Some Thoughts on the Early Ptolemaic Dynasty

“Now, what I want is Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts; nothing else will ever be of any service to them.”
Charles Dickens Hard Times

Facts are all well and good but contrary to what Mr Gradgrind thought they do not ‘form the minds of reasoning animals’. Questions do those. Questions form the mind and answers settle it. And by answers I mean the truth. As for facts, they are uninterpreted answers, staging posts where we stop to consider what we know so that we might discover what is true.
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Why are this philosophising? Yesterday, I posted some bullet point facts about the family of Ptolemy I Soter. Doing so confirmed in my mind and threw up some new questions about him and the first generations of his dynasty.
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Three or Four?
I don’t know about anyone else but I tend to view the great figures of antiquity as essentially political beings. So much so that whenever I come across a personal act it surprises me. Ptolemy had three confirmed wives - Artakama, Euridike and Berenike I. He may have had a fourth - Thaïs, but we don’t know if they married. Either way, the lack of information about Thaïs in the diadoch period indicates that she was content to stay in the background. This is in a marked contrast to other women who played a more active role on the political stage.
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Why might Thaïs have decided to live a private life? Was she not concerned that if Ptolemy fell in love with another woman her life and those of her children might be in danger - look at how Arsinoē II plotted against and secured the conviction of Arsinoë I.
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Contrary to Athenaeus, I don’t think Thaïs did marry Ptolemy. Rather, the two came to an understanding about her place in his household: he would not marry her but he would protect her and her children. Both kept their sides of the agreement and lived happily (one hopes) until the end of their days.
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Game, Set and Match
Ptolemy married Artakama because Alexander told him to. He married Euridike because she was Antipater’s daughter and he wanted to seal an alliance with him. But Berenike I-? She was the daughter of two obscure parents. True, Antipater was her grand uncle but he was two years dead by the time Ptolemy and Berenike I married. And even if he wasn’t, Ptolemy could not have imagined that marriage to a more distant relation of Antipater would please the old man more than marriage to his daughter.
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On this point, I like to think that Ptolemy married Berenike I for love. She came with Euridike, he took a fancy to her, it got serious, they married.
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Simple Understanding
If there is one thing I really don’t like in ancient texts are authors’ simplifications. Recently, I read about how Alexander’s favourite eunuch, Bagoas, engineered the death of a Persian named Orsines. All it took was a few words in Alexander’s ear and Orsines was dead. I refuse to believe that Alexander could have been so easily manipulated.
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Even worse, though, is when the historical figure themselves act in what appears to be completely non-logical fashion. For example, what was Arsinoë II thinking of when she agreed to marry Ptolemy Keraunos? As Kevin Waterfield says, the marriage was something that

… even the ancient authors found puzzling, since [it] was so obviously doomed from the start.
(Dividing the Spoils, p. 208)

