Collection of ancient sources making it clear to anyone that ancient Macedonians were dinstict from Barbarians.

[1] During this period he [Alexander] defeated the Maedi who had risen in revolt, captured their city, drove out its barbarous inhabitants, established a colony of Greeks assembled from various regions and named it Alexandroupolis.

[Plut. 7.9, page 260)

[Here we have undisputed evidence of Macedonia’s Greekness. On one hand, the term “barbarians” is used only for Maedi, not Macedonians while on the other hand Alexander of course establishes a Greek colony since he is Greek himself.]

[2]There he [Philip] scolded his son and angrily reproached him for behaving so ignobly and so unworthily of his position as to wish to marry the daughter of a mere Carian, who was no more than the slave of a barbarian king.

(Plut. 7.10, page 262)

[Point of interest: Philip uses the term barbarian for a foreigner. Its obvious Philip was Greek, otherwise he wouldnt use at all the derogatory remark if he was “barbarian”himself]

[3]The neighbouring barbarian tribes were eager to throw off the Macedonian yoke and longed for the rule of their native kings.

(Plut. 7.11, page 263)

[The difference between the “neighbouring barbarian tribes” and Macedonians is clear.]

[4]As for the barbarian tribes they [Macedonians] considered that he [Alexander] should try to win them back to their allegiance by using milder methods.

(Plut. 7.11, page 263)

[Again, Barbarians are being distinguished from Macedonians, even by Macedonians themselves]

[5]At the same time he [Alexander] was anxious to give the other Greek states a share in the victory. He therefore sent the Atheneans in particular three hundred of the shields captured from the enemy and over the rest of the spoils he had this proud inscription engraved:

Alexander, the son of Philip, and all the Greeks, with the exception of the Spartans, won these spoils of war from the barbarians who dwell in Asia.

[Things are pretty clear. Alexander considered Macedonia as a Greek state and the inscription itself reveals Macedonians are Greeks]

[6]he [Alexander] managed to extend it round the enemy’s left, outflanked it, and fighting in the foremost ranks, put the barbarians to flight.

(Plut. 7.20, page 274)

[The dinstiction between Macedonians and Barbarians is obvious]

[7]It was here that the Macedonians received their first taste of gold and silver and women and of the luxury of the Barbarian way of life.

(Plut 7.24, page 278)

[Macedonians couldnt receive their first taste of the luxury of the Barbarian way of life if they were Barbarians themselves]

[8]he [Alexander] dshed to the nearest camp fire, dispatched with his dagger the two barbarians who were sitting by it

(Plut. 7.24, page 280)

[Another evidence Macedonians were Greeks and certainly not Barbarians]

[9] On this occasion, Alexander gave a long address to the Thessalians and the rest of the Greeks. They acclaimed by shouting for him to lead them against the barbarians and at this he shifted his lance into his left hand, so Callisthenes tells us, and raising his right be called upon the gods and prayed that he were really the son of Zeus they should protect and encourage the Greeks.

(Plut. 7.33, page 290)

[Greek soldiers couldnt have shouted to Alexander to lead them against the Barbarians if him and his Macedonians were Barbarians themselves. Alexander’s pray includes Macedonians to the rest of Greeks.]

[10]From this point he advanced into Parthia, and it was here during a pause in the campaign that he first began to wear barbarian dress.

(Plut. 7.45, page 301)

[So Macedonian dresses were Hellenic since in Parthia was the FIRST time Alexander began to wear BARBARIAN dresses]

[11]However he didnt go so far as to adopt the Median costume, which was altogether barbaric and outlandish.

(Plut. 7.45, page 302)

[More evidence of the greekness of Macedonians. The remark about the Median costume being Barbaric wouldnt make sense if Macedonian costume was Barbaric too. Here we have another dinstinction between Barbaric and Macedonian (Greek) costume]

[12]The barbarians were encouraged by the feeling of partnership which their alliance created, and they were completely won over by Alexander’s moderation and courtesy..

(Plut. 7.47, page 304)

[Again a clear dinstiction between barbarians and Macedonians]

 

[13]After the company had drunk a good deal somebody began to sing the verse of a man named Pranichus which had been written to humiliate and make fun of some Macedonian commanders who had recently been defeated by the Barbarians.

