Plato and Atlantis

Plato wrote 35 Dialogues but two of his late Dialogues, “Timaeus” and “Critias”, are quite unique as they relate the history of Egypt to around 9,000 years before his time! That is where and when Atlantis is mentioned. Timaeus was a philosopher and astronomer from Locris in southern Italy, and Critias was an Athenian politician. 

Atlantis is, was, and will be very controversial. Yet, Plato’s tale is all we have to go by. As in every story or legend, there is always a base for some truth. To bring the Athenians in contact with Atlantis sounds far searched, but there is hope for the skeptics. 

In February 2022, Sotirios Sofias of the National Technical University of Athens published a very revealing study on the matter under the title “Atlantis: A real continent and not fiction according to the dialogues Timaeus and Critias of Plato”, which I will try to summarize hereafter. The author has analyzed the original ancient Greek text as recorded by Plato to match it with Google Earth's screenshots - with surprising results. Please remember that Plato was a pupil of Socrates (see: Plato, more than a philosopher). 

Critias, during a meeting with Socrates, Timaeus, and Hermocrates (general of Syracuse), describes the visit of Solon of Athens to Egyptian priests around 600 BC. On this occasion, the priests honored Athens in all its glory including the city’s victory over the people of Atlantis. The Atlanteans, they continued, lived on an island beyond the Pillars of Heracles and had conquered all the islands of the Atlantic Ocean and many others in the Mediterranean Sea, including Egypt. Yet, all the countries revolted against the aggressive Atlanteans, led by the Athenians, who were victorious. Atlantis suddenly disappeared after a terrible natural catastrophe. 

Modern technology shed a new perspective on Atlantis when in 2009 Google Earth revealed the outlines of a submerged formation about 600 kilometers northwest of the Canary Islands. The main feature appears as a manmade grid, which matches Solon’s “square” or “plain”,  the capital Atlantis as recorded by Plato.

Studying these images, Sotirios Sofias found that all the measurements of Atlantis noted by Plato are consistent with those visible in the Google Earth pictures. The stunning underwater square, whose sides are 140 kilometers long, is divided by channels following a perfectly recognizable Hippodamian plan. The water from the surrounding mountains flowed through the city’s canals to serve its needs in fresh water and as a transportation system for the Atlanteans. 

This city and the island of Atlantis disappeared after a severe cataclysm, destroying Athens at the same time, and the city's glory was forgotten. The large island of Atlantis sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, five kilometers deep! 

After an in-depth study of Plato’s text, Sotirios Sofias established that Atlantis was sitting on a super volcano similar to Yellowstone National Park in the US including the same kind of hot springs and therapeutic sources. Both sites have more in common than one would imagine as Critias describes a landscape resembling modern Yellowstone's beauty. He praises the fertile soil of Atlantis with its abundance of trees, fruit plants, and the variety of tamed and wild animals that populated the island! The island was also known for its minerals like gold, silver, copper, tin, etc. The inhabitants of Atlantis did not know they lived on top of a volcano, very much as the people of Pompeii did not know that the mountain on their horizon was a volcano.

The global cataclysm mentioned by Critias was, in fact, the eruption of this supervolcano in combination with the violent rotation of the earth's axis. Plato attributes this event to a meteorite or comet (which he calls Phaethon) that hit the earth. It caused the destruction of Atlantis, Athens, and all the nearby coastal cities and islands. The Egyptian priests told Solon that their country was saved thanks to the Nile. This is how the ancient texts of Atlantis were spared for 9000 years! Solon’s notes on Atlantis survived and were passed on to Plato via his uncle Critias. 

Plato clearly mentioned that the city was protected on the North side by high mountains. Google Earth has indeed located three submerged mountains of 4,000-4,500 meters that have moved 75 degrees counter-clockwise after these violent forces of nature occurred, erasing the island from view and memory. 

Another controversial subject is the shape and size of Atlantis. Solon mentioned that the island was narrow and extended from the coast of Spain to the present-day Antilles. It included islands like the Azores, which are the mountain peaks of the submerged Atlantis mentioned above. Critias provides details stating that the island's eastern end was opposite the Pillars of Heracles (Gibraltar), at Gadiriki (modern Cadis in Spain).  At the opposite end, it almost automatically takes us to the Lesser and Greater Caribbean Antilles and the Americas. 

