Susa weddings

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Hephaistion marries Stateira's sister, Drypetis, at Susa
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The Susa weddings was a mass wedding arranged by Alexander the Great in 324 BC in the Persian city of Susa.[1]

Symbolism

Alexander intended to symbolically unite the

Greek cultures, by taking a Persian wife himself and celebrating a mass wedding with Persian ceremony along with his officers, for whom he arranged marriages with noble Persian wives.[2]
The union was not merely symbolic, as their prospective offspring were intended to be the children of both civilizations.

Spouses at the weddings

Alexander was already married to

Artabazus of Phrygia
.

Order of precedence

The weddings were solemnized in the Persian fashion: chairs were placed for the bridegrooms in order of precedence; after the toasts the brides entered and sat down each by her groom, who took them by the hand and kissed them. The king was the first to be married, for all the weddings were celebrated in the same manner, and in this ceremony he showed even more than his customary approachability and comradeship.

The bridegrooms after receiving their brides led them away, each to his own home, and to all Alexander gave a dowry. And as for all the Macedonians who had already married Asian women, Alexander ordered a list of their names to be drawn up; they numbered over 10,000, and Alexander offered them all gifts their wedding

— Arrian[4]

Political significance

By marrying the daughters of Darius and Artaxerxes, Alexander was both identifying himself with the Persians and also making his own position more secure. He could now claim to be the son and rightful heir of both previous Persian kings. He also wanted to honour Hephaestion by making him his brother-in-law.

Aftermath

What the Macedonians thought of these marriages is evident from the fact that the nobles all divorced their wives after Alexander's death, except Hephaestion, who died before Alexander, and Seleucus. So in spite of Alexander's precedent, the Macedonians were no more inclined to share equally with the Persians than before.[citation needed]

See also

References

  1. .
  2. ^ pothos.org - Drypetis, daughter of Darius and wife of Hephaestion Archived 2011-06-08 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Alexander the Great: the marriages at Susa". Archived from the original on 2016-08-26. Retrieved 2020-03-26.
  4. ^ Arrian. Anabasis. 7.4.8. Retrieved 10 March 2022.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)