ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND THE HELLENISTIC AGE ylso qd dalar Draau yturopo loru vlqaus: lqa loyrnra ot lqa SrrUrDtL fr S-fr t 7xdaplrou' g'3' v DotLrtsa HtslotL o] c[DsstcD[ Jraa)a to lqa C[osa oJ Fra D[DssrcD[ Ero V[aXDupn io vprnw: lqa HrsfotrrD[ Et.olnlrou ot lqa Hayaursuc y8a ylaxoupn oi fS9-€z€ g 3': yrDcapotL' V Hr$ntco[ gtoStodltL lqa oraco-darsrDu MDrs ALEXANDER THE GREAT AND THE HETTENISTICA GE A Short Historv .-r-, Peter Creen Weidenfeld and Nicolson LONDON glsr dnqlrsqap ru Cra"t gulpru ru zooL q^ AAarpauJelp t1 Nrrolsou ;qrr8ruelld dnqlrsqap ru l{re nSV ru zooL q,f woparu l'!qtel/' E pr^rsrou ot usupoul gonsa' 1uc' r o 6 g L g S l t z t )iai zooL dat'I Craau vti !8qfs rasal{,ep. 15o deg o;rqrs dnqlrJptrou ruE(.qa :adropncap, slorep ru e lalrrelp sdslaru' or.}:eusruluap' ru eu(, ;orur or qd eud utauus, electroutJ' uLaoqeuroeI' dqolocod(ruB. raro;pruB or. ot{ralM.tsa'\l,rlqont lqa drror derrurssrou o; qotq rqe Jodlir8qr ot^ual eup lqe eqo^a dnqlrsqar. l4ra u8qr o' delal )raau lo qe lpeulrgap Es lqe pnlqor oJ l{rrs .^or{ {rBs qaeu essouap ru pJlorpeu)e {.,r1{r tqa 3oddrr8qr,qasr8us eup dulauls vrr r6gg' y 314 terelo8na ra)orp }or rqrs qoo{ rs B^EIpglo Jrou( lqe gutrsq I.rqreut. rsaN-r €6Lg o ,r6L 8S26? o addasal e1 aqa sdpuBu 4rass 1rp' 1druru31ou ,11eu1s dlrulap ru )raet grrleru €t yrecleds o1 3qerqeru d1c' Xaur ):qptqBru, \Aerpautalp ?r Nrrolsou Jqa ouou 4nqrrsqruS Drond I'tp oJrou Honse S nddar 5erul wuuru/s I.?ua loupou, lrrczg 6av Vu Hstr{ratte I-I re nX Jorudeud Jqa ouou 4nqqsqruB 3rond,s dolrcd rs 1o nsa dedars t{rel Er3 ue1nre1, lauaaeqle sup lardppqla dr.opncts eup rrrupa }roru ,u1oop 8rolau ru snslrrueqla }orasls' J{ra lo33ru3 eup ureunJEllnuuS dlolassas era axdeJlap 10 JouJorru lo lqa eulrrouuraulel ra8nlBrrous or rqa conulrd oJ orr8ru' r4-\ \r.ououqools'o'nl Contents Preface and Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Background and Sources xiii r Alexander and His Legacy {:f 6-f zl) r z Hawks and Hyenas: The Struggle for Empire $4-2761 21 3 Kings, Cities, and Culture: The Mythic Past as the Future 52 4 EasternH orizons and the Cloud in the West lz76-1961 79 5 Dynastic Troubles, Artistic and Scientific Achievements( r96-r r6) r05 6 Sword over Pen: Rome's Final Solution (r r 6-3o) r 3r Selective Chronological Table r 59 Maps and Genealogies r8r Guide to Further Reading r94 Bibliography 2o2 Abbreviations 217 Notes zr9 Index 225 The abiding importance of Alexander lies more in the field of moral and philosophical debate than in practical politics . . . The debate over legitimacy lasted a mere generation. After that Alexander was a symbol and nothing else. Fclr sub- sequent ages he typified the world conqueror, and his terri- torial acquisitions were a standing inspiration and challenge to successive dynasts. . B. BOSWORTH It is now impossible to consider the Hellenistic period in Creece as a uniform, essentially static epoch. SUSAN E. ALCOCK Pr efa ce and Acknowledgments It is now seventeen years since my study Alexander to Actium: The Historical Evolution of the Hellenistic Age first saw the Iight of day (and well over twenty since the original text was first delivered to my publisher: I had a copy editor who special- ized in minutiae). Since then the outflow of work on the Hellenistic age, already voluminous, has become a torrent. No scholar can master it all, and I have not, sensibly, attempted to do so. As those who compare the earlier work with this one will see, my essential views have not changed all that much; but I have learned a good deal from what I have read in the past two decades and am very glad of this opportunity to review, update, and where necessarym odify my original arguments. Once again, I study the three centuries of the Hellenistic age in a continuous ongoing diachronic narrative embracing the entire scerre/ rather than, like most writers on this sub.iect, leading off with a condensed (and generally bewildering) polit- ical history in vacuo, followed up with a series of more or less static therne-park essays, first on the major kingdoms (Ptole- maic, Seleucid, Antigonid, Attalid) and then on a variety of topics ranging from the monarchy to economics, from Alexand- rian literature to the visual arts, from urban planning to military science, from philosophy to piracy. The trouble with this approach is its kaleidoscopic disjunctiveness (which can make for severe confusion) and its inevitable tendency to