Remembering Alexander’s birthday

We can be certain that Alexander never expected a hoard of tetradrachms with his effigy to be found and cherished nearly 2,500 years after his death. If that is not a worthy birthday gift, what is? 

This find dates from 2017, when a farmer recovered the coins from his land near Batman, on the confluence of the Tigris River and the Batman River in southeastern Turkey. The coins were all Alexander tetradrachms minted in the period between 332 and 322 BC. 

The coins fell into the hands of a Turkish collector, who said the hoard was complete, although no container was recorded. Since then, all the coins have been sold and disappeared from the radar. This means we only have the collector’s word for the information that has transpired. 

The coins were minted in several of the 25 known locations, such as Amphipolis, Aradus (Syria), Side, Sidon, and to a larger extent (one-third) in Babylonia. 

The Amphipolis mint was very active during the regency of Antipater, although the silver did not originate from local mines. The majority of the precious metal came from looting, and by far the largest amounts were collected by Alexander from the Achaemenid Treasuries in Babylon, Persepolis, Pasargadae, and Ecbatana (see: Harpalos’ mismanagement or is it Alexander’s?). We will remember that the king borrowed money when he started his invasion of Asia and took the bullion from the cities as he conquered them. 

The Batman hoard may have belonged to one of the Greek and/or Balkan mercenaries Alexander disbanded in late 325 or early 324 BC, or to one of his Macedonian veterans he sent home after the mutiny at Opis in 324 BC. This last group of 10,000 veterans, led by Craterus, was moving slowly through Cilicia when the news of Alexander’s death reached them. In antiquity, the Batman region was on the border between the satrapies of Armenia and Mesopotamia, not far from Cilicia. For that reason, it makes sense to link the hoard to the demobilized soldiers commanded by Craterus. 

It is important to realize that the Alexander coins were minted according to the standard Attic drachma of 4.3 grams. It has been estimated that between 333 and 290 BC, approximately 60 million tetradrachms were produced (see: A few words about Alexander mints and coins). More importantly, every soldier, veteran, and foreigner was totally familiar with Alexander’s picture and trusted the value of the coin bearing his image. For a long time, coins with Alexander's image kept circulating because his veteran soldiers were used to receiving their pay in tetradrachms!  

It remains questionable whether or how many of the 60,000,000 tetradrachms will ever be found. As the coins keep surfacing, we have to thank Alexander for his long-lasting legacy. By wishing him “Many Happy Returns,” we truly pay tribute to the timeless legacy he has left us. 

Alexander besieging Tyre

[Continued from Alexander preparing for the siege of Tyre] 

As soon as the newly formed fleet was duly organized and manned, Alexander set sail down to Tyre, leading the right-wing as usual. Imagine how impressive this flotilla of nearly 200 vessels must have appeared in the 4th century BC! The Tyrians inside their fortress did not know that the Cypriots and Phoenicians had changed side and they certainly did not expect this armada of ships. With hindsight, the outcome of the Battle of Issus enabled this change. Alexander’s victory was far beyond his confrontation with Darius and played a more significant role among all parties concerned. 

The gods definitely were on Alexander’s side because, at this time, about 4,000 mercenaries were brought in by general Cleander from the Peloponnese. Another welcome reinforcement of his troops after the losses suffered at Issus.

As Alexander’s fleet sailed at full speed towards Tyre, the enemy, surprised to see their previous allies at Alexander’s side, decided to simply block the entrance to both ports. In turn, the king blockaded the town. The contingent from Cyprus was to cut off access to the northern harbor, the one facing Sidon. The Phoenicians did the same at the southern harbor facing the mole turned towards Egypt. 

The true genius of Alexander sprang into action at this point. It had taken the king a full seven months to finish the nearly one-kilometer-long mole to the island before he could bring in his heavy artillery. By now, he had constructed many war engines, some of which stood on the mole. He also mounted battery rams to his transport ships and slower-sailing triremes - a first in the history of using floating siege craft weapons. All war engines were moved into action around the walls of Tyre. 

His plan came together, and in a coordinated attack with his land forces, he led his decisive battle in the summer of 332 BC. This is the simple way to put it as, in reality, the situation was far more complicated. 

