-inchief (hegemon) of the Greeks and it is with the aim of
punishing the Persians that I have crossed into Asia, since
you are the aggressors.”
Diodorus, Universal History 17.72
“What was most remarkable was that the sacrilege
committed by Xerxes, king of the Persians, against the
acropolis of Athens was avenged by a single woman [the
Athenian courtesan Thais], a fellow citizen of the victims, who
many years later, in sport, inflicted the same treatment on the
Persians.”
On destruction of Persepolis in 330 BCE
A New Vision?
“Alexander prayed for all sorts of blessings and
especially for harmony and fellowship in the
empire between Macedonians and Persians.”
Arrian, Anabasis, 7.11.9
Arrian, Anabasis 4.10.6-7
Philosopher Anaxarchus
“It would be far more just to consider Alexander as a god
than Dionysus or Heracles…there can be no doubt that
when Alexander had passed away men would honor him as
a god; how much more just was it then that they should so
honor him in his lifetime rather than when he was dead,
and the honors would be of no use to him.”
Arrian, Anabasis 7.4
On Mass Marriages at Susa (324 BCE)
“Then he also celebrated weddings at Susa, both his own and
those of his Companions. He himself married Barsine, the eldest
of Dareius’ daughters, and another girl as well, Parysatis, the
youngest of the daughters of Ochus. He had already married
previously Roxane, the daughter of Oxyrates of
Bactria….Similarly he gave to the other Companions the
noblest daughters of the Persians and the Medes, some 80 in
all….And as for all the Macedonians who had already married
Asian women, Alexander ordered a list of their names to be
drawn up; they numbered over 10,000, and Alexander offered
them all gifts for their wedding.”
Alexander’s Legacy
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Monarchy and Greek World
Enlarged Greek Universe
Paideia over Genos
Divine-Ruler Cult
Transformations in Polis
Rise of Mercenary Soldier
Cultural Hybridization
New Philosophical Systems