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 Macedonian « kausia »

No, I’m not starting a lesson in Greek, but certain words simply cannot be translated. The kausia is a typical flat Macedonian hat that was particularly popular during the Hellenistic period, perhaps even before the days of Alexander the Great. For myself I can easily picture Alexander wearing this pancake hat, certainly after seeing this small terracotta statue of a young boy at the British Museum in London. But this is, of course, my personal opinion.

According to certain studies, the so-called lion hunt mosaic from Pella shows Alexander wearing such a kausia, but this appears to be a much flatter hat, maybe even made of straw. This form is more closely related to what the Bactrian Kings have been wearing during the centuries following Alexander’s conquest of their land as shown on their coins. Personally I like to refer to that headdress as a colonial sun helmet.

Anyway, I can tell you that the best story comes from Afghanistan! The men there still take pride in wearing a kind of wide woolen beret entirely inspired on the Macedonian kausia, which they call pakul, the traditional national headdress. In fact it is worn by specific tribes in a much wider area reaching all the way to Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan as well.

Yet another piece of Alexander’s heritage. He'll never stop amazing me!

Traces of Alexander the Great in Lebanon?

A few months ago I heard about Theodore May who was walking in Alexander’s footsteps from the Turkish-Syrian border all the way to Babylon in today’s Iraq (see: More in the Footsteps of Alexander the Great). On his way along the eastern Mediterranean coast he had to cross Lebanon, a country of which we know very little since tourism is virtually non existent and we have only a vague idea of the archaeological treasures that may be hidden there.

The Romans have occupied that part of their Empire and have left their imprints atop of much older cities like Baalbek, to name just one. To my surprise Theodore May was talking about ruins of the Greek civilization that preceded the Roman. Of course, Alexander the Great must have crossed these lands after he conquered Egypt, heading east to strike a final blow on King Darius of Persia. Yet so little is documented of this itinerary and I personally wonder about the place and name of Umm el-Amed I am hearing here for the first time.

[picture by Theodore May]

On his way, Theodore May met up with Dr Paul Newson, who has done extensive fieldwork throughout the Middle East, and together they set out to find this ancient city, only a few miles from the tense Lebanon-Israel border hidden in a field amidst overgrown thorn bushes. It really turns out to be in the middle of nowhere as they drive down from Tyre, across banana fields and small villages, till they reach a narrow country lane with still no ruins in sight.

It takes a professional eye like that of Paul Newson to know which way to go. After some scrambling the two men find themselves standing on the old temple complex of Milk Ashtart, on the edge of the ancient Umm el-Amed civilization. A little further, to the East they find another temple. The foundation of the temples is still very much intact, and several column segments lie around it. The original complex from the 5th century BC is considered as the Phoenician prototype for the Greek god Heracles, and these two temples were built some time between 287 and 222 BC. i.e. long after Alexander the Great had crossed the region. Their date links them to the Ptolemaic period, when it was fashion to combine Greek religious elements with the local pagan deities.

The site of Umm el-Amed was discovered by a French explorer in 1772, but excavations didn't start until 1861 and even those cannot have been very serious. According to Paul Newson, further excavations are unlikely for their cost would be astronomical. Beside, there is no money to be made in return by visiting tourists – not yet at least...

The Death of Alexander the Great. A Reconstruction of Cleitarchus. By A. Chugg

A titanic job, nothing less. In his book A Reconstruction of Cleitarchus (ISBN 9780955679025), Andrew Chug has compared the surviving texts from Curtius, Diodorus, and Justin to filter out the original work these authors have used themselves to filter out what was written by Cleitarchus of Alexandria. To a lesser extent, Chugg also includes Arrian, although this author mainly based his book on the texts left by Ptolemy and the Metz Epitome. A convenient drawing with the links used by each and every author in antiquity is quite revealing.

Cleitarchus, son of Deinon, wrote his account in the decades following Alexander’s death, and most of the surviving ancient texts were more or less based upon his work. However, not a single copy has come to us since they all were destroyed or discarded at some time or another.

Chugg pinpointed which texts or phrases are commonly used by Curtius and Diodorus, with eventually an addition when Justin uses the same words. A Table overview accounting for the matches is constructive. And so is the Table showing the first division of the Satrapies soon after Alexander died in Babylon, listing each territory with the name of the appointed governor (satrap) as given by Diodorus, Justin, Curtius, Cleitarchus himself, as well as separately by Arrian, Dexippus and the Metz Epitome. Sounds all very technical, but it becomes quite interesting when in the end, we can read this part of Alexander’s history as it was presumably put down by Cleitarchus in the first place. A daring undertaking but a highly interesting one.

Most of Chugg's book is centered around Cleitarchus' Book 13, covering the period from July 324 BC to July 323 BC and beyond, i.e., the very last year of Alexander’s life. The subjects treated here are many: the Flight of Harpalus; the Exiles Decrees, the Mutiny at Opis; Death of Hephaistion; The Cosseans; Death in Babylon; Aftermath and Entombment. After a detailed comment and investigation of each chapter, one can read the full text as it may have been put down by Cleitarchus initially. A captivating story, especially since specific paragraphs have been put back in their original sequence, ensuring the continuity of events.