Based on the measurements of Critias as compared to the geographic layout of Google Earth, Atlantis had an elongated shape like a banana. It was 4,500 kilometers long and 760 kilometers wide in its center. The western end of the island was only 1,000 kilometers away from the coast of South America, i.e., the distance an ancient ship could cover in one week. 

This reminds me of the news that made headlines several years ago about artifacts of Phoenician origin discovered in South America. Highly improbable, it was thought, and the wildest speculations followed! Presently, in light of the shape and size of Atlantis, the find is not outlandish at all! Sailing from the Mediterranean across the Atlantic Ocean along the south coast of Atlantis was extremely convenient as the ships could stop at so many ports on their way! When Atlantis disappeared, this communication route vanished and all memory of this once so-powerful kingdom was erased at the same time. 

Now there is the story of Atlantis everybody is familiar with a series of successive circles around a central island. Based on Critias’ account, this central island had a diameter of 1,000 meters. It was surrounded by two circles of land and three of water. This is the location of the Palace of Atlantis. The ditch around the central island was connected with a 9,500-meter-long canal to the sea. The total diameter of these combined circles was 5,000 meters! Hard to imagine! 

The Palace of Atlantis was the residence of the Major King. Critias noted that it was of astonishing size: 200 meters wide and 200 meters long, standing 100 meters tall. It was bigger than St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Atlantis was divided into ten kingdoms, each with its own king, subordinate to the Major King, the direct descendant of Atlas, son of Poseidon, and founder of Atlantis. Solon said that the god was held in high esteem by the Atlanteans, as quoted by Critias: “They placed golden statues, the god (Poseidon) to be upright in his chariot, holding the reins of six winged horses, and this complex was so tall that it almost touched the top of the roof of the temple. Around him, seated on dolphins, there were a hundred Nereids along with innumerous other statues around, dedicated to exceptional individuals.” 

All the above takes me to Alexander, as I so often speculate about his knowledge of the world when he set out to conquer Asia. He, and his selected circle of friends, had been tutored by Aristotle, a pupil of Plato. In this light, history deserves to be rewritten. We should be aware that besides Alexander, all of his Companions and later generals and kings in their own right, were aware of a world much larger than we generally assume!

[All details with clear drawings and maps are made available by Sotirios Sofias in his study Atlantis: A real continent and not fiction according to the dialogues Timaeus and Critias of Plato]

Plato, more than a philosopher

Plato is a highly fascinating figure. Not only was he a student of Socrates, but he also taught Aristotle, who, in turn, passed his knowledge on to young Alexander. 

Plato, born in 427 BC, received the best education of his time. Although we know him mainly as a philosopher, he was educated in martial arts and horse riding, besides mathematics and music, painting and drawing. 

When about the age of twenty, he encountered Socrates teaching on the Agora of Athens, he realized that philosophy was a more worthy goal to pursue. 

Socrates hardly wrote anything down. We know about him from Plato and Xenophon, who are not always in agreement. Socrates preferred talking, or rather asking questions, to the point of embarrassing and irritating his audience. 

Plato followed his master until the Athenians executed him on the charge of impiety in 399 BC. He then left Athens and traveled to other philosophical centers, such as Megara and Syracuse in Sicily, and later to Egypt and Cyrene. He became a student of Pythagoras, Euclid, and Heraclitus, and concentrated on the religion and metaphysics of Egypt. 

Before the Museum of Alexandria was founded, the center of knowledge was in Heliopolis, where priests studied philosophy, astronomy, and theology. Many Greeks like Homer, Pythagoras, Plato, and Solon consulted the Library that contained the history of Egypt going back thousands of years. For us, Egypt's ancient history is lost in the mists of times … How much was (still) available in Plato’s days? Probably far more than we can imagine. 

In the 380s BC, Plato returned to Athens, where he started the Academy. The philosopher educated his followers in a shrine of olive groves, sacred to the Greek hero Academos and called therefore, Academia. Plato’s school would continue to thrive till the early 6^th century AD when it was shut down by Emperor Justinian. This Byzantine emperor was determined to erase paganism for good and impose Christianity instead to regain control over the Western Roman Empire. 

