#Alexander historians

[jeannereames]

"There is no one about whom more have written more variously." --Arrian, speaking of Alexander

(...οὐδ᾽ ἔστιν ὑπὲρ ὅτου πλείονες ἢ ἀξυμφωνότεροι ἐς ἀλλήλους... [Anab. 1.1.2])

[ciderbird]

academic bias is so funny because you’ll be reading about the same historical event and one person is like “Despite the troubles that befell his homeland and near constant criticism of the court King Blorbo remained strong in the face of adversity” and the other one is like “after letting his people carry the brunt of his cringefail decisions Blorbo the Shitface refused to listen to any reason and continued to be a warmongering piece of shit. Also he was ugly.”

[icarusbetide]

Reminder that apparently Alexander Hamilton was invited to Thomas Jefferson's for a dinner in a room with portraits of "the three greatest men the world had ever produced": Bacon, Newton, and Locke.

And this little shit heard Jefferson say this, and replied "the greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar" probably KNOWING that it would absolutely make Democratic-Common Folk Woodland Nymph Farmer Thomas Jefferson have a stroke.

Happy Ides of March!

he paused for some time: ‘the greatest man, said he, that ever lived was Julius Caesar.'

Jefferson's Letter to Benjamin Rush

[hiidkwhatimdoing7525]

Others: you ship the Founding Fathers??? eww. it's not real! me: no one else was in the room where it happened

[opera-ghosts]

Alexander Glazunov, Leopold Auer, St. Petersburg 1912

[toastytrusty]

top 10 frustrating things is hearing that there's some two dozen surviving hamilton-laurens letters and only having been able to find 18 in my effort to compile them all. need to take extensive notes on every bit of surviving correspondence between them but i can only scrounge up some dates from when other letters that were destroyed were supposed to have been written on. a tragedy really

[selfproclaimed-historian]

I’m a historian; of course I dream about late-night conversations with George Washington and Alexander Hamilton.

[wylanzahn]

Oh also are there any historians on here who have specific studies in Ancient Macedonia? I have the idea for a really cool series.

[waifu-napoleon]

[yr-obedt-cicero]

In the final paragraph Hamilton explained that he was about to give the letter to “Betsey to add whatever her little affectionate heart may dictate.” The phrase “little affectionate heart” (my italics) could be seen as a term of endearment, but it also invited a different reading; Elizabeth's “little affectionate heart” was not like the heart of her sister;

Or maybe,

Just maybe,

It was a term of endearment.

[waitingforminjae]

just remembered alexander hamilton had a grandson named after john laurens who ALSO died tragically young in the army omg

[jeannereames]

Of all the lost ancient sources on Alexander - those we do not have - which one do you think is more likely to be just or mostly propaganda instead of actual history?

Alexander and Propaganda

Well, I suspect all of them had some useful history embedded, but I reckon Onesikritos is the most notorious for writing nonsense recognized as nonsense in his own time. He reputedly cracked up Lysimachos with his account of the Amazon Queen. He seems generally to be regarded as a boaster. He certainly inflated his own place in the campaign.

Ephippos of Olynthos is almost certainly guilty of negative propaganda, although we have so little of it (reliably attributed to him), it's hard to tell a lot. He didn't like Alexander (or Hephaistion), apparently.

Pompeius Trogus (on which Justin's account is based) was also highly problematic (and negative), not unlike Theopompos of Chios, writing about ATG's father Philip. This is one reason (of several) that Justin simply can't be relied on unless it backs up something found elsewhere ... which is super-annoying as some things are found ONLY in Justin. But is he making shit up?

Last, I want to mention Kallisthenes, Alexander's own court historian. It would be LOVELY to have Kallisthenes in full, even if it cut off in Baktria ('cause he was arrested!). Yet as the official account, I think we can tag it as propaganda in at least some places. He wrote some nonsense to flatter Alexander, such as the waves of the Aegean bowing to the king at one point. 🙄 He's also the one who did the most to promote Alexander as the son of Ammon.

