Ghost on the Throne - James S. Romm [156]
11 two years earlier: Accounts of the first Greek exodus from Bactria are given by Quintus Curtius (9.7.1–11) and Diodorus (17.99.5–6). Diodorus says the three thousand escapees were slaughtered by the Macedonians, but he seems to have confused this group with the second wave of Greek deserters; Curtius reports the three thousand made it home safe.
12 largely as hostages: The ancient world had fewer qualms about hostage taking than the modern one. It was common practice for subject peoples to give hostages to their conquerors as a guarantee of compliance. The troop contributions required of the Greeks by their settlement with the Macedonians, following the battle of Chaeronea in 338, were understood to be pledges of good behavior.
13 a rapturous pair of speeches: Their title is usually translated “On the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander,” parts 1 and 2. The two orations ostensibly argue different sides of the question of whether Alexander’s success was due to good luck or to innate talents, though in both admiration for Alexander’s achievements is the dominant idea. They are presumed to have been written by Plutarch in youth, since the view of Alexander is more naively positive than in the Life of Alexander.
14 several times told him so: As attested by Plutarch, at Eumenes 6.2, who unfortunately does not give examples. Few traces of these episodes can be found in the ancient Alexander histories, but the tendency to idealize Alexander must have largely effaced such a high-level challenge to his goals.
15 out of dislike: The promotion of officers in Alexander’s army in the king’s last years largely depended on their attitudes toward his fusion plans. It has already been seen that Meleager, an opponent of those plans, was kept in the infantry ranks long after his fellow platoon leaders had been elevated to the cavalry (this page).
16 the renowned Phila: The sketch of her character that follows is based on a tribute found in Diodorus 19.59.3–5. Phila would later show unflagging devotion in her long marriage to the scoundrel Demetrius.
17 Phila was in Cilicia: Her presence there is not directly attested, but has been inferred as likely by Heckel on the basis of ingenious prosopographical arguments (see “A Grandson” and “Nicanor Son of Balacrus”). Even Badian, who disputes Heckel’s findings, concedes that Phila may well have been in Cilicia for part of Balacrus’ tenure as satrap there, presumably the last part (“Two Postscripts,” p. 117).
18 second Perdiccas’ proposals: Quintus Curtius gives him a crucial role at the council session of June 12, backing Perdiccas at a moment when he was under challenge from Meleager (10.7.8). Justin, however, does not confirm the report.
19 the man he had just appointed: There is much left unclear by Diodorus’ account of Perdiccas’ maneuvers at 18.7.3–5, not least the fact that he depicts Perdiccas appointing the very man whose power he then tried to circumscribe. However, just the same paradox can be observed in some of his other appointments: Meleager as negotiator to the rebellious infantrymen in Babylon, and Antigonus as backup to Eumenes in Cappadocia. Perdiccas seems to have had either a shortage of trustworthy subordinates or an unfortunate tendency to test those he deemed dubious by giving them crucial assignments.
20 None of over twenty thousand: The staggering scale of the ordered slaughter, coupled with the potential for loss of control of the upper satrapies, has caused some scholars to doubt the reliability of Diodorus’ report; see Holt, Alexander the Great and Bactria, p. 89, and Sidky, Greek Kingdom of Bactria, p. 99. However, since it is the only report we have, it seems unwise to call it into question based on judgments about the strategy involved (a point made by Bosworth in his review of Holt’s book, JHS 110 [1990], p. 257).
21 once a Persian king: The story of Cambyses’ rash attack on the Apis