Ghost on the Throne - James S. Romm [159]
24 a winking acknowledgment: This is my understanding of a remark that, like many pithy replies quoted by Plutarch, is open to more than one interpretation.
25 had largely opposed: See this page and note 24.
26 for a long time: According to the Lives of the Ten Orators (846), Antipater began to demand the surrender of Demosthenes after he besieged the Thessalian town of Pharsalus, soon after the battle of Crannon.
27 could find safety there: For example, Themistocles, the great Athenian leader and hero of the Persian Wars, forced from Athens and threatened with arrest and trial after his political enemies gained ascendancy, ended his life as a satrap in the Persian empire.
28 Arrian: The brief reference to Archias’ downfall is in chapter 13 of Photius’ summary. The wording indicates Arrian made it a major episode, but Photius gives us only this tantalizing bit of information.
29 Hyperides apologized: Lives of the Ten Orators 849.
30 was cut out: An alternative account holds that Hyperides bit his own tongue off to avoid giving incriminating information (Lives of the Ten Orators 849).
31 Demosthenes awakened: Details taken from Plutarch, Demosthenes 29. Plutarch gives no guidance as to the dream’s meaning or importance.
Chapter 6: A Death on the Nile
1 coffin of hammered gold: Diodorus 18.26.3.
2 usually after cremation: The question has been raised as to whether the remains in Tomb 1 at Vergina, which may be those of Philip II and his wife (see next note), were cremated before burial or simply inhumed. Both cremation and inhumation were practiced by the Macedonians, but in the period of Alexander they favored cremation, as attested by the written sources.
3 Tomb 1 or Tomb 2: Proponents of the theory that Tomb 2 contains the remains of Philip III, a.k.a. Arrhidaeus, generally believe that Tomb 1 contained Philip II, his wife Cleopatra, and their infant child. The remains of three people, roughly corresponding in age to these three royals, were scattered on the floor of the tomb by ancient robbers.
4 Archias the Exile-chaser: I have assumed that the Archias mentioned by Arrian (Events After Alexander) is the same person as the bounty hunter encountered in Chapter 5.
5 Alcetas argued: The reasoning attributed to Alcetas here is not directly attested but inferred on the basis of Justin 13.6.5. Arrian (Events After Alexander 21) says only that Alcetas pushed Perdiccas toward Nicaea.
6 impaled Ariarathes: Diodorus 18.16.3, but contradicted by a fragment of book 31 of the same historian, which claims Ariarathes died in battle.
7 left there by Craterus: The presence of the Silver Shields in Cilicia after Craterus’ departure must be inferred from their later movements; see this page and note 34.
8 Perdiccas married: The term “married” is used loosely since it is not clear whether an actual marriage ceremony took place before the later rupture.
9 Just after the arrival: Arrian’s Events After Alexander claims that only a few days separated the episode of Cleopatra from that involving Cynnane.
10 In her teens: Much of what follows, including the details of the confrontation between Cynnane and Alcetas, is taken from Polyaenus 8.60.
11 (almost certainly): There is little evidence for Alcetas’ early life, but his brother Perdiccas grew up at court as one of Philip’s page boys, and there is every reason to think Alcetas did so as well.
12 on instructions: This second alternative is assumed by Bosworth (Legacy of Alexander, pp. 11–12), as well as several contemporary observers, but there is no evidence.
13 a name with good Argead pedigree: Not only Philip II’s mother bore the name Eurydice; it seems to have been adopted as well by two of Philip’s wives (see Ogden, Polygamy, Prostitutes and Death, pp. 22–24).
14 Somehow, Antigonus had learned: Perhaps his friend and ally Menander, satrap of Lydia, had observed the comings and goings at Sardis of Eumenes, Perdiccas’ emissary to Cleopatra, and had asked questions about the goal of his missions