The Trojan War in the absence of Helen

Hector seated

The Trojan War, as recounted by Homer, is a beautiful love story of Paris and Helen set against the cruelty of war when Achilles dragged the dead body of Hector behind his chariot around the city. It is the kind of subject we can still recognize today. 

Recently, I had echoes of another version in which Helen never made it to Troy but stayed in Egypt instead. One of the sources was Herodotus’ book "Histories". 

At first, I dismissed the information, mostly because Homer’s account was so familiar. When Heinrich Schliemann discovered the walls of Troy and Priam’s gold treasury in the late 19^th century, the history of Troy and the Trojan War came back alive. 

Herodotus, a native of Halicarnassus, is described as ‘The Father of History’. He was an intrepid traveler, very inquisitive about foreign lands and customs. He journeyed widely around the Mediterranean, as far south as Elephantine on the first cataract of the River Nile and as far north as the Black Sea. He visited southern Italy and eventually settled in Thurii on the Gulf of Taranto. He may well have spent time in Cyrene and even in Babylon. 

Herodotus

This Greek historian lived in the 5^th century BC (he died in 425 BC), roughly three hundred years after Homer. Both men relied on the world around them and on the sources that were available to them.

During his stay in Egypt, Herodotus spoke to the priests of the Temple of the “Foreign Aphrodite”, meaning Astarte. They said that Helen arrived in Egypt with Paris after a severe storm had blown their ship off course. The couple was brought before the pharaoh in Memphis, who condemned Paris for taking Helen away from her husband, whether by force or not, and seizing treasures from Sparta. He granted Paris three days to leave the country to return to Troy,  but he kept Helen in Memphis. 

Questioning the priests further, Herodotus was informed about the Trojan War as told to them directly by Helen's husband, Menelaus. 

What happened was that after the abduction of Helen, the Greeks sent their forces to support Menelaus. The Spartan king and his delegation were received at Troy’s Palace, where they demanded the return of Helen and the stolen treasures. The Trojans responded that neither Helen nor the treasure was in their possession, but was held in Egypt instead. Obviously, the Greeks refused to believe them and laid siege to Troy. They fought each other for ten years, and all that while Helen waited in Egypt. 

When Troy fell, and there was still no trace of Helen, Menelaus sailed to Memphis. After giving the pharaoh a true account of what had happened, he was reunited with Helen, 'having suffered no evil’, and the stolen treasure was restored. 

This looks like a happy ending, but it was not. Menelaus got cross because contrary winds pinned him down in Egypt for a long time. As an offering to the gods, he took two Egyptian children, whom he offered in sacrifice. This act of disrespect turned the friendship of the Egyptians into hatred. Menelaus was pursued but managed to escape to Libya with Helen and his ships. What happened afterwards, the priests did not know. 

Herodotus was not the only one to suggest that Helen never went to Troy but stayed in Egypt during the Trojan War. 

Euripides

There was Euripides, who in 412 BC wrote his play "Helen", in which Helen is taken to Egypt by the gods. The Helen who accompanied Paris to Troy was an eidolon, a spirit-image or likeness, cursed for her infidelity by the Greeks and Trojans alike. Meanwhile, the real Helen spent the ten-year siege of Troy in Egypt! 

It is noteworthy that Euripides was born ca. 480 BC, meaning that he was 55 years old when Herodotus died in 425 BC. He definitely must have known Herodotus’ travel history and the details of his encounters. Euripides may well have given his own twist to Herodotus’ tale of Troy. 

A similar eidolon image is introduced in Stesichorus' account. This lyric poet, who lived from around 630 to 555 BC, antedates both Herodotus and Euripides. The story goes that Stesichorus was blinded because he slandered Helen, but recovered his eyesight after writing her praise. 

Helen’s eidolon image may have been introduced by Homer or Hesiod, who reached his peak in popularity around 700 BC. 