Alexander decided to start his attack on the island's south side because the northern harbor entrance was very narrow and lacked space to maneuver. As soon as Alexander’s fleet came within range, the Tyrians attacked the approaching vessels from atop their strong walls with fire-arrows. They also had thrown many large blocks in the sea at the foot of their stronghold, forcing Alexander’s ships away from the walls. As a matter of course, Alexander ordered to remove those heavy stones that impaired his maneuver, but the enemy responded by sending divers to cut the anchor ropes that held the ships in place. The Macedonians replaced the ropes with iron cables which the Tyrians couldn’t cut. At the same time, troops from the mole managed to pass ropes around the stones and pull them away into deeper water. The ships could now approach the walls and easily close-in. 

Feeling seriously threatened, the defenders of Tyre turned their attention to the harbor on the Sidon side. Until then, they had hidden their fleet from view using rigged sails. They brought their plan into action from behind the screen, one day at noon when they knew the Macedonians were taking a break, and Alexander moved to his quarters on the other side of the island. They lowered the screen and silently slipped out in single file. As soon as they were within reach of the enemy ships, the men shouted and cheered, rowing forward at full speed. The Tyrian surprise attack proved successful until Alexander unexpectedly appeared on the scene and called all hens on deck! He ordered most of his ships as soon as they were ready for action to block off the south harbor entrance to prevent another sortie on that side. He took his quinqueremes and triremes to sail them round to the northern harbor – in fact, to the back of the Tyrian fleet. Their sailors noticed Alexander’s approach too late, and most of the vessels were rammed, whereas one quinquereme and one quadrireme were captured right at the port entrance. 

Tyre could no longer depend on their fleet, and this was the time for the Macedonians to bring forward their artillery. They started on the mole, but on that side, the walls of Tyre were too thick to be breached. Another attempt was made from the northern harbor, without success either. Then Alexander probed the southern wall where he found a weak spot and scored the first success, but the breach was just wide enough to throw the first bridge across. Consequently, the attack was repulsed. 

Alexander deemed the conditions right to bring his ship-borne artillery into action three days later. This time, his attack caused much damage, enough anyway to bring in his vessels equipped with gangways that could be thrown across the breach. Keeping the enemy focused on this attack, Alexander ordered some of his triremes round to both harbors, hoping they could force an entrance. Other ships carrying archers and ammunition for the artillery were instructed to sail around the island and fill the gaps left by the vessels caught up in the fight. The entire city-island was surrounded by a ring of fire. 

By now, the Macedonian navy attacking at the southern port had firm ground under their feet and forced the enemy lines over the entire width of the breach. Immediately, Alexander moved forward, making his way to the royal quarters. 

The king’s ships, meanwhile, proved to be as successful. The Phoenicians at the southern harbor smashed their way through the enemy lines, ramming some vessels and driving others ashore. The Cypriots joined in and sailed right into the northern port from where they gained control over that section of the city. The Macedonians swarmed out over Tyre and attacked its inhabitants with savage ferocity – fed up as they were by this long siege. 

Curtius tells us that 6,000 Tyrians were killed in the complete carnage, and 2,000 more were crucified outside the city walls. Another 30,000 people were sold into slavery. This is not exactly a pretty sight, but all wars have their own atrocities. 

Military speaking, Tyre is one of Alexander’s greatest and boldest sieges, and I genuinely regret not visiting this place for myself. However, it would have been tough to imagine the history written here. After two thousand years, the mole has transformed the landscape into a wide bay and assimilated the very island. 

Tyre was thoroughly destroyed by Alexander in his rage for having defied him for so long.

Alexander preparing for the siege of Tyre

After the Battle of Issus, Alexander was more determined than ever to take all the harbors of the eastern Mediterranean to outmaneuver the Persian maritime power. He marched to Marathus (modern Amrit) and from there onward to Byblos, who both surrendered. 

The next famous city on Alexander’s route was Sidon, whose inhabitants were only too happy to get rid of their Persian satrap, Straton. They welcomed the Macedonian king as their liberator. A new ruler had to be found, and Hephaistion was instructed to search for the appropriate candidate. King Abdalonymus was a respectable and honest man, and the people loved him. Out of gratitude for this appointment, Abdalonymus, at a later age, commissioned the famous Alexander sarcophagus that is now on display at the Archaeological Museum of Istanbul.  

