There are maps and there are Maps

Maps are a most fascinating tool to use when travelling or simply when sightseeing from your own chair. They have been very useful for me when trying to retrace Alexander’s footsteps in a time when our modern roads did not exist and we had to rely on what the landscape had to offer with its rivers, deserts and mountain passes.

Finding our way back in time is particularly difficult when it comes to cities, most of all ancient cities that have been built and rebuilt over and over again. Such a city certainly is Rome and I find it quite exciting to learn that the best map of Rome was created in 1901 by archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani. His map is terribly detailed since it covers buildings from antiquity up to the 19^th century. It is not surprising that it is huge, 5.20 x 7.30 meters and it has been published as 46 separate sheets over a period of eight years!

[Picture from National Geographic]

It makes you wonder why such a precious document together with all Lanciani’s sources of documents, photographs, and sketches has been kept behind closed doors at the National Institute of Archaeology and Art History in Rome. Luckily, times have changed and the Italian government has made the maps available for research and most of the material has been digitalized. The Maps of Rome can be consulted by everybody at MappingRome and the other pertaining documents are freely available online as well.

It is so clever that Lanciani color coded his maps. He used black for the antique and medieval constructions, red for the sections from before 1871 (unification of Italy) and blue for the additions made after 1871. It is always a puzzle to even imagine where ancient buildings stood and the space they occupied as we are walking through today’s Rome or any other city, meaning that his work is very meaningful.

The idea of creating a full map of Rome is not new, of course, but it is quite surprising to learn that such a map on grand scale existed as early as the third century AD. It was called Forma Urbis Romae – a name Lanciani kindly reused for his own map – and measured roughly 13x18 meters. Only fragments of that ancient map have survived, some 1,186 bits and pieces of marble.

It is important to realize that Lanciani lived at the time when Rome became the capital of the newly unified Italy. There was much open and unused space that quickly would be turned into profitable building projects, much to Lanciani’s dismay as surviving ruins from the old city would be destroyed in the process. As he witnessed how many of the newly excavated ruins were exposed, he had a unique opportunity to incorporate them in his map.

Another great and inspiring mapmaker was Giambattista Nolli, who in 1748 created a map showing Rome from a bird’s eye perspective. His work was so meticulous that modern satellite maps still line up with his outlines and basic floor plans.

The digital version of Lanciani’s map is not final. It requires a few corrections and several updates with those ruins that were discovered after his lifetime. Eventually the antique black layer of his map will be broken down to match subsequent historical periods.

As a result, we will be able to enjoy a picture of Rome as it was and evolved over the centuries to become what we know today!

There is more to Athens than the Acropolis and the Parthenon

In a recent article, Ancient History wrote about five ancient sites that are usually overlooked by tourists visiting Athens but are very much worth the short detour.

Most visitors rush to the Acropolis and hopefully include a tour of the New Acropolis Museum and the National Archaeological Museum as well but there are these little nearby gems that may be as exciting since you can have them almost all to yourself.

On top of the list, I would put the excavations underneath the New Acropolis Museum which are in plain view when you enter the museum. These remains are partly covered by glass plates and show the remains of a Township of Athens as it evolved in time. You can have a close look at some intricate mosaic floors or a round room with a circular pool or the entrance to a building from the 7^th century BC. This underground is accessible from inside the museum.

Another interesting feature is the Township of Koile on the west side of the Hill of Philopappou within walking distance from the foot of the Acropolis. Ancient roads with the grooves left by thousands of cartwheels are always an exciting feature and this road also has a water channel running alongside. Here, you can walk among the ruins of houses and even climb a staircase. Koile was protected by the Wall of Themistocles that ran all the way to the Piraeus but when Philip II of Macedonia arrived here new defenses were built to replace the walls taken down by the Spartans. This new wall put Koile outside the fortification and the town was soon abandoned. It became a burial site the remains of which are still visible.

Particularly noteworthy is the nearby Tomb of Cimon, the athlete who repeatedly won the chariot races at the Olympic Games in 536, 532, and 528 BC. This Cimon was also the father of Miltiades, the general who led the victory over the Persians at Marathon in 490 BC. This tomb occupied a prominent position in its days and it takes some imagination to picture the spot where his winning horses were buried just opposite his own tomb.