(Plut. 7.50, page 307)

[ The dinstiction between Macedonian commanders and Barbarians is more than obvious]

[14]IX. When Philip was besieging Byzantium he left to Alexander, who was then only sixteen years old, the sole charge of the administration of the kingdom of Macedonia, confirming his authority by entrusting to him his own signet. He defeated and subdued the Mædian rebels, took their city, ejected its barbarian inhabitants, and reconstituted it as a Grecian colony, to which he gave the name of Alexandropolis.

Plutarch’s Lives - Life of Alexander

 

[15]What spectator… would not exclaim… that through Fortune the foreign host was prevailing beyond its deserts, but through Virtue the Hellenes were holding out beyond their ability? And if the ones [i.e., the enemy] gains the upper hand, this will be the work of Fortune or of some jealous deity or of divine retribution; but if the others [i.e. the Hellenes] prevail, it will be Virtue and daring, friendship and fidelity, that will win the guerdon of victory? these were, in fact, the only support that Alexander had with him at this time, since Forune had put a barrier between him and the rest of his forces and equipment, fleets, horse, and camp. Finally, the Macedonians routed the barbarians, and, when they had fallen, pulled down their city on their heads. “Plutarch, On the Fortune of Alexander, 344 e-f

 

[16]Pericles collected tribute from the Greeks and with the money adorned the Acropolis with temples; but Alexander captured the riches of barbarians and sent them to Greece with orders that ten thousand talents be used to construct temples for the gods.

On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, II, 13

[The riches of Barbarians were sent by Alexander back to Greece.]

[17]Yet no such busy wars as these employed their time in civilizing wild and barbarous kings, in building Grecian cities among rude and unpolished nations, nor in settling government and peace among people that lived without humanity or control of law.

On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 4

[18]But Alexander, building above seventy cities among the barbarous nations, and as it were showing the Grecian customs and constitutions all over Asia, quite weaned them from their former wild and savage manner of living.

On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 5

[19]It may, however, be more justly averred of those whom Alexander subdued, had they not been vanquished, they had never been civilized. Egypt had not vaunted her Alexandria, nor Mesopotamia her Seleucia; Sogdiana had not gloried in her Propthasia, nor the Indians boasted their Bucephalia, nor Caucasus its neighboring Grecian city; by the founding of all which barbarism was extinguished and custom changed the worse into better.

On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 5

[20]But it behooves us also, as it were, to make a new coin, and to stamp a new face of Grecian civility upon the barbarian metal.

On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 5

[21]But Alexander made good his words by his deeds; for he did not, as Aristotle advised him, rule the Grecians like a moderate prince and insult over the barbarians like an absolute tyrant; nor did he take particular care of the first as his friends and domestics, and scorn the latter as mere brutes and vegetables…

On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 6

[22]Nor would he that Greeks and barbarians should be distinguished by long garments, targets, scimitars, or turbans; but that the Grecians should be known by their virtue and courage, and the barbarians by their vices and their cowardice…

On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 6

[23]In all there were about three thousand Hellenic heavy infantry, accompanied by all the Macedonian cavalry with the Chalcidians, near one thousand strong, besides an immense crowd of barbarians.”

(Thukydides 4.124)

 

 

 

He also ordered the archers and slingers to run forward and discharge arrows and stones at the barbarians, hoping to provoke them by this to come out of the woody glen into the ground unencumbered with trees.

Arrian 1a2

 

[If the Macedonians were barbarians themselves, this quote wouldn’t have any meaning. We have a clear distinction between Macedonians and Barbarian Thracians.]