In his "Histories", Herodotus believes that Homer knew of this eidolon version keeping the real Helen in Egypt, but that he decided not to use it, preferring the more epic poetry. 

Troy walls

Interpreting this ‘eidolon’ in today’s world is very difficult. We may think that Paris believed in ghosts since, according to this story, nobody in Troy had ‘seen’ Helen. It is clear that, in antiquity, the gods played an important role in daily life. Before the outbreak of the Trojan War, Paris had built a reputation for making fair decisions, away from outside influences. For that reason, he had been appointed by Zeus to choose which of the three goddesses was the most beautiful: Athena, Aphrodite, or Hera. He elected Aphrodite, the goddess of love. In return, Aphrodite brought Helen, the most beautiful mortal, into the life of Paris, and they fell in love. The fact that Helen was already married to Menelaus, king of Sparta, and had a daughter, Hermione, did not bother Aphrodite. To alleviate the pain of Paris being separated from his beloved Helen, the goddess introduced Helen's eidolon. 

That leaves me with Alexander cherishing the Iliad to the point of keeping it at his bedside. His copy had annotations made by Aristotle, which indicates that the Iliad was well studied and discussed by both men. It is unthinkable that Aristotle was not aware of  Helen’s eidolon substitute in Troy, and this goes for Alexander as well. However, I assume that Alexander’s fascination with the Iliad was mainly because of Achilles' heroics. 

Alexander and the gods

Alexander took religion very seriously. He respected the gods and made his daily offerings to them according to the Macedonian laws. We may accept that these references to the gods and the omens are part of ancient beliefs. It is, however, challenging for us living in today’s world to understand the role the gods played in antiquity when all major events in life were accompanied by religious ceremonies. It was unthinkable to celebrate a wedding or to organize a burial without the proper rites to the gods.

Nobody really knows what Alexander thought about religion. We don’t even know for sure if he ever believed that his father was Zeus/Ammon and not Philip, as his mother claimed. During his visit to Siwah, he is acknowledged as the son of Amon. The matter is deadly serious and not, as we might assume, a mere recognition that his mother was right. Claiming to be “the son of Zeus/Amon” or being recognized as such sealed his right to this title.

As we mainly concentrate on Alexander’s campaigns with facts and figures, we tend to ignore the role of the gods entirely. However, the king gave thanks to the gods whenever appropriate. He made various offerings before entering the battlefield or celebrating his victories afterward. Such occasions were often followed by expensive banquets and competitions of all kinds.

Almost every single river crossing was accompanied by lavish sacrifices. Many altars were constructed on such sites. The most expensive altars may be those erected at the Hyphasis to mark the border of his empire. These twelve altars, dedicated to the Olympian gods, were indeed out of proportion and were reported to be “as high as the loftiest siege towers and even broader in proportion” (see: Alexander erected twelve altars on the banks of the Hyphasis).

Alexander and his army took these sacrifices and the predictions by the diviners very seriously. What’s more, the troops expected this from their king. Alexander would demonstrate to his army and followers at every step that he acted with divine approval. The one time he worked against the will of the gods was in Babylon, where the soothsayers/ magi advised Alexander not to enter the city. He paid the ultimate price with his life.

Besides the common Olympian gods as Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Dionysus, Alexander honored several heroes. Worth mentioning are Achilles, the Dioscuri, Hector, Heracles, Asclepius, Patroclus, Priam, and Hephaistion. He consulted the gods through the priests and diviners, but also listened to local soothsayers and magi.

We have plenty of examples of Alexander funding the construction or reconstruction of temples. When in Ephesos, he offered to cover all costs to rebuild the Temple of Artemis that had been burnt down the night he was born. In Babylon, the king had ordered the repair of the Temple of Marduk. He took great care to maintain or repair many temples and sanctuaries throughout his empire. He also accepted foreign gods and goddesses, merging them together with similar deities he and his fellow men were familiar with.

