#Death of Alexander the Great

[jeannereames]

Good afternoon Dr. Reames, I wanted to ask you, did Alexander give instructions on where he wanted to be buried before he died?

Maybe, but if he did, we can't trust what the sources tell us precisely because Ptolemy stole the body...then claimed it was because Alexander wanted to be buried in Egypt (or at Siwah, depending). Even if that WAS his wish, we can't be sure because of that.

But he may not have given any instructions as, traditionally, all royal Argeads were buried at Aigai, so he may just have assumed he would be too. Also, he may not have given instructions as he wasn't sure he'd actually die--he'd kicked off death before--and by the time he knew he probably would, he couldn't speak any longer.

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

Iron Maiden - Alexander the Great

[bucefaloilgrande]

just remembered alexander extinguished the sacred flame following hephaestion’s death nobody talk to me.

[my-chiliarch]

When a documentary tries so hard to no-homo Alexander that it turns his horse into his greatest love.

Source

[diioonysus]

dogs + art

[illustratus]

The Dying Alexander the Great bids farewell to his Army

by Karl von Piloty

[sforzesco]

Could I ask for your thoughts on why you say that Cassius should have been Crassus' political heir ?

so largely I’m half referencing this collection of quotes and the various attempts to fill in the space/grave with a body (like Cicero! Cicero was a contender for this!) and I’m sort of taking shots at Antony for fun and whimsy.

like in sports!! I gotta root for my man Cassius over Antony, especially because no one can actually fill the space left by Crassus after his death (literally, the political landscape makes this impossible), but Cassius assumes a command position due to everyone else (notably, Crassus) dying (so: inheriting Crassus’ leadership position) and wouldn’t be a bad follow up to Crassus in the realm of military command since they have a similar (strict, as opposed to friendly in a way is commonly associated with Antony) relationship with the men under their command.

& also bc Marcus Crassus jr seems to be disinterested in taking up space in the political spotlight on his return from the Gallic Wars otherwise I’d be advocating for him on the basis of family tragedy compounded. it’s time to fill the space/memory/grave of your father and brother, buddy!

[dhampiravidi]

so, uh…

no explanation needed, except it’s sometime before 300 BC, you’re a queer icon & your people think you’re a lil unhinged yet awesome

[spectres-fulcrum]

I did finish binging the Alexander docuseries last night but by the end I had a migraine so I went to bed early and just hung out on my phone cause my mind was so not up for bed but it was the most light my head could handle(If I didn't move).

Overall, I did really enjoy it and I learned a lot. I didn't care much for the battles of Alexander in my fandom days, caring more for the relationships and people around him. I also just find imagining action pretty hard. I'm semi okay with Star Wars battles in space but I've like. grown up with them. They don't count. So I learned a lot about Alexander the tactician I think.

And I really did love the acted parts. Like can we get a full drama on Alexander, some TV network???? It could be SO LONG. Cause if there's one thing about Alexanders, they will never sastifyed. The Great, Hamilton, Claremont-Diaz, Kallus. Also: I hated the nicknames Heph and Alex(It's Phai and Xander thank you very much) but the stupid nickname Ptol grew on me. Ptol is so stupid but so cute. But I will never shut up about the lake make out scene cause it's so perfect and Phai giving Xander a place to be human and back out is so perfect.

I really did love the Persian parts too. It was great contrast, and perhaps happiness. Love between Stateira and Darius, luxury, Stateira's actions driven to protect her daughter in contrast to Phillip disowning Alexander when Alexander didn't like him siding with Attalus hoping his new wife would grant him a son, Barsine having to grow up so quickly. Memnon is always love for me and they did him very well. Darius deserved so much better than to be slain by a traitor. I could rant about Hephaestion being in Babylon after the death and how if that was accurate then in my fanfic where he and Drypetis fell in love during the Persian campagin then I could've used that for a good scene but it wasn't accurate so it was all hurt/no romantic comfort :(((((( And I'm kinda salty they changed that up not knowing what they were missing. But I'm not going to rant. (She had Bagoas though at least!)

I wanted so much more. Wanted Aristotle and the boys at Mieza and the flashbacks to taming Bucephalus(I cannot be bothered to check if that is the correct spelling) and more of the Persian royal family(Drypetis! Being strong during Stateira's death! Sisygambis!) and Bagoas and mentions of Phai being Xander's Patroclos and oh and Darius's brother and his daughter Amastris in the baggage train and more of the companions(Not including Leonnatus is a crime imo. Just cause I like Leonnatus).