Not too far away, there is a spot with three cave-like openings in the rock wall that have been sealed off with iron bars and are known as the Prison of Socrates. Whether or not this is true remains a subject of discussion as other, probably later sources say that the philosopher was executed by poisoning in 399 BC.

My own favorite is the Pnyx Hill where the Athenians gathered to listen to great orators like Themistocles, Pericles, and Demosthenes and where their democratic votes were taken. The speaker’s platform is about the only original structure still standing but overlooking the now disappeared tiers where the audience took place is quite overwhelming. Set against the Acropolis in the background it makes truly a magnificent place to linger.

Of course, there is far more to see and enjoy around the corner of the Acropolis. To name a few, there is the Ancient Agora with the well-preserved Temple of Hephaistos or Theseion and a little further the great remains of the Roman Agora with the newly restored Tower of the Winds and adjacent Library of Hadrian. On the other side of the Acropolis and visible from its top, are the imposing remains of the Temple of Zeus not far from the Gate constructed by Emperor Hadrian carrying on one side the inscription that this was where the city of Athens began and on the other side where it ended. In between the Acropolis and the Gate of Hadrian, one automatically passes by the Tower of Lysicratos.

Practical information and details as to the road to follow to the five highlighted locations can be found in the abovementioned article by Ancient History

Greek theaters had moveable stages!

We thought that by now we knew everything about Greek theatres – well, not so!

Recent architectural research has led to believe that there was a moveable wooden stage in ancient Greek theatres. This has been determined in three separate theatres in the Greek Peloponnese: first in Messene, and later also at Megalopolis and Sparta.

Skanotheke plan of the Messene Theatre (scale 1 : 500), Inset: Skanotheke of east parodos. Adapted from R. Yoshitake, The Movable Stage in Hellenistic Greek Theatres. New Documentation form Messene and Comparisons with Sparta and Megalopolis, AA, 2016/2, p. 120, fig. 1 and 2. Credit: Associate Professor Ryuichi Yoshitake

Ancient Greek theatres were bowl shaped with seating around the circular orchestra and at the open end an open stage. After 31 BC, under Roman influence, the stage was elevated and decorated with columns and statues and all sorts of reliefs. Romans often reused and refurbished original Greek theatres but also built the semi-circular model of their own where this back stage was automatically attached to the seating area.

After excavations started in 2007, the research team from Komamoto University discovered three stone rows and a kind of storage room beside the stage of Messene’s theatre. When a similar feature was found in Megalopolis and Sparta as well, they started questioning the function of these elements. Their conclusion was that the stone rows would have supported wooden background picture panels that could be wheeled into place and that the storage room would have held them when not in use.

This image shows the reconstruction of the wheeled wooden skene of the Messene Theatre. The wooden stage building (front) is drawn by solid lines, and the hypothetical scene building (back) by gray lines. Adapted from R. Yoshitake, The Movable Stage in Hellenistic Greek Theatres. New Documentation form Messene and Comparisons with Sparta and Megalopolis, AA, 2016/2, p. 123, fig. 6. (drawing by K. Oyama). Credit: Associate Professor Ryuichi Yoshitake & K. Oyama

The Greek theatres had a proskenion, i.e. a one-story building placed on the stage and that functioned as a stage background. Behind this proskenion was a two-story skene that was used as a dressing room for the actors but also as an extra stage background. Now the question arose whether these buildings were made of stone and fixed or made of wood and moveable. They opted for the latest and since moving the massive construction of proskenion and attached skene is highly improbable, they concluded that each building was rolled out separately, each using its own set of two stone rows to move along in and out of the storage room.

Ancient literature indeed mentions rotating devices, but the finds at Messene seem to confirm that they existed as early as the Hellenistic period although we still don’t know what they really looked like.

The research team of Komamoto University in Japan has even come up with two drawings explaining their theory – see above.

