Aristobulus, more than a biographer

Aristobulus of Cassandreia has been listed among the many biographers of Alexander the Great (see: Eyewitness accounts of Alexander’s life), but he was far more than that. He did not hold any military function in Alexander’s army. Consequently, not being involved allowed him to approach the events as an onlooker. 

He must have been a tough guy since he survived the hardships of Alexander’s campaigns, including the march through the Gedrosian Desert. He seems to have lived to be over ninety years old. 

When he was 83, he began writing his book about the exploits of Alexander from the early days of his kinship to his death. He was blessed with an excellent memory, being able to recall so many events, novelties, and details! Apparently, his book was finished at about the same time as Ptolemy and Cleitarchus published theirs, 285-283 BC. Unfortunately, most of his work is lost. We only have a few scraps together with his observations recorded and used later by Arrian and Strabo. 

We may assume that Aristobulus’ accounts were exact and reliable. He had a wide field of interest and investigated the land, the animals, the many peoples he encountered, the public buildings, and other construction works. Alexander’s military campaign was not his priority. 

He is best known as the engineer/ architect in charge of restoring Cyrus’ Tomb in Pasargadae, a serious responsibility that clearly shows how much Alexander trusted his capabilities. 

Aristobulus, however, was mainly a geographer. He spent much time analyzing and describing the fauna and flora he encountered, the rainfall and the Indian monsoon (whose arrival he recorded in Taxila), the rivers, and the different climates. He drew an in-depth comparison between India and Egypt, including their environment. He analyzed the river courses, placing them in a broader context as trade routes throughout Central Asia and Punjab. 

The Oxus (see: Crossing the Oxus River), for instance, was the longest river, he said, that was navigable and used to transport goods from India to the Caspian Sea. Another river that caught his attention was the Polytimetus (see: Alexander's march to Maracanda) in Sogdiana, which did not flow into another river or a sea, but petered out in the desert. 

On the other hand, fragments of Aristobulus’ text on plants have been preserved. He tells us how rice was cultivated in beds in the backwaters and that the plants were 1.75 meters tall. He said that since each plant had several ears, the harvests were plentiful, adding that the grains had to be hulled. 

The geographer also spent ink on the importance of Alexander’s visit to Siwah. Unlike fellow biographers of the king, Aristobulus detailed Alexander’s route. Ptolemy stated that Alexander headed directly for Memphis. Aristobulus, instead, wrote that the king left from Paraetonium and followed the Mediterranean for about 290 kilometers before turning south to Siwah. On the way back, Alexander founded the city of Alexandria. This implies that he returned over the same route as the one used on his outward journey. Again, this is the version of events as copied by Arrian.

We know very little about Aristobulus’ fascinating personality, but he is one of the rare authors who draws an overwhelmingly positive picture of Alexander. He depicts him as a righteous king, concerned about justice and not making hasty decisions. Another of his remarkable declarations is that Alexander was not a heavy drinker but liked to spend time with his companions, toying with his drink. That is a far cry from the many statements or hearsay statements depicting Alexander as a heavy drinker and even that the wine led to his premature death in Babylon! 

Aristobulus rightfully declares that Alexander was under the protection of the gods. Nowadays, we would say that he was born under a lucky star. Why not?

Taposiris Magna in Egypt

Taposiris Magna has been in the news lately because of the extensive archaeological diggings leading to the theory that this could be the place to find the Tomb of Cleopatra VII. This last Queen of Egypt (see: Cleopatra VII and her children, the last of the Ptolemies) leaves as big a mystery around her ultimate resting place as her distant ancestor, Alexander the Great. Anyway, this riddle has not been solved as yet.

 

Taposiris Magna lies on Egypt's north coast, about halfway between Alexandria and El-Alamein, some 60 km from the center of Alexandria. Nowadays, it falls within the Alexandria Governorate of Egypt. It’s interesting to know that it was on the road to Paraetonium, which Alexander took when he visited Siwah. Callisthenes tells us that Alexander stopped in Taposiris Magna, so we should assume this was an earlier settlement.

[Picture from Heritage Daily. Image Credit : Koantao - CC BY-SA 3.0]

It has been recorded that the city was built by Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the son, and successor of Ptolemy I, between 280 and 270 BC. It stood on top of a limestone ridge that separates the Mediterranean from the now-dry Lake Mareotis. In Roman times, a channel 50 meters wide was dug out simultaneously as a closed harbor system. To eliminate the silt carried by the Nile, these skilled builders ingeniously added two de-silting openings to the harbor basin. Besides some shops, cisterns, and several private and public buildings, the most significant remains are those of the Temple of Osiris and a lighthouse.

 

The name Taposiris Magna means “the great tomb of Osiris,” which clearly refers to the temple. The theory about the last resting place of Cleopatra VII matured after discovering a large necropolis outside the walls. It contains Greco-Roman mummies, which all face the temple. Hence the link to the presence of royalty within the walls of the temple and, hopefully, of Cleopatra.