According to some sources, the list of Alexander’s offerings to the gods is quite extensive, and the number may be close to 5,000. That is much and much more than one would even consider at first sight.

A private museum becomes a family feud

The private museum is in fact a collection of works of art held by the Torlonia family in Italy, the largest privately owned marbles and paintings in the world.

The value of its 620 marbles, the villa and its painting gallery has been estimated at nearly two billon Euros. It belonged to Prince Alessandro who had mainly moved these artifacts to the basement of his villa to collect dust. What a shame!

[Picture Credit: La Stampa]

Anyway, the fact remains that with the death of the prince, the heirs are fighting over these treasures and the matter went to court. The judge’s decision was not to disperse the goods, certainly not among the heirs, and to take into account that this is a unique Italian artistic heritage.

Most of the artifacts result from archaeological excavations made by the family on their own land but also count pieces that were “purchased” from noble families in need of cash. Prime items are, for instance, the colossal head of Apollo of Kanachos, the Athlete of Myron, the relief of Portus which was the immense port of Rome, and the sarcophagus of Hector. Experts have labeled this collection as being more important than that of the Capitoline Museum or the Vatican Museum.

Prince Carlo Torlonia would like to see these works of art exhibited together in a museum with his name while the other heirs would gladly sell it even if it were to be dispersed among interested parties in the United States. It has been confirmed that in 2016, for instance, at least thirty experts came to Rome to asses the works.

Pending to shed some light on this unhappy situation, the Italian judge has for now stopped the succession procedure.

Italy’s patrimony is at stake, of course, but after all art belongs to everybody and there should be a way to make these rare works of art available to all.

Fire of Anatolia – Troy

It definitely is worth attending the world-famous Turkish dance group Fire of Anatolia performing their version of “Troy”. It is a quite festive, captivating, and convincing show that leaves a deep impression on my poor soul. It so happens that I come across a few videos on YouTube, a good reason to share them with the people of this world.

I expected that only the Greeks were born with the genes of Homer in their blood, but I discovered that the Turks share this same heritage. Using projection texts and live voices, they quote lines from The Iliad so that the audience can easily follow the story told in both Turkish and English.

The artists are simply awesome! Magnificent dancing, perfect movements of the dancers in splendid costumes, moving in unison, that is quite exceptional! It feels as if there is some invisible figure pulling strings to coordinate every single jump and movement as one. Absolutely unbelievable. I heard that people from Asia and Eastern Europe have a natural sense for rhythm, something we lack in the West – and it definitely does show here. There is no hiatus nor any boring moment. A successive alternation of fast and slow dances, romantic scenes like Helen and Paris, fighting actions of the Myrmidons against the Trojans, or single-handed battles between Hector and Achilles, all evolve on the exact beat of the music. It simply leaves you breathless at times! As to the costumes, they reminded me very much of the movie with Brad Pitt, and it is easy to recognize who is playing or dancing which role.

All in all, very much worth seeing wherever you are on this planet. Before the show started and during the intermission, they presented a list of the countries and cities where they performed and still will perform their shows, Fire of Anatolia and Troy. There simply is no excuse for not attending any of these venues since there is a bit of everything for everyone, no matter if you are looking for dance, ballet, folk music, or history, you’ll love it!

The Iliad by Homer

The Iliad by Homer ISBN-10: 0140447946. It took me quite a while before I finally managed to read The Iliad, and I got hooked on it! I started this book at least ten or fifteen times before, but I never could manage more than just a few pages. As a matter of fact, I was always curious to find out why Alexander the Great thought so highly of Achilles, and this book, keeping a copy of it with annotations by Aristotle under his pillow all throughout his life. Achilles, the hero of the Iliad, fascinated him to the point that he wanted to emulate his very acts – all in all, reason enough for me to read it.