The book ends again with a Table giving for each episode in Cleitarchus' terms, the corresponding sources, and references with additional comments in the last column. If, after all that, you still have questions, please do get in touch with Andrew Chugg in person.

The Legacy of Alexander the Great by A. B. Bosworth

The Legacy of Alexander. Politics, Warfare, and Propaganda under the Successors by A.B. Bosworth. (ISBN 978-0799285150)

The years and decades after the untimely death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC have always been very confusing to me, as only forty years later, or so, the endless bickering and mutual envy seem to have subsided when the world conquered by Alexander was finally divided into four major territories between Lysimachos, Cassander, Seleucos, and Ptolemy.

Bosworth has taken on the massive task of shedding clear light on these confusing times, and he deserves all the merit and appreciation one can imagine. He must have spent many a sleepless night in the process of putting this book together!

He starts with the Babylonian Settlement, i.e., the agreement made among Alexander’s generals shortly after his death. This was not easy, for not all commanders were in Babylon at the time. Craterus, for instance, was underway to relieve Antipater as Regent, and with him was an army of 15,000 veterans, all of the Macedonian stock and dedicated entirely to their dead king. Bosworth also analyses how many men in the split armies are still true Macedonians, as everyone has their say in Alexander’s succession – with remarkable results.

In the following chapters, Bosworth quotes all the writers from antiquity that he can lay his hands on and not only the most obvious ones like Plutarch, Arrian, Diodorus, and Curtius but many, many others whose names I often hear for the first time. He then compares notes to sift out the most plausible truth and timing of the events, adding opinions and perspectives from any and every contemporary author he can find. A colossal job!

After that, he focuses on the campaigns in Persia with its turbulent satraps, followed by a detailed account of the situation in India and the nomads of Nabataea. Each territory has its own complex structure, and I can’t help wondering how Alexander would have tackled these problems had he still been alive. But then, his intervention may not have been necessary; for now, each of his generals is fighting his fellow commander over all sorts of land disputes that would not have existed otherwise. The rise of Seleucos and the precarious rule of Lysimachos are clearly highlighted. This thorough analysis ends with a chapter about the Hellenistic Monarchy, its success, and its legitimacy, starting around 306 BC. It seems this is when the second generation of commanders is taking matters in hands, except for Seleucos and Ptolemy, who by now have settled within their own boundaries and are merely left alone by the others.

The book concludes with a very handy chronology of events from 323 BC to 311 BC, showing a parallel of what happened in Europe and Asia simultaneously- a helpful tool to keep track of battlefields and rulers and constant changes of power.

I highly recommend this precious reading to anyone looking for a clear and thorough sketch of the difficult years that followed Alexander’s death. However, I would like to add that a good basic knowledge of Alexander’s life will be beneficial.

More exhibitions about Alexander the Great this year

It is hard to understand how after so many years of waiting, we are suddenly flooded with one exhibition about Alexander the Great after the other!

It all started last year with the magnificent exhibition Alexander der Grosse und die Öffnung der Welt at the Reiss-Engelhorn-Museum (REM) in Mannheim (for the full story, please read Alexander the Great Exhibition in Mannheim) and which has meanwhile moved to the Canal de Isabel II in Madrid under the title Exposición Alejandro Magno. El encuentro con Oriente, running till May 3, 2011.

Then it was Amsterdam’s turn with The Immortal Alexander the Great at the Hermitage Museum (for my full story, please read The Immortal Alexander the Great. The Hermitage Museum in Amsterdam) with in parallel the smaller exhibition at the Allard Pierson Museum, called Alexander’s Heritage – The Greeks in Egypt (for my full story, please read Alexander’s Legacy. Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam). Both exhibitions can still be visited till March 20, 2011.

Meanwhile two more exhibitions have been announced for this year. Fasten your seatbelt!

The next event will be held from April 7 till August 29, 2011 at the Ashmolan Museum in Oxford, UK, with the exhibition Hercules to Alexander: the Legend of Macedonia. Exceptionally certain artifacts from the Museum of Pella, Alexander’s hometown, that have never left the country will be on display, among which the head of young Alexander.

In the fall, the Louvre will open a special Alexander exhibition, Au royaume d'Alexandre le Grand, la Macédoine antique. Strangely enough there is no further information available on the internet site of the Louvre as yet, but the news has appeared in several newspapers and on the internet. So, make space in your agenda for this event some time between October 2011 and January 2012.

Well, I suppose this should be enough to keep us out of trouble for a while. My own impressions about these last two exhibitions will be published in time, of course, that is as soon I have visited the exhibitions in Oxford and in Paris.

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 the 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 their 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 from 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 Thebes, 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!

From Boy to King, Alexander the Great: a trip you shouldn't miss!

After running his Alexander the Great tour in Turkey for several years now (In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great), Peter Sommer is organizing an entirely new one in Greece this year: From Boy to King, led this time by the knowledgeable Michael Metcalfe.

