Historiography of Alexander the Great

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This article is part of
a series about
Alexander the Great
Early rule
Conquest of the Persian Empire
Expedition into India
Death and legacy
Cultural impact

There are numerous surviving ancient Greek and Latin sources on

Macedon, as well as some Asian texts. The five main surviving accounts are by Arrian, Plutarch, Diodorus Siculus, Quintus Curtius Rufus, and Justin.[1] In addition to these five main sources, there is the Metz Epitome, an anonymous late Latin work that narrates Alexander's campaigns from Hyrcania to India. Much is also recounted incidentally by other authors, including Strabo, Athenaeus, Polyaenus, Aelian, and others. Strabo, who gives a summary of Callisthenes
, is an important source for Alexander's journey to Siwah.[2]

Contemporary sources

Most primary sources written by people who actually knew Alexander or who gathered information from men who served with Alexander are lost, but a few inscriptions and fragments survive.[1] Contemporaries who wrote accounts of his life include Alexander's campaign historian Callisthenes; Alexander's generals Ptolemy and Nearchus; Aristobulus, a junior officer on the campaigns; and Onesicritus, Alexander's chief helmsman.[1] Finally, there is the very influential account of Cleitarchus who, while not a direct witness of Alexander's expedition, used sources which had just been published.[1] His work was to be the backbone of that of Timagenes, who heavily influenced many historians whose work still survives. None of his works survived, but we do have later works based on these primary sources.[1]

The five main sources

Arrian

Plutarch

  • Life of Alexander (see
    Lysippus
    , Alexander's favorite sculptor, to provide what is probably the fullest and most accurate description of the conqueror's physical appearance.

Diodorus

  • Bibliotheca historica (Library of world history), written in Greek by the Sicilian historian Diodorus Siculus, from which Book 17 relates the conquests of Alexander, based almost entirely on Cleitarchus and Hieronymus of Cardia. It is the oldest surviving Greek source (1st century BC). Diodorus regarded Alexander like Caesar as a key historical figure and chronological marker.

Curtius

  • Historiae Alexandri Magni, a biography of Alexander in ten books, of which the last eight survive, by the Roman historian Quintus Curtius Rufus, written in the 1st century AD, and based largely on Cleitarchus through the mediation of Timagenes, with some material probably from Ptolemy. His work is fluidly written, but reveals ignorance of geography, chronology, and technical military knowledge, focusing instead on the character. According to Jona Lendering: ..the real subject was not Alexander, but the tyranny of Tiberius and Caligula. (It can be shown that Curtius Rufus' description of the trial of Philotas is based on an incident during the reign of Tiberius)...Curtius copies Cleitarchus' mistakes, although he is not an uncritical imitator.[3]

Justin

  • The
    Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus by Justin, is highly compressed version of an earlier history by Trogus, with the selections governed by Justin's desire to make moralistic points, rather than with an eye for the history itself.[1]

Letters

Main article: Letters of Alexander the Great

Alexander wrote and received numerous letters, but no

originals survive. A few official letters addressed to the Greek cities survive in copies inscribed in stone and the content of others is sometimes reported in historical sources. These only occasionally quote the letters and it is an open question how reliable such quotations are. Several fictitious letters, some perhaps based on actual letters, made their way into the Romance tradition.[4]

Ephemerides of Alexander the Great

The Ephemerides of Alexander were journals describing Alexander's daily activities. Mentioned by ancient writers, but only fragments survive today.[5][6]

Suda writes that one of the works of Strattis of Olynthus was called "On the ephemerides of Alexander" and were five books.[7]

Lost works

Greek epigraphy

Non-Greco-Roman sources

Babylonian Chronicles

Zoroastrian texts

Main article: Book of Arda Viraf

They say that, once upon a time, the pious

Rûman,[19] who was dwelling in Egypt, so that he came to the country of Iran with severe cruelty and war and devastation; he also slew the ruler of Iran, and destroyed the metropolis and empire, and made them desolate.[20]

The Bible

Main article: 1 Maccabees

Daniel 8:5–8 and 21–22 states that a King of Greece will conquer the Medes and Persians but then die at the height of his power and have his kingdom broken into four kingdoms. This is sometimes taken as a reference to Alexander.

Alexander is briefly mentioned in the first Book of the Maccabees. In chapter 1, verses 1–7 are about Alexander and serve as an introduction of the book. This explains how the Greek influence reached the Land of Israel at that time.

The Quran

Main article:
Alexander the Great in the Quran

There is evidence to suggest that orally transmitted legends about Alexander the Great found their way to the Quran.[21] In the story of Dhu al-Qarnayn, "The Two-Horned One" (chapter al-Kahf, verse 83–94), Dhu al-Qarnayn is identified by most Western and traditional Muslim scholars as a reference to Alexander the Great.[22][23][24]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Green, 2007, pp xxii–xxviii
  2. ^ Cartledge, P., Alexander the Great (Vintage Books, 2004), p. 290.
  3. ^ "Curtius – livius.org". www.livius.org.
  4. JSTOR 4434421
  5. JSTOR 4434864
    . Retrieved 15 March 2023 – via JSTOR.
  6. JSTOR 4436444
    . Retrieved 15 March 2023 – via JSTOR.
  7. ^ a b "SOL Search". www.cs.uky.edu. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  8. ^ Cartledge 2007, p. 278.
  9. ^ A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology, Antidamas
  10. ^ Owen Jarus (7 February 2023). "AI is deciphering a 2,000-year-old 'lost book' describing life after Alexander the Great". livescience.com. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  11. ISBN 0520083296
  12. ^ "Error - PHI Greek Inscriptions". epigraphy.packhum.org. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  13. ISBN 0521299497
  14. ^ "Error - PHI Greek Inscriptions". epigraphy.packhum.org. Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  15. ISBN 0415046181
  16. ISBN 9004120467
  17. ^ "The Alexander Chronicle (ABC 8)". www.livius.org. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  18. ^ "Chronicle concerning Alexander and Arabia (BCHP 2)". www.livius.org.
  19. ISBN 0415221552
  20. ^ "The Book of Arda Viraf". www.avesta.org.
  21. ISBN 978-90-04-12999-3
    .
  22. ISBN 978-9004100633
    .
  23. ^ Stoneman 2003, p. 3.
  24. OCLC 758278456
    .

Further reading
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