Plato is best known for his Dialogues and his Letters. He contributed hugely to our Western culture and religion although few people realize his impact on monotheistic religions like Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. He was the first philosopher to mention and underscore the soul's immortality. For that reason, his work was not destroyed but accepted by the Christian religious leaders. Plato also stressed the importance of ‘objective truth’ in order to live well. 

As a result of the recent advanced imaging diagnostic techniques to read the carbonized papyri from Herculaneum (see: Reading the papyrus scrolls from Herculaneum), scholars have discovered more details about Plato’s life, of which very little is otherwise known. By virtually realigning the bits of burnt papyrus, they were able to restore the continuity of the text and obtain more information. 

The scroll revealed that Plato was sold into slavery on the island of Aegina, south of Athens, either in 404 BC when Sparta conquered the island, or in 399 BC upon the death of Socrates. It was previously and erroneously accepted that this event took place while he resided at the court of Dionysios of Syracuse in 387 BC. 

We also learned more about the final hours of Plato. While battling a fever, he listened to flute music played by a Thracian slave girl. He was still very lucid as he had the strength to criticize the girl’s lack of rhythm. A perfectionist to the end? 

Plato died in 348/347 BC, and it is now understood that he was buried in the garden of his Academia of Athens. This is very telling since the Academy is considered the world’s first university, which he founded next to the Mouseion. 

Deciphering the papyrus scrolls is a lengthy process that may well require many more years. Who knows what more we will learn?

Persia's Historical Memory of Alexander

Robbert Bosschart has published an Updated Version 2025 to his book All Alexander’s Women, which deserves special attention.

Of particular interest is this newly reworked Chapter Persia's Historical Memory of Alexander, where the author focuses on the Persian side of history. The Achaemenids did not have a counterpart for the Greek writers and chroniclers and relied instead on the verbal transmission of Alexander’s life and deeds by way of mouth by their storytellers.

This new information is too good to be kept hidden in the dust of times, and I am very happy to share hereafter the most important information together with some of the magnificent illustrations. 

Persia's Historical Memory of Alexander

For Persia’s own first-hand memories of Alexander perforce we have to rely on oral history: all the published testimonies available today originated from texts of local storytellers, later written down and ‘enriched’ by scribes, poets or translators.

...

Early Persian/Arab authors who included history themes in their writings, based their texts both on oral history accounts and on written documents. From Umara in the 7th century AD up to Masudí in the 10th century they used all sorts of sources, including the first Arabic translations of the pseudo-Kallisthenes’ Alexander Romance.

As times went by, the most popular versions of Alexander’s exploits became more and more sensational and sexy, big adventure tales usually known as the Iskandar-Nama, the Book of Alexander. As a result, their reports about Alexander’s reign are quite entertaining literature, but in historical accuracy ‘few and far between’.

Therefore it is interesting to find that the only text with specifically Persian memories of Alexander’s life and deeds is, again, that of a simple storyteller. Or not exactly ‘simple’, for Abu Taher al-Tarsusí describes himself as «a compiler of histories and narrator of mysterious facts». The saga that Tartusi published under the title of Darab-Nama (‘Tale of Darius’) was a written version of an ancient folk story. From the 12th century AD on it became very popular.

The oldest manuscript we have is dated to 1580 AD, in an edition illuminated with precious miniatures made in India for the Mughal emperor Akbar. Painstaking research on this and other, later versions finally yielded in 1965 the definitive edition of the Darab-Nama. In his introduction, Professor Zabiholla Safa underlined that the text is based on oral source material that is much older than the Arabic translations of the Alexander Romance. In other words, the Darab-Nama reflects Persia’s own historical memory. 

Its title is rather misleading, because only 386 of the 1159 known pages concern Persia’s glory years under the revered figures of Darius the Elder and his successor. But the bulk of the text, 773 pages long, displays an elaborate tale of how his fictional granddaughter, princess ‘Buran-dokht’, first opposes, but finally permits Alexander’s conquest of Persia. 

A unique characteristic of the Darab-Nama is that here, Alexander does not get the brilliant leading role. That privilege is reserved solely for the purely Persian personage Buran-dokht. As long as the story takes place in Persia, Alexander is even portrayed as a hotheaded, at times stupid or cowardly, and always vulnerable young man, with no special military talents. More than once, Buran-dokht has to come and save him. Only after the story has moved to foreign lands, Alexander is allowed to become a brilliant warrior and wise statesman.