Lately, I watched the movie Troy with Brad Pitt once again. This picture upset me very much, for the sun is rising in the morning over Troy while this old city is facing straight West. The more I see of this movie, the more confused I get! How can they make a historic movie with so many errors or mistakes? For instance, there is Patroclus being introduced as being Achilles’ cousin, which he is not, just an attendant who grew up with him. There is Briseis, presented as a cousin of Hector’s and a priestess of Apollo. She was neither, only Achilles’ booty, which Agamemnon took away from him because his own girl, Chryseis, priestess of Apollo, had to be returned to her father in exchange for a lavish ransom. And then I am not even talking about the famous horse that never could be rolled over the sandy beach shown in the picture, etc. Well, so much for the movie, but it pushed me to dig out the full and true story about Troy once and for all. What better source than Homer’s Iliad?

The Iliad is generally attributed to Homer, who may have written it or not, or may simply have assembled old tales to create the Iliad at some time around 700 or 800 BC, although even these dates are subject to discussion. My book is a Penguin Classics publication, translated by E.V. Rieu, revised and updated by his son D.C.H. Rieu and by Peter Jones to make it pleasant reading material without dreary old-fashioned phrasing.

To simplify the complex story, I skipped most of the interference by all the gods and goddesses, and I was amazed to find such thrilling reading material! To my surprise, I learnt that four-fifths of the action in the Iliad occurs during a mere four days and nights, while one third of the book covers just a twenty-four hours’ period! Such a short period of time, when you know that the Trojan War lasted for about ten years. That never occurred to me!

In any case, The Iliad is written in the same way a storyteller would present his tale to the general public as he traveled from one village to the next, repeating certain phrases and facts to make sure his audience would understand the essence to the fullest. Yet it is also filled with unexpected details. One such detail is when Patroclus is preparing the meat for Achilles’ guests and adds salt! Isn’t it amazing that this was already common practice three thousand years ago and maybe even before that, in the days of Troy? Then there is the description of Agamemnon’s body armor that was made of strips, ten dark-blue inlays, twelve of gold,  and twenty of tin, on either side of which three blue snakes rose up towards the opening of the neck. That must have been a breathtaking sight by itself, not to mention the other fancy parts of his outfit that are being described with the tiniest details!

And then, last but not least, there is the making of Achilles’ shield by Hephaistos, the god of Fire! That description alone covers five full pages! What a superb piece of art this must have been, made of five full layers of imperishable bronze and some tin, and precious gold and silver on which he applied all sorts of decorations! It had a silver shoulder strap, nothing less! No wonder Alexander the Great exchanged shields when he saw this one at the Temple of Apollo after setting foot on Asian soil!

Well, I couldn’t believe how excited I got, for besides the story itself,  it is so detailed in many ways. Another example is the in-depth description of the Funeral Games for Achilles’ dearest friend Patroclus: the kind of games, who was competing against whom, what the prizes were, how the games were played, etc. I just heard recently that the Iliad is our only source when it comes to finding out about games in antiquity, so the more for Funeral Games!

And all of this interesting material and all these wonderful descriptions have been sleeping on my bookshelf for years! What a waste!

The Immortal Alexander the Great. The Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam.

Just brace yourself, for the treasures from this exhibition will leave an everlasting impression on the visitor’s poor soul! In a way, the many artifacts are meant to convince the public that Alexander is indeed “immortal” if ever such a need existed. In my eyes and in the eyes of his many admirers over the centuries, this statement is redundant. Throughout history, the adulation of Alexander has regularly made the headlines. 

We all know how the Roman Emperors admired him, starting with Caesar, who allegedly was deeply moved when he visited Alexander’s Tomb in Alexandria. But even less valorous Emperors like Caligula and Caracalla liked to dress up like him, posing with his shield and helmet. During the Middle Ages, we saw the evolution of the Alexander Romance, a collection of the most fantastic stories based on actual facts. The Persians revived him as Iskander the Two-Horned with colorful miniatures in their delicate manuscripts. Closer to home, we find rulers like Catherine the Great of Russia and Louis XIV of France, who envied his name and achievements, and we owe them a true Alexander cult that erupted all over Europe.

