This is the third edition of All Alexander’s Women by Robbert Bosschart (ASIN: B07B4HSQ1B). It is rare and
rather exceptional to find a book on Alexander
the Great looking at this world conqueror from an entirely different and
unusual angle: the women that were part of his life in one way or another. This
is what Robbert Bosschart has accomplished.
The role of these
women was widely developed in his previous two editions in which he stated that
Alexander the Great would have
introduced equal rights for men and women had he lived long enough! This status
of women’s equality was not something Alexander
created but existed already in the Persian Empire
he conquered. It is said to go back to the Zoroastrian doctrine backed by Cyrus
the Great and even before that in a matriarchal era. The leading power was
the goddess Inanna, equaled by Anahita
and blended later on with Ishtar, Isis , Cybele
and the entire Greek female pantheon; she was still venerated in the Sassanid era.
In this third
edition, Robbert Bosschart talks us through the relations Alexander had with women, the best known being his own mother Olympias
and his sister Cleopatra,
Queen
Ada of Caria and Queen-Mother Sisygambis
of Persia, who both had adopted him as their son. This was not a small matter for in the case of Persia
it meant that Alexander was accepted to
rule “by the power of Ahuramazda” together with that of the goddess Anahita.
It is a vast
topic hardly mentioned in our western literature since ancient Greeks generally
treated women as mere trade goods. It is easy to understand why this concept of
equality - which must have looked very “Barbarian” in their eyes – was
willfully left out of their literature. The macho Roman writers did the same
and as a matter of course our western world was unaware of the customs and
habits of the East.
Robbert
Bosschart is taking us a step further as he develops the Persian point of view
on the matter of equality, which he only touched superficially in his previous
versions. He is digging even deeper into the subject exploring a number of oriental
sources. One of them is the Persepolis Fortification Tablets, an archive of
thousands of clay-tablets containing over 15,000 texts from the Achaemenid
Period which are only partially translated till now.
Another aspect
highlighted in this book is the Persian version of the Alexander
Romance, the Darab-Nama and the Sikandar-Nama, a mixture of Old Persian
tradition with Hellenistic and Muslim themes. Also discussed is the Liber
de Morte, a fictional last will which is often but not always attached to
the Alexander
Romance. Last but not least, the author reminds us that Alexander is elevated to the status of
prophet in the Koran, hence his nickname the “Two-Horned”. The book also
includes an interesting chapter about the “King’s Eyes”, integer secret keepers
that were responsible for reporting to the king (a kind of Persian Intelligence
Service avant-la-lettre) and to control the implementation of his laws and
orders all through the King’s huge empire.
To complete his
extensive research and to take it to a level to be comprehended by all, Robbert
Bosschart has added a number of helpful lists and tables: Historical Dates/
Facts in Alexander’s Life; Chronological list of Persian kings; The Classical
sources on Alexander’s era; Reference works; Biographical/Geographical Index
(alphabetical); and an extremely useful list of Where Alexander’s Women appear
in the Classical Sources”.
I find the
subject of this book truly fascinating! The Persian view point for one, is
unique. And just imagine what our world would have looked like had Alexander lived long enough to realize
his “merging” of East and West as he undoubtedly planned when he celebrated the
mass wedding in Susa.
Not only would our world have known one single ruler, one single currency and
one single vehicular language (Greek), but we also would have lived in a
society where men and women were each other’s equals.
P.S. For those who can’t wait, a select extract of good 50 pages of this book is available (free of charge) at www.Academia.edu.
P.S. For those who can’t wait, a select extract of good 50 pages of this book is available (free of charge) at www.Academia.edu.
Very interesting! I'll buy the book, thank you for sharing this! I love your blog :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing my excitement. You'll not be disappointed!
ReplyDelete