[25]

Alexander found some ships of war which had come to him from Byzantium, through the Euxine Sea and up the river. Filling these with archers and heavy-armed troops, he sailed to the island to which the Triballians and Thracians had fled for refuge. He tried to force a landing; but the barbarians came to meet him at the brink of the river, wherever the ships made an assault

Arrian 1a3

[26] Alexander… said to Ptolemaios… `as soon as you perceive the BARBARIANS  to be trying  to force a way  through  here, you yourself  will  at once  bid  the bugler  to  sound  an alarm…’ Such were Alexander’s orders; and Ptolemaios…”
   <Arrian Anabasis 5.23.7>

[27]“But Ptolemaios…  made a proclamation to the BARBARIANS in the village,…”    

    <Arrian anabasis 3.30.2>

[28]Alexandros observed that his soldiers were exhausted with their constant campaigns. …The hooves of the horses had been worn thin by steady marching. The arms and armour were wearing out, and the Hellenic clothing was quite gone. They had to clothe themselves in materials of the barbarians,…”

(Diodoros of Sicily 17.94.1-2)

[29] Alexander came by the statue of his father and spoke loud: `Youths of the Pellaians and of the Macedonians and of the Hellenic Amphictiony and of the Lakedaimonians and of the Corinthians… and of all the Hellenic peoples, join your fellow-soldiers and entrust yourselves to me, so that we can move against the barbarians and liberate ourselves from the Persian bondage, for AS Hellenes WE should not be slaves to barbarians.” 

 

< `Pseudo-Kallisthenes’ 1.15.1-4> 

 

 

• [30]“Even though Xerxes had a huge host with him, he was a barbarian and was defeated by the prudence of the Hellenes; whereas Alexander the Hellene has already engaged in 13 battles and has not been defeated once.” 

< `Pseudo-Kallisthenes’ 2.3.4.-5; Oration of Demosthenes> 

• [31]“And, now, is justly the barbarian praised by the Athenians for capturing Hellenes? As for Alexander who is a Hellene and captured Hellenes, not only did he not imprison his opponents, but enlisted them and made them his allies instead of enemies… “ 

< `Pseudo-Kallisthenes’ 2.4.5; Oration of Demosthenes> 

 

 

 

• [32]“…so said the military leaders to the camps: `We have made enough war in Persia and conquered Dareios who claimed taxes from the Hellenes, but what are we accomplishing by marching against the Indians, in scary lands and doing things IMPROPER FROM HELLAS? If Alexandros has become full of himself and wishes to be a warrior, and subjugate barbarian peoples why do we follow him? Let him move on alone and engage in wars. Having heard these Alexander separated the Persian host from the MACEDONIANS AND THE OTHER HELLENES and addressed them…” 

(`Pseudo-Kallisthenes’ 3.1.2-4)  

 

 

[33]But if thanks are due to the Aetolians for this single service, how highly should we honour the Macedonians, who for the greater part of their lives never cease from fighting with the barbarians for the sake of the security of Greece? For who is not aware that Greece would have constantly stood in the greatest danger, had we not been fenced by the Macedonians and the honourable ambition of their kings?”

(Polybius, Book IX, 35, 2)

[34]

• While wintering in Macedonia Philip spent his time in diligently levying troops for the coming campaign, and in securing his frontiers from attack by the barbarians of the interior.

Polybius [XX,3]

 

[35]

 

• Antiochus traversed the worst part of the road in the manner I have described, safely but very slowly and with difficulty, only just reaching the pass of Mount Labus on the eighth day. 2 The barbarians were collected there, convinced that they would prevent the enemy from crossing, and a fierce struggle now took place, in which the barbarians were forced back for the following reason. 3 Formed in a dense mass they fought desperately against the phalanx face to face, but while it was still night the light-armed troops had made a wide detour and occupied the heights in their rear, and the barbarians, the moment they noticed this, were panic-stricken and took to flight. 4 The king made every effort to restrain his men from continuing the pursuit, summoning them back by bugle-call, as he wanted his army to descend into Hyrcania unbroken and in good order.

 Polybius 10.31.2-4

[36]

• Philip, then, is but the nominal pretext of the war; he is in no kind of danger; but as he has for allies most of the Peloponnesians, the Boeotians, the Euboeans, the Phocians, the Locrians, the Thessalians, and Epirots, you made the treaty against them all, the terms being 5 that their persons and personal property should belong to the Romans and their cities and lands to the Aetolians. 6 Did you capture a city yourselves you would not allow yourselves to outrage freemen or to burn their towns, which you regard as a cruel proceeding and barbarous; 7 but have made a treaty by which you have given up to the barbarians the rest of the Greeks to be exposed to atrocious outrage and violence.