In today’s world, we take a more analytical point of view when we look at Alexander’s life and heritage, where our critical eye leaves nearly no room for imagination or even appreciation. However, the outcome remains unchanged, for Alexander left an everlasting imprint on the lands and the peoples he conquered. He cannot have done this on purpose, for how could he have foreseen how deeply Hellenism would revolutionize the world then and now? Traces of his Hellenism may not be so evident, but they are still very much present in our daily lives. Look closer at our churches, cathedrals, villas, museums, palaces, etc. Often, their facades are embellished with Greek columns and pediments enhanced with Greek figures in their decorations. How many sculptors, jewelers, and potters from Europe to China to America have copied Hellenistic statues, jewels, and vases? How deeply have these influences touched our daily lives, time and again?

Useless to mention that my expectations are running high when I rush through the entrance gate of the Hermitage Museum as the very first visitor of the day. The Museum is in an old 17th-century building with a thoroughly modernized interior. The layout is well thought out with the latest technologies, and the friendly personnel are a pleasant bonus.

The exhibition starts on the first floor with The Myth of Alexander the Great, illustrated by 17th-century paintings of Alexander. I could have done without them, for the Alexander who is portrayed here gives, in my eyes, an exaggerated and deformed image. We find Pietro Antonio Rotari ‘s work of Alexander and Roxane; Sebastiano Ricci depicting Alexander’s court-painter Apelles while he is painting Campaspe; and Charles Le Brun, an excellent artist, no doubt, who knew how to please Louis XIV. But none of this meets my personal vision of Alexander, although the paintings themselves are excellent. On the opposite wall, we can admire panels by Antoine Marie Melotte (from nearby Liège in Belgium), who has translated Le Brun’s painting into wood carvings, and at the far end of this room, a magnificent tapestry made in Brussels (1661-1695) representing Alexander with the Family of King Darius. But my heart skips a few beats when I reach the Hellenistic and Roman statues in the second half of this room.

This section is about Alexander’s Reality. It starts with the world in which Alexander grew up in Macedonia, amidst his godly forefathers and mythical heroes. The eye-catchers are two huge statues, evidently Roman copies of Greek originals, one representing Heracles with the apples (2nd century) and the other Dionysus/Bacchus (2nd century, after an original from the 4th-3rd century BC). I prefer the smaller Herakles killing a Nemean lion (2nd-3rd century AD) in full action with tense muscles; very realistic. Next to it stands a relatively complete marble statue of young Eros ready to shoot his arrow from his drawn bow. This is a Roman copy, just like the identical statue I know from the Louvre in Paris. Nice to meet his brother here! At the far end, I met up with two names familiar to Alexander, Aeschines depicted on a marble medallion from 150 AD, and the head of Demosthenes, a Roman copy of 100-125 AD from a Greek original by Polyeuktes.

The showcases are filled with weapons and armament, a 16th-century steel breastplate covered with bone scales and lion masks, a pattern that goes back to antiquity. In contrast, there is a substantial Greek breastplate with a frightening-looking Medusa in its center, dating back to the 5th-4th century BC and found in the northern area of the Black Sea – something Alexander must have known.

The set would not be complete without a collection of Greek vases, mainly with a black background like the hydria from about 500 BC showing Achilles and Polyxena, or the volute-krater carrying a picture of offerings, dating from 340-330 BC, found in Apulia (Southern Italy). The heroic figure of Achilles occupies a central place in Alexander’s life and in the decoration of the various vases, so again on another black-figured hydria from Attica (510 BC), where Achilles is bending over the body of Hector – a very famous scene.

The central part of this section covers Alexander’s Journey, a word that apparently prevails over the appellation “conquests.” Visitors can follow the road of Alexander's entire expedition on the computer with interactive maps. Still, the images move too fast if you ask me, and I wonder if anyone who looks at Alexander’s route for the first time can follow his progress and realize his impact. I have my doubts.

