Behind the screen of the Alexander movie

We all tend to think that playing a role in a movie is about glamour and competition to be the best, the most appealing, the most successful, and the sexiest. Most actors will aim to reach that high status because it is very profitable. 

However, under certain circumstances, some performers will really embody their screen personage to bring them back to life. That realm is reserved for only a few of them. At this level and beyond their talent, they are exposed to fiercer critics and jealousy, which they must withstand. 

Well, the world of Hollywood and the like is a privileged one, which I don’t want to discuss. The reason for tackling the subject is the Alexander movie by Oliver Stone (yes, once again!). 

Like Alexander’s actual life and heritage, the movie has been criticized ad nauseam. Too many arguments, comments, and opinions have been formulated in endless theories developed in live discussions on TV, YouTube, and other digital media. 

It is precisely one such YouTube exposé that caught my eye: 

Colin Farrell, chosen to play the role of Alexander, received the brunt of the critics. Nothing less than what Alexander endured in his lifetime and after his death 2,300 years ago. May this be a noble consolation to Colin! 

Few know that Colin worked for six months to prepare for his role. He had to learn to fight in close combat using spears and kopis as a foot soldier and cavalryman. He had to know how to ride bareback and underwent rough physical training in martial arts. Colin had to be proficient in these fields before joining the boot camp Oliver Stone had planned for all the “generals” and other leaders. Colin had to somehow copy Alexander to project the same self-assurance, charisma, and authority as the king did (see: The power of Alexander, his generalship, charisma, or both?) Commanding the phalanx (played by Moroccan soldiers) was another major challenge. 

There are so many aspects of which the critical moviegoer is unaware. The above YouTube provides us a brilliant insight into the genius of Oliver Stone and Colin Farrell worth sharing. Nothing short of Alexander's.

Cohabitation of metro and museum

The story is not new. Metro lines have been constructed in many capital cities for the past decennia. Excavating the layers covering ancient settlements inevitably led to new discoveries. 

This was the case in Istanbul, Athens and Thessaloniki, Rome and Naples, Sofia (ancient Serdica), Plovdiv (ancient Philippopolis), and many others. In all cases, the finds yielded remains of temples, agoras, private houses and workshops, mosaics, coins, pottery, jewelry, etc. However, each city contributed in its own way to enrich our archaeological inheritance. 

In Istanbul, the construction of the Marmara Undersea Metro Line revealed a large section of ancient ports along the Bosporus, including ships of varied sizes from the 5^th to the 11^th century. The largest concentration of 37 shipwrecks dates from the 6^th and 7^th centuries AD. 

[Vaulted Eridanos River at metro station, Athens]

Athens exposed parts of its old city walls and the still flowing Eridanos River that runs through the Kerameikos, the ancient necropolis. The metro line between Athens and Piraeus yielded a great number of surprises of its own (see: Exposing the Hellenistic past of Piraeus). 

Thessaloniki surprised us with its ancient main street, the Decumanus Maximus, and the Via Egnatia, besides several necropolises (see: Archaeological finds at the Metro of Thessaloniki and Thessaloniki continues writing history). 

In Naples, archaeologists were able to retrace the ancient coastline thanks to a variety of shipwrecks. They excavated an important thermal bath complex, remains of the commercial area around the Greek agora, several houses with their atrium, and the Decumanus Maximus (see: The harbor of Roman Naples uncovered).

Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, is no exception: Evidence of antiquity can be clearly seen at the Serdica Station, which exhibits a wealth of unearthed Thracian and Roman ruins and modern architecture.” (quoted from Wikipedia).

Plovdiv, ancient Philippopolis, is another of those capital cities turned upside down by recent archaeological excavations (see: Plans enough to dig out Philippopolis). 

Rome lately made headlines during metro works. Ancient Roman barracks from the 2^nd century AD were discovered some nine meters below today’s street level. The ruins count 39 rooms, and many still display mosaics and frescoes. Following suit with similar situations in Greece and Turkey, authorities plan to incorporate the barracks into a large metro/museum structure. The station is located between the Coliseum and the Forum Romanum, along Line C, which is still under construction.

[Metro Louvre-Rivoli, Paris]

Nowadays, all major cities need more and more to revert to traveling by metro. As the majority of those towns have been built over and on top of ancient settlements, it is inevitable to hit remains from eons past. The municipalities share the most important artifacts with their local museums, but it is an excellent idea to create mini museums or exhibition showcases at the places where the pieces were found!