Like I recognize they needed a small cast but also-a girl can dream. A girl can dream of what she was teased with. One day, maybe we'll get a proper series. *le sigh* I did really like that Lloyd historian guy too.

[afterlife-2004]

Reminds me of “The World Was Wide Enough”, a song from the musical, Hamilton!

[hellenicdreaming]

I think I'm gonna start keeping a dream journal. It would be nice to have all my dreams stored in one area. Anyways, this was last nights dream.

21/10/24

Had a dream last night I was climbing these stairs. They looked old. Like ancient but new in their bulid. Once i reached the top, there was this area that looked like a tomb. Had statues around the side and a coffin in the middle. A stone thing that looked heavy and fancy. I remember being in disbelief that he was dead. That this was it. A heavy feeling consumed me about it, and I couldn't imagine going on without him in my life. It was such a weirdly heavy and vivid dream. I'm 95%, sure it was about Alexandros.

Might also add some drawings in the journal...

[jeannereames]

Hey Dr Reames! I’ve been reading Anthony Everitt’s biography of Alexander and he seems obsessed with boosting the importance of Bagoas. Some time ago I read your post about Bagoas and the role he likely had historically, and I wondered why, in your opinion, do so many biographers feel compelled to discuss him with such certainty if the sources we have are contradictory?

First, I’m going to admit that I’ve not read this biography, nor do I intend to (not any time soon). My reason is simple: Everitt is not an Alexander/Macedonia specialist. He’s not even a trained historian, but seems to specialize in performance and the vision arts with a penchant for writing pop history. He read in English literature at Cambridge, so seems to have no formal historical training. There are SO many books chapters/articles/books written by my colleagues, published each year, I can’t even keep up with that tide of published scholarship, never mind pop history from non-specialists.

That may—probably does—sound haughty, but it’s just pragmatic. I want to write my OWN stuff (academic and fiction both), as well as read things I need to read…not to mention do my job (which includes a lot of class prep, grading, and service). Ergo, I must be very circumspect in what I do read.

Given your question, I strongly suspect I wouldn’t care much for his book. Given the full title of the book, I’m even more certain I wouldn’t. Every time “mysterious death” pops up related to Alexander, I can be about 98% sure it’s going to be sensationalist and used to sell books. As someone who’s written about Alexander’s death myself, as well as Hephaistion’s demise, and who’s actually read in bereavement studies and done bereavement counselling, I lack patience for the sort of crackpot stuff I find too often about ATG’s last 9-10 months. That’s part of why I wrote “The Mourning of Alexander.”

Having said that, I could be wrong and he does a fine treatment of ATG’s death. I’ve simply been burned too often to expect it. Looking at the titles of his other history/biographies, however, he seems to lean to the sensationalist. He knows how to sell books.

As for Bagoas, to be honest, when you see him overemphasized in a biography, you’re looking at the enormous influence of Renault. I’ve written about that before, as the asker indicated. Macedonian and Alexander specialists don’t give him a lot of space because he’s a minor figure, if he existed at all and isn’t pure Roman fiction. (Personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did exist, but he most certainly didn’t have any sort of outsized impact on ATG.)

As noted, I think the tendency to give it to him really does owe to Renault. It may also owe to a need to find some new “angle” on Alexander that will sell books for him. 😉 Why write (or publish) Yet Another biography on Alexander unless there’s something new-ish to say?

Too bad the newish thing doesn’t involve all the cool stuff coming out of the ground at Archontiko, Sindos, or Vergina in Macedonia that’s making us rethink what we knew about Archaic and early Classical Macedonia….

[the-casbah-way]

hi sir can you PLEASE elaborate on Horse With Toes™️ thank you

yeah uh caesar’s horse had toes apparently

(from suetonius: the lives of the caesars)

and thanks to some very literal interpretations of these infamously dubious sources we now have this image which haunts my dreams semi-regularly

[catilinas]

hey how come in all the stuff i have read about how 'alexander the great was poisoned, actually' is probably bullshit, none of it has mentioned that he was allegedly poisoned with Water From Thee Actual River Styx????????????

[pinkinsect]

what if ness's birthday is around easter time

[illustratus]

The Death of Captain Alexander Hood, who Gloriously Fell in the Moment of Victory on the 21st April 1798

by Samuel William Reynolds, after James Northcote