The Iskandar-Nama became a popular (and often hilarious) 

adventure tale with lots of action and sex

Of course, like many other works of oral literature, the Darab-Nama has been compiled over the centuries by successive storytellers. This makes it even more impressive that in Tarsusí’s final version, the text still manages to retain Persia’s popular memory of three historical facts concerning Alexander. 

The most extensive of the three is the (re)appearance of a goddess from a legendary past, Anahita. Time and again she intervenes to promote and protect Alexander’s kingship. To begin with, as Nahid, Alexander’s secret mother, who succeeds in placing him on the throne of the Western empire called “Rum“. Then she pops up briefly as queen Aban-dokht, who becomes his lover, and presents him with the capital of Persia, Estakhr. Finally she shines forth on hundreds of pages as the divine Buran-dokht, who ends up marrying him and setting him on the throne of the empire. Which means that even in islamic Iran, popular folklore still remembered –from 1500 years back!– the goddess Anahita, her role as Giver of Kingship, and her blessing for Alexander.

The second historical fact reported about Alexander in the Darab-Nama refers to his double Persian marriage «according to core royal usage»; that is, the multiple political marriages practised by Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great in the 6th century BC. This is told as follows:

«Buran-dokht took Alexander by the hand, made him sit on the throne and saluted him as King of Iran. Then they sent messengers and letters from Estakhr to all the provinces to announce that Buran-Dokht and Alexander had married. 

The gates of the treasuries were opened, gold was distributed profusely, and with both of them installed on their thrones on equal footing, they had seven months of celebrations. In accordance with the core royal usage, Alexander was also given in marriage the daughter of King Shahush».

So here Alexander marries a daughter of king Darab and a daughter of a king called Shahush. History tells us that in Susa, in 324 BC, Alexander married princess Barsine/Stateira, daughter of Darius III, and the princess Parysatis, last daughter of a king we know as Artaxerxes III Ochus, but who was called ‘Vahush’ in Old Persian. So the «daughter of King Shahush» in the Darab-Nama evidently is the daughter of Shah Vahush, as Artaxerxes III was known to his court.

The Persian warrior-queen Buran-dokht repeatedly 

saves Alexander from his enemies. 

Here she defeats the Indian king Poros, when she grabs 

his war elephant by the trunk and overturns him.

(Miniature illustrating a Darab Nama manuscript of 1720 AD, 

now in the Statsbibliothek of Berlin)

The third popular memory of a historical fact embedded in this saga recounts Alexander’s decision to promote mass-marriages for the better integration of conquerors and conquered into one realm; a theme that takes up some 20 pages in the Darab-Nama. This is how the story goes:

Alexander and his army happen upon an island of women, and thousands of these invade the camp «searching for men». Alexander suspects that in reality they may be hostile, but soon understands they only want to make love —and then fears that his own men will “go berserk”, causing even worse problems. So he allows his wise chancellor –whose name is given as Plato— to apply a miracle-working solution.

Plato calls upon the women and asks them: «By the will of God, and so be all the Angels your witnesses, will you give yourselves in legal union to the men that will enter your city?» They agree. The storyteller concludes: «When the women were trying to seduce the men, it was the work of the Devil; but as soon as they were conveniently and legally married, it became God’s work, and Alexander could no longer be held responsible for any problems arising of their arrival».

Clearly, this is a remembrance of the mass-marriages (in reality, the legalization of de facto marriages) that Alexander organised in parallel with his double wedding at Susa in 324 BC. Out of his own purse, as Arrian reports in VII, 4, 8, he paid dowries for the Persian and other Oriental women who had taken up with his officers and soldiers, so they could be legally married.

The list totalled some 10,000 dowries, and the classical sources say that Alexander disbursed over 10,000 talents of silver for them; an amount equivalent to 150 million dollars of today. It is understandable that these marriages, converting thousands of concubines into legal wives, left an indelible memory among the Persians. 

Just as important was Alexander’s pledge that he would care for their offspring. Arrian notes in passing that he promised his veterans that their children from Oriental partners “will be educated as Makedonians”. But Diodoros tells more: he registers (in his Book XVII, 110, 3) that Alexander has set up a specific fund and appointed the necessary teachers to ensure that the 10,000 children his men have had with “women who were taken in war” will be educated “as is the right of free men”.

