Authors of Alexander histories

The “Alexander Romance” “The ‘Alexander Romance’ represents a multi-cultural miscellany of quasi-fictitious and fictitious traditions on the travels, adventures and exploits of Alexander the Great” (E. Baynham). The earliest version of the Romance originated in Alexandria in Egypt in the third century B.C., but the earliest extant version dates from around 300 A.D. From there multiple versions developed, in different languages, right through into the late Medieval period. While largely fictional (and, indeed, often fantastical: Alexander was “actually” the son of the wizard Nectanebo, last Pharaoh of Egypt!), the Romance none the less contains a certain amount of possibly or probably historical material. Examples include the crowning of Alexander as Pharaoh at Memphis, and the precise date of the foundation of Alexandria.

Anaximenes Anaximenes was a contemporary of Philip and Alexander, and wrote a history of Greece and one of Philip and Alexander. A delightful story about his dealings with Alexander on behalf of the city of Lampsacus is told in Pausanias, 6.18.2-6: compare the more prosaic version in Pliny, N.H. 37.193. Little is known about his account of Alexander, but Plutarch tells us, in his On the Fortune of Alexander 327 d-e, that Anaximenes is the source for the “high” figures (43,000 infantry and 5,500 cavalry) for Alexander's army when it crossed the Hellespont to invade Persian territory.

Aristobulos Aristobulos wrote in the period after the Battle of Ipsus in 301. He was a technical officer (“military engineer”?) for Alexander, but may not have been present in the early stages of the campaign. He was was sent on a mission in India, and later entrusted with the task of restoring Cyprus' tomb at Pasagardae (Arrian 7.29). He is particularly strong on details of topography and botany. As an example see Arrian 4.22.4.

Arrian Flavius Arrianus Xenophon was born in Nicomedia in what is now northern Turkey in the late 80s of the first century A.D. As an aristocrat and a Roman citizen, he had an excellent literary and philosophical education before going into military service. He rose to the position of Consul in 129 or 130 A.D., under the emperor Hadrian, and was governor of the Roman province of Cappadocia. He wrote several works on philosophical, military and naval matters, and in the 140s and 150s moved to Athens. Here he wrote a number of further works, of which only a few have survived. His Anabasis of Alexander survives complete, and is generally held to be the best overall narrative of Alexander’s career. His Indica, describing north-western India and the voyage of Alexander’s admiral Nearchus, also survives. Tantalising fragments of his Events after Alexander have survived, quoted by much later writers; it is clear that this was a work on the same scale as his book on Alexander. Its loss leaves serious gaps in our understanding of the generation after the death of Alexander.

Callisthenes of Olynthus Alexander's “Court Historian”, and the nephew of Aristotle, who accompanied the expedition and sent reports back to Greece. His reports glorified Alexander's exploits, emphasising (among other things) his role as Pan-Hellenic leader, and signs of divine favour.
However, he fell out of favour with Alexander due to his opposition to “proskynesis” (Arrian 4.10-12., Plutarch, Alex. 53-4, Curtius 8.5.5-24) and was soon implicated in the conspiracy of Hermolaus against Alexander, and executed in 327 (though the details are unclear: see Arrian 4.13-14, Quintus Curtius 8.6-8, Plutarch, Alex. 55). His history remained unfinished. Only a dozen identifiable fragments survive, of which one notable example is his description of the Battle of Issues, cited (with critical comments) by Polybius, XII,17-22.

Chares of Mytilene Chares served as Alexander's Chamberlain, and later wrote a history in ten books based (in part) on his own experiences. It is often quoted by Athenaeus and Plutarch (both in his Life of Alexander, and in his essays). Chares’ account of the Battle of Issus (mentioned by Plutarch, Life 20) depicted Alexander as having been wounded by Darius in hand to hand combat during the battle. The ‘other’ account of the story of Callisthenes being denied a royal kiss for not performing proskynesis in Arrian 4.12.3-5 is said to have been derived from Chares, as is the account of the elite marriages which took place in Susa recounted in Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 12.538. The work was read by Duris, Onesicritus and, probably, Cleitarchus.

Cleitarchus Cleitarchus wrote in Egypt under the patronage of Ptolemy, perhaps as early as 310, perhaps as late as 280, but was not himself a participant in the expedition. He was perhaps the most influential of all the early writers, and Plutarch, Diodorus and Quintus Curtius all made use of his work. He was also roundly criticised in antiquity for his sensationalism.

