About daily life after Alexander the Great

How exciting to read about daily life as it was after the conquests of Alexander! It sounds like a fiction story, but the truth may be closer than we think! 

Artificial Intelligence, AI, in short, is a relatively new digital means that offers endless possibilities with unexpected results. Machine learning is a branch of AI researchers use to read faint traces of ink on still rolled-up papyrus scrolls. If successful, this technology opens exciting possibilities to decipher Herculaneum's thousands of carbonized scrolls. 

These latest results have been published in Live Science. The study concentrates on an otherwise “lost book” that supposedly discusses the dynasties that succeeded Alexander. 

Although till now only small fragments can be read, hopes are high to learn more about the Macedonian leaders that followed in the wake of Alexander. So far, the names of Seleucos and Cassander have been recognized together with “several mentions of Alexander himself!” 

[Picture from Live Science, credit Michèle Hannoosh]

The “lost book” is one of the many works discovered at the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum. Other books contain writings by Philodemus of Gadara, an Epicurean philosopher who lived from c. 110 until 30 BC and resided in the city. 

The fragile carbonized scrolls ended up at the Institut de France in Paris. Over the years, several attempts were made to unroll the scrolls, but they failed. The papyri crumbled into bits and pieces or volatilized into pure dust. 

Clearly, AI gives us new hope to unravel more about our past.

An introduction to Pyrrhus of Epirus

It was quite a surprise to stand face-to-face with Pyrrhus in Albania. It happened at the entrance to the Skanderberg Museum in Kruje, where his life-sized bust stood right next to the imposing relief figure of Skanderbeg, Albania’s hero. 

Pyrrhus of Epirus was a great-nephew of Olympias and cousin of Alexander the Great – not a small introduction. He was born in c.319 BC – not the right time to be the heir to the Molossian throne of Epirus. He got caught up in the fiery dispute between the sons of Cassander and Thessalonica, and reigning briefly as a minor he had to flee his homeland. He joined the court of Demetrios I (Poliorketes) as an exile, and in 301 BC, aged 18, he fought at the Battle of Ipsus. 

As a pawn in the War of the Diadochi, Demetrios, to befriend Ptolemy gave him Pyrrhus as a hostage. That’s how Pyrrhus arrived in Alexandria. Well, it was not the worst place to grow up, and Pyrrhus most certainly took advantage of the situation, not unlike what Philip II had done at the court of Thebes. He made his way in Egypt and eventually married one of Ptolemy’s daughters, Antigone. 

Four years later, in 297 BC, with Ptolemy’s support, Pyrrhus returned to Epirus and began taking control of his own life. He started expanding his kingdom by annexing Illyria. His ambitions were not small, for when Antigone died, Pyrrhus made three diplomatic marriages to live peacefully with his neighbors. His first wife was Lanassa, the daughter of Agathocles, tyrant of Syracuse. Her dowry was the islands of Leucas and Corcyra (modern Corfu). The next bride was the daughter of King Audoleon of the Paeonians living north of Macedonia. His third marriage was to Bircenna, daughter of the Illyrian King Bardylis II. Demetrios Poliorcetes as king of Macedonia, it should be said, had married Pyrrhus’ sister. 

By 288 BC, Pyrrhus turned against Demetrios and succeeded in getting the Macedonian army on his side. With Lysimachos as his new ally, they jointly ruled over Macedonia. Only for a while, though, since Lysimachos still had his mind set on all of Macedonia and expelled Pyrrhus. 

Once more, Demetrios and Pyrrhus made peace, which was again short-lived. When in 286 BC, Demetrios invaded Asia Minor, ruled by Lysimachos; the latter asked Pyrrhus to invade Thessaly to attack Demetrios from Greece. Pyrrhus soon defeated Antigonus Gonatas, Demetrios’ son, who surrendered Thessaly to him to make peace. 

Pyrrhus’ empire now included half of Macedonia, larger Epirus, and Thessaly. Yet, he still wanted more and eyed Magna Graecia, including the wealth of Sicily. His opportunity arose when Taras (modern Taranto) called for his help to repel an imminent Roman attack. Pyrrhus led his army across the Adriatic Sea, including 20 war elephants. He was victorious at Heraclea (modern Policoro southwest of Metaponto) in 280 BC and a year later at Ausculum (modern Ascoli Satriano south of Foggia). 

At this point, Pyrrhus decided to stay in Italy, offering his help to Syracuse. He successfully lifted the Carthaginians’ siege in 278 BC and, in return, was proclaimed King of Sicily. The Medagliere, the strongbox room at Syracuse’s Museum proudly exhibits coins of King Pyrrhus. 

His moment of glory would not last either because of the renewed threat from Carthage, ending Pyrrhus’ siege of Lilybaeum (modern Marsala) in a disaster. The people of Syracuse then decided not to continue the war. The Carthaginians defeated Pyrrhus in 275 BC on his return to Syracuse. 

At the end of that same year, Pyrrhus sailed back to Epirus, which, in his mind, offered new opportunities as his son, Ptolemy, tried to expand the kingdom. The next campaign took Pyrrhus to Argos in the Peloponnesus, where caught in a narrow street, he was killed by a woman who threw a tile from the housetop. 

This was not the death a man like Pyrrhus would have planned. He had fought in so many battles, always leading his men. He had been schooled by Demetrios Poliorketes, who had walked in the footsteps of Alexander and his father, Philip. He was not meant to die such an inglorious death. 