The truth is, though, we should not be so hard on Arsinoë II and anyone like her. A man without motives has not yet been born. Arsinoë had hers. If we are tempted to doubt this we might profitably look at our own lives and at the occasions when we have done things that were ‘non-logical’. We’ll be lucky if we avoid finding a justification for them as well, over and above a simple motive. Further to a tradition that Waterfield mentions, I imagine that Arsinoë’s ambition fooled her into thinking that she could be a queen and that Keraunos would accept her children by Lysimachus.
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Love Power
Arsinoë II is a reason why I wonder about Thaïs’ decision - if so it was - to stay in the background of Ptolemy’s court. Ptolemy married Arsinoë off to Lysimachus in 300 BC when she was still a teenager (by our understanding, of course). As mentioned above, Arsinoë went on to marry Ptolemy Keraunos (c. 28o BC) and then, four years later, her brother Ptolemy II Philadelphus.
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The marriage to Lysimachus was a matter of dynastic politics. I suspect Arsinoë got a taste for queenship in Thrace and this informed her desire to marry Ptolemy Keraunos. But what can be said of her marriage to Ptolemy II?
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The idea of a pharaoh marrying his sister was a well established one in Egypt but - to the best of my knowledge - was unknown in Greece and Macedon (in the atmosphere of which Ptolemy II and Arsinoë II would have grown up). It must surely have seemed an unnatural one at first to Ptolemy II and Arsinoë. Yet, in 276 BC, they went ahead with it, anyway. I imagine the idea came from a priest. Ptolemy considered it, Arsinoë accepted it, and they married. Was it a difficult decision for them to take? Did they regret it afterwards?
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Well, they stayed married, but as far as I am aware Ptolemy II and Arsinoë I never had any children. If this is correct, it is - perhaps - a sign that while they accepted the usefulness of brother-sister marriage, they were not yet ready to accept the idea of having sex with one another.
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On that point, I have done a quick check on Wikipedia and as it appears to me now, the Ptolemies took much longer than I realised to become a dynasty built on incest. Ptolemy III Euergetes was Ptolemy II’s son by Arsinoë I who was no relation to her husband. Ptolemy III married Berenike II who was also no relation to her husband. Their son, Ptolemy IV Philopator married his sister Arsinoë III, and it is at this point that the brother and sister marriage produced its first child: Ptolemy V Epiphanes.
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Turning to the Chronicle of the Pharaohs by Peter A. Clayton, I note that Ptolemy IV married Arsinoë III in 217 BC. May we say that it took the Ptolemies a century, therefore, to accept the idea of a brother-sister marriage (after all, Ptolemy III and Ptolemy IV did not marry their sisters)? Perhaps, but I note that Ptolemy IV ‘led a dissolute life’ (p. 211) so maybe his decision to not only marry his sister but have sex with her was informed as much by his character as it was by his philosophy or acceptance of Egyptian pharaonic norms. Coincidentally or otherwise, the reign of the hedonistic Ptolemy IV marks the beginning of the decline of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
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I have digressed. What I really meant to say was after marrying Ptolemy II, Arsinoë II brought about the exile of her husband’s first wife Arsinoë I. This, for me, is the risk that Thaïs was running by not marrying Ptolemy I or - at the very least - building a power base for herself in his court. She must have been supremely confident in Ptolemy.
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Philotera
For every Arsinoë II there is a Philotera. Her dates are uncertain, we don’t know if she married or had children, she may have died relatively young. Despite this, her brother, Ptolemy II, had Philotera deified, a temple raised in her honour and a town built in her name. Whatever else one thinks about Philadelphus, these gestures seem supremely personal to me, also reverent, and very loving. I would be surprised if there was no political element to his actions but very few men have ever lived who did not have mixed motives. This is why facts are only staging posts and need to be interpreted in order for the truth to be discovered.

Categories: The Ptolemaic Dynasty | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Bullet Point Alexander: Ptolemy I Soter’s Family

UPDATED on 27.11.13 to include Meleager and Artaeus

Blog posts for the interested and rushed
read a section at a time
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Ptolemy I Soter

  • Ptolemy Lagides was born in the Macedonian province of Eordaea
  • His father was named Lagus and his mother Arsinoë
  • Ptolemy had one known sibling - Menelaus
  • The date of Ptolemy’s birthdate is not known with certainly. Pseudo-Lucian places it c. 367/6 BC but this is disputed by scholars who believe Ptolemy to be Alexander the Great’s (b. 356 BC) contemporary
  • During the Wars of the Successors that followed Alexander’s death in 323 BC it was rumoured that Ptolemy was Alexander’s half-brother. This was probably no more than propaganda
  • In 305/4 BC, Ptolemy helped the island of Rhodes in its fight against Demetrios Poliorcetes. The Rhodians won the day. To thank Ptolemy for his help, they gave him the title of Soter (Saviour)
  • Ptolemy died in 283 BC

Ptolemy’s Women

  • Ptolemy married either three or four times and had eleven children (six sons and five daughters)
  • The uncertainty in the above figure is caused by the fact that we don’t know if he married Thaïs or not

I. THAÏS OF ATHENS

  • Date of birth and death are both unknown
  • Thaïs was an Athenian hetaera (courtesan)
  • Nota Bene Today, courtesans are commonly regarded as escorts or high-class prostitutes. This understanding does no justice to the hetaera of ancient Greece. Hetaerae were highly educated and cultured women whose company was sought for their intellect and artistic skills. They may also have been hired for sexual services but, unlike prostitutes (pornai), not for this purpose - or for this purpose - alone
  • We do not know when Ptolemy met Thaïs but it may have been through Alexander as Athenaeus (fl. late AD C2nd - early C3rd) states Alexander “liked to keep Thaïs with him”
  • Thaïs is most (in)famous for inciting Alexander to burn the Royal Palace in Persepolis down
  • This story appears in Diodorus’ history, which is based on Cleitarchus’ account of Alexander’s expedition (which draws from the memories of eye witnesses)
  • Unlike Ptolemy, Cleitarchus did not take part on the expedition
  • For his part, Ptolemy mentions what happened at Persepolis only briefly
  • Was he protecting Thaïs’ reputation? Possibly - but be warned, although Cleitarchus spoke to soldiers in the Macedonian army for his history his is not a wholly reliable account. As Livius notes, Cleitarchus ‘delights in fantastic tales and he sometimes sacrificed historical reliability to keep the story entertaining and to stress the psychological development. Therefore, Cleitarchus’ History of Alexander contains many errors (some serious)
  • Thaïs gave birth to three children. Two sons and a daughter: Lagus, Leontiscus and Eirene

Ptolemy’s Children by Thaïs

Lagus

  • Date of birth/death unknown
  • Won a chariot race at the Arcadian Festival in 308/07

Leontiscus

  • Date of birth/death unknown
  • Taken prisoner in Cyprus by Demetrios Poliorcetes in 307/6 (and sent home to Egypt)

Eirene

  • Date of birth/death unknown
  • Married Eunostus, king of Soli (in Cyprus)

II. ARTAKAMA (aka Apame)

  • Born c. 355-345
  • Daughter of Artabazus (Satrap of Hellespontine Phrygia under Artaxerxes II and Bactria under Alexander)
  • Sister of Alexander’s mistress, Barsine
  • Married Ptolemy in Susa, 324 BC
  • No further mention is made of her in the histories. Possible/likely that Ptolemy divorced her after Alexander’s death
  • No known issue

III. EURIDIKE

  • Date of birth and death are both unknown
  • Daughter of Antipater
  • Sister of the diadoch Cassander
  • Married Ptolemy in 321/0 as part of an alliance between Ptolemy and Antipater
  • Gave birth to (at least) one son: Ptolemy ‘Keraunos’ and two daughters: Ptolemais and Lysandra
  • Divorced/became estranged from Ptolemy at an unknown date
  • In 280 BC, Keraunos took his mother to live in Cassandreia in Macedon
  • Appears to have had a festival (the Euridikeia) created in her honour by someone named Apollodorus
  • Aunt of Euridike, daughter of Lysimachus (b. ?362/1 - 282/1 BC) and Nicaea (b. ? - ?)

Ptolemy’s Children by Euridike

Ptolemy Keraunos

  • Born c. 319 BC
  • Keraunos means ‘Thunderbolt’ not because of ‘…”his unpredictable and sinister character,” as hostile propaganda claimed, but for the power he wielded‘ (Waterfield, p. 194)
  • In c. 287 BC Ptolemy I named Ptolemy II Philadelphus as his successor
  • In response to this and on an unknown date Keraunos left Egypt
  • He made his way to Lysimachus’ court in Thrace, perhaps because his half-sister, Arsinoë II, was at that time married to Lysimachus there
  • On an unknown date Keraunos left Thrace after Arsinoë II had Lysimachus’ son, Agathocles (who was married to Arsinoë’s sister, Lysandra), killed
  • They went to the Seleucid court
  • In 281 BC, Seleucus defeated Lysimachus in the Battle of Corupedium. Keraunos took part in the battle on the side of Seleucus
  • In 281/0 BC Seleucus crossed into Thrace to take the Macedonian throne. Wanting it for himself, Keraunos killed the last surviving diadoch
  • Keraunos became king of Macedon. He married his step-sister, Arsinoë II
  • Not long after the marriage, Keraunos murdered three of Arsinoë II’s sons by Lysimachus (a fourth, the eldest, survived)
  • She fled to Egypt where she would marry her brother, Ptolemy II
  • In 279 BC, Keraunos died fighting Celtic invaders

Ptolemais

  • Date of birth and death unknown
  • In c. 298 BC, she was betrothed to Demetrios Poliorcetes as part of a friendship pact between Ptolemy and Seleucus
  • Ptolemais finally married Demetrios in 286 BC at the behest of her mother, Euridike, who was now estranged from Ptolemy

Lysandra

  • Date of birth and death unknown
  • Married to Alexander V in c. 298/7 BC. He was murdered by Demetrios Poliorcetes in 294 BC
  • Married to Agathocles son of Lysimachus in c. 293 BC as part of an alliance between Ptolemy and Lysimachus
  • Fled to the Seleucid court after Arsinoë II had Agathocles’ killed

Meleager

  • Date of birth and death unknown
  • Succeeded Ptolemy Keraunos as king of Macedon for two months in 279 BC before being forced to abdicate by his army

Artaeus

  • No details of Artaeus’ life are known to me

IV. BERENIKE

  • Born c.340s BC
  • Daughter of Magas and Antigone
  • Granddaughter of Cassander who was Antipater’s brother (uncle of the diadoch with that name)
  • Married a man named Philip on an unknown date and gave him a son and daughter - Antigone and Magas
  • The father of a third child, Theoxene, is not known with certainty
  • Philip appears to have died by 320/19 when Berenike travelled to Egypt with her cousin Euridike who was on her way to marry Ptolemy
  • Not long after their arrival, Berenike became Ptolemy’s mistress
  • Married Ptolemy in 317 BC
  • Gave birth to three children - one son - Ptolemy II Philadelphus and two daughters: Arsinoë II and Philotera

Ptolemy’s Children by Berenike

Ptolemy II Philadelphus

  • Born 309 BC on Cos
  • Ruled Egypt as Joint-King with Ptolemy I between 285-283 BC
  • Married i. Arsinoë I, daughter of Lysimachus ii. his own sister, Arsinoë II
  • Continued the building of the Lighthouse of Pharos
  • Continued the translation of the Septuagint Bible
  • Continued the building of the Museum of Alexandria (incl. temple and library)
  • Deified his mother and father as ‘Saviour Gods’
  • Ptolemy II and Arsinoë II were worshipped as the Theos Adelphoi (‘Sibling Gods’)
  • Died in 246 BC
  • Succeeded by Ptolemy III Euergetes (son of Arsinoë I)

Arsinoë II

  • Born c. 317/15
  • Married Lysimachus in 300 BC
  • Married her half-brother Ptolemy Keraunos c. 280 BC
  • Fled to Egypt c 280/79 BC after Keraunos murdered three of her sons by Lysimachus
  • In Egypt, she was reunited with her eldest son
  • Married her brother, Ptolemy II Philadelphus c. 276 BC
  • Date of death unknown
  • Callimachus wrote a poem in her honour after her death

Philotera

  • Lived c. 315/09 - c. 282/68 BC
  • Not known if she married or had children
  • After her death, Ptolemy II had Philotera deified, and a temple built in her honour in Alexandria. He also built a new town and named it after her. This town is modern day Safaga

Sources
Dividing the Spoils
by Robin Waterfield (OUP, 2011)
Ptolemy of Egypt by Walter M. Ellis (Routledge, 1994)
Who’s Who in the Age of Alexander the Great by Waldemar Heckel (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009)
Livius
Wikipedia
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When I say that something is ‘unknown’, I mean principally that it unknown to me. Therefore, if you know any information regarding Ptolemy’s family (or anything else you read on this blog) do feel free to let me know!

Categories: The Bullet Point Alexander, The Ptolemaic Dynasty | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Judith and Alexander - An Artistic Comparison

I recently created a Tumblr page for The Second Achilles. As well as being a place to reblog pictures of the great man himself I also use the page to reblog other classically related pictures and pictures that really have no place there but which I like anyway. For example, a few days ago, I found a still from one of my favourite films - Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistlestop Café. No connection to ancient Greece at all (that I can think of, anyway) but I wasn’t going to miss an opportunity to reblog it, anyway.

The following detail comes from Tumblr. It is a detail from Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes.

Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio: a detail

Judith Beheading Holofernes by Caravaggio: a detail

I was immediately struck by Judith’s expression. Her brow is furrowed, she is concerned; indeed, it feels like she is ageing ten years before our very eyes. And no wonder for at this moment she is cutting Holofernes’ head off. What I don’t see in this detail is fear or regret. There is a steeliness in her face, a determination to see her deadly job through.

The reason why the close up of Judith jumped out at me is because it tangentially recalled to mind a moment from Michael Wood’s documentary on Alexander (2005). In the first episode, he visits an (unnamed) Greek archaeologist who shows him a little carving of the nineteen or twenty year old Alexander’s head, which was found on a banqueting couch in Philip II’s tomb. Wood says he has a ‘sensitive face’ and compares it to a bust of the thirty year old Alexander who looks like ‘a troubled man’. If you would like to watch the sequence, it begins at 6:47 in the video below.

I suppose the reason why Caravaggio’s painting reminded me of the carving and sculpture of Alexander is because of the way he, Alexander, goes from being young and carefree in the former to old and worn in the latter. By contrast, Caravaggio manages to achieve a broad range of emotion in just the one image. And he makes Judith look so beautiful as well!
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It would be unfair to say that this makes the Italian a better artist than Alexander’s sculptors. They were, no doubt, working to very different rules than Caravaggio but the detail happily reminds me of why Caravaggio is such a great artist and makes me now want to go and look at some of his other paintings again.
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On a personal note - I first read Judith’s story when I studied the Anglo-Saxon poem at university. It stayed in my mind because the poet calls refers to Judith as ‘ælfscinu’ - elf shining - which (I am trusting to memory here) given that the Anglo-Saxons were not keen on elves and elvish things seemed an odd choice of word to use. Perhaps by the time the poet (Cynewulf) wrote his poem ælfscinu had changed its meaning?

Categories: Art, Echoes of Alexander | Tags: , , , | 2 Comments

For Argument’s Sake: The Rosetta Stone

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The Rosetta Stone (credit: Wikipedia)

1. In the reign of the young one who has succeeded his father in the kingship, lord of diadems, most glorious, who has established Egypt and is pious

2. Towards the gods, triumphant over his enemies, who has restored the civilised life of men, lord of the Thirty Years Festivals, even as Hephaistos the Great, a king like the Sun,

3. Great king of the Upper and Lower countries, offspring of the Gods Philopatores, one of whom Hephaistos has approved, to whom the Sun has given victory, the living image of Zeus, son of the Sun, Ptolemy

4. Living for ever, beloved of Ptah, in the ninth year, when Aetos son of Aetos was priest of Alexander, and the Gods Soteres, and the Gods Adelphoi, and the Gods Euergetai, and the Gods Philopatores and

5. The God Epiphanes Eucharistos; Pyrrha daughter of Philinos being Athlophoros of Berenike Euergetis; Areia daughter of Diogenes being Kanephoros of Arsinoe Philadelphos; Irene

6. Daughter of Ptolemy being Priestess of Arsinoe Philopator; the fourth of the month of Xandikos, according to the Egyptians the 18th Mekhir.

The Rosetta Stone is a very overrated object. This might seem an odd thing to say given that we owe its multilingual translation of an inscription from the mid Ptolemaic era for our knowledge of hieroglyphs, but that is chiefly of interest to Egyptologists and linguists. For the average tourist, the inscription is simply a verbose piece of sycophancy on behalf of Ptolemy V Epiphanes by the Egyptian priests who wrote it.

I took the above translation of the Stone from Fordham University’s web page here. I dare you to read it to the end without sighing with relief afterwards! Give me Arrian’s no-frills text, anytime. In fact, give me Herodotus or even a myth. There may be proportionately less that is true or correct in each but at least they are both readable.

Of course, I am being deliberately contrary here and - I admit - jealous. Why are these people not in the Alexander Room round the corner admiring the famous bust of the king?!

There’s a good reason for that: the room is often closed. On my last visit to the Museum I asked the BM man why this was. They didn’t have the staff. Unacceptable. This is the Alexander Room! Granted I am thoroughly biased, but I could name any number of other less interesting rooms that could be closed first.

Failing that, why not swap the Rosetta Stone and the bust? Which is more important, anyway - the chance to see a stele praising Ptolemy V or the opportunity to contemplate a vision of the greatest king who ever lived. Bah.

Categories: For Argument's Sake | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Points of Connection Between the Living and the Dead

John F Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

John F Kennedy (1917 - 1963)

Today marks the fiftieth anniversary of John F Kennedy’s assassination. It wasn’t the most significant event of its kind in the twentieth century - Gavrilo Princip’s assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which lead to the Great War, and thereby to World War II and the Cold War was much more important - but as the victim was the effective leader of the ‘free world’ it commands a unique place in our collective memory.
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John F Kennedy was not the only person to die on 22nd November 1963. On the same day, we lost C S Lewis and Aldous Huxley. Lewis needs no introduction. Unfortunately, the same is probably not the case with Huxley. This is a shame, as his novel Brave New World is regarded as one of the finest science fiction novels of the twentieth century - on a par with 1984.
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Now, what has all this got to do with a blog dedicated to Alexander the Great? Well, it occurred to me last night that there is a way in which Kennedy’s assassination echoes Philip II’s, while Alexander’s death similarly echoes C S Lewis’ and Aldous Huxley’s.
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My reasoning is this - the assassination of both Philip and John F Kennedy were (at least in part) acts of spite by their murderers, and both murders had big political consequences. In Philip’s case it was the accession of Alexander to the Macedonian throne, the downfall of the Persian empire and the birth of the hellenistic period. As for John F Kennedy it is my understanding that when he died he was thinking of withdrawing American troops from Vietnam. Had he done so he might have saved America the bitter regret and disinclination to involve itself in future wars that came with its defeat to the Viet Cong, which was a consequence of President Johnson’s decision to send more troops there.
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It goes without saying that Alexander’s death also had political consequences - one’s which in both the short and long term were much more profound than those which follwe Philip’s murder - but the consequence that I am most interested in is the fact that when Alexander died, the heroic age of Greece - which had begun in the mythical age of the Titans and gods - finally came to a close.
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Alexander was a king but - as I’m sure I have said before - I don’t think he actually cared for kingship very much. He ‘simply’ wanted to win glory through war and exploration; to go further than any man - or god - had done previously - and to do it better than them as well. I can’t think of any monarch since who has followed in his footsteps.

C S Lewis (1898 - 1963)

C S Lewis (1898 - 1963)

So, when Alexander died, an idea died with him. Which idea died with C S Lewis and Aldous Huxley? Actually, none. They themselves were the idea - Lewis with his ‘muscular Christianity’ and Huxley with his dystopian view of the future.
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Of the three ideas, Lewis’ is certainly the most pleasing. I should add here that when I talk about ‘muscular Christianity’ I don’t mean the Victorian idea. I’m thinking of no more than that Christianity which takes its faith with a pint of ale, cigarette or pipe if one so wishes, a hearty meal and conversation around the hearth. I might as well call it Inklings Christianity! As much as I like Alexander I am rather glad I don’t feel obliged to make war on people to win a good reputation. Why a dystopian future is not so likeable should be obvious.
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Having said that, as the consequences of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s and Philip’ II’s deaths show, we live interconnected lives, so even as I praise Lewis I have to recognise that he could not have lived as he did if it had not been (for example) Alexander - think the spread of hellenism and how it aided the spread of the Christian faith three centuries later, which Lewis was a part of. And in truth, I like that. I like the fact that we owe each other something as that builds up community; one which, I might say, transcends life itself. On this day of deaths, that is a comforting thought.
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JFK, CSL, AH - Requiescant in Pace.

Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963)

Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963)

Categories: Of The Moment | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Paul Cartledge on the Oath of Plataea

Paul Cartledge’s talk at the Hellenic Centre (on 12.11.13) in London, which I wrote about here. Unfortunately, it does not include the Q and A at the end.

Categories: Of The Moment | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Neoptolemus vs Eumenes - To The Death

Celebrating the Deeds of the Ancient Macedonians - the hardest men to walk the earth.

WARNING: This blog accepts no responsibility for any faintness felt by women or children who read this highly masculine post.

For other posts in this series click here. If you dare.

Date 320 BC Place Border of Asia Minor/Cappadocia
Mano a Mano
Neoptolemus vs Eumenes

"Hector Admonishes Paris for His Softness and Exhorts Him to Go to War by J.H.W. Tischbein (1751–1828)" - Brilliant description on Wikipedia

“Hector Admonishes Paris for His Softness and Exhorts Him to Go to War by J.H.W. Tischbein (1751–1828)” - Brilliant description on Wikipedia

There’s nothing I like better than compiling lists. Especially if it is a list of top ten masculine activities. As it happens, every time I write one of those ‘taking part in a battle’ comes out near the top. For the avoidance of doubt, I don’t mean any kind of battle, for there are some that are frankly not worthy of the name. A case in point are the drone strikes that America is currently using as part of its ‘War on Terror’ against sundry Islamist terrorist suspects. If there is a more effete way to wage a war against one’s enemies, I do not yet know it. The problem with the drone strikes is not only that they do not give the enemy a fair chance to fight back but that the American combatant doesn’t even have the decency to control his drone from anywhere near the target but instead does so from thousands and thousands of miles away in a control centre that is very likely air conditioned as well. This is a beastly way of fighting and no one will ever convince me otherwise.
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You will deduce from the above that my ideal battle is one in which the combatants are on the same battlefield. Ideally, they should have the same or similar weaponry and equipment and the same opportunity to attack their enemy. A perfect example of this kind of battle is the duel that Neoptolemus and Eumenes fought against one another in 320 BC when the latter’s army fought Craterus’ somewhere on the border of Asia Minor and Cappadocia.
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Our source for this confrontation is Plutarch and his Life of Eumenes. He tells how Eumenes and Neoptolemus

… had long nursed a mutual hatred and were now enraged towards each other… [recognising] each other [they] immediately galloped towards one another with swords drawn, screaming. Their horses smashed into each other, like triremes ramming, and letting go of the reins they clutched at each other, trying to tear off the other’s helmet and to rip the breast-plate from his shoulders. As they struggled, their horses bolted from under them and they were pitched to the ground.

Mutual hatred, galloping horses smashing into each like triremes - what a powerful image! - clutching and tearing. I can just feel the strength and desperation. It’s great stuff. By the way, we don’t know why Neoptolemus and Eumenes hated each other and frankly I don’t care. Knowing would only induce unwelcome feelings of sympathy, sadness and other such feminine emotions, all of which would get in the way of my appreciation of the duel.
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Ah, the duel. No armies to hide behind, no unequal weapons. Just rage, fear, desire, and absolute determination to be the victor. Can it get more masculine? I think I need to lie down.
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But no, let’s continue. You might have thought that having been violently dismounted from their horses, Eumenes and Neoptolemus might have been too winded to continue. Shame on you if so. No sooner had they fallen, than…

[i]mmediately they fell upon each other once again and set to grappling and wrestling. Then, as Neoptolemus tried to get up first, Eumenes stabbed him behind the knee…

At this point Neoptolemus could be forgiven for surrendering. As well as being bruised and battered and now crippled he would certainly by now have been very tired as well. But these Macedonians - they just did not give up, even if, like Eumenes, they had very little experience as a general. And so…

Neoptolemus, incapacitated in one knee and supporting himself on the other, continued to put up strong resistance… until, after sustaining many more minor wounds, he was finally struck in the neck and fell to the ground, where he lay prone.

Thinking that his enemy was finally dead, Eumenes inserted himself into the epic drama of the Iliad and started stripping Neoptolemus of his armour. But in the best story telling tradition, there was a twist in the tale. Neoptolemus was still alive. As Eumenes spat insults at his foe, Neoptolemus managed to wrap his fingers round his sword and stab Eumenes in the chest.
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Did he kill him? No. Fortunately for Eumenes, the gods were on his side that day. Neoptolemus’ blow was too weak. Plutarch says it shocked more than hurt the Cardian. After recovering himself, Eumenes probably administered the coup de grâce before finishing stripping Neoptolemus’ body and making his escape.
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Where do you think he went? Plutarch tells us that Eumenes ‘was suffering grievously from gashes on his thighs and arms’ so to the infirmary would have made for a good answer. But not the right one. Of course not. Rather than seek help, Eumenes ‘mounted his horse and set off at speed for the other wing’ where he thought that Craterus’ army was still holding strong.
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Being hard is not just about being tough in battle. It’s also about being man enough to respect your enemies - giving them an equal chance in battle, and dignity if you achieve victory. Eumenes failed Neoptolemus in the latter respect but came good when he learnt that Craterus had died. He turned away from the fighting, and went to his old friend’s side. Once there, he discovered that his foe was still alive. This didn’t change the way he approached him, though, and he

… poured out words of pity both for Craterus and his fate and for himself and the necessity which had driven him into conflict with a friend and comrade in which he must kill or be killed.

Rating of Hard 8.5/10
Pro: Neither Eumenes or Neoptolemus shirked any aspect of their duel. Once they caught sight of one another, it was a fight to the death.
Against: Their hatred for each other (Eumenes continued to insult Neoptolemus when he was with Craterus) meant they could not fight with total honour and heroism

Categories: Muscular Macedonians | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Finding Alexander: In the Old Testament

If you attend Mass today at a Catholic church be prepared for a familiar name to pop up at the start of the First Reading. It comes from 1 Maccabees. Here are the opening lines as given on the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops:

[From the descendants of Alexander’s officers]
there sprang a sinful offshoot, Antiochus Epiphanes,
son of King Antiochus, once a hostage at Rome.
He became king in the year one hundred and thirty seven
of the kingdom of the Greeks…

The first line is in square brackets because it is a truncated version of a much longer passage. Livius gives the longer version of the book’s opening:

After Alexander son of Philip, the Macedonian, who came from the land of Kittim, had defeated Darius, king of the Persians and the Medes, he succeeded him as king. (He had previously become king of Greece.) He fought many battles, conquered strongholds, and put to death the kings of the earth. He advanced to the ends of the earth, and plundered many nations. When the earth became quiet before him, he was exalted, and his heart was lifted up. He gathered a very strong army and ruled over countries, nations, and princes, and they became tributary to him.

After this he fell sick and perceived that he was dying. So he summoned his most honored officers, who had been brought up with him from youth, and divided his kingdom among them while he was still alive. And after Alexander had reigned twelve years, he died.

Then his officers began to rule, each in his own place. They all put on crowns after his death, and so did their sons after them for many years; and they caused many evils on the earth. From them came forth a sinful root…

As we know, Alexander didn’t divide up his empire at all - it might have been better if he had - and I can’t help but note the writer’s sweeping statement that the diadochi ’caused many evils on the earth’. This makes me want to try and find out more about the situation of the Jews in the Successor empires - especially Egypt as I am most interested in Ptolemy I and his descendants.
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The reason I would like to do so is because I had the impression that - by the time that 1 and 2 Maccabees were written, in the second century BC - Jews were well established in Alexandria having (under the patronage possibly of Ptolemy I and certainly Ptolemy II) translated the Septuagint. Perhaps life had been and still was bad for them despite this or maybe the writer was speaking from the perspective of his own age and location. I’m afraid I don’t know enough to say.
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Anyway, it was a nice surprise to see Alexander’s name this morning. I believe he is referred to more allusively in the Book of Daniel and even in the Quran. If I can locate the references I will certainly mention them here.

Categories: Finding Alexander | Tags: , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

A Letter to Arrian (17) Conquering Heracles

roman_writerMy dear Arrian,
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So, after capturing the Sogdian Rock, Alexander decided to assault the Rock of Aornos. And why not - it was only twenty-five miles in circumference and 8,000 feet high with only one way up!