 

Further excavations have located the original gate to the Temple of Osiris, including several stones that once lined the entrance. This may be an indication that there was an avenue bordered with sphinxes as customary at the time the Pharaohs ruled Egypt, i.e., until the arrival of Alexander.

 

The town is surrounded by a long wall that ran further south to the shore of the lake to ensure that the caravans would pass through the city. Until the 7th century AD, Taposiris Magna played a significant role in the trading route for the goods arriving over Lake Mareotis and overland from Cyrenaica (see: Cyrene, founded by the Greeks). This forced the merchants to pay taxes before traveling onward to Alexandria.

[Picture from Heritage Daily. Pharos of Abusir – 

Image Credit : Einsamer Schütze – CC BY-SA 3.0]

The lighthouse, or the Pharos of Abusir, is a 1:4 or 1:5 replica of the famous Pharos of Alexandria. More recent and in-depth studies have concluded that this tower was never a lighthouse but a funerary monument from Ptolemaic times inspired by the Pharos - meaning it was built after the famous lighthouse of Alexandria.

 

Pending more excavations and perhaps luck, we might find where this remarkable Queen Cleopatra is buried.

End of the Third Sacred War and Peace with Athens - Macedonia forged by Philip II - 9

End of the Third Sacred War and Peace with Athens (346 BC)

An embassy of ten men was sent to Pella to discuss ‘peace and the common interests of Athens and Philip’ (see: Demosthenes). This would be the first of four embassies. Personally, I find this passage very exciting because of the vivid and captivating story told by Mary Renault in her book Fire from Heaven, featuring young Alexander.  The ten envoys traveled to Pella in March 346 BC, when Alexander was about ten years old. Among them were great names like Philocrates, Nausicles, Demosthenes, and Aeschines. Each had prepared his speech on the proposed alliance and peace, and they had decided to speak in order of age, the youngest last and this happened to be Demosthenes after Aeschines who tells us that he began “in a voice dead with fright, and after a brief narration of earlier events suddenly fell silent and was at a loss for words, … Seeing the state he was in, Philip encouraged him to take heart and not to suppose that he had suffered a complete catastrophe. … But Demosthenes … was now unable to recover; he tried once more to speak, and the same thing happened.” What an appearance for such an orator!

Having listened graciously to every ambassador, Philip told them that he recognized Athens’ claim to the Chersonese, their corn route to the Black Sea. On the subject of the Sacred War, he made believe through his usual confusing diplomacy that he would consider the protection of the Phocians but he needed Athens’ full guarantee to support him in this matter. In other words, he meant to exclude Phocis from the treaty. As to the Athenian prisoners taken at Olynthus in 348 BC, he would release them without ransom as soon as they had accepted his terms – a handy gesture to put their fate in Athens’ hands. In short, Philip’s idea was that of a bilateral agreement between him and his allies on one side and Athens and their allies on the other.

As soon as the embassy left, Philip set off to Thracia to clean up all their independent forts along the coastline, but not before he had sent Antipater, Parmenion, and Eurylochus to Athens to repeat his terms of peace and received Athens’ consent in return. The news was buzzing in Athens’ Assembly, which at first was inclined to accept Philip’s proposal but Demosthenes had to put his own twist as usual and persuaded the Assembly to go for a Common Peace in which every state was free to join. Of course, this was refused by Antipater when he was called in the next day for that were not his king’s terms. In the end, the Athenians and their allies swore their oaths to the peace and alliance to Macedonia.

The Macedonian envoys left Athens which prepared a second delegation with the same men to set off to Pella. Since Philip was still warring in Thracia, the Athenians sat there waiting for some time while Demosthenes filled his days with brooding schemes. After Philip gave his oath to peace, the company left and collected the oaths from the king’s allies on their way back to Athens. By this treaty, the war between Athens and Amphipolis finally came to an end.

Philip then played his own political maneuver with Thebes which in the end forced the Phocians to surrender, not to the Amphictyonic Council as they should, but to Philip. How that went down with the Athenians in 346 BC, I don’t know. They must have been relieved to learn that the Third Sacred War was now over and that Delphi finally was liberated – Apollo’s crowned soldiers had done their job!

At this stage, the punishment of Phocis had to be decided and the Athenians once more sent an embassy to Philip, without Demosthenes this time, who thought he could do more harm to Philip talking to the people of Athens… It is this delegation that attended the Amphictyonic Council instead of Athens. Several states wanted to impose the legal penalty for sacrilege, whereby all the Phocian males would be thrown from the Phaedriades cliffs of Delphi. Since Philip did not want to take sides for or against Phocis he managed to obtain a milder punishment, meaning that those who had participated in the occupation and robbery of Delphi would be cursed, their lands confiscated, their membership to the Council withdrawn, their weapons and horses taken away. Phocis itself would not be allowed to consult the oracle and the people couldn’t buy any horses until they had repaid the money stolen from Delphi’s treasury. The exact sum is not known but seems to vary between 1,622 and 3,244 talents, a considerable amount of money in any case.