Polybius 11.5.6-7

[37]On another occasion Xerxes, a member of the same family, came with his savage barbarian troops, and even when beaten in a naval engagement he still left Mardonius in Greece so that he could destroy our cities and burn our fields though absent himself.”

(Quintus Curtius Rufus 4.1.10-11)

*[Its obvious Alexander himself considers Macedonia as part of Greece and all misfortunes against Greeks as his own misfortunes]

 

[38]]“and he [alexander] demonstrated the strength of his contempt for the barbarians by celebrating games in honour of Aesclepius and Athena.”(Curtius Rufus 3, 7, 3)

 

 

(Curtius Rufus 7.5.36)[40]“Alexander advanced from there to the river Tanais, where Bessus was brought to him, not only in irons but entirely stripped of his clothes. Spitamenes held him with a chain around his neck, a sight that afforded as much pleasure to the barbarians as to the Macedonians.”

[41]Meanwhile a group of Macedonians had gone off to forage out of formation and were suprised by some Barbarians who came rushing down on them from the neighbouring mountains.”

(Curtius Rufus 7.6.1)

[42]“Menedemus himself, riding an extremely powerful horse, had repeatedly charged at full gallop into the barbarians’ wedge-shaped contingents, scattering them with great carnage.”

(Curtius Rufus 7.6.35)

[43]”Parmernion he had ordered to extend his column as far as he could towards the sea so as to seperate his line further from the hills held by the barbarians.”

(Curtius Rufus 3.9.10)

[44]To protect Parthiene against a Barbarian incursion, he [Alexander] had left Craterus behind with the troops that were under his command and the contingent led by Amyntas to which were added 600 horse and as many archers. 

 

 

 

 [45] The ladder was smashed so that no more Macedonians could join him and the barbarians began to gather inside along the bottom of the wall and to shoot at him from below.

 

(Plut. 7.63, page 320)

[Clear Dinstiction between the Macedonians and Barbarians]

[46]For example he put to death Menander, one of the Companions because he had been placed in command of a garrison and had refused to remain there, and he shot down with his own hand one the Barbarians named Orsodates who had rebelled against him .(Plut. 7.57, page 314)

 

 

[47] Both men were wounded and Limnaeus was killed, but Peucestas stood firm wile Alexander killed the Barbarian with his own hand. But he was wounded over and over again and at last received a blow on the neck from a club which forced him to lean against the wall, although he still faced his assialandts, At ths moment the Macedonians swarmed round him..

 

(Plut. 7.63, page 321)

[Clear Dinstiction between the Macedonians and Barbarians]

Tags: alexander, ancient, barbarians, craterus, egypt, Greece, greeks, macedonians, persia, persians, phalanx, sources, thracians, xerxes

Plutarch “The Age of Alexander”

Penguin Classics

[1] On his father’s side Alexander was descended from Hercules through Caranus, and on his mother’s from Aeacus through Neoptolemus: so much is accepted by all authorities without question.

(Plut. 7.2 page 252)

[The fact that Alexander was Greek by both his parents went unquestioned by all authorities]

[2] The first was that his general Parmenio had overcome the Illyrians in a great battle, the second that his race-horse had won a victory in the Olympic games, and the third that Alexander had been born.

(Plut. 7.3, page 255)

[Philip participated in Olympics where only Greeks could take place since he was a Greek himself]

[3]Philip for example was as proud of his powers of eloquence as any sophist, and took care to have the victories won by his chariots at Olympia stamped upon his coins.

(Plut. 7.4, page 256)

[Philip as a proud Greek, had his victories in Olympics stamped on his coins]

[4]The person who took on both the title and the role of Pedagogue was an Acarnanian named Lysimachus. He was neither an educated nor a cultivated man but he managed to ingratiate himself by calling Philip Peleus, Alexander Achilles, and himself Phoenix, and he held the second place in the prince’s household.

(Plut. 7.5, page 257)

[The love of Philip and Alexander for anything Greek is apparent]

[5]Besides this he considered that the task of training and educating his son was too important to be entrusted to the ordinary run of teachers of poetry, music and general education: it required as Sophocles puts it:

The rudder’s guidance and the curb’s restraint,

and so he sent for Aristotle, the most famous and learned of the philosophers of the time and rewarded him with the generocity that his reputation deserved.