About Indo-Bactrian writing

How unfortunate that we can take in only so much when visiting places or exhibitions. I often regret that I did not look further into certain details, and one of these missed elements is the Indo-Bactrian script. I have seen plenty of such documents at exhibitions about the Silk Road and at the Musée Guimet in Paris, but I merely glanced at them without any mental connection to their writing or tenure. Well, I should have because, after all, the Bactrian Empire is a heritage of Alexander’s conquest of Central Asia.

Time to catch up!

The other day, I came across an article about the Kharosthi script, another name for the Indo-Bactrian writing that originated in the aftermath of Alexander during the 4^th and 3^rd century BC in what is now Pakistan. This Kharosthi was a form of Prakrit, an Indo-Aryan language that was used two generations after Alexander by King Asoka for his pillar inscriptions (see: When pillars with unknown writing were discovered in India).

[Kharosthi script on a wooden plate, National Museum of New Delhi]

For good order, we have to go back to the Achaemenid kings who, in the early 5^th century BC, introduced Aramaic, their official language, to their newly conquered territories in Gandhara and along the Indus. They wrote their Aramaic using a North Semitic script which was customized to suit the phonetics of Gandhara, a Prakrit dialect, and this resulted in the creation of Kharosthi. Kharosthi writing was also used for most inscriptions in northwestern India between 220 BC and 200 AD. At the very heart of Central Asia, Sogdiana and Bactria generally used the Kharosthi inscriptions in the days of the Kushan Empire (1^st-4^th century AD). Because of the flourishing trading along the Silk Road, Kharosthi writing is found all over Central Asia, particularly during Shanshan rule (starting during the 1^st century BC), while further examples have been found more to the east in China during the reign of Emperor Ling (168-189 AD).

Kharosthi was not only used for inscriptions or written documents but also stamped on coins during the short-lived Indo-Greek Kingdom when bilingual texts were frequent. A few rare examples showed Kharosthi on pottery found as far as Bengal.

Eventually, and due to the increased influence of the Brahmi script, Kharosthi gradually was confined to specific regions till, by the 4^th century AD, it disappeared entirely.

Alexander crosses the Hindu Kush a second time

After two years of intense guerilla fights throughout Sogdiana, Alexander had finally caught Bessus, eliminated Spitamenes and restored a relative peace in Bactria by marrying Roxane. The time had come for him to head for India.

Until now, I was convinced that Alexander returned from Bactria via the Khyber Pass but when I tried to trace where the idea came from, I was in for a surprise. There is no excuse, I should have taken a closer look at the map to realize that the Khyber Pass lies in fact on the way from Kabul to Peshawar and not between Bactria and Afghanistan.

With that question solved, I needed to find out which pass Alexander had used leaving Bactria. The antique authors are disappointingly scant in reporting this part of his campaign. Plutarch, Justin, and Diodorus do not mention the crossing of the Hindu Kush – a formidable barrier under all circumstances - on Alexander’s return and Curtius simply states that Alexander set out for India in order not to foster idleness. Arrian seems to be the only one to be more specific telling us that by the end of spring Alexander began his march for India, that he crossed the Indian Caucasus, and ten days later reached Alexandria(-in-the-Caucasus), the city he had founded during his first expedition into Bactria. Strabo merely tells us that Alexander crossed the Hindu Kush and settled his veterans and mercenaries together with natives at Alexandria-in-the Caucasus.

This meant that I had to rely on modern historians and their research on the matter. Unfortunately, they do not agree among themselves about Alexander’s route and it seems that they all have a theory of their own.

Frank Holt (Into the Land of Bones) has come to the conclusion that Alexander marched his army over the Shibar Pass. With the winter snows gone, the trek went smoothly and without great logistical problems.

Robin Lane Fox (Alexander the Great) says that Alexander used the same pass as earlier, meaning the Khawak Pass (see: From Afghanistan into Bactria across the Hindu Kush). This time in June, the march was at a leisurely pace and took only ten days. The snows had melted and Alexander could rely on food stored in the Sogdian fortresses on the way and on the high grazing grounds for the animals. The army spent a pleasant summer at Alexandria-in-the-Caucasus (Begram) thus avoiding an invasion of India in appalling heat.

A.B. Bosworth (Conquest and Empire) simply mentions that Alexander crossed the passes of the Hindu Kush into the Paropamisadae in ten days and reinforced the city of Alexandria-in-the-Caucasus.