Luckily, the exhibition continues chronologically, starting with Alexander’s crossing into Asia (today’s Turkey), his progress through Syria to Egypt, and from there to Persia and Babylonia, to reach Bactria (the northeastern part of today’s Afghanistan), and finally even India. Not only do we see what Alexander must have seen, but more so the imprints of what he left behind, i.e., the Greek influence on local art and the local way of life. It goes without saying that I have never seen most of these artifacts, not even in pictures, for they never or seldom leave the Hermitage in St Petersburg. I even wonder whether the tourists in St Petersburg will see all of this, for the Hermitage Palace is far too big and the visits, from what I have heard, are far too short.

Anyway, there are several striking pieces I want to highlight here. First, there is a small marble head of Alexander from the 1st century, evidently a Roman copy of a Greek original (most certainly by Lysippos). Although somewhat damaged, it is still very similar. Then, a portrait study of one of the Ptolemies from Egypt (3rd-1st century BC), illustrating the impact of Alexander’s general Ptolemy and his offspring on Egypt. There is also an impressive collection of cameos made of sardonyx. I particularly remember the one portraying Alexander hunting boar from the 1st century AD (from Italy), the one of Alexander-Helios, son of Cleopatra VII and Marc Anthony, depicted as Horus-Harpocrates from the 1st century BC (from Egypt); the twin portraits of Ptolemy II Philadelphos and Arsinoe II from the 3rd century BC, i.e., the so-called Gonzaga cameo (from Alexandria); the Triumph of Dionysos from the 1st century BC (also from Alexandria) and an excellent Zeus with brown curly hair from the 3rd century BC (again from Alexandria). Pictures of these precious pieces can be found under the Dutch tab Beeldmateriaal van de Hermitage (not available in English, unfortunately).

More thrilling items are luring from all sides! In the Egyptian showcase, and as a matter of course, I come across Cleopatra VII of Egypt, a delicate basalt statue from 51-30 BC with clear Hellenistic elements. This is the Cleopatra we all know as Queen of Egypt, although she unmistakably has Macedonian blood from the first Ptolemy running through her veins. New to me is to hear that besides Caesarion, her son with Caesar, she had three more children, this time with Marc Anthony: a son, Alexander-Helios (see above), and twins, a girl and a boy. After Cleopatra’s death, the children were raised by the sister of Octavian, the imperial victor, after which they entirely disappeared from history. I was unaware of this part of her life; I learned something new today. I’m also quite surprised by the bronze head of a “Hellenistic ruler with helmet” that looks Egyptian but is not. It probably originates from the Eastern Mediterranean and should belong to the 2nd-1st century BC. 

Then unexpectedly, I am walking among life-size heads, Roman copies, of course, like the marble bust of Achilles that somehow reminds me of Alexander and is copied from an original from 170-160 BC, and the head of Meleagros, also from a Greek original from 350-340 BC. Striking and obviously, Hellenistic is the marble head of Mithridates VI Eupator from Pergamon, dated 90-80 BC. The relief fragment from Iran also demands some attention: it represents a royal guard from about 500 BC belonging either to Xerxes or Darius. Lovely to see this at eye level.

Scattered among these statues and statuettes, I’m enchanted to find a collection of coins from all corners of Alexander’s Empire. First, there are coins of Alexander himself with ram’s horns, lion head, or elephant skin, and of Alexander’s successors in similar attire. The gold stater with Alexander from Macedonia is an inevitable eye-catcher, and the Bactrian coin where the ruler wears a kind of sun helmet looks very familiar too. Initially, only gods and goddesses were depicted on these coins, and I noticed a remarkable silver one with the profile of Zeus, whose hair is made of oak leaves. Take a good, close look, for this is really something unique.