(Plut. 7.7, page 258)

[One of the most famous Greek philosophers, Aristotle was entrusted by Philip with the task of training and educating his son]

[6] He [Alexander] regarded the Iliad as a handbook of the art of war and took with him on his campaigns a text annotated by Aristotle, which became as “the casket copy” and which he always kept under his pillow together with his dagger. When his campaigns had taken him far into the interior of Asia and he could find no other books, he ordered his treasurer Harpalus to send him some. Harpalus sent him the histories of Philistus, many of the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides and the dithyrambic poems of Telestes and Philoxenus.

(Plut 7.8, pages 259-260)

[Alexander never hide his love for anything Greek]

[7] During this period he [Alexander] defeated the Maedi who had risen in revolt, captured their city, drove out its barbarous inhabitants, established a colony of Greeks assembled from various regions and named it Alexandroupolis.

[Plut. 7.9, page 260)

[Here we have undisputed evidence of Macedonia’s Greekness. On one hand, the term “barbarians” is used only for Maedi, not Macedonians while on the other hand Alexander of course establishes a Greek colony since he is Greek himself.]

 

[7]There he [Philip] scolded his son and angrily reproached him for behaving so ignobly and so unworthily of his position as to wish to marry the daughter of a mere Carian, who was no more than the slave of a barbarian king.

(Plut. 7.10, page 262)

[Point of interest: Philip uses the term barbarian for a foreign satrap. Its obvious Philip was Greek, otherwise he wouldnt use at all the derogatory remark if he was “barbarian”himself]

[8]The neighbouring barbarian tribes were eager to throw off the Macedonian yoke and longed for the rule of their native kings.

(Plut. 7.11, page 263)

[The difference between the “neighbouring barbarian tribes” and Macedonians is clear.]

[9]As for the barbarian tribes they [Macedonians] considered that he [Alexander] should try to win them back to their allegiance by using milder methods.

(Plut. 7.11, page 263)

[Again, Barbarians are being distinguished from Macedonians, even by Macedonians themselves]

[10]In the previous year a congress of the Greek states had been held at the Isthmus of Corinth: here a vote had been passed that the states should join forces with Alexander in invading Persia and that he should be commander-in-chief of the expedition. Many of the Greek statesmen and philosophers visited him to offer their congratulations…

(Plut. 7.14, page 266)

[Macedonia as a greek state took part in the congress held at Isthmus of Corinth. Alexander was voted to be commander-in-chief while many Greek statesmen and philosophers showed their joy about the event by offering him their congratulations.]

[11] Once arrived in Asia, he [Alexander] went up to Troy, sacrificed to Athena and poured libations to the heroes of the Greek army. He annointed with oil the column which marks the grave of Achilles, ran a race by it naked with his companions, as the custom is, and then crowned it with a wreath: he also remarked that Achilles was happy in having found a faithful friend while he lived and a great poet to sing of his deeds after his death. While he was walking about the city and looking at its ancient remains, somebody asked him whether he wished to see the lyre which had once belonged to Paris. I think nothing of that lyre, he said, but i wish i could see Achilles’ lyre, which he played when he sang of the glorious deeds of brave men.

(Plut. 7.15, page 268)

[First thing Alexander did while being in Asia was to honour the Greek heroes and his own ancestor Achilles]

[12] At the same time he [Alexander] was anxious to give the other Greek states a share in the victory. He therefore sent the Atheneans in particular three hundred of the shields captured from the enemy and over the rest of the spoils he had this proud inscription engraved:

Alexander, the son of Philip, and all the Greeks, with the exception of the Spartans, won these spoils of war from the barbarians who dwell in Asia.

[Things are pretty clear. Alexander considered Macedonia as a Greek state and the inscription itself reveals Macedonians are Greeks]

(Plut. 7.16, page 270)

[13] It is said that there was a spring near the city of Xanthus in the province of Lycia, which at this moment overflowed and cast up from its depths a bronze tablet: this was inscribed with ancient characters which foretold tha the empire of the Persians would be destroyed by the Greeks. Alexander was encouraged by this prophecy and pressed on to clear the coast of Asia Minor as far as Cilicia and Phoenicia.

