The Campaigns of Alexander (Classics) (48 page)

Diodorus, Curtius and Plutarch (
Alexander
62) all add that Alexander gave orders for the construction of beds for his troops and stalls for their horses larger than normal in order to impress posterity.

55
. Not previously mentioned.

56
. For the order to Abisares to report to Alexander see p. 284.

1
. See p. 264 n. 18.

2
. Historians generally accept this letter as genuine, but it is difficult to know who would have had knowledge of this deletion.

3
. Curtius (9.3.20) places his death on the Acesines, but as he and Diodorus wrongly think of Alexander returning to this river to find his fleet ready, there is no reason to doubt Arrian. On Coenus see Badian,
JHS
1961, 2off., although we need not suppose that Coenus’ death was other than natural.

4
. According to Nearchus (Arrian,
Indica
19.5) this amounted to 120,000 fighting men including ‘barbarians’.

5
. Its location is unknown. Diodorus (17.91.4) and Curtius (9.1. 24) wrongly place Sopeithes’ kingdom east of the Cathaeans, between the rivers Hydraotes and Hyphasis. cf. Strabo 15.1.30.

6
. cf. Arrian,
Indica
18.9–10. Strabo (15.1.28) remarks that Onesicritus deserved to be called the chief pilot of marvels rather than of Alexander, and that he surpassed all Alexander’s followers in the telling of monstrosities.

7
. In the
Indica
Arrian gives a total of 800 ships, evidently Nearchus’ figure. Diodorus and Curtius have 1,000.

8
. Nearchus (
Indica
18.11) says that Alexander sacrificed to his ancestral gods, to those to whom the seers instructed him to sacrifice, to Poseidon, Amphitrite, the Nereids, and the Ocean, as well as to the three rivers.

According to Aristobulus (Strabo 15.1.17), Alexander set out ‘a few days before the setting of the Pleiads’, i.e. at the beginning of November 326.

9
. cf.
Indica
7.8–9.

10
. According to Curtius, they could put into the field 90,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, and 900 chariots. Diodorus says 80,000, 10,000 and 700 respectively. Arrian (p. 311) mentions 50,000 Mallians.

11
. Diodorus (17.97.2) compares the episode with Achilles’ fight with the river Scamander (
Iliad 21.228ff
.)

12
. The Sandar-Bar desert.

13
. Fuller points out that these ‘towns’ probably resembled many present-day Indian villages – ‘conglomerations of mud-huts, the circumference of which formed a protective wall of no great height or thickness’.

14
. Seep. 66.

15
. See Curtius 9.4.26.

16
. Strabo (16.1.3) gives a similar account. He explains how Gaugamela, ‘the grazing-place of the camel’, came to get its name.

17
. Curtius (9.5.14 ff.) mentions Timaeus and Aristonus as well as Peucestas and Leonnatus, Plutarch (
Moralia
327 b, 344 d) Ptolemy and Limnaeus. Peucestas and Leonnatus later (p. 355) received gold crowns for their part in saving Alexander’s life.

18
. Curtius (9.5.21) censures Cleitarchus and Timagenes for stating that Ptolemy was present. He tells us that Ptolemy wrote in his
History
that he was away on an expedition.

Ptolemy received his title of ‘Saviour’ from the Rhodians in 304 for his help during the siege of Rhodes by Demetrius.

19
. Curtius (9.6.6) says that Craterus spoke on behalf of the senior officers, and was supported by Ptolemy and others.

20
. A fragment of one of the lost tragedies of Aeschylus.

21
. Curtius (9.8.9), who calls him Terioltes, says he was put to death.

22
. For Onesicritus’ description of this country see Strabo 15.1.34.

23
. Diodorus (17.102.5) and Curtius (9.8.11–13) report that Oxycanus, whom they call Porticanus, was put to death, that the prisoners were sold, and the towns in his kingdom destroyed.

24
. According to Diodorus and Curtius (who gives Cleitatchus as his source) 80,000 Indians were killed and many captured in this region.

25
. See his
Indica,
chapter 11. Strabo (15.1.59) gives a better description of the Brahmins, based on Megasthenes.

26
. i.e. Drangiana. Craterus probably travelled by way of the Mulla pass (Fuller).

27
. At the apex of the Indus delta as it existed in Alexander’s day. It is generally thought to be either Hyderabad or Bahmanabad. Alexander arrived there about the middle of July 325.

28
. The south-west monsoon; see p. 330.

29
. According to Plutarch (
Alexander
66.1), Alexander called it Scillustis, others Psiltucis.

30
. These sacrifices, the counterpart of those offered at the start of the voyage down the Indus (p. 303), are Alexander’s thank-offering for his successful journey.

31
. cf.
Indica
20.10. Wilcken,
Alexander
196, regards the sacrifice and libation as a thank-offering made by Alexander for having reached ‘a limit of the world’, as well as a prayer for the future. This seems to read too much into Arrian’s text.

Nearchus’ voyage is described in the
Indica,
chapters 21–43.

32
. This is Nearchus’ figure; Aristobulus made it 125 miles (Strabo 15.1.33). The eastern arm of the Indus is thought to have run into the Rann of Cutch at this time.

33
. About the beginning of November.

34
. He left Pattala about 21 September 325, but had to wait in the eastern arm of the Indus for 24 days until the arrival of the northeast monsoon (
Indica
21).

35
. The river Hab, not the Purali. For this identification and Alexander’s route generally see Sir Aurel Stein,
Geographical Journal
1943. 193–227.

36
. For Alexander’s motives in marching through Gedrosia, the modern Makran, see also p.
335
.