Alexander and his wise chancellor Plato receive Queen Sabaterah, 

who reigns over an island where only women live, 

and they all want sex with men. 

Plato will ensure that they become legal spouses.

(Miniature from the 1720 AD manuscript of the Darab-Nama)

In Book XVIII, Diodoros adds that Alexander had decided to apply his integration policy on a much broader scale:

«…he intended to establish cities and to transplant populations from Asia to Europe and in the opposite direction from Europe to Asia, in order to bring the largest continents to common unity and to friendly kinship by means of intermarriages and family ties».

Alexander’s intermarriage policy found lasting approval in Persia, as shown by the positive comment of the storyteller in the Darab-Nama on the “miraculous solution” devised by Plato. In fact, all three of Tarsusí’s historical storylines, repeated again and again in the saga, must have met with notable approval of his Persian audience. After all, no storyteller makes a living by irritating his public.

Around the year 1000 AD, the prominent court poet Farrukhi Sistaní affirmed: “The story of Alexander’s exploits and his travels has found listeners everywhere, and everybody knows those tales by heart”. So Tarsusí and the storytellers before him had to take into account that among their public, there always would be people who remembered some previous version of the Alexander Romance.

As a case in point, their public in Ghazna could perfectly well remember an Eskandar-Nama compiled around 1015 AD out of stock tales of Persian storytellers that simply copied episodes from the pseudo-Kallisthenes Romance, with some fancy (and errors) added. In that text, Alexander is the undisputed hero of the saga. But to entertain the audience, this Eskandar-nama turns him into a comical figure who not only conquers kingdoms, but also women galore. He seduces princesses, amazons, warrior beauties, servant girls, widow queens, noble dames and even fairy queens (!) far and wide. With the result that this Alexander suffers all the problems of a bumbling man with too many wives and/or concubines.

When Alexander is listening to the deathbed pleas of king Darab, who begs him to treat his family well, Roxana makes her appearance in this Eskandar-Nama. “She is still young, you could marry her,” suggests Darab. (Here, Roxana is said to be not a daughter, but one of the wives of the Persian king.) Alexander answers hastily that this is a petition he will not agree to:

“God forbid that I should desire your wife, for I already have four wives, all free women, plus 40 concubines from here and from Greece.”

Roxana is an unavoidable heroine in all the Oriental translations of Romance episodes. So she also has to appear in the Darab-Nama. Well, more or less. When introducing his top star the princess Buran-dokht, Tarsusí takes the precaution of telling his public that «elsewhere she was also called Roshanak».

In other words, despite the fact that the following 773 pages prove without a shadow of doubt that his majestic Buran-dokht has nothing in common with the insignificant Roxana, Tarsusí still thought it wise to bow –if only once– to the Alexander Romance.

For my comments on Robbert Bosschart’s Third Edition, please refer to my earlier blogpost: All Alexander's Women.

Getting around in the Nile Delta

Speaking of the Nile Delta, we obviously mean the embouchure of the river Nile where its waters mingle with those of the Mediterranean Sea. 

The problem, however, is to picture the ancient cities and harbors along that coastline. There are several elements to be taken into account. 

Historically, we best know the role played by Alexandria and Pelusium, situated on opposite sides of the Delta, roughly 250 kilometers apart. 

[From Pinterest]

Pelusium, about 30 kilometers south of modern Port Said, was looking to the East. This city was the entrance gate for conquerors coming from the east. Alexander entered Egypt through Pelusium, as did the Hittites and Persians before him. For the Egyptian pharaohs, it was their gateway to the lands on the eastern Mediterranean. The city played an essential role as a transit station for the goods coming from and going to the lands around the Red Sea (see: The fame of elusive Pelusium). 

Alexander founded Alexandria after he returned from visiting the oracle in Siwah. It arose on the most westerly end of the Delta, on the Canopic Branch of the Nile. The city was intentionally oriented towards Crete and Greece, creating a close trading route with his homeland.

The Greeks had already established thriving trade emporiums in the area. Best known is Naucratis, settled as early as the 7th century BC (see: Egypt, land of the free for ancient Greeks?) As mighty Egypt allowed them to operate a lucrative business, even granting them special privileges, Naucratis eventually became a melting pot of Greek and Egyptian art and culture where they lived in harmony with each other. In its heyday, it was home to at least 16,000 people who appear to have lived in high-rise buildings three to six floors high, not unlike the mud-brick houses we encounter today in Yemen. 