To reward Philip for the liberation of Apollo’s treasury, Thessaly proposed to give Phocis two votes in the Council to Philip, who as Archon automatically held at least half of all the votes already. These two votes, however, were Philip’s in his own right, whereby he became an official member of the Amphictyonic Council  – no small achievement for a ‘barbarian’ king!

Click here to read the full story about Philip II from the beginning

Alexander the Great in Egypt. Lecture of 24 November 2010

I attended this fascinating lecture about Alexander the Great in Egypt. It was given by Prof. Olaf Kaper at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam. He had my undivided attention since he has been working on the site of Siwah for several years, and he managed to give me the information I wasn't aware of before.

He started introducing Alexander the Great with his itinerary from Pella across the Hellespont, mentioning the battlefields of Granicus and Issus and the siege of Tyre and Gaza until he arrived in Pelusium, his first city in Egypt. From here, he went to Memphis, the capital of Egypt in his days, where he received a delegation from Cyrene that brought him horses among their gifts. When I was in Cyrene (now in Libya), I remember how their horses in antiquity were praised for their stamina, especially on a battlefield, so it felt like meeting up with old friends. The speaker speculated that this may have been an invitation for Alexander to visit Cyrene, a Greek colony at that time. In any case, it has to be clarified whether Alexander was heading for Cyrene or already for Siwah when he left Memphis for the northern coastline when he chose the location to build Alexandria. He must have traveled along the mainstream of the Nile to Naucratis, another Greek city that lived off the commerce with the Egyptian hinterland, before turning westward. 

The choice for the location of Alexandria is, geographically speaking, excellent, with the natural outline of a harbor and an inland lake with fresh water. Strangely enough, I heard from Richard Miles on BBC that these waters were brackish, a huge mistake of Alexander. It would have been Ptolemy's doing to build a 30 km long canal to the Nile and appropriate underground cisterns to provide the necessary water for the city! I can't believe Alexander would make such a mistake, for whoever in his right mind would found a city where there is no water? Certainly not Alexander! Besides, the cisterns shown in this documentary looked Roman to me. Back to the lecture, though, we are shown a few pictures with temple remains of Paraetonium, another Greek colony on the Mediterranean, from where Alexander turns south towards Siwah – leaving Cyrene for what it was.

Olaf Kaper then draws a comparison and parallel between the Temple of Zeus-Ammon in Cyrene, built in Greek style (note that this temple in Cyrene is larger than the Parthenon in Athens!), and the Temple of Ammon-Zeus in Siwah, built in Egyptian style. Yet the temple of Siwah shows several Greek characteristics, like the intermittent use of large and small stones in the walls and the half-Doric columns at the entrance, for instance. He assumes that Greek architects from Cyrene were hired to build the Siwah temple. Then follow a couple of views of the empty desert landscape, a stretch of 300 kilometers which Alexander and his close companions covered on horseback in eight days, getting lost a couple of times, as we know… Then there are some great pictures of the Siwah oasis, which turns out to be more than 60 km wide! I had no idea of the size! 

We know that Alexander entered the Temple of Siwah alone, but now I'm told that the temple was used only to ask the question(s) to the god, whereas the answer(s) was(were) given in the temple on the opposite hill! The announcements there were a public affair, so Alexander's entourage must have heard the god's answers, although they may not have known the questions … There was a holy road connecting both hills of which little or nothing remains today. The temple on top of the hill across the temple of Siwah itself is almost entirely gone, except for a few low walls. They were relatively complete until the end of the 19th century when the local governor decided to blow them up to use the stones for his own house. Yet, don't know where that was or is …

I also learned something new about the picture of Zeus with the ram's horns. It seems that this custom was born in Cyrene for Ammon-Zeus (Ammon, the Libyan god, is spelled with double mm, while the Egyptian Amon is written with one m). The idea has traveled from Cyrene to Egypt and has reached Alexander in the process. When I later returned to the Hermitage Museum, I noticed a coin of the “old” Ammon-Zeus with horns that looked something like these examples: 

          

And there is more exciting news, at least for me. When Alexander left Siwah, he traveled East towards the Nile along a known road, which he was told was shorter. That road runs from one oasis to the next. In the second oasis after Siwah, archaeologists have recently discovered a Greek Temple dedicated to Alexander with several inscriptions and pictures related to the great man! Unbelievable and unexpected. 

My knowledgeable speaker also mentions Alexander's instructions to rebuild the "bark" area of the temples of Karnak and Thebe, in fact, the sacred inner area of the temple that held the bark in which the god was carried around on heydays. He also had beautiful photographs of some walls in Karnak where hieroglyphic inscriptions referred to King Philip Arrhidaeus. I have no idea why he is being mentioned here, and I forgot to ask Olaf Kaper… sorry. 

And to conclude, Olaf Kaper warmly recommends the book Sunset Oasis by Bahaa Taher, a contemporary story in the oasis of Siwah and gives an excellent idea of the location. So more reading material is to be put on my wish list!