As Alexander marched further south, he reached powerful Phoenician Tyre. The city had prospered because of its trade in purple dye, which was highly valued throughout the ancient world. Already in the early 6^th century BC, this richness had attracted the attention of King Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon. He laid siege to Tyre for 13 years without success. This simply illustrates the challenges Alexander was about to face.  

Tyre was of strategic importance, a massive fortress island surrounded by well-defended high walls separated from the mainland by a deep channel. It had two natural harbors, one on the north side facing Sidon and another one south looking towards Egypt. The Tyrians felt pretty secure since they enjoyed the protection of a substantial Persian fleet in both ports. 

Before reaching the city, Alexander was met by its envoys, stating that they would abide by any of his instructions. The Macedonian king gracefully thanked the representatives and expressed his wish to enter Tyre to sacrifice to Heracles, who was, in fact, their god Melqarth or Baal. Basically, the Tyrians accepted Alexander’s arrival but refused to admit him or his Macedonians inside their fortress on the island. 

Alexander needed to take Tyre to safeguard his back on his march further south to Egypt. The only way was to lay siege to the city – a tremendous and complicated task because he had disbanded most of his own fleet and the remaining ships were no match to the Persian forces. Clearly, the fortress could not be taken from the sea alone, and thus Alexander decided to build a causeway to connect the island to the mainland. It was a tedious and dangerous operation as the Tyrians had no intention to let this happen. 

Construction went underway and progressed steadily in the shallow waters near the coastline. Stones from the old city of Tyre were used for the foundation of the mole, and piles were driven into the mud to keep the stones in place (see: Alexander's Isthmus, Tyre, Lebanon). But as the Macedonians reached deeper water, matters changed dramatically. Progress slowed down because many more stones were needed to fill the depth while the Tyrian ships could now approach the causeway and attack the exposed workers. In response, Alexander built two towers mounted with artillery and faced them with hides to somehow protect his soldiers on the mole. The army could drive the enemy away from their precarious shelter with their own missiles. 

The Tyrians were not to be discouraged and decided to take a cattle-ship and stuff it with dry brushwood and straw. They added two masts to create a higher pile of inflammable material, including pitch and sulfur, to fan the fire. They also attached caldrons filled with liquids that could be poured onto the fire to increase its fury. To ensure these vessels would come as close as possible to the causeway, they added heavy ballast in the aft section to lift the bows to a maximum. Triremes pulled these burning vessels close to the Macedonia towers, and as they caught fire, the Tyrians withdrew immediately to save themselves. The fire was an absolute inferno. 

Although this attack meant a severe setback, it would not deter Alexander from executing his plan. Instead of repairing the substantial devastation, he started the works all over again. He built a broader mole at the shoreside with enough space for more towers and instructed his engineers to construct new engines.

  

Alexander, as always, saw the greater picture. He moved back to Sidon to gather as many ships as possible to annihilate the enemy navy since that was imperative to conquer Tyre. At this stage, the king was joined by two Persian satraps, who, after learning that Aradus and Byblos were in Macedonian hands, decided to side with Alexander. Sidon contributed with its own warships, bringing the total Phoenician ships to about eighty. After his victory at Issus and having taken Phoenicia, Alexander’s fleet was spontaneously joined by Rhodes with ten ships, three ships from Soli and Mallus, and ten more from Lycia. The king of Cyprus also decided to join his forces to Alexander’s and sailed to Sidon with some 120 ships. With so many of these previously Persian allies now fighting on Alexander’s side, the situation of the Macedonians suddenly looked much better. 

This most certainly was the turning point in the entire siege! 

Continued in Alexander besieging Tyre.

[Pictures from World History, Dan Diffendale (Melquart) and United States Military Academy, Dept of History (map)]

The sanctuary of Astarte in Motya

The island of Motya (modern Mozia) off the west coast of Sicily holds several remarkable places of interest: the Villa Withaker with its museum, the Phoenician or Punic cemetery, and the sanctuary of Khoton dedicated to the goddess Astarte.

