Ghost on the Throne - James S. Romm [167]
5 an act of cowardice: This is the judgment of the sources (Diodorus 19.38.1; Plutarch Eumenes 15.8), but it has long been recognized that, as they are based on Eumenes’ partisan Hieronymus, they have a negative bias toward Peucestas. The truth may be more closely connected to the murder plot reported by Plutarch, or to the various differences Eumenes and Peucestas had had over grand strategy. Heckel (Who’s Who, p. 205) suggests Peucestas may have been seeking to detach himself from Eumenes during the winter but was forestalled by Antigonus’ sudden approach.
6 Plutarch eulogizes them: Eumenes 16.4. The age range given by Plutarch has been doubted by some but demonstrated by Hammond to be quite plausible (“Alexander’s Veterans After His Death,” under “Antigenes, the Silver Shields, and the Macedonian Army” in the bibliography).
7 They shouted: Details and quotations provided by Justin 14.3.
8 made his valedictory speech: Different versions of this speech are reported by Justin (14.4) and Plutarch (Eumenes 17.3), though the main point is very much the same in both. Justin gives Eumenes a bitter series of reproaches against the Shields after they refuse to grant his request. I have opted, somewhat arbitrarily, to include here a portion of the version of Plutarch.
9 called up a column of elephants: Another point on which I have preferred Plutarch’s version over that of Justin. Justin portrays the elephants and Asian troops as part of Eumenes’ army, a kind of honor guard, not a security detail sent by Antigonus.
10 Nearchus of Crete: It is curious to find Nearchus in the service of Antigonus, and none of our sources explains how he got there. He was last observed advocating for Heracles as a successor to the throne, in the council at Babylon (this page).
11 sent a man to kill him: Nepos (Eumenes 12) has an alternative account in which Eumenes is strangled by his guards without Antigonus’ knowledge, but concurs with the other sources that Antigonus had resolved on Eumenes’ death.
12 returning his ashes: Plutarch Eumenes 19. There is no evidence concerning to whom Eumenes was married at the time of his death. In the Susa weddings eight years earlier, Alexander had matched him with a highborn Persian named Artonis. But it is unlikely this is the woman who received his ashes.
13 The platoon was broken up: Portrayed by Plutarch (Eumenes 19), in typically moralistic fashion, as a punishment inflicted by the gods for the impiety the Shields had committed in their betrayal of Eumenes.
14 watching for the masts: Diodorus (19.49.3) tells us that Olympias, not Alexander, was still clinging to hopes of rescue, but I have assumed that the grandson took his cue from his grandmother.
15 Polyperchon devised a plan: As related by Polyaenus 4.11.3.
16 or perhaps a resumption of the first: There is much that is unclear about Olympias’ trial and death; the two accounts in the sources, those of Diodorus and Justin, diverge. The account of Diodorus has been followed here. Carney (Olympias, pp. 82–85) conducts a thorough review of the evidence.
17 He did not yet know: Most chronologies place the deaths of Eumenes and Olympias at about the same time. News of Antigonus’ victory would have taken several weeks to reach European shores.
18 caused him to tremble with fear: Plutarch Alexander 74.6.
19 “dry” cremation: This is the opinion of the paleoanthropologist Antonis Bartsiokas, as reported in Science 228 (2000). See note 3.
20 and a scepter: The