Michael Wood has concluded that Alexander crossed the Hindu Kush via Bamyan, which implies that he took the Shibar Pass.

Donald Engels (Alexander the Great and the Logistics of the Macedonian Army) in turn sticks to the Salang Pass since this pass is shorter and has often been used by armies in a hurry. Engels states that the army re-crossed the Hindu Kush in late spring but could not forage for grain along the route because harvest at these high altitudes does not occur until July or August. They had to rely on supplies collected by Hephaistion throughout Bactra before departing.

In a footnote, the author refers to the optional Kushan Pass, just east of the Salang Pass, that has been put forward by other historians, but then this Kushan is seldom used because it is precipitous and treacherous – not exactly recommendable for an army. The Salang Pass, on the other hand, although as fast as the Kushan is much safer. He rules out the Shibar Pass which is longer than the Khawak. Given the ten days it took Alexander to cross the Hindu Kush, Engels’ choice is narrowed down to either the Salang Pass or the Kushan Pass.

All these theories take me back to the map of Afghanistan and of the Hindu Kush in particular. Based on the above, it comes down to choosing between the 3,878 meter-high Salang Pass and the Kushan Pass rising at 4,370 meters located due west of the Salang Pass. Interestingly, this pass is less than one kilometer away from the modern Salang Tunnel built in 1964 with the financial and technological support of the Soviet Union. This meant that traveling time is cut down drastically although repeated avalanches tend to trap the vehicles inside the tunnel, making the voyage still a dangerous one.

Glancing at Google maps provides another quite impressive image of the landscape the Macedonian army crossed. Even with enough food and fodder, we have to admire these sturdy men trudging over narrow paths, through deep ravines, across icy rivers and over rocks of all sizes and shapes. Nobody, not even Hannibal comes close to Alexander’s exploits in the Hindu Kush. In the end, I have to agree with David Engels and agree on the Salang Pass.

We should remember that Alexander’s Asian campaign is much and much more than a series of battles and sieges. Marching often through forbidding landscapes, coping with extreme heat, thunderstorms, crosswinds, dust, rain, sleet and ice, the Macedonians have seen it all but the king set the example by leading his troops over each and every obstacle. The Hindu Kush is just one of these obstacles, although a major one that cannot be stressed enough.

[First picture shows the Shibar Pass by František Řiháček -original prints, CC BY-SA 3.0, - The two other pictures show the Salang Pass by Scott L.Sorensen - My Personal Picture, CC BY 3.0 and by Spc. Michael Vanpool (U.S. Armed Forces) respectively.]

Minor damage at Cos’ Archaeological Museum after earthquake

What a relieve to hear that the damage at this museum is minimal after the 6.6 magnitude earthquake that hit the island earlier this month. The building itself did not sustain any damage, although it was built in 1936.

The inventory inside the museum revealed that out of the 43 sculptures exhibited on pedestals, only three headless statues and one bust came down, suffering minor chips and mainly to those parts that had been restored with plaster earlier.

 [Picture from ekathimerini.com] 

Renovation works that were initiated last year, do luckily include earthquake provisions in order to be better prepared in the future.

 

Meanwhile the museum has reopened to the public, a major attraction for tourists to Cos.

Magnificent Alexander statue found in Alexandria

Recent excavations in Alexandria have revealed the remains of a building from Ptolemaic times and a bridge.

This is part of an ongoing project directed by the Hellenic Institute for the Research of Alexandria Culture, which in the past 21 years, has been working in the Shalallat Gardens area. In 2015, a large public building belonging to the Ptolemaic era was found, and archaeologists believe it had an arched ceiling. Recently, a carved tunnel was exposed from underneath this massive building at a depth of ten meters.

[Marble statue of Alexander the Great found in the Shallalat Gardens in Alexandria - 
Credit: ANA/MNA]

This is exciting news because these remains are part of the Royal Quarters of the Ptolemies, which have been documented in antiquity. So far, the site has exposed some extraordinary finds of pottery, mosaic floors, and coins. The most significant discovery is, of course, this unique marble statue of Alexander the Great, executed in pure Hellenistic style and transferred to the National Museum of Alexandria for us to see!

