Ghost on the Throne - James S. Romm [149]
15 Perdiccas was perhaps a few years older: There is no evidence at all on which to date Perdiccas’ birth, but it seems probable he was in his twenties, as Berve speculates, at the time of Philip’s assassination.
16 Greeks were a kindred but foreign race: The question of the Greekness of the Macedonians is a vexed one, both in classical scholarship and in modern Balkan politics. I make no claims here that the Macedonians were, or were not, a branch of the Greek people, as I think the evidence is not decisive. But at many points in the ancient accounts of Alexander’s army, both before and after the king’s death, it is clear that Greeks were regarded by the Macedonians as a separate race. Many Greeks believed the same about the Macedonians, though there were also some, like Isocrates the Athenian, who endorsed the Greekness of the Macedonian royal house—not the entire people—in order to advance a political agenda.
17 then took his hand, shedding tears of relief: Recounted by Arrian in his chronicle of Nearchus’ voyage, Indica, chap. 35.
18 Philip had simply liked the look of the boy: Perhaps this is only a legend contrived to highlight Eumenes’ humble origins, like the even more dubious report that Eumenes’ father was a wagon driver or a funeral musician (both found in Plutarch Eumenes 1). Anson, in Eumenes of Cardia, assumes that Eumenes could only have found his way into Philip’s employ had he belonged to a noble and well-connected family.
19 In India, Eumenes received: The episode is recounted by Plutarch Eumenes 2, and possibly referred to by Arrian, Anabasis 7.13.
20 appointing Eumenes as commander: Plutarch Eumenes 1.5. The appointment is not discussed in any of the Alexander histories, and nothing they tell us adequately accounts for it.
21 In the royal pavilion he set up in Persis: Described by Ephippus of Olynthus, as quoted by Athenaeus 12.53.
22 probably to the little Summer Palace: The movements of Alexander through Babylon in June 323, and later the location of his corpse, though reported only vaguely by Arrian and Plutarch, have been reconstructed in detail by Schachermeyr in the first four chapters of Alexander in Babylon.
23 Rumors circulating at the time of Alexander’s death: The evidence for these is discussed in Chapter 7, section 5.
24 Eumenes himself might have tampered with it: This is the hypothesis of Bosworth in “Alexander’s Death.”
25 Rauxsnaka: The spelling used by Holt in “Alexander the Great’s Little Star,” p. 32. “Roshanak” is often given as the Persian version of her name.
26 Rhoxane had become pregnant: The first child born to Alexander by Rhoxane is known to us only from an obscure source, the Metz Epitome, chap. 70.
27 no doubt fictionalized: Already in the second century A.D., Arrian mocked the story as an invention (Anabasis 7.27.3).
28 learning high classical Greek: Diodorus 17.67.1.
29 Craterus was not happy: As related on this page, Craterus later detached himself from Amastris and married instead a daughter of Antipater’s. It seems that in Macedonian society only the king was allowed the privilege of polygamy (see Ogden, Polygamy, Prostitutes and Death).
30 Craterus revered his king: At some point during the Asian campaign Craterus evidently aided Alexander during a lion hunt, and Plutarch says (Alexander 40) that he dedicated a sculpture at Delphi commemorating this moment of shared peril. The dedicatory inscription of the monument shows that it was in fact set up by Craterus’ son after Craterus’ death. The mosaic seen at Pella today of two men hunting a lion is often thought to represent Alexander and Craterus but probably does not.
31 The stalwart Craterus: Craterus’ exclusion from the award ceremony is an extrapolation from Arrian Anabasis 7.5.4–6, where the recipients of crowns are carefully listed, but Craterus’ name does not appear.
32 who carried lighter gear: The weapons and armor of the Hypaspists cannot be deduced from either literary or archaeological evidence. Most scholars infer from their movements in battle that these soldiers were