The Herodotus Encyclopedia. Группа авторов
Age of Epinikian.” In Pindar’s Poetry, Patrons and Festivals: From Archaic Greece to the Roman Empire, edited by Simon Hornblower and Catherine Morgan, 309–41. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
ALEXANDER I (Ἀλέξανδρος, ὁ) son of Amyntas
IOANNIS XYDOPOULOS
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Son of Amyntas, king of MACEDONIA (c. 497/6–454 BCE). Alexander is the only Macedonian king to play a role in Herodotus’ narrative of the PERSIAN WARS, but he makes an impressive entry earlier (5.17–21). There, Herodotus describes how Alexander deceived and killed the seven Persian envoys who had demanded and received EARTH AND WATER (i.e., formal submission to the Great King of PERSIA) from his father Amyntas, probably in 513/12. As king of Macedonia, Alexander appears on five other occasions in the Histories, four of them connected with Herodotus’ narrative of 480–479. i) At TEMPE (7.173.3) he tried to warn the Greek forces that resistance to the vast Persian army would be useless. ii) He saved the Boeotian CITIES from destruction, by placing garrisons and persuading XERXES that the BOEOTIANS were loyal to Persia (8.34). iii) He appears in ATHENS (8.136.1–3, 140.α.1–β.4) as an envoy of MARDONIUS, since he was already a PROXENOS and euergetēs (benefactor) of the Athenians, to try to convince them to become ALLIES of Persia. iv) He reveals Persian plans about the forthcoming attack at PLATAEA to the Athenian generals on the eve of the battle (9.44–45). Finally, as a coda to his initial appearance (5.22), Herodotus also describes how Alexander advanced his Greek descent from the Argive Temenids as an argument for his competing in the Olympic Games; the final verdict of the HELLENODIKAI was in Alexander’s favor.
Thus Herodotus presents Alexander as a philhellene (friend of the Greeks) and at the same time of Hellenic descent. The story of the MURDER of the Persian envoys, which casts Alexander as an enemy of the Persians from a young age, is a later invention; otherwise, it is hard to explain the Persians’ subsequent treatment of Alexander, such as Mardonius choosing him as an envoy to Athens, or other sources’ claim that Xerxes rewarded Alexander generously by allowing him to rule the region between Mt. OLYMPUS and Mt. HAEMUS (Just. Epit. 7.4.1). Alexander’s participation in the games at OLYMPIA has also been questioned, and the lineage he presents (going back to HERACLES) must be an attempt by the Macedonian royals to bind their land with the rest of the Greek world. Some scholars have seen in these two incidents, as well as the speech at Plataea, Herodotus uncritically accepting these (deliberately false) stories he heard on a visit to Macedonia. But in that case, how can one explain Alexander’s impressive DEDICATION of a golden statue at DELPHI, right next to the TRIPOD dedicated by the other Hellenes (8.121.2), in the first flush of victory against the Persians? This action of Alexander, which was cited until the age of Demosthenes (8.24), is of particular significance when we remember that victory against the Persians had reinforced the polarization between Greeks and BARBARIANS.
SEE ALSO: Advisers; Amyntas son of Alcetas; Hellas; Medize; Sources for Herodotus; Speeches; Temenus, Temenids
FURTHER READING
1 Badian, Ernst. 1994. “Herodotus on Alexander I of Macedon: A Study in Some Subtle Silences.” In Greek Historiography, edited by Simon Hornblower, 107–30. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2 Borza, Eugene N. 1990. In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon, 98–131. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
3 Errington, R. Malcolm. 1981. “Alexander the Philhellene and Persia.” In Ancient Macedonian Studies in Honor of Charles F. Edson, edited by H. J. Dell, 139–43. Thessaloniki: Institute for Balkan Studies.