The museum is a treasure trove exhibiting artifacts from old Egypt, as well as from Hellenistic, Roman, Coptic, and Islamic eras, including underwater finds. It is the only museum that tells the history of Alexandria through antiquity, and it is not surprising that the lovely head of Alexander the Great is kept here.

 [Picture from the National Museum of Alexandria]

It seems that bit by bit, we are getting closer to getting a picture of the heart of ancient Alexandria – although there still is a very long way to go.

Alexander’s eloquence

Eloquence is a fascinating aspect of Alexander's personality that only transpires on certain occasions and is hard to figure out as it automatically raises other questions. Was Alexander a born orator? He may well have been. Was Alexander inspired by his father's eloquence? Not unlikely since Philip was a shrewd manipulator in words and deeds, and this ability cannot have been lost on his son. Was Alexander a good pupil of Aristotle? No doubt, and certainly when it came to learning those skills which truly mattered to him.

The art of rhetoric is lost in our 21^st century of mass communication, where fast phonetic language is the rule, but there were times when people would meet to talk for the sake of argumentation. Using our language effectively to convince and impress our interlocutor with the tiniest of nuances was an art. The fashion was popular with ancient Greeks, who liked to elaborate on their topics during their Symposia.

Historians like Arrian and Curtius often quote Alexander verbatim when he addresses his troops or responds to certain situations. Generally, these words are considered created by the authors rather than actually pronounced by the king. Maybe so, maybe not. Unfortunately, we have no original texts from Alexander's journals or memoirs written by his contemporaries like Onesicritus, Callisthenes, Ptolemy, or Aristobulus. Therefore it seems too easy and even unfair to dismiss the idea that their accounts could have contained accurate original quotes and even speeches made by Alexander.

There are many examples of Alexander addressing his troops to motivate and encourage them at the onset of a battle. Still, he probably spoke to his audiences on many more occasions. It is said that he knew more than one thousand of his men by name, and I am confident that he used every opportunity to talk to them in person. In modern vocabulary, he is a good communicator.

We generally tend to accept the one-sentence quotes that are reported in history, like:

-    when young Alexander sees that Bucephalus is being led away because the horse is judged to be beyond training, and exclaims: "What an excellent horse do they lose, for want of address and boldness to manage him!"

-   when Alexander visits Diogenes in Corinth (that is IF that meeting did indeed take place), he would have said, "If I were not Alexander, I would be Diogenes."

-    when after the Battle of Issus, Darius offers Alexander all of Asia to the Euphrates and the hand of his daughter in marriage, Parmenion encourages his king to accept this offer. Alexander drily responds, "So would I, if I were Parmenion."

-    or the plausible remark making Alexander say, "sex and sleep alone make me conscious that I am mortal," or the one showing his bleeding wounds stating that this is not "ichor" flowing through his veins (golden blood of the gods).

It is beyond doubt that Alexander addressed his troops just before the battle, for he had an excellent personal antenna to judge the morale of his men, and he knew exactly how to motivate them. Very modern is the openness with which Alexander tells his army what they are to expect, embellishing the truth in his favor whenever opportune. But we cannot blame him for that as, after all, the trick is used by every politician - then as now. The art consists in making the message clear and credible. "We are free men, and they are slaves" is one such quote.

The encouraging words he spoke just before crossing the Pillars of Jonah, over which Alexander would have to retrace his steps to the Pinarus River where the Battle of Issus was to take place, are very telling. Both Arrian and Curtius spend many lines describing Alexander's speeches and personal addresses to his commanders and even to individuals of lower ranks, making sure to touch every man's pride and get their minds ready for the battle to come.