Joseph Whitaker was an intellectual entrepreneur from Palermo who excavated the island in the first two decades of the 20th century. He organized his rich collection of ceramics, glass, coins, vases, jewelry, terracotta artefacts, and mosaics in separate rooms of his estate. This display shows how a private collector could present his precious finds to his friends and guests. At the same time, it is a unique view of archaeology on Motya that yielded so many Punic artifacts.

The museum's pride is the white marble statue of a charioteer that was found buried in a shallow grave on the road to the sanctuary (see: Amazing charioteers). Remarkably, this statue was made almost simultaneously as the bronze charioteer of Delphi, whose body was more static and elongated, probably to fit better inside his chariot.

 

When visiting the Tophet, the Punic cemetery at the northern end of the island, one can only be impressed by the many child graves. The remains were either put inside a terracotta urn or buried in a rectangular box whose lids are generally lost. A very moving confrontation! The nearby necropolis was used from the end of the 8th century until the end of the 6th century BC.

At the seaside, one recognizes the two gate towers from the 5th century BC. Here, we have to imagine the now inundated road that is connected to the mainland. By low tide, carts with larger wheels could cross the isthmus, giving the impression to walk on water. It has been dated to the 6th-5th century BC.

 

At the other end of the island, the artificial basin of Khoton has been exposed, actually a sacred area that goes back to the 8th century BC. It is here that a large temple facing the water was discovered. Inside this temple, there were initially two upright steles and an obelisk. Viewing the night sky at the winter equinox, the stones framed the constellation of Orion, which corresponds to the Phoenician god Baal. During the spring equinox, the temple's portal framed the same divinity, together with Venus, the Phoenician Astarte. Terracotta remains of a female statue were unearthed inside the temple. They belonged to the goddess Astarte, establishing that the temple was dedicated to her.

 

Also known as Anahita, Innana, or Ishtar, Astarte embodies the qualities of water, especially the fertilizing flow of water (see: The powerful goddess Anahita in Persia). The pool in front of her temple clearly refers to these qualities. She is also linked to the night sky, fertility, fecundity, and war. Besides Babylon, her main centers of worship in and around the Mediterranean were Sidon, Tyre, and Byblos, as well as Malta and Sardinia. As mentioned in my post about Anahita in Persia, we should remember that Alexander must have been well-aware of the role Anahita played in the realm of the Persian gods. Like so many other Greeks of his days, he may have assimilated her with Aphrodite.

During the latest excavation campaign, a beautiful head of the goddess Astarte was found. It was made of terracotta covered with a shiny layer of white on her face, red for her curly hair, and gold for her divine diadem. It could be dated to between 520 and 480 BC. The head was discovered inside a round votive pit and a relief rosette that shows traces of gilding. The rosette is one of the most widespread and popular symbols in the eastern Mediterranean and further inland, confirming the Phoenician goddess's presence. Also, the mold of a dolphin with a large naive eye was discovered.

The face of Astarte represents an astral goddess (based on the rosette) and a marine goddess (based on the dolphin). She is the Lady of life, goddess of fertility, love, and the sea and navigation, of fresh and seawater. The terracotta is Greek, although made in Sicily as was customarily done by the Phoenicians of Motya.

Recent archaeological investigations have shed new light on Motya as the oldest city in Sicily. This sacred area of the Kothon is set around a rectangular pool 52.5 m long. It was bordered by a circular temenos measuring 118 m in diameter, encircling three larger temples. The Kothon was dedicated to Baal, the main Phoenician god, lord of the sea, god of the storm and fertility, and to his companion, the goddess Astarte who had her own little temple there. Eventually, the mighty Astarte/Aphrodite of Motya survived as she merged with the goddesses of the peoples who already lived here.

 

Once again, it makes me wonder how much Alexander knew about these western territories and their beliefs. The fact is that we may never find the answer.

[Except for the first two pictures, the next ones come from The Archaeology News Network]

A few words about Alexander’s mints and coins

Coins with the image of Alexander were widespread and accepted throughout his empire and kept circulating in large numbers long after his death.

