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possible to see both men as acting solely out of self-interest and desire for power, but it is also possible that the safety and authority of Alexander’s heirs, especially the king’s son by Rhoxane, were their primary motive. Certainly Eumenes was portrayed by the ancient sources as gravely concerned for the young Alexander, and we cannot, I think, ascribe all such depictions to the favoritism of Hieronymus, the historian on whom these sources drew. Significant new evidence has emerged from the Göteborg palimpsest, showing that Eumenes, in his proposal to his former colleagues in the Perdiccas regime—to whom he had no reason to dissemble—sought a restoration of the Babylon accords, the only legitimate plan for the organization of the empire, rather than a more ambitious goal (see this page).

10 Eumenes called them together: As reported by Justin 14.1.

11 Whatever its purposes: Bosworth has made an ingenious, but to my mind unconvincing, argument (“Ptolemy and the Will of Alexander”) that the Last Days is the work of Ptolemy and his supporters and dates to around 308 B.C. Heckel has advanced a very different theory in his book Last Days and Testament of Alexander.

12 Perhaps Antipater himself: Bosworth has most recently suggested, to my mind unconvincingly, that Eumenes had the Journals published (perhaps in a doctored version) to clear himself of poisoning charges (“Alexander’s Death,” p. 409).

13 In all likelihood, Perdiccas was dead: There is no agreement among scholars about the date at which Ptolemy wrote his memoir of the Asian campaign, but it was almost certainly later than 321. Some would argue that Ptolemy wrote it late in life, in the 290s or 280s, but evidence is lacking.

14 This was an awkward development: The reasons for Cleopatra’s discomfort and reluctance in dealing with Eumenes are supplied by Arrian Events After Alexander 1.40.

15 and now accused him: The summary of Arrian’s Events After Alexander speaks of unspecified indictments that Cleopatra leveled against Antipater (1.40); presumably, the poisoning of Alexander was principal among these.

16 even, perhaps, entered: Josephus has an account, unknown from other sources, of Alexander’s negotiations with the high priests during a visit to Jerusalem (Jewish Antiquities 11.8).

17 no Greek writer: Herodotus is a possible exception, since he discusses a race of “Palestinian Syrians” who practice circumcision (2.104). But the fact that such a well-traveled and inquisitive Greek did not know this race by a more specific name is nonetheless significant. On Theophrastus’ very limited knowledge of the Jews, see chapter 1 of Bezalel Bar-Kochva, The Image of the Jews in Greek Literature: The Hellenistic Period (Berkeley, Calif., 2009).

18 Ptolemy, however, knew a lot: The story is related by Josephus Jewish Antiquities 12.1. It is usually correlated with Ptolemy’s first invasion of Phoenicia and “Hollow” Syria (there were others), mentioned by Diodorus at 18.43 and dated to 319 B.C.

19 There is a legend: The most complete version is found in Augustine’s City of God (4.4), though the story was already circulating well before Augustine’s time; Cicero refers to it in his Republic (3.14.24).

20 somehow their stash: The profligacy of the Macedonian rank and file might be the cause of this insatiable need for pay. Arrian relates in the Anabasis (7.5) that in 324, even after despoiling much of Asia and the richest cities of the Persian empire, thousands of Alexander’s troops were deep in debt.

21 One day Eumenes returned: The story is told most fully by Justin (14.1), but is also mentioned by Plutarch (Eumenes 8.6).

22 The erased passage: Details of the recovery of the palimpsest by digital imaging, and a preliminary version of the text, can be found in Dreyer’s “Arrian Parchment” (under “Fragmentary Sources and Commentaries” in the bibliography).

23 Eumenes reached out: It is not clear whether Eumenes held a summit meeting with the other former officers of Perdiccas’ regime or carried on negotiations by letter. Pisidia was a few days’ travel from Celaenae.