(Plut. 7.17, page 270)

[No reason Alexander to be enouraged unless he was Greek himself. Another undisputable evidence of his Greekness]

[14]he [Alexander] managed to extend it round the enemy’s left, outflanked it, and fighting in the foremost ranks, put the barbarians to flight.

(Plut. 7.20, page 274)

[The dinstiction between Macedonians and Barbarians is obvious]

[15] It was here that the Macedonians received their first taste of gold and silver and women and of the luxury of the Barbarian way of life.

(Plut 7.24, page 278)

[Macedonians couldnt receive their first taste of the luxury of the Barbarian way of life if they were Barbarians themselves]

[16] he [Alexander] dshed to the nearest camp fire, dispatched with his dagger the two barbarians who were sitting by it

(Plut. 7.24, page 280)

[Another evidence Macedonians were Greeks and certainly not Barbarians]

[17]One day a casket was brought to him which was regarded by those who were in charge of Darius’ baggage and treasure as the most valuable item of all and so Alexander asked his friends what he should keep in it as his own most precious possesion. Many different suggestions were put forward, and finally Alexander said he intended to keep his copy of Iliad there.

(Plut. 7.26, page 281)

[Alexander’s love for anything Greek was overwhelming. He considered Iliad as his most precious possession.]

[18]According to this story, after Alexander had conquered Egypt, he was anxious to found a great and populous Greek city  there, to be called after him.

(Plut. 7.26, page 281)

 [Alexander as a Greek himself founded Greek cities]

[19] Others say that the Priest, who wished as a mark of courtesy to address him with the Greek Phrase ‘O, paidion’ (O, My son)…

(Plut. 7.27, page 283-4)

[20] On this occasion, Alexander gave a long address to the Thessalians and the rest of the Greeks. They acclaimed by shouting for him to lead them against the barbarians and at this he shifted his lance into his left hand, so Callisthenes tells us, and raising his right be called upon the gods and prayed that he were really the son of Zeus they should protect and encourage the Greeks.

(Plut. 7.33, page 290)

[Greek soldiers couldnt have shouted to Alexander to lead them against the Barbarians if him and his Macedonians were Barbarians themselves. Alexander’s pray includes Macedonians to the rest of Greeks.]

[21]To the Plataeans in particular he [Alexander] wrote that he would rebuild their city because their ancestors had allowed the Greeks to make their territory the seat of war in the struggle for their common freedom. He also sent a share of the spoils to the people of Croton in Italy in honour of the spirit and valour shown by their athlete Phayllus: this man when the rest of the Greeks in Italy had refused to give any help to their compatriots in the Persian wars, he fitted out a ship at his own expense and sailed with it to Salamis to share in the common danger.

(Plut. 7.34, page 291)

[22] During the advance across Persis the Greeks massacred great numbers of their prisoners, and Alexander has himself recorded that he gave orders for the Persians to be slaughtered because he thought that such an example would help his cause.

(Plut. 7.37, page 294)

[Macedonians are recorded by Plutarch as Greeks]

[23]Alexander stopped and spoke to it [Xerxes Statue] as though it was alive. ‘Shall i pass by and leave you lying there because of the expedition you led against Greece, or shall i set you up again because of your magnanimity and your virtues in other respects?’

(Plut. 7.37, page 294)

[Xerxes statue was toppled by Macedonians and was left in the ground. This spontaneous action of Macedonians, plus Alexander’s words reveal how much Macedonians wanted to revenge Persia through this Panhellenic expedition.]

[24] Demaratus the Corinthian, who was much attached to Alexander, as he had been to his father, began to weep, as old men are aprt to do, and exclaimed that any Greek who had died before that day had missed one of the greatest pleasures in life by not seeing Alexander seated on the throne of Darius.

(Plut. 7.37, page 295)

[Greeks wouldnt have misses this great pleasure in life to see Alexander seated on Darius throne if he wasnt Greek himself]

[25]She wanted to put a torch to the building herself in full view of Alexander, so that posterity should know that the women who followed Alexander had taken a more terrible revenge for the wrongs of Greece than all the famous commanders of earlier times by land or sea. Her speech was greeted wit wild applause and the king’s companions excitedly urged him on until at last he allowed himself to be persuaded, leaped to his feet and with a garland on his head and a torch in his hand led the way.