37
. The squadrons were led by Leonnatus, Ptolemy, and himself (Diodorus 17.104.6). Diodorus doubtless exaggerates when he writes that ‘many myriads ’ were killed.

38
. The site of Rhambacia is unknown. Diodorus (17.104.8) says that the new Alexandria lay on the coast, but Stein (op. cit., p. 215) locates it inland, near the modern Bela.

39
. Arrianuses ‘Oreitae’ and ‘Orians’ indiscriminately.

40
. This plant, from which the costly ointment frequently mentioned in the Bible was prepared, was so plentiful that the Macedonians used it for bedding (Strabo 15.2.3).

41
. See also Strabo 15.2.6–7.

42
. These were the Ichthyophagi, or Fish-Eaters. They are described in more detail by Arrian in-the
Indica
(chapter 29). cf. Strabo 15.2.2; Diodorus 17.105.3–5; Curtius 9.10.8–10; Plutarch,
Alexander
66.6.

43
. A town in Thrace on the Black Sea, founded by colonists from Miletus.

44
. Bampur, situated on the fiver of the same name, neat the Carmanian border. The date was probably late November 325.

45
. Compare Alexander’s rivalry with Hercules and Perseus as a motive for his expedition to Siwah (p. 151). Arrian (
Indica
9) remarks that the Indians denied that anyone (except Hercules and Dionysus) invaded India before Alexander; cf. Strabo 15.1.6.

46
. We may safely reject Plutarch’s statement (
Alexander
66.4) that Alexander had 120,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry with him, of whom less than a quarter survived. Nearchus (Arrian,
Indica
19.5) says, more credibly, that Alexander had 120,000 fighting men at the start of the voyage down the Hydaspes. From this figure we must deduct casualties sustained in India, the troops sent back with Craterus, and those left behind in India and with Leonnatus among the Oreitae. Modern estimates range from 8-10 thousand (Tarn,
Alexander
1.107) – surely far too low a figure – to 60-70 thousand (H. Strasburger,
Hermes
1952, 486ff.). In any case, we do not know what proportion of the troops or of those who accompanied the army survived.

47
. Plutarch (
Alexander
42.7) says it occurred during the pursuit of Darius, Curtius (7.5.10) in Sogdiana near the R. Oxus.

48
. The Little Bear contains the Pole Star; the Great Bear is Charles’ Wain or The Plough, from which the Pole Star may be found.

49
. Apollophanes had been killed soon after Alexander’s departure in a great battle against the Oreitae (Arrian,
Indica
23.5). His instructions presumably were to forward supplies for Alexander’s troops.

50
. This had not been done at the time of Alexander’s death, some eighteen months later.

51
. Curtius (10.1.1) adds Agathon. He says that all four were put in chains and 600 of their followers executed. Despite Curtius’ silence about their fate it is likely that all four were executed.

For the full story of the ‘reign of terror’ among Alexander’s satraps at this time see E. Badian,
JHS
1961, 16ff.

52
. This is not borne out by Alexander’s letter to Cleomenes (p. 389).

53
. According to Diodorus (17.105.7)and Curtius (9.10.17) Alexander had sent instructions to Phrataphernes and Stasanor to supply provisions. Phrataphernes is probably a slip for Pharismanes; there is no mention of the arrival of Phrataphernes.

54
. See the elaborate descriptions in Curtius (9.10.24ff.) and Plutarch (
Alexander
67) and cf. Diodorus 17.106.1. The story may possibly be connected with the festival mentioned below.

55
. Arrian gives a graphic description of Nearchus’ meeting with Alexander at Harmozeia (Hormuz) in the
Indica
(chapters 33-6). Diodorus (17.106) says that they met in a seaside town called Salmus.

56
. This is the
Indica,
chapters 18–43.

57
. It was now early December in the year 325.

58
. To Aria.

59
. He traced his descent from Cyrus (Curtius 10.1.22).

60
. The tomb is now known as the Tomb of the Mother of Solomon. It is frequently reproduced, e.g. by Jean-Louis Huot,
Persia
(London, 1965), plate 68 (in colour).

61
. The Magi were a Median priestly class, taken over by the conquering Persians. Besides the duty of guarding Cyrus’ tomb, they were interpreters of dreams and when a Persian wished to sacrifice, he had to employ a Magus. See Herodotus 1.120.132.

62
. i.e. Persepolis; see p. 179.

63
. Curtius (10.1.22–38) has a different story. According to him Orxines was guiltless and his death was brought about by Alexander’s eunuch favourite, Bagoas, who poisoned Alexander’s mind against him and bribed accusers to supply false testimony. E. Badian (
CQ
1958, 147 ff.) argues in favour of this version.

64
. The Macedonians, however, resented Peucestas’ growing orientalism (p. 356).

1
. See Curtius 10.1. 17–19 and Plutarch,
Alexander
68.1. Among the plans (
Hypomnemata
) left behind at Alexander’s death was one for an expedition against Carthage, North Africa, Spain, and the coast of Italy to Sicily (Diodorus 18.4.4). For a discussion of the genuineness of these plans see E. Badian,
Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
1968, 183ff., who cites the earlier literature. Asia here, as often, includes Africa.

2
. See Arrian’s remarks on p. 213.

3
. A somewhat similar story is told of Calanus (below) by Plutarch,
Alexander
65.6.

4
. Diogenes was the famous Cynic, who spent most of his life in exile at Athens. Although he could have met Alexander at Corinth in 336, this anecdote, like others in which the philosopher always bests the king, is probably fictitious. In Plutarch (
Alexander
14) and other writers – no fewer than 22 references to the incident are known – the king remarks ‘If I were not Alexander, I should be Diogenes’.