Nike, the goddess of Victory, was also very popular, not only on coins (there is a wonderful golden one on display here) but also in jewelry like the golden-winged earrings from the mid-4th century BC, in a typical Greek representation, which is believed to be a reduced copy from a monumental statue. Most charming are the earrings set with a dove pendant sitting on a small swing that must go back and forth with each move of the wearer’s head. The dove is dressed in colored glass and hessonite (cinnamon-colored quartz). This jewel was made in Alexandria in the 2nd century BC. 

Athena is also present, of course, and the seal ring of Athena Nikeforos really deserves some attention. This ring is pure Greek from the 4th century BC and was found in the Northern Black Sea region. Such craftsmanship in those days! While talking about gold, I’d like to mention a few rare items. There is, for instance, a remarkably well-preserved golden bowl with handles in the shape of animals from Persia dating from the 5th-4th century BC; a golden quiver (gorytos) with action scenes from the life of Achilles from the Northern Black Sea area dated 350-325 BC; and finally the many golden Greek olive crowns from the same region, mid-4th century BC – there must have been lots of them for they keep turning up so often in so many different sites. And finally, a gorgeous golden choker from East Iran, dated 5^th-3^rd century BC.

Finally, there are miscellaneous objects, among which are striking bronze and silver bowls and beakers. I admire an excellent silver drinking cup (kylix) with Helios's figure in his carriage at the bottom and a bronze Hellenistic head used as a decorative element on a chariot - both from the 3^rd century BC. Here, I come face to face with the silver-gilded Phaleras, larger than I imagined them, showing scenes of fighting elephants in a straightforward mixture of Greek and Asiatic elements, dated 3^rd-2^nd century BC, and found in East Iran. All in all, too much to make a complete list, but they deserve our attention. I can’t get enough of it, of course!

The exhibition now continues on the second floor. This part is only about Alexander’s Legacy, but I have to admit I expected more convincing material. A few papyri were written in Greek to prove that this language was still used after the Arabs conquered the Middle East. From here, it is only a short step to the Middle-Age concoction of the Alexander Romance and the miniature illustrations of Iskander in the Persian literature of the 15th and 16th centuries. I’m not too impressed with these exhibits, for they are far from Alexander's “Greek” image.

Last but not least, we reach the pomp and circumstance of the Russian Court, which I think is exaggerated like the Alexander statue cut at the end of the 18th century from walrus bones – a meager figure on horseback. A more rewarding result has been achieved with the vast bronze clock from the end of the 19th century, where Alexander is (very idealistically) depicted while reading. The story goes that Alexander wanted to avoid falling asleep at any cost, so he held an iron ball in one hand. If his attention lapsed or he was about to fall asleep, the ball would slip from his hand and fall into the bowl underneath with a loud rattle. He would be sure to resume his reading after that. A charming tale, but we are looking at an elegant, attractive, and handsome Alexander. Pictures and photographs show only his face, which is a pity, for I’m taken by his entire posture, delicate sandals, and elegant chair with his weapons leaning against it – not to mention the fine relief that runs all around the base of the clock.

To prove that Alexander the Great is still a topical figure in our times, there is a reference to the movie Oliver Stone made in 2004. And I say “luckily” because the film has been rejected by many audiences and historians. These critics, in my mind, do him wrong and are definitely without foundation. The old movie with Richard Burton never got such criticism, far from it, and that movie is absolutely horrible to watch.

Well, that’s it. In the wide corridor on the way downstairs, you can stop at four monumental pictures by Erwin Olaf, who made a photographic interpretation of Alexander. This man, at least, understood what was expected of him when he was asked to combine objects from this exhibition with life figures. This is great art, and it pays off to take a moment to watch these superb creations. For your information, one of his photos is shown on the billboards for this exhibition. Had he lived, Alexander would undoubtedly have been flattered!

In short, this exhibition does credit to its name: The Immortal Alexander the Great. Alexander has defied the centuries, and 2,300 years after his death, he still lives on in our imagination. If that does not mean being “immortal,” what does?