Research has revealed that the coins with Alexander's effigy started circulating much later than initially accepted. Until then, the currencies of Philip and Darius were familiar together with those minted by individual cities. We had to wait until after Alexander's victory at Issus in 333 BC to find the first mints to be established in Macedonia, Cilicia, and Phoenicia.

[Map of Alexander's mints (from Meadows 2014, map 1)] 

Frank Holt has made an excellent analysis of the Alexander coins in his book, The Treasures of Alexander the Great. The first coins were silver ones minted in Sidon and Tarsus between October 333 and September 332 BC. Gold coins emerged after his conquest of Tyre in July 332 BC. New mints were established in Asia Minor later on, apparently after his return from India.

During Alexander's lifetime, the known mints striking his coins were spread over 25 different locations such as:

Pella and Amphipolis in Macedonia

Lampsacus and Abydos on the Hellespont

Colophon, Magnesia, Miletus, Teos and Sardes in Asia Minor

Side and Tarsus in Pamphylia
Salamis, Citium, Amathus, Paphos on the island of Cyprus 

Myriandrus, Aradus, Byblos, Sidon, and Tyre on the eastern Mediterranean coast

Alexandria in Egypt

Damascus and Babylon further inland

Each of these mints had its own assigned type. Some produced only one kind of currency, while others could generate a wide scale ranging from small coins to drachms and tetradrachms. It is important to realize that the Alexander coins were minted according to the standard Attic drachma of 4.3 grams and that his tetradrachms weighed 17.2 grams. They helped to spread his image throughout the length and breadth of his empire, from the Eastern Mediterranean to Central Asia.

The silver collected from the Royal Persian treasuries contributed widely to the production of the tetradrachms. It has been estimated that between 333 and 290 BC (which is well after Alexander's death in 323 BC), approximately 60 million tetradrachms were produced, together with 66 million drachms and 12 million gold staters! Just imagine the vast amount of money's impact on the economy!

After the king's death, his successors kept the same currency system in place, although they gradually replaced Alexander's image with their own – still in Alexander-style.

The Numismatic Museum of Athens has a wide range of coins on display to pick our choice from. This trio of tetradrachms, for instance, displays the figures of Philip II on top and underneath in Alexander-style Lysimachos (left) and Ptolemy (right).

In comparison, Seleucos I, here depicted on a coin from the Antalya Museum, carries a more pronounced lion skin still entirely in the Alexander tradition.

Once the Diadochi became king in their own right over their newly delimited territories, their own effigy replaced the Alexander-inspired image, and the reverse of the coins rightfully carried the inscription, Basileus.

For a long time, coins carrying Alexander's image kept circulating because his veteran soldiers were used to receiving their payment in tetradrachms! 

The rescue of five ancient silver coins

It is always a pleasure to read good news. The Archaeology News Network has a great article about five rare coins rescued from being auctioned off in Munich and Zurich but now returned to Greece. The article includes a very detailed picture of each item, which by itself is a pure pleasure for the eyes.

The three coins that were discovered in Munich have found their rightful place in the Numismatic Museum of Athens:

- a stater from Lindos, Rhodes, dating from the first half of the 5^th century BC

- a stater from Elis, a region in the northwestern corner of the Peloponnese from around 328 BC

- an octadrachm of Getas, king of the Thracian Edonian tribe, from 480-460 BC

The other two silver coins were caught in Zurich:

- a tetradrachm from Athens dated 136 BC

- a tetradrachm of Ptolemy IV Philopator from about the end of the 3^rd century BC, minted in Sidon. He may be depicted here with his wife, Arsinoe III of Egypt.

These precious items have been appropriately handed over to the Archaeological Museum of Patras.

Criminals keep on hunting in the hope to sell their booty for lots of money on the black market abroad. There is no limit to the looting and coins, in particular, are easy to smuggle out of sight of the authorities. Inside Greece, it appears that over the 2,000 coins have been confiscated. Germany, on the other hand, returned some 600 ancient coins and other antiquities, beside 33 vessels from the Mycenaean era that were looted and illegally brought into the country.

Although it is praiseworthy that so many artifacts find their way home, it remains very regrettable that the objects have been taken out of their context forever, losing much of their historical value.