Diodorus Siculus Diodorus of Sicily, who wrote in the mid-thirties to twenties of the first century B.C., is our first major extant narrative source to do with the career of Alexander. Diodorus wrote a “universal history” of the known world, from mythical times down to his own period. The earlier parts of this work, including the period between Alexander's father Phillip's accession to the throne in 359 B.C. and the Battle of Ipsus in 301 B.C., survive intact. His major source for Phillip was probably Ephorus; he may have relied on Cleitarchus for the reign of Alexander. For the period of the Successor wars he is thought to have relied chiefly on Hieronymus of Cardia, the cousin of Eumenes, who held commands under Antigonus Monophthalmus and later kept the royal archives in Macedon.
Diodorus is a sometimes clumsy and uncritical historian, but he had access to excellent sources, and his is our earliest coherent narrative for the period of Phillip, Alexander and the early Successors.

Duris of Samos Duris of Samos, born c. 340 B.C, is known to have been a popular dictator (“tyrant”) of Samos in the late fourth century B.C., though few details are available. He had been an Olympic boxing champion (Pausanias 6.13.5) and also studied under Theophrastus in Athens. He wrote several works including a history of Samos, a book on art history, and a multi-volume history of Greece and Macedonia, from the Battle of Leuctra in 371 to the death of Lysimachus in 281.

The “Ephemerides”, or Royal Journal Eumenes was Chief Secretary to Philip (Cornelius Nepos, On the Kings), and continued to hold the post for the whole of Alexander's reign. He was also a more than competent commander, leading forces in his own right, and assuming Perdiccas’ command in the cavalry when Perdiccas was promoted after Hephaestion's death. It is often argued that Eumenes edited the daily record of the doings of Alexander, and that the “Journal” was therefore a crucial source of information, and formed the basis of Ptolemy's History. Both Arrian (7.25 1-26) and Plutarch (Life of Alexander 76) quote from the “Journal”. However, the explicit citations of the “Royal Journal” in our sources deal either with Alexander's drinking habits, or with the last month of his life. They do not appear to form a coherent narrative of Alexander's doings more widely. For full details of Eumenes’ career, including his role as champion of Roxanne and Alexander IV, see Plutarch's Life of Eumenes.

Eratosthenes Eratosthenes was born in 276 B.C. in Ptolemaic Cyrene. He studied in Alexandria and Athens, and became the tutor of Ptolemy Philopator in 245, before taking up the position of the third Librarian of the Great Library of Alexandria in 240 B.C. He was known for work in mathematics, geometry, astronomy, geography and philosophy. He also produced a chronological structure for dating all important events from the time of the Trojan War until his own day. He died in 194 B.C.

Hieronymus of Cardia Hieronymus was an officer who served under Eumenes and Antigonus the One-Eyed in the period after Alexander's death. His work contained excellent information for the last two years of Alexander's reign, and the years that followed. It is very probable that his work lies behind the narrative of the wars of the “Successor Kings” in Diodorus Siculus.

Justin Junianus Justinus was not an original writer, but abridged the “Philippic History” of Pompeius Trogus. Unfortunately the date of writing is unclear. It may come from the late second, third or early fourth century A.D.

The “Liber de Morte” This originally separate work now forms the final section of the “Metz Epitome”. It may be a propaganda piece from the five years after Alexander’s death, and suggests that he was murdered by poison.

Marsyas of Pella According to the Suda, a Byzantine encyclopaedia, Marsyas was the “Son of Periander, from Pella, an historian. This man was formerly a schoolmaster, and brother to the Antigonus who later became king. He grew up in company with King Alexander. He wrote a History of Macedonia in ten books, which began with the first king of Macedon and extended as far as the attack against Syria by Alexander, Philip's son, after the foundation of Alexandria; a History of Attica in twelve books; and an Education of Alexander himself.” He also served as a naval commander under his brother Antigonus Monophthalmus, and wrote five books on Alexander's achievements; none of his works survive except in occasional fragments.

Medius of Larissa A member of Alexander's expedition, and the man at whose home Alexander spent his last drinking-party, Medeios was later a naval commander for Antigonus the One-Eyed.

The “Metz Epitome” Written in the fourth or fifth century A.D., this “condensed book” contains a letter purporting to be from Alexander to Aristotle, an abbreviated account of Alexander’s career from the death of Darius, and an originally separate work on the death and will of Alexander, which may originally have been from the first five years after Alexander’s death.

Nearchus of Crete Nearchus, who like Ptolemy was a boyhood associate of Alexander, and was banished late in Philip's reign with Ptolemy and Alexander. With the Persian fleet driven from the seas, he was appointed to the satrapy of Lycia. His most famous exploit was the circumnavigation of the coast from the Indus to the Tigris. He wrote an account of at least the latter stages of Alexander's expedition, dealing with India and the return journey via the Persian Gulf to Babylon, parts of which form the basis of Arrian's Indica, and which was used by Strabo.