In the 2nd century AD, Pausanias witnessed a memorial to King Pyrrhus at Argos, integrating a panorama ‘carved in relief.’ The king was buried in his capital Ambracia (a colony of Corinth in Epirus). 

Pyrrhus may have led a glorious life, but the Macedonians resented him because he let his Gauls plunder the tombs of the Macedonian kings at Aegae – an unforgivable crime!

Wearing silk is immoral in the Roman Empire

With his expansion far into eastern Asia, Alexander had opened a vast section of the Silk Road. In the following centuries, the Graeco-Bactrians, the Indo-Greeks, and the Sogdians played an important role as middlemen in this chain where goods were exchanged between East and West. 

The road between China and the eastern Mediterranean was nearly 6,500 kilometers long. Travel was dangerous, and robberies were frequent. The goods changed hands on the way. In this process, each intermediary increased the price to cover their own expenses and make a profit. 

To reduce the expenses, especially those for the silk from China, the Romans opened a sea route by the 1st century AD. It started near Hanoi in modern Vietnam, with stopovers in harbors on the coasts of India and Sri Lanka, all controlled by China. The shipments eventually reached Roman-controlled ports in Egypt and the northeastern coast of the Red Sea. From there, they could handily be distributed around the Mediterranean. 

Two centuries earlier, from the 1st century BC onward, silk had become the luxury fashion par excellence. In those days, the Romans still thought silk was obtained from tree leaves. Pliny the Elder tells us that the Seres (Chinese) used the woolen substance from the tree leaves, which they soaked in water and then combed off the white down from the leaves. 

Chinese silk was sold at exorbitant prices. It was far more expensive than gold, which caused a colossal outflow of this precious metal. In fact, the acquisition of silk hurt the Roman economy badly. 

In pure despair, the Roman Senate issued several edicts to prohibit wearing silk, more so since they had decided that silk clothes were decadent and immoral. Seneca (c.3 BC - 65 AD) goes as far as declaring: I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body or even one's decency, can be called clothes ... Wretched flocks of maids labor so that the adulteress may be visible through her thin dress so that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife's body. 

It is surprising to read that in the 1st century AD, women were still (or again) considered a man’s property, although men themselves didn’t shy away from wearing silk outfits!

Afghanistan, where history keeps repeating itself

The war in Afghanistan is no longer making headline news since the U.S. withdrew its troops in a sudden and short-term operation. What’s new, we might ask. The answer is nothing. 

Alexander spent three years of his life in Central Asia fighting an ever-elusive enemy of tribes that no longer fought each other but joined forces against the invader. In the 5th century, the Huns wreaked havoc; Genghis Khan, at the head of the Mongols, rampaged the region in the 13th century; Tamerlane repeated the operation a century later; and the Mughal dynasty followed suit in the 16th century. Even Islam spreading brotherhood among men could not achieve any result. The more recent invasions by Britain in 1839-1842 and 1870-1880, the Soviet Union in 1979-1989, and the United States in 2001-2021 only repeated their predecessors’ fatal outcomes.  

Who are we to call Alexander’s campaign in Central Asia a failure when later invaders with far more sophisticated means did not fare any better? Alexander was a military genius, and no one has been able to surpass him – certainly not here in Afghanistan. 

Those looking for a complete analysis on the situation in Afghanistan will find useful information in Frank Holt’s book Into the Land of Bones, Alexander the Great in Afghanistan. The author draws an excellent comparison of Alexander’s achievements with those of later invaders. He asserts that the only way to rule the country should imply that the conqueror subdues every warlord because one single exception would erase all previous successes. Isn’t that precisely what Alexander tried to achieve? 

The French archaeologists who worked in Afghanistan early last century upon the invitation of King Mohammed Zahir were confronted with the double face of the local population. During the day, they gathered around to look and give a helping hand, while at night, they would destroy the statues and steal the precious artifacts. Tribal elderly, generally strong Islamic believers, destroyed many human statues as soon as they were unearthed. Altogether, many unique artifacts were destroyed overnight or disappeared on their way to the Museum in Kabul (see: Le trésor perdu des rois d’Afghanistan by Philippe Flandrin). Typically for Afghanistan, not even the king could overrule the tribe elderly! 

Under these circumstances, it is impressive that the gold treasure from Tillya Tepe, a tomb hill in the northwest corner of Afghanistan, has survived. The content of these six tombs was barely rescued when the Soviet Union entered Afghanistan in 1979 and safely transferred to the Museum in Kabul (see: Bactrian Gold, the Hidden Treasures from the Museum of Kabul). The Museum suffered greatly from the ensuing civil wars and was repeatedly plundered, and artifacts were stolen. The worst, however, was still to come when in 2001, the Taliban decided not only to destroy the huge Buddha statues at Bamyan but also to annihilate the 2,500 statues and reliefs of the Museum. However, a handful of brave Afghans rescued the Tillya Tepe treasure and locked it away in the vaults of the Presidential Palace. They managed to keep the place a secret. By 2004 the government of Afghanistan decided that the situation was safe enough to bring the gold artifacts out in the open again, but the Museum in Kabul was no longer fit to shelter this precious collection. Based on their earlier collaboration, they contacted the Musée Guimet in Paris and, together, they agreed to send these rich finds on a traveling tour around the world. 

Today, with the ruling Taliban, the country is still dominated by its warlords, who consistently cling to their traditions and mistrust all foreign intrusion.