Paris may have been the first to display copies of telling artifacts from the Louvre. It is a true pleasure to spend time at the telling metro stops in the cities mentioned above and more. 

Happy Birthday Alexander!

 Today we celebrate Alexander’s birthday, a date I could never forget. 

I still don’t know if the ancient Greeks and Macedonians celebrated their birthdays, although the people of Thasos remembered Alexander on this day. 

In antiquity, people did not live by a calendar with a recurring yearly date as we do. Celebrations occurred following some astrological events making time very elastic. 

The only way to be sure of Alexander’s date of birth is that the Temple of Artemis in Ephesos burnt that very night. Some lunatic by the name of Herostratus wanted his name to be remembered. Well, he obviously did more than that! 

Legend has a more elegant explanation for the fire. The story goes that Artemis was far too busy helping Alexander into the world and neglected her duties in the temple. 

Whatever the story, scholars so far all agree on the date of 20/21 July for Alexander’s birth. 

Happy birthday Alexander!

Presence of the Greek gods in Asia after Alexander

Just imagine doing some excavations in the middle of the Ganges Valley to find hundreds of seals carrying the image of Greek gods and goddesses such as Athena, Apollo, Nike, and Herakles! 

[Agate intaglio from Phu Khao Thong (right), impression (left). H. 16 mm.

Photos: Brigitte Borell and Prachak Pongspanich] 

The discovery of the figure of Herakles, in particular, is very striking and recognizable as he is resting on a club and holding a lion skin. He appeared from excavations in the 1940s at Rajghat, close to the Varuna and Ganges Rivers confluence. The site was a well-established trade center in antiquity, with connections reaching westward till Taxila. Considering that the distance from the Indus Valley, where Alexander halted his march eastwards, to the Ganges is almost 1500 km, shows how far his Greek influence traveled after his death. 

The surprise discovery does not stop in India as pictures of the god Herakles were found as far away as southern Thailand, at the archaeological site of Phu Khao Thongis – meaning Golden Hill - on the Isthmus of Kra. The hill owes its name to the many gold finds resulting from legal and illegal diggings. 

This coastal trading post was linked to the maritime networks of the Indian Ocean and served as a hub for land crossings to the peninsula's east coast and the South China Sea.  The unearthed artifacts originate from China and South East Asia to the Mediterranean in the West. They can be dated to the last centuries BC and early AD. Typical among the finds are, on the one hand, a fragment of a Roman cameo and a Roman intaglio from the West, and on the other hand, fragments of bronze mirrors from China’s Han period (25-220 AD) from the East. 

The Herakles from Thailand is remarkable because his design does not originate in the Mediterranean. The young beardless Herakles has big eyes and a large nose – hardly the delicate true-to-nature rendition of the Greeks! It is, however, the work of an experienced local craftsman and appears to have been made for a finger-ring. This kind of beardless Herakles may be tied to the days of Alexander the Great, who used it on his coins. The Graeco-Bactrian King Demetrius I, who ruled from c. 200 until 190 BC, continued the tradition in his eastern empire. 

The main concern for scholars is to note the difference between local work and imports from the Mediterranean. This is far from clear-cut, as craftsmen may have settled deeper into Asia, or local craftsmen may have mastered the techniques from those same settlers. 

[Top: Gold ring with glass intaglio from Sirkap, Taxila. H. 22.1 mm

(from Marshall 1951: pl.197)

Bottom: Bronze ring seal and impression (left) from Taxila H. 19 mm.

Taxila Museum, inv. 8797 (Photos: Courtesy of Aman ur Rahman)]

A good example is a ring found in a large hoard of jewelry at Sirkap near Taxila, buried there towards the end of the 1st century AD. Here, Herakles is presented as a slender and relatively thin figure – a far cry from the muscular male we would expect. However, it originated from a highly-skilled school of gem-engraving.

The Herakles seal from Thailand resembles a garnet seal from the Northwest of the Indian subcontinent, possibly created there as well. It is now exhibited at the British Museum. It is noteworthy that it is closely related in type to two rings from Taxila. 

A similar meager Herakles appears on three other seals found in the Gandhara area in Afghanistan. Their style also suggests local production. 

These are only a few examples of the spreading of Hellenism and Hellenistic art further East, beyond Alexander's conquered lands. I like to believe that he would have been delighted with this outcome!