Onesicritus Alexander's chief helmsman wrote his work on Alexander in the early period after the King's death. Little of his work survives, and most comments on it from antiquity are negative, claiming that his work was fanciful and exaggerated (see, e.g. Arrian 6.2, Plutarch, Life 46 and Strabo 15.1.28). This may be in part because of the influence of his rival, Nearchus. He influenced Duris of Samos, Onesicritus, Athenaeus and Plutarch. Both Strabo and Pliny use him as a source for information about India.

Pausanias Pausanias, who wrote a major geographical work in the mid-second century A.D., gives us considerable information about the Successors of Alexander, and also about the history of Athens in the time of Philip and Alexander (Book 1, ch. 25). Scattered through his work are occasional references to events in Alexander's career, usually where they are commemorated by a monument on which he is commenting.

Plutarch Born. c. 45, Plutarch of Chaironeia is one of the best-known authors from antiquity. His “Parallel lives” linked biographies of pairs of Greek and Roman leaders, to be studied both for their own sakes and for comparative purposes. His Life of Alexander was linked with another of Julius Caesar. His “Moralia”, or “collected essays”, also contain a number of works relevant to Alexander-studies, including his speeches on the question of whether Alexander owed his success more to his ability or to luck.

Polyaenus Polyaenus wrote in the mid-second century A.D., and though his work, “Stratagems”, is concerned only with military affairs, he seems to be well-informed, and his work gives us details on Philip, Alexander and the Successors which cannot be found anywhere else.

Polybius Born shortly before 200 B.C., Polybius became a leading politician in his native city of Megalopolis and in the “Achaean League” during the period of the rise of Rome to dominance in Greek affairs. In 168 B.C. he was one of a thousand prominent Achaeans who were taken to Rome as hostages, where he remained for seventeen years. In Rome he became a member of the household of Aemilius Paullus, and tutor to his son, Scipio Aemilianus, later the conqueror of Carthage. After 150 he accompanied Scipio on campaign, travelled, and researched his History, which covered the period from 220-146 B.C.

Polyclitus Little is known for certain of Polyclitus of Larissa beyond the quotations of his work in various later writers. A Polyclitus was the grandfather of Antigonus Doson, but this may be a coincidence.

Pompeius Trogus Pompeius Trogus was an Romanised Gaul, an historian of the period of the Roman Emperor Augustus, whose Philippic History, in 44 books, has not survived. It focussed on the rise to power of Macedon, dealing with Philip II, Alexander and the Successor kings, and continuing down to the late first century B.C. It was the basis of the abbreviated and condensed history of Justin, probably produced in the third century A.D.

Ptolemy Ptolemy son of Lagus, boyhood friend and member of Alexander's personal bodyguard, and from 320 on ruler of Egypt, wrote a narrative of the whole of Alexander's career. The date of composition is unknown: it could be anywhere between 320 and 283. Without Arrian we would know very little of Ptolemy's history, which was never as widely known as others, but Arrian makes him one of his two primary sources. Ptolemy had access to Alexander's Royal Journal, though his use of it cannot be cross-checked. He seems to have focussed particularly on military affairs.

Quintus Curtius Rufus The identity and precise dates of Quintus Curtius are uncertain; he is often thought to have written in the mid-to-late 1st century A.D., perhaps under the Emperor Claudius or Vespasian. His “History of Alexander the Great” has come down to us incomplete; it begins in Book 3, with Alexander's forces already in Phrygia (south-western coastal Turkey), and the end of Book 5 and beginning of Book 6 are missing, as is part of Book 10. The narrative ends a week after Alexander's death, having briefly introduced some of the leading Successors, and mentioned Ptolemy's burial of Alexander in Alexandria. The work characterises Alexander as someone whose moral character was eroded by his extraordinary good fortune. It is written with rhetorical flair and a strong focus on character.

Strabo Strabo was born in Amaseia in Pontus (northern coastal Turkey) in the mid-first century B.C. And lived in Rome under Augustus and Tiberius. He wrote a major work of geography, in seventeen books, most of which survives. It contains a wide range of material related to the eastern Mediterranean world, including important details relevant to Alexander and his Successors.

Timagenes
Born c. 55 B.C. in Alexandria, Timagenes was both a rhetorician and writer of history. Taken to Rome as a prisoner of war, he became well known as a teacher and writer, and wrote a major history which may have been entitled “On Kings”. He is cited by Josephus, Ammianus Marcellinus and others, mentioned by Seneca (De Ira 3.23.6) for a dispute he had with Augustus, and was one of the sources used by Quintus Curtius (8.5.21).