4 Fearn, David. 2007. “Narrating Ambiguity: Murder and Macedonian Allegiance (5.17–22).” In Reading Herodotus: A Study of the logoi of Book 5 of Herodotus’ Histories, edited by Elizabeth Irwin and Emily Greenwood, 98–127. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5 Gschnitzer, Fritz. 2001. “Herodots makedonische Quellen.” In Humanitas: Beiträge zur antiken Kulturgeschichte. Festschrift für Gunther Gottlieb zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by Pedro Barcelò and Veit Rosenberger, 89–96. Munich: Ernst Vögel.
6 Scaife, Ross. 1989. “Alexander I in the Histories of Herodotos.” Hermes 117.2: 129–37.
7 Tripodi, Bruno. 1986. “L’ambasceria di Alessandro I di Macedonia ad Atene nella tradizione Erodotea (Hdt. 8.136–144).” ASNP ser. 3 vol. 16: 621–35.
8 Xydopoulos, I. K. 2006. Koinonikes kai politistikes scheseis ton Makedonon kai ton allon Ellinon. 2nd edition. Thessaloniki: Society for Macedonian Studies.
ALEXANDER (’Αλέξανδρος, ὁ) son of Priam (Paris)
MICHAEL LLOYD
University College Dublin
Mythical Trojan prince, also known as Paris, whose abduction of HELEN from SPARTA was the cause of the TROJAN WAR (1.3; 2.112–20). Alexander’s exploit is the fourth and last in the sequence of mythical abductions of women which began hostilities between East and West. Herodotus attributes these stories to “learned Persians” (1.1.1), but it has been argued that they are Greek in origin and that the alleged source is fictitious (Fehling 1989, 50–57).
In Herodotus’ other version of the story (2.112–20), attributed to “Egyptian priests,” Alexander is diverted to EGYPT by adverse WINDS, and the king PROTEUS keeps Helen there until she is reclaimed by MENELAUS. Herodotus cites HOMER in support (Il. 6.289–92), contrasting the version in the EPIC Cypria (PEG F14) in which Alexander has an untroubled voyage back to TROY (2.116.3). Proteus criticizes him for his breach of hospitality, seduction of Helen, and THEFT of Menelaus’ property (for the stolen property, see Hom. Il. 3.70, 285, etc.). Helen in this version may never have reached Troy, but as Herodotus concludes, Alexander and the Trojans are nevertheless destroyed: “for great crimes there are great punishments from the gods” (2.120.5).
SEE ALSO: Guest‐friendship; “Liar School”; Myth; Poetry; Prologue; Proof; Rape; Reciprocity; Source Citations
REFERENCE
1 Fehling, Detlev. 1989. Herodotus and His “Sources”: Citation, Invention and Narrative Art, translated by J. G. Howie. Leeds: Francis Cairns.
FURTHER READING
1 Austin, Norman. 1994. Helen of Troy and Her Shameless Phantom. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
2 Lloyd, Michael. 1989. “Paris/Alexandros in Homer and Euripides.” Mnemosyne 42: 76–79.
3 Neville, James W. 1977. “Herodotus on the Trojan War.” G&R 24.1: 3–12.
ALILAT (Ἀλιλάτ, ἡ; Arab. ‘al‐Lāt)
BRUCE LINCOLN
University of Chicago
An Arabian goddess Herodotus identified with Uranian APHRODITE. According to him, she formed a couple with the god OROTALT (= DIONYSUS), these being the only deities worshipped by the ARABIANS. He further details their patronage of OATH rituals (3.8). Elsewhere, he identifies Alilat with the Assyrian MYLITTA and Persian MITRA (1.131.3). The name ‘al‐Lāt, a contracted form of Arabic ‘al‐’ilāt (“the goddess”) is attested in pre‐Islamic inscriptions in North Arabia, Palmyra, Edessa, Dura Europus, and among the Nabataeans, as well as in the Quran (Sura 53:19). While textual evidence is sparse, Krone (1992) argues that iconographic representations emphasize the goddess’ erotic and aggressive character, while also showing associations to the planet Venus. Corrente (2013) concurs, but thinks Herodotus described a specifically Nabataean divine couple.
SEE ALSO: Ethnography; Religion, Herodotus’ Views on