Ancient History Quote of the Day: "Some historians have also recorded that his companions asked him to whom he left his kingdom, and he replied, 'To the best man'" (Arrian, Anabasis 7.26)
#AHQOTD #AlexanderTheGreat
Image: Alexander Statuette from Herculaneum (MANN, 4996)
#AHQOTD #AlexanderTheGreat
Image: Alexander Statuette from Herculaneum (MANN, 4996)
I'm typing this thread today - 10 June - as it is the date that is popularly given as being that of the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC. However, the situation is more complicated as Plutarch's account (Alexander 76.9) has been interpreted as suggesting 13 June.
The only contemporary record of Alexander's death is that of a Babylonian Astronomical Diary tablet (pictured here), recording the date of his death as the final day of the month of Aiiâru in the fourteenth year of his reign.
Image: British Museum (45962)
Image: British Museum (45962)
Later accounts of Alexander's death, primarily Plutarch's biography, the hagiographic history of Arrian, and the account of Diodorus Siculus, all draw heavily on the Court Journals, but even the validity of these as a source can be called into question.
This is because almost immediately the generals of Alexander began to wrestle for control of aspects of his empire: not helped by the enigmatic response he is alleged to have given (the quotation at the head of this thread).
These so-called Diadochi divided his vast empire between themselves at two conferences at Babylon (in 323 BC) and Triparadeisus (in 321 BC) and began to squabble over his legacy, with Ptolemy going so far as to ambush the sarcophagus on its journey back to Macedon.
Thus Alexander's death and his inability to guarantee a smooth succession essentially unravelled the empire which he had strove so hard to create in the first place.
#AHQOTD #AlexanderTheGreat
Image: Alexander routing the Persians: from the so-called 'Alexander Sarcophagus'
#AHQOTD #AlexanderTheGreat
Image: Alexander routing the Persians: from the so-called 'Alexander Sarcophagus'