(Plut. 7.38, page 295)

 [26] From this point he advanced into Parthia, and it was here during a pause in the campaign that he first began to wear barbarian dress.

(Plut. 7.45, page 301)

[So Macedonian dresses were Hellenic since in Parthia was the FIRST time Alexander began to wear BARBARIAN dresses]

[27]However he didnt go so far as to adopt the Median costume, which was altogether barbaric and outlandish.

(Plut. 7.45, page 302)

[More evidence of the greekness of Macedonians. The remark about the Median costume being Barbaric wouldnt make sense if Macedonian costume was Barbaric too. Here we have another dinstinction between Barbaric and Macedonian (Greek) costume]

[28]For this reason he [Alexander] selected thirty thousand boys and gave orders that they should be taught to speak the Greek language and to use Macedonian weapons and he appointed a large number of instructors to train them.

(Plut. 7.47, page 303)

[Alexander spread everywhere the Greek language since he was a Greek himself. There is no reason or even an example of a conqueror in classical ages to spread a “foreign” language but solely his own.]

[29]The barbarians were encouraged by the feeling of partnership which their alliance created, and they were completely won over by Alexander’s moderation and courtesy..

(Plut. 7.47, page 304)

[Again a clear dinstiction between barbarians and Macedonians]

[30]After the company had drunk a good deal somebody began to sing the verse of a man named Pranichus which had been written to humiliate and make fun of some Macedonian commanders who had recently been defeated by the Barbarians.

(Plut. 7.50, page 307)

[ The dinstiction between Macedonian commanders and Barbarians is more than obvious]

[31]Callisthenes then turned to the other side of the picture and delivered a long list of home truths about the Macedonians, pointing out that the rise of Philip’s power had been brought about by the divisions among the rest of the Greeks,

(Plut. 7.53, page 311)

[The evidence of the Greekness of Macedonians is striking. Macedonians and the rest of Greeks]

[32]In the meantime Demaratus of Corinth, although he was by now an old man, was eager to visit Alexander and when the king had received him Demaratus declared that those Greeks who had died before they could see Alexander seated on the throne of Darius had missed one of the greatest pleasures in teh world.

(Plut. 7.56, page 313)

 [No reason for those Greeks to “miss one of the greatest pleasures in the world when they when they would see Alexander seated in Darius throne if Alexander was not Greek]

[33]For example he put to death Menander, one of the Companions because he had been placed in command of a garrison and had refused to remain there, and he shot down with his own hand one the Barbarians named Orsodates who had rebelled against him .

(Plut. 7.57, page 314)

[Clear Dinstiction between the Macedonian Menander and the Barbarian Orsodates.]

[34] He [Alexander] also set up altars for the gods of Greece and eve down to the present day the kings of the Praesii whenever they cross the river do honour to these and offer sacrifice on them in the Greek fashion.

(Plut. 7.62, page 320)

[Another evidence Alexander and Macedonians worshipped the Greek Pantheon]

[35] The ladder was smashed so that no more Macedonians could join him and the barbarians began to gather inside along the bottom of the wall and to shoot at him from below.

(Plut. 7.63, page 320)

[Clear Dinstiction between the Macedonians and Barbarians]

[36]Both men were wounded and Limnaeus was killed, but Peucestas stood firm wile Alexander killed the Barbarian with his own hand. But he was wounded over and over again and at last received a blow on the neck from a club which forced him to lean against the wall, although he still faced his assialandts, At ths moment the Macedonians swarmed round him..

(Plut. 7.63, page 321)

[Clear Dinstiction between the Macedonians and Barbarians]

[37] Nevertheless the prince Taxiles awas able to persuade Clanaus to visit Alexander. His real name was PShines but because he greeted everyone he met not with the Greek salutation chairete but with the Indian word cale, the Greeks called him Calanus.