Archaeological research has found proof that the Canopic Branch of the Nile was navigable all the way down to the heart of the city. However, Herodotus gave us the impression that the freight from the ships arriving from the Mediterranean was to be transshipped into barges which would sail to reach Naucratis (see: An update about Naucratis). 

A look at the above map illustrates that vessels heading for the harbor of Naucratis had to sail an extra distance from the Mediterranean. Alexandria was obviously more accessible. 

[Mosaic from Madaba, Jordan, showing the Nile with Pelusium]

Another major port was Heracleion, which the ancient Egyptians called Thonis, founded back in the 8th century BC. Known more commonly as Thonis-Heracleion, the site has been discovered under ten meters of mud near modern Abukir Bay (see: Heracleion, ancient Greek port in Egypt and Underwater excavation at Heracleion still ongoing). The above map shows Thonis/Thanis on a more easterly branch of the Nile, closer to Pelusium. Recent excavations have exposed 64 ancient beautifully preserved shipwrecks and more than 700 anchors. Heracleion reached its peak between the 6th and the 4th century BC. 

Halfway between Alexandria and El-Alamein, Ptolemy II Philadelphus founded Taposiris Magna around 280-270 BC. The harbor played a significant role on the trading route for the goods from the east arriving over Lake Mareotis and overland from the Cyrenaica (see: Cyrene, founded by the Greeks). Alexandria, built on the headland between the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Mareotis, claimed taxes on the goods that transited through the city until the 7th century AD at least (see: Taposiris Magna in Egypt). 

The Egyptians had founded the city of Marea, as highlighted on the map, in the 7^th century BC. It actually lies on the southern shore of Lake Mareotis, modern Lake Maryut, and 45 kilometers southwest of Alexandria. Speaking of strategic locations! 

The last major city in the Nile Delta is Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, which Alexander saw in full glory with its countless temples and at least 30 towering obelisks. The sunrise over Heliopolis must have been a sight for sore eyes when the first sunrays hit the golden pyramidal point on the obelisks (see: Buried secrets of Heliopolis)! 

This religious center was a meeting place where the priests studied philosophy, astronomy, and theology. Many Greeks like Homer, Pythagoras, Plato, and Solon consulted the available library that contained the entire history of Egypt. This seat of learning was eventually moved to Alexandria once the city was completed. 

For centuries, every single Pharaoh made it to the sacred city of Heliopolis, where the gods would confer him their power. When Alexander, who fully understood the importance of this ritual, followed suit, he was accepted by the Egyptians as their new Pharaoh.

What do we know about Arrian of Nicomedia?

Although Arrian is quoted repeatedly by many historians, ancient and modern alike, we don’t know precisely when he was born or died. He lived during the reign of two great emperors, Trajan and Hadrian when the Roman Empire experienced its most remarkable expansion.

He was a versatile man and prolific writer, but he was a historian most of all. How he found the time to pen down his many books besides pursuing a military career, holding public offices, and becoming a famous philosopher is commendable. 

Arrian, whose full name was Lucius Flavius Arrianus, was born in Nicomedia (modern Izmit, Turkey), a province of Bithynia ruled by Rome. Consequently, he probably was a Roman citizen. He grew up in an aristocratic family, was well-educated, and held the post of governor of Cappadocia from approximately 131 until 137 AD. Since the culture in Asia Minor was still very Greek, he grew up with this dual identity making him a true Graeco-Roman. 

Arrian was the perfect person to write about Alexander the Great having such a background. With his upbringing in Nicomedia, he realized that Alexander left behind so much Greek culture (he didn’t use the word Hellenistic!) He absorbed it all, even though he looked at it from a Roman perspective several centuries later. 

As a young man, c.108 AD, he moved to Nicopolis, Greece (earlier in Epirus), to stay with Epictetus. Epictetus considered philosophy a way of life, meaning that whatever happened was beyond our control, and we should accept events as they unfolded. His main philosophy was self-knowledge, similar to the Delphic maxim, know thyself. These wise words were visible in the pronaos of the Temple of Apollo in Delphi and were spread by Aeschylus, Socrates, and Plato. It is unknown whether Epictetus based his thoughts on this inscription, as no writings from his hand have survived. It was Arrian who wrote down Epictetus’ lectures in his Discourses of Epictetus and Enchiridion. 