[Pictures are part of the article Herakles on an Intaglio Seal Found at Phu Khao Thong in the Upper Thai-Malay Peninsula by Brigitte Borell, published at Academia.edu]

Another qanat discovered in Iran

A hitherto unknown qanat has been discovered near the town of Chaqabol in western Iran, roughly one hundred kilometers south of Hamadan (ancient Ecbatana).

Incredibly, so many of these underground water canals have been dug out over the centuries, and so many are still in working order. The main problem is the maintenance they require. I dedicated an earlier blog to the qanats (see: The qanats, one of the greatest inventions of mankind). 

It appears that in 2018, the cultural heritage body of Iran had documented some 120,000 qanats. About 37,000 such canals are still being used, mainly for irrigation purposes, compared to the approximately 50,000 qanats in Iran last century. 

With climate change affecting our daily use and need for water, the qanats regain their importance. Over the centuries, the local tribes and chiefs kept the system in working order. However, today's construction projects such as cities and barrages on existing rivers often disrupt and/or interrupt the water supply. Since those projects are overseen by a governmental institution, little attention goes to this centuries-old supply system on which many local populations still rely. In the process, small communities lose their only access to water. They cannot raise their crops and lack water for their own basic needs. 

It is noteworthy that eleven aqueducts across Iran were put as “Persian Qanat” on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2016. 

We still can learn a lot from our ancestors if we earnestly try to listen to them!

Let's play chess and relive the Battle of Issus

If I were a rich man, ... surely I would buy this chess game. It is a pure pleasure for the eye and handling each and every piece of the game would bring me closer to Alexander at his Battle of Issus!

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The Battle of Issus Chess Set

Photo by M.S. Rau

It's a unique piece and is wonderful, it would be a dream to have it... even less valuable workmanship and material to make it more affordable to many but is wonderful!

Lavishly decorated and large in size, this extraordinary chess set is the only one of its kind and is perhaps the best ever made. Crafted by the hand of a master jeweler, the exquisite quality of its manufacture is showcased in each and every detail. Every 14k gold game piece is different, encrusted with semiprecious stones and brightly hued enamel, and each is endowed with mechanical movement. This ancient game of war truly comes to life on the breathtaking board, which is itself a spectacular sight to behold.

The ancient Battle of Issus is the subject of the set and an apt reference to the military-like strategy of the game. What was one of the most important battles of the ancient world is beautifully retold here through pieces representing gods and goddesses, ancient structures, and creatures of both Greek and Persian origin. Alexander the Great and King Darius III take their places on the board as kings. At Alexander's side is Queen Athena, the Greek goddess of war and wisdom, while the winged Persian god of war stands as Darius' queen piece. Warships sailing over waves and massive elephants covered in elaborate trappings take the place of bishops, while the castles have been transformed into the columned temples of ancient Greece and the impressive Persepolis. Horsemen and footmen face off as well, each with their own sword, javelin or bow.

Photo by M.S. Rau

Photo by M.S. Rau

Photo by M.S. Rau

Not a single detail has been overlooked, from the laces of the soldiers' boots to the tiny feathered arrows in their quivers. Yet, even the spectacular aesthetic design of the pieces is surpassed by their mechanical complexity. Each figure stands on a solid pink rhodonite or green malachite base that, when twisted, triggers a different movement in each individual piece. Through this simple movement, the ships row their oars, Alexander lowers his sword, archers tense their bows and horses shake their manes — the extraordinary pieces, so rich in appearance, truly come alive.

Photo by M.S. Rau

The chess table is as remarkable as the chess pieces. The squares of the board are crafted of pink rhodonite and green malachite to match the bases of each piece and can be removed for storage when not in use. The sides of the board are formed from pure silver, sculpted in high relief to depict battle scenes that mimic the motifs in the game pieces. Archers, horsemen, chariots and elephants all engage in endless combat that heightens the drama of the game board.

Photo by M.S. Rau

A product of over 14,000 man-hours over the course of a decade, this sensational chess set is perhaps the most complex and extravagant ever created. In terms of both mechanics and aesthetics, it is one-of-a-kind in every aspect and a true masterpiece of design.

Photo by M.S. Rau

BUY WITH CONFIDENCE: At M.S. Rau, we are so confident that our antiques are some of the finest in the world, that we back each piece we sell with a 125% guarantee.               $1,985,000 – Item No. 31-1086