[The pictures of the coins are evidently from the Archaeology News Network]

Greek statues in blasting colors

We still find it difficult to imagine the buildings and statues in Greek and Roman cities in full blasting colors. In an earlier blog, Ancient Greece in full Technicolor, I marveled about the results achieved through sparse reconstructions.  

In recent years, in-depth reconstruction work has been done by the team of Prof. Vinzenz Brinkman. For more than 15 years, they analyzed the pigmentation of antique sculptures using digital methods, whereby the originals were left untouched. New technical photographic techniques using UV-light and –reflectography enabled them to disclose the painted parts of the statues. The chemical and mechanical transformations on the surface, which happened over the centuries, left areas where no pigment had survived. They applied the matching colors on copies of existing statues based on those discoveries. The results are absolutely mind-blowing. 

The earliest results were on display at the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt some 15 years ago, and the collection has traveled around the world ever since. Today, however, the artifacts have returned to Frankfurt, presented in a larger expanded exhibition.  

Since the first exhibition Bunte Götter in 2008, the number of colorized reconstructions has doubled and includes some antique bronzes in colored versions. Over 100 objects from international museum collections can be admired in their “original” colored version. Besides, another sixty artifacts from recent years have been added to the collection, including some pieces from the 19th century. A selection of 22 graphics completes the exhibition. It is a genuine and unique opportunity to submerge oneself in antiquity from an entirely different point of view.  

It is noteworthy that rather than merely coloring their sculptures, the Greeks and Romans managed to expand the formal and narrative structure of the objects.  

The exhibition Bunte Götter – Golden Edition. Die Farben der Antike will run until 30 August 2020 at the Liebieghaus in Frankfurt.

[Pictures from Liebieghaus Museum in Frankfurt]

Danake or Obol?

Some ancient sources mention a small silver coin that is labeled as a “danake” and this calls for further investigation.

The Greek word danake is copied from the Persian danak, a small silver coin more or less equivalent to the Greek obol (1/6 of a drachma). The danake, together with the silver half-danake seems to be a provincial coinage used mainly in Asia Minor. It was probably linked to coins from Sidon and Aradus, but in later years it was used by Greeks elsewhere and also in other metals like gold.

Gold danakes were often found in graves and examples are known from Lemnos, Euboia but also as far as Epiros – some of them stamped with a picture like for instance that of a Gorgon. A case is known from a tomb of the 4^th century BC in Thessaly where the lips of the buried woman were sealed with a gold danake. It is speculated that this idea is related to Orphic or Dionysiac mysteries.

The danake often replaced the obol and their names were used alternatively. The obol was given to the dead enabling them to pay the ferryman Charon for their voyage into the underworld and it seems that on certain occasions the danake was used to the same end. On the other hand, numismatists established that the Greeks used the label danake for small foreign coins without fixed denomination.

Gold danake from a sarcophagus of Thessaloniki[Credit: AWMT]

The above leads me to the most remarkable find of all, the double gold danake with a picture of Alexander the Great. This coin, interestingly, is being described as showing the head of Alexander on the front and a nude Alexander sitting on a rock and Bucephalus on the reverse. Based on the picture of the danake published by the Archaeology News Network I cannot match this description as it looks as if this side shows Alexander on horseback.

It is striking that in the 3^rd century AD a gold coin of some value was no longer used in burials. Charon’s obol was often replaced by the danake among which those depicting Alexander the Great - a way for the ruling class to remember their glorious past. This means that seven centuries after Alexander’s death, he was still very much revered! 

I am certain that Alexander himself would never have dreamed of being useful to this point!

[Picture from Archaeology News Network]

Alexander and Hephaistion side by side

Finding these two great men side by side at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens is absolutely thrilling.

I often wonder why there are so few images of Hephaistion, but one should consider that none of the men in Alexander's entourage were ever depicted while the king was still alive. We do have pictures – mainly coins – showing the members of his bodyguards (somatophylakes), but only when they became king in their own realm after Alexander's death, simply because it was a king's privilege to be portrayed.

The most obvious example is, beyond doubt, Ptolemy, who started ruling over Egypt immediately after Alexander's death. Lysimachos had to wait a little longer in the ensuing battle of the Diadochi to be recognized as king of Thrace and represented as such on his coinage. The same applies obviously to Seleucos and Antigonus Monophthalmus. Yet none of the king's Bodyguards, like Aristonous, Peithon, Leonnatus, Peucestas, or even Perdiccas, have ever been carved in stone. Hence, we don't know what they looked like.