It will be a unique opportunity to explore Alexander’s homeland, starting in Pella where he was born, and visiting Aigai where the old Macedonian Palace once stood with the theater where his father, King Philip II, was murdered in 336 BC and young Alexander was crowned King of Macedonia.

As always, Peter Sommer makes sure to stop at the places that played the most important role in Alexander’s life. There are for instance Mieza where Aristotle taught young Alexander and his companions; Stagira the city of Aristotle’s birth; the battlefield of Chaeronea where young Alexander annihilated the Sacred Theban Band in a cavalry charge in Philip’s left wing; Thebes that was besieged by the Macedonians and razed to the ground by Alexander; Olynthos where King Philip lost an eye, and the city of Crenides which Philip renamed Philippi after taking possession of the gold and silver mines; Dion where Alexander feasted and made offerings to the gods before setting out to Asia.

The tour wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the sanctuary of Delphi that was consulted by Alexander; Olympia where a grand tholos was erected by King Philip with life-size statues of himself and his family (including Alexander); Athens, which Alexander most certainly has visited; and Corinth where Philip was appointed hegemon (leader) of the incomparable League of all Greek States, a title which Alexander took over after his death.

It is approximately a three-week round trip that I would warmly recommend to those who are interested in Alexander the Great or who would like to get some insight into this fascinating and ever-captivating historical figure. For full details, please click on Peter Sommer’s link In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great. From Boy to King.

For 2013, this trip has been updated to The Birth of a Legend.

Historical Sources in Translation, Alexander the Great by W. Heckel and J.C. Yardley

Historical Sources in Translation, Alexander the Great by W. Heckel and J.C. Yardley (ISBN 0631228217) is a true gem, not for those looking for a historical account of Alexander’s life, but for whoever just wants to grasp a moment in time. Heckel and Yardley have researched many antiquity sources to present them to us in a handy succession of excerpts. What a job! Yet this is so terribly appealing if you are looking for that one date or event in Alexander’s thrilling life.

We know that his secretary, Eumenes of Cardia, kept official records while Alexander was still alive. Only fragments of those records have survived, and they seem to present a rather dull account of daily business with little military or political information. For that part, we have to refer to Callisthenes of Olynthus, but one may wonder how much truth there is in the propaganda he wrote to plead the Hellenistic cause and to please the Greeks at home.

More realistic are probably the accounts of Nearchus, Alexander’s general who commanded his fleet sailing from the Indus to Babylon, and those of Ptolemy, another of his generals who ruled over Egypt and lived to a blessed old age. But then there is Onesicritus of Astypalaea, who made the voyage with Nearchus and had his own version of this experience. These men all wrote while Alexander was still alive or shortly after that. Better known is Cleitarchus, who made use of texts from both Onesicritus and Nearchus, but in the end, it seems that most of the workable elements come from two men, Ptolemy and Aristobulus who told their version late in life - which makes us wonder how much they genuinely remember or believe to remember.

In any case, we are left with five extant historians of Alexander, which Heckel and Yardley use in their book. They are Diodorus Siculus, Curtius Rufus, Plutarch (later Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus), Arrian of Nicomedia, and Justin (Marcus Junianius Justinus), who summarized the work of Pompeius Trogus that is mostly lost.

In addition, Heckel and Yardley have also searched for relevant information from other authors. This list is a long one, and I won’t go into details but just name the sources: Aelian, Aristotle, Athenaeus of Naucratis, Cassius Clio, Cicero, Frontinus, Livy, Lucian, Pausanias, Pliny the Elder, Polyaenus, Polybius of Megalopolis, Stephanus of Byzantium, Strabo, Suetonius, and Valerius Maximus – i.e., geographers, tacticians, orators, and rhetoricians. Additionally, Heckel and Yardley consulted the Alexander Romance, The Metz and Heidelberg Epitomes, and the Itinerarium Alexandri (Itinerary of Alexander) of an unknown writer from about 340 AD.

It is evident that both Professors did their homework. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to investigate and explore Alexander’s character more in-depth. It is such a handy and pleasant tool to work with!

Also available as an ebook.

News from Didyma, Turkey

Sometimes illegal digs reveal unexpected new prospects, like last summer (2010) in Didyma on Turkey’s west coast.

Didyma, the site of an ancient oracle, literally means “twins”. The Temple of Apollo is well-known meanwhile and a true Mecca for the tourists in the area. You may remember that the god Apollo had a twin sister, the goddess Artemis. So it is not impossible to suppose there could be a nearby temple dedicated to her also.

Illegal digs have recently uncovered remains of a wall, suggesting by its size and location that it might well pertain to another temple. Because of the city’s name Didyma, the dedication to Artemis is rather obvious but so far this is only speculation and we’ll have wait for the outcome of further excavations of the site.

Meanwhile more excavation works are being undertaken on the ancient Sacred Road that once connected Miletus to Didyma, more specifically on the portion between the Apollo Temple and Panormos Harbor.

I’m curious to hear what other surprises this site will reveal!