BUT it would be great to have him because there's probably quite a lot of useful detail embedded in the account thanks to access to official records. We'd have to be careful of some exaggeration (especially in enemy numbers and enemy dead, et al.) but it would still be info much closer to the source than anything we've got now. So yes, definitely propaganda, but I'd still like to have it.

(This doesn't address later, Roman accounts who used him for moral lessons, like Lucian of Samosata and Seneca the Elder. What they're writing is akin to modern preachers telling parable anecdotes in sermons, and about as divorced from history. After all, a good parable can be TRUE without being, you know, historically accurate.)

For more on Alexander in our Roman-Era authors.

[ciderbird]

you know considering how many clinically insane takes on history I’ve already seen I’m surprised no one wrote a paper on Alexander I’s sexuality yet. Like Napoleon has a whole book trying to prove he’s bi but Alexander “religious guilt” Romanov who doesn’t have any kids, keeps platonic relationships with nearly all his ‘mistresses’ and is routinely described as effeminate is supposed to be straight? Like there should be at least some sort of discussion about this

[icarusbetide]

if you could have any smaller historical blorbo reach the same heights of visibility and popularity but arguably the same amount of misunderstanding and extreme idolization/villainization as alexander hamilton, who would you pick?

[une-sanz-pluis]

Alexander Neville, Norvicus: The City of Norwich (Text and Translation), published and issued from the press of Henry Bynneman, in the year of Humankind's Salvation 1575, in I. Walton, C. Wilkins-Jones, & P. Wilson (Eds.), The Histories of Alexander Neville (1544–1614): A New Translation of Kett's Rebellion and The City of Norwich (Boydell & Brewer, 2019)

[opera-ghosts]

Alexander Pirogov - Le veau d'or (Charles Gounod, "Faust")

Pirogov came from a family that boasted five sons. Four of them became singers, including Alexander's famous older brother, Grigori, also a bass. While the boys' father and grandfather both had fine voices, neither had pursued a professional career. At 15, Alexander's youthful voice simply disappeared one day. Although he was teased about the loss by his friends, his teacher insisted that someday Alexander would be singing at the Bolshoi. After the voice returned, Pirogov entered Moscow University and took singing classes at the Philharmonic School in Moscow. Following a period spent with a choral ensemble, he was engaged by the Zimin Free Opera in Moscow where, in two years time (1922 - 1924), he learned his craft and gained familiarity with several leading roles. In 1924, Pirogov was invited to join the Bolshoi. Soon he was heard as Gremin, Ivan Susanin, the Old Miller, Russlan, and Ivan the Terrible from the Russian repertory, in addition to such leading characters in Western opera as Don Basilio and Méphistophélès. The last named he reportedly learned in just two weeks. In 1929, Pirogov was honored by being assigned the title role in Boris Godunov; thereafter he was known as an unsurpassed interpreter of this mightiest of all Russian protagonists.

Establishing a reputation for hard work and meticulous attention to detail, Pirogov continued to sharpen and refine his interpretations. He arrived at the theater early, applying his makeup and stepping into costume long before he was summoned to the stage. Although many stories suggest an imperious presence in his personal affairs, others paint another portrait, revealing a friendly and outgoing approach toward his colleagues. Although he retired from the Bolshoi in 1954, Pirogov was the choice for Boris when the opera was filmed in 1955. He had already been awarded the Stalin Prize for his performance of the role and accompanied the film to Venice for the international film festival held there. Although the film was not a prizewinner, the Italian film academy struck a special medal to honor the singer.

After 1954, Pirogov spent most of his time in his native city, traveling to Moscow only for occasional appearances on-stage and in concert. When the Bolshoi was invited to La Scala in 1964, Pirogov was selected to sing Boris. However, after fishing in his beloved Oka River on a particularly hot day in late June, he returned home and retired for a nap. Awakening with chest pains in the middle of the night, he sent his son for a doctor, but by the time the physician arrived, the bass was already dead. Thus, Pirogov was denied the possibility of one final triumph.