This being said, I should not be ungrateful for the few images we have of Hephaistion, i.e., the head (probably reworked in antiquity) now at the Getty Museum in Malibu, California, and the smaller-than-life-size marble statue at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, where he is standing next to Alexander.

Alexander looks rather shabby, but in my eyes, Hephaistion is exactly how he is supposed to be. However, I struggle with the label at the museum, which states, "Marble statue of Hephaistion. Possibly a group erected in Alexandria honoring Hephaistion, 1st century BC". Why would Alexander show up next to an honorific statue of Hephaistion? And how come Alexandria is (still) honoring Hephaistion in the first century BC when the Ptolemaic dynasty is reaching its end with the famous Queen Cleopatra fighting for Egypt's survival? When Hephaistion died in 324 BC, Alexander would have loved to see him deified by the Egyptian priests, who tactfully promoted him to hero instead. So, a cult in honor of Hephaistion is not surprising, but I find the time frame and this kind of association with Alexander rather disturbing.

When I wrote my "Ode to Alexander and Hephaistion," I forgot to mention this group of statues. Shame on me! But then I also omitted to mention both men's portraits on the famous Alexander Sarcophagus from Sidon, now at the Archaeological Museum in Istanbul.

This sarcophagus, in fact, deserves a closer look, of course. First, it does not belong to Alexander the Great but was probably made for King Abdalonymus of Sidon, who was put on the throne by Alexander (with the help of Hephaistion) after conquering the city in 332 BC. It has been dated between 325 and 311 BC and was discovered in 1887 at the Royal Necropolis of Sidon, i.e., when Phoenicia was still part of the Ottoman Empire.

One of the long sides of the sarcophagus definitely shows Alexander fighting a Persian, probably King Darius (but this is not certain), at the Battle of Issus that occurred only a few months earlier, and where the Persians were defeated by the Greeks. The other long side represents two hunting scenes, those of a lion and a deer, in which both Greeks and Persians participated. The sarcophagus's short sides show a panther hunt and a battle scene.

Alexander is the only figure identified with certainty since he wears Heracles' headdress and the Amon ram's horn. Hephaistion is probably depicted in the hunting scene where he attacks a lion together with a Persian. Most unfortunately, the other personages cannot be tied to a name, although Perdiccas and Abdalonymus have been suggested. It is a great historical document that sadly has yet to be entirely deciphered.

Although these high reliefs appear very Greek, the craftsmen were masters in the Eastern art of decoration. This is based on the use of eagles in the upper row of the acroteria, who carried the souls of the dead to heaven according to ancient Syrian beliefs. The heads of women added at the bottom refer to the worship of the mother goddess, as known from prehistoric times in Mesopotamia. The acroteria above the pediments on the sides represent Persian griffons. Also, a lion is lying on each corner of the sarcophagus, symbolizing protection. These meager beasts look more like dogs and seem to be of Ionian origin.

The attentive eye will notice subtle traces of paint all over this marble sarcophagus. Colors range from purple, blue, and red to violet and yellow, and it is thought that the figures themselves were slightly varnished. Thanks to the intensive work carried out by Vinzenz Brinkman over the past 25 years (see: Ancient Greece in full Technicolor), we can now have a very vivid image of what this sarcophagus must have looked like at the time of its completion.

This being said, we owe a great deal to the owner of this masterpiece. King Abdalonymus is displaying immense gratitude towards both Alexander and Hephaistion since he would never have ruled over his city without them. When the people of Sidon heard of Alexander's victory over Darius at Issus, they decided to depose their ruling king, Straton II, a friend of Darius, and open the city gates to Alexander, whose task was to appoint a new king. He instructed Hephaistion to find the appropriate candidate. He discovered this distant relative of the dynasty of Sidon, living in the countryside. Abdalonymus, whose name means "servant of the gods" in Persian, clearly took his task seriously. What an honorable tribute he paid here to both Alexander and Hephaistion!

[Picture from Wikipedia]