(Plut. 7.65, page 323)

[38] Not long afterwards Alexander discovered tha the tomb of Cyrus had been plundered and had the offender put to death, enen though he was a prominent Macedonian from Pella named Polymachus. When he read the inscription on the tomb he ordered it to be repeated below in Greek characters.

(Plut. 7.69, page 326)

[39] The thirty thousand boys whom he had left behind to be given a Greek education and military traning had now grown into active and handsome men and had developed a wonderful skill and agilit in their military exercises.

(Plut. 7.71, page 328)

[40] The other, Cassander, had only lately arrived in Babylon and when he saw some of the barbarians prostrate themselves before the king he burst into loud and disrespectful laughter for he had been brought up as a Greek and had never seen such a spectacle in his life.

(Plut. 7.74, page 331)

Plutarch - Moralia, “On the Fortune of Alexander”  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• “But he said, `If I were not Alexandros, I should be Diogenes’; that is to say: `If it were not my purpose to combine barbarian things with things Hellenic, to traverse and civilize every every continent, to search out the uttermost parts of land and sea, to push the bounds of Macedonia to the farthest Ocean, and to diseminate and shower the blessings of the Hellenic justice and peace over every nation, I should not be content to sit quietly in the luxury of idle power, but I should emulate the frugality of Diogenes. But as things are, forgive me Diogenes, that I imitate Herakles, and emulate Perseus, and follow in the footsteps of Dionysos, the divine author and progenitor of my family, and desire that victorius Hellenes should dance again in India and revive the memory of the Bacchic revels among the savage mountain tribes beyond the Kaukasos…’
  
• “ 

 

 

 

 

(Plutarchos, On the Fortune of Alexander, 332 a-b) 

• “
  

  Yet through Alexander, Bactria and the Caucasus learned to revere the gods of the Hellenes … Alexander established more than seventy cities among savage tribes, and sowed all Asia with Hellenic magistracies … Egypt would not have its Alexandria, nor Mesopotamia its Seleucia, nor Sogdiana its Prophthasia, nor India its Bucephalia, nor the Caucasus a Hellenic city, for by the founding of cities in these places savagery was extinguished and the worse element, gaining familiarity with the better, changed under its influence.’

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

(Plutarchos Moralia. On the Fortune of Alexander, I, 328D, 329A) 

• “
  

  When he (Alexander the Great) arrived at Ilion he sacrificed to Athena and offered libations to the Heroes.” 

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

(Plutarchos, Alexander 15) 

• “It is agreed on by all hands, that on the father’s side, Alexander descended from Hercules by Caranus, and from Aeacus by Neoptolemus on the mother’s side” 
  

(Plutarch, The Life of Alexander)

IX. When Philip was besieging Byzantium he left to Alexander, who was then only sixteen years old, the sole charge of the administration of the kingdom of Macedonia, confirming his authority by entrusting to him his own signet. He defeated and subdued the Mædian rebels, took their city, ejected its barbarian inhabitants, and reconstituted it as a Grecian colony, to which he gave the name of Alexandropolis.

Plutarch’s Lives - Life of Alexander

“From when he was master of Egypt, designed to settle a colony of
GRECIANS there, he resolved to build a large and populous city, and give it his own name.”

Now why would he want to create a large and populous city (in a sense the capital of his empire) named after himself, full of non-Macedonians if he didn’t consider himself and the Macedonians Greek themselves.

pg.166

“He made the longest address that day to the Thessalians and other Greeks, who made answered him with loud shouts, desiring him to lead hem on against the BARBARIANS, upon which he shifted his javelin into his left hand and with his right lifted up towards heaven, besought the gods, as Callisthenes tells up, that if he was of a truth the son of Zeus, they would be pleased TO ASSIST AND STRENGTHEN THE GRECIANS.”

Once again to strengthen the GRECIANS and not Macedonians. This tells me that when people refer to Macedonians, they infer that they are Greeks but of Macedonia, just like the Athenians and Spartans are refered to just that, but no one ever questions their Greekness!

pg.170

“It is related that the first time he sat on the throne of Persia under the canopy of goled, Demaratus the Corinthian, who was much attached to him and had been one of his father’s friends, wept, in and old man’s manner, and deplored the misfortune OF THOSE GREEKS