The philosopher considerably influenced Arrian’s education and introduced him to important political people. The most notable figure probably was the later Emperor Hadrian – himself a pupil of Epictetus - whom he befriended in 126 AD. Hadrian appointed Arrian to the Roman Senate around 130 AD and promoted him to the governor of Cappadocia about a year later. During his governorate, he successfully stopped the invasion of the Alani in 135 AD. This was when Arrian documented his victory by writing his Ectaxis contra Alanos (Order of Battle against the Alans), which provides us with a unique insight into the Roman army in action that still bore “the stamp of Macedon.” Aware of the difference between the Macedonian and Roman phalanx, Arrian drew parallels between them. He underscored that the phalanx was not something of the past but still an active weapon in the contemporary military. His military career took him to many countries away from his native Bithynia, where he saw very different animals and plants from his familiar homeland. 

Arrian’s military career probably started earlier as he led an army to the Caspian Gates during Emperor Trajan's rule (98-117 AD). As governor of Cappadocia, Arrian commanded two Roman legions, which was when he wrote his Ars Tactica (The Tactical Arts). Experiencing the strategies and maneuvers firsthand, he described cavalry tactics and praised military innovations. In both Ectasis and Tactica, he mixed Greek and Roman military theories.

Arrian has a great interest in geography and a keen eye for details. Under Hadrian, he wrote the Periplus of the Euxine Sea (Sailing around the Black Sea) to inform the emperor about the region he considered exploring. Besides helpful information about ports, rivers, and cities, he included specific details about the viability and the landscapes. In his Cynegeticus, which is an addition to Xenophon’s work, he stated, for instance, that Mysia (northwest Turkey), Dacia (mainly all of present Romania), Scythia, and Illyricum (the greater Balkans) had plains that were “adapted for riding.” 

Clearly, our historian started writing at a very young age. However, many of his works are lost or only survived fragmentary, leaving us with titles alone. Besides the titles already mentioned above, he wrote:

- Biographies like Lives of Dion, Timoleon, and Tillorobus

- several volumes dedicated to his homeland, the Bithyniaca

- a history of the Parthians, the Parthica

- a history of the Alans, Historia Alanica

- an essay on maneuvers, On Infantry Exercises

- an essay about astronomy, On Nature, Composition, and Appearances of Comets

- And, most interestingly, a volume focusing on the events after the death of Alexander, The History of the Successors – sadly lost to humanity forever! Imagine the twists history could take if we had this book!

When or where exactly Arrian wrote his famous Anabasis or The History of the Wars and Conquests of Alexander the Great remains obscure. It is generally accepted as his most outstanding work, together with the Indica addendum about India. With these two books, Arrian is, to this day, our most precious and reliable source about Alexander. The historian could project his own military experiences and campaigns into his vision of Alexander. Arrian also had a profound fascination with Persia and Persian customs, which he lavishly shares in his Anabasis. 

Notably, he could rely on several sources, from first-rank witnesses to Alexander’s campaigns. These were generals and close Companions who had access to Alexander’s Royal Journal – men like Ptolemy, Nearchus, and Megasthenes. Another precious source was Eratosthenes, a librarian at the rich Library of Alexandria. Aristobulus also served under Alexander and later wrote a history of Alexander, including careful observations on geography, ethnography, and natural science. Aristobulus’ notes about which plants grew in specific regions of the lands Alexander conquered were vital because it gives us a glimpse of Alexander’s knowledge of plants and animals based on Aristotle’s lessons. 

It is still being determined what happened to Arrian at the end of his governorship in Cappadocia in 137 AD. Still enjoying the favors of Hadrian, he most probably became governor of Syria between 135 and 150 AD.

Towards the end of his life, he moved to Athens, where he became archon probably in 145 or 146 AD. Other sources, however, state that Arrian retired to Nicomedia, where he was appointed priest to Demeter and Persephone. 

Arrian died some time during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, 121-180 AD, who was the last of the so-called good emperors. 

Witnessing how meticulous and objective Arrian proceeds in his Anabasis to describe Alexander’s campaigns, not only the sieges and the battlefields but also the geography and the nature and habits of the people, it is easy to realize how much information is lost in his other works.