Like a fine psychologist, he plays the cord that touches the soul of every man. He reminds his Macedonians of their victories in Europe, including that at Chaeronea rekindling their old-time valor; he reminds them of the Granicus and the many cities of Asia Minor they have already taken. When he faced the Greek allied forces, he brought up the brutal invasions of the Persians who burned their temples and homes, adding that now was the time for revenge. To the Thracians and Illyrians accustomed to a life of plunder, he tells them to focus on the gleaming gold and purple of the enemies and the booty they would yield. Of course, he needs all these soldiers since, according to the League of Corinth, they joined forces to fight against Persia; they need to be motivated as well. When he tackles the subject of the Greek mercenaries fighting in Persian service, he points out that they fight for pay. Alexander's foreign troops – Thracians, Paeonians, Illyrians, Agrianes – were Europe's best and stoutest soldiers. Enough to kindle every man's pride!

Arrian concludes by putting these words in Alexander's mouth: "The enemy of Persians and Medes have lived soft and luxurious, while we Macedonians went to the hard school of danger and war. You have Alexander – they Darius!". We know the outcome of that battle!

At Gaugamela, Alexander addressed his soldiers in quite a different way since each and every one of them knew how important this victory over the King of Persia would be. Nevertheless, he stresses that every soldier should preserve his discipline in the hour of danger, that all orders must be obeyed promptly, and that all officers, regardless of their rank, must pass their commands to their subordinates without hesitation or delay. Most importantly, Alexander emphasizes that the conduct of each of his men is crucial to the fate of all. In other words, if everyone does his duty as expected, their success is assured, but if only one man neglects it, the entire army will be in peril. Strong talk.

Once his forces are arranged according to his plan, Alexander once again rides up and down the lines to lift the spirits of every man and every squadron with a last word of encouragement. Everything depended on the commitment of each and every one of Alexander's troops to maintain the frontline and avoid any gap in the formation that could be exploited by the Persians. Amazingly and against all odds, Alexander has indeed been able to maintain his line of defense. His men did not let him down!

Of an entirely different caliber is Alexander's earnest appeal to his Macedonians in the case of the Philotas Affair, in which his trusted general and boyhood friend is suspected of treason in an attempt to take the life of his king. This is a most threatening and highly alarming situation that can be compared to attacks on the lives of modern leaders like JF Kennedy or King Hassan II of Morocco. Thorough investigations followed these attentats with more or less success.

In Alexander's case, he had to lead the investigation himself and present it before his Macedonians under the prevailing laws. Alexander's exposé is worthy of the plea held by the most accomplished lawyer. He starts by telling his men how closely he escaped to death. He then shares his deep sorrow when learning that his longtime friends Philotas and Parmenion, his father's most trusted generals, conceived a plot to take his life. The informants are then praised for their courage in bringing Alexander the bad news while bathing. Philotas, in his efforts to keep the matter quiet, must have had good reasons to do so, he says. He even reads aloud a letter Parmenion sent to his sons, Nicanor and Philotas, which he had intercepted and in which Parmenion advised them to look out for themselves "for thus we shall accomplish what we have planned." A sentence that would have had no meaning had the conspiracy not been disclosed. Alexander takes his plea a step further by confiding his hitherto personal skepticism about Philotas, who had joined Amyntas (Alexander's uncle who was underage when his father was killed on the battlefield, upon which Philip was chosen as Macedonia's new king, with Philip's death he could claim the throne) to make an impious plot against his life. He tells his soldiers how these acts have torn him apart – working on their sentiments.

Alexander continues by reminding his soldiers that he had put Philotas in command of his elite cavalry, entrusting his life, hopes, and victories to him. He had elected his father, Parmenion, to rule over Media with all its richness, which required integrity and respect for his king. Now his trust has been broken, and he has fallen victim to such a shameful scheme! Alexander, in his speech, seeks refuge with his troops, going as far as to state that his own safety lies in their avenge.

Philotas' defense, which I will not detail here, is no less flamboyant and another example of good rhetoric that can only be traced back to Aristotle's teaching.

Alexander's plea in India was more significant and complicated when his Macedonians refused to march beyond the Hyphasis River. He called a meeting with his officers hoping they would agree on going forward; however, without success. He then gathers his troops and reminds them of what they have accomplished so far. Working on their sentiments, he asks them if they are afraid (a sensitive note, no doubt) and then exposes the great prospects that lay ahead. Alexander has shared all his men's hardships and suffered the same wounds, the cold, heat, thirst, and famine. After these words, his men stood there in utter silence as nobody dared to respond or contradict any of the king's arguments till Coenus courageously stepped forward to verbalize the thoughts of the Macedonians present. They were determined not to go any further – they only wanted to go home after too many years away from their loved ones. We know that Alexander sulked in his tent for several days after that, but even he could not accomplish a miracle and had to give in and lead the army back west.