Aornos was a mighty prospect but you are sceptical that Heracles even visited India let alone failed to take it himself. Instead, you suggest that it has been invented by people who want to create a cover for their own failures.
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Tangentially, I wonder what impulse inclines some writers to overstate Alexander’s successes. For example, Quintus Curtius Rufus says that the Sogdian Rock was 18,000 feet high! Surely Curtius knew that this was a wholly unrealistic figure? In fact, it was probably about 1,200 feet as that is how far the men would have been able to climb in six or seven hours*.
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The assault on Aornos could have been one of Alexander’s greatest achievements. As it turned out, his passage was eased, firstly, by defectors who showed him the way to the Rock’s most vulnerable point. Alexander ordered Ptolemy to secure the position. This he did, but was soon attacked by Indians.
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I had to smile at Alexander’s message to his general - defend the position by attacking the enemy! This is so Alexander. I can only imagine what Ptolemy made of this message. He must have been nervous, but, yes, I bet he was equally fired by Alexander’s spirit. That was the effect that the king had on people.

At this point, I must say that I really wish I had a graphic to go with the description of Alexander’s assault of the Indians’ position. It sounds like he was creating a causeway just as he did at Tyre but I am not sure.
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Whatever Alexander was doing it was enough to frighten the Indians, and despite the strength of their position they tried to flee. This second reversal of fortune for the natives not only eased Alexander’s passage but concluded the assault. I have to admit I was a little disappointed by the anti-climactic ending - a successful assault on the Aornos Rock would have added to Alexander’s prestige considerably. Well, it’s not like he didn’t win enough elsewhere.
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As Alexander marched for the Indus he took up elephant hunting. For someone who had hunted lions before I can’t imagine that this gave him much of a thrill. Elephants are, after all, rather slow animals. Too easy a target to be worth chasing.
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I have more to say about what I read in this session but I will leave the rest for the next letter so that I remain under my word limit (almost).

Your friend,

φιλέλλην

The above picture is from Ancient History
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An index of all the letters can be found here
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* In the absence of any rock climbing experience, I came across this fact while watching an episode of Top Gear in which a car was pitted against two rock climbers in a race to the top of a cliff. As I recall, the rock climber, Leo Houlding, stated that an experienced climber would be able to manage the 1,200 in the time given above, i.e. 6 - 7 hours.

Categories: Letters to Arrian | Tags: , | 2 Comments

Berenike II

Berenike II

Berenike II

… Conon observed me at heaven’s threshold,
a lordly lock from Berenice’s crown
brightly relfugent, that she vowed to an assortment
of goddesses, smooth arms outstretched,
at the time when the King, strengthened by his new marriage,
was off to despoil Assyria’s borderlands,
still bearing sweet traces of the nighttime struggle
he’d waged for her virgin trophy.

In 246 BC, Antiochus II died. He was succeeded by Seleucus II Kallinikos in 245. To ensure her son’s succession, Seleucus II’s mother, Laodike had her late husband’s second wife, Berenike Syra, and her son, assassinated. Unfortunately for Laodike, Berenike’s brother, Ptolemy III Euergetes decided to go war against Seleucus in revenge for the murder of his sister. Back in Alexandria, Ptolemy’s wife, Berenike II, made a vow to cut off her hair should the gods bring her new husband safely home.
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The above quotation is an English translation by Peter Green of the Roman poet Catullus’ translation of Callimachus’ original. Unfortunately, only a third of Callimachus’ poem has survived. The narrator of the poem is the lock of Berenike’s hair that she did indeed cut off when Ptolemy III returned to Alexandria. Not long after being placed in the temple, the lock was stolen or lost. This lead the priest Conon to tell Ptolemy that it hadn’t been taken, rather, that it had ascended to the heavens. This story lead to the naming of a constellation after the queen - the Coma Berenices (Berenike’s Braid or Hair).
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I had no knowledge of this story until I read about it on The Second AchillesTumblr feed last night. The picture you see above was posted by a user named ‘tiny-librarian’ who posts a veritable cornucopia of images from the past. If you use Tumblr I recommend them to you.

Ptolemy III Euergetes

Ptolemy III Euergetes


As for the poem itself - I am not quite sure what to infer from the fact that Ptolemy III had to struggle to deflower his wife. The overall tone of the poem, which is lighthearted, makes me think the Catullus is speaking of a playful fight rather than a violent one. As I mentioned above, Peter Green translated the version of the poem that I have quoted (in The Poems of Catullus, 2005). There are also translations on-line, though.
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Catullus c. 84 - 54 BC
Callimachus 310/05 - 240 BC

Categories: Art, Poetry | Tags: , | Leave a comment

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