Alexander's discourse at Opis in 324 BC is the most famous and best documented. Here, Alexander called his Macedonians together and announced that he was discharging the veterans among them, the wounded, and those unfit for further service, so they could return to their homes. They would collect their pay, and their bonus would make the envy of their family and friends at home. The king expected his decision would please his Macedonians (who wanted so badly to go home when they were in India!), but instead, they resented his words and told him so with loud shouting. They felt pushed aside in favor of the Persians and other foreign troops and cavalry. It hurt them deeply that the very people they conquered were to take their place.

Although Alexander was taken off guard, he immediately rushed into the rebellious mob to arrest the ringleaders of this mutiny. Then he made a fiery speech addressing his troops that had contributed to his success over the years. He started by referring to his father, who brought the mountain people and goat herders to the rich plains of Macedonia and told them how to be victorious in battle. He, Alexander, had led them from victory to victory, adding all of Asia Minor to Macedonia, reaping the riches of Egypt, Syria, and Mesopotamia. They conquered the cities of Halicarnassus, Babylon, Persepolis, and Bactra. He took nothing for himself while they all lived in luxury. He shared his soldiers' toil and fatigue, hunger and thirst, freezing cold and scorching heat, and even their wounds. None of them was killed in flight, and those who fell in a glorious death were honored with a splendid burial, and their parents were released from taxation.

Finally, Alexander makes a defiant statement: "if you wish to depart, depart all of you!" He tells his Macedonians to go back home to report that when they returned to Susa after all those years of conquests – and he names the peoples, lands, rivers, and mountains they conquered – they deserted their king, leaving him under the protection of conquered foreigners. Do they expect their homecoming to be glorious in the eyes of their kin when they hear that they left their king behind? Powerful words which were much more fierce than those used in India.

Alexander retires to his quarters for three days. By the third day, he has drawn new plans appointing Persians to occupy the hitherto Macedonian commanding posts, which include his Companions and even his Silver Shields! That was just too much for the Macedonians to bear! The very thought of having those Persian Barbarians commanding them was inconceivable. They thronged around the entrance of Alexander's quarters, begging for admission and offering to give up the ringleaders of the mutiny. Once again, the army conquered their beloved king's heart, but Alexander's eloquence brought them back to reason.

"Every man of you, I regard as my kinsman, and from now on that is what I shall call you" are the words Alexander used to close the matter. I think this says a lot about the magnanimity of Alexander, but we should not forget that his eloquence widely contributed to his success.

[The picture of Alexander at Gaugamela is from Oliver Stone's movie Alexander]

Andriake’s Museum has opened

The opening of this museum in Andriake inside the walls of Hadrian’s Granary (131 AD) has been announced a while ago (see: Time to revisit Andriake, the harbor of Myra) and is now a fact.

It has been baptized as The Lycian Civilizations Museum as it not only contains local finds from Myra and Andriake but from the entire region of Lycia, roughly situated at the southern coast of Turkey between Fethiye and Finike. Except for the coastal cities, Lycia has been very little explored but offers a great number of sites that flourished when they joined hands in the Lycian League founded in the early days of the 2nd century BC. The League had a Parliament of its own, the first ever in history, that was located at Patara. This kind of government may well have inspired modern democracy.

More than one thousand artifacts excavated in cities like Myra, Andriake, Patara, Xanthos, Tlos, Arykanda, Pinara, Antiphellos, and Olympos have found a home in one of the seven rooms of this former Granary. Among the exhibits, there are statues, vessels, other kitchenware, glassware, and jewelry.

The site of Andriake itself has been cleared further and has become part of the open-air museum with its harbor, the agora with an underground water cistern, a Roman bath, and a boat, as well as the remains of several churches and even a Jewish temple.

More information about the Lycian League can be found in my earlier blog: A short history of Lycia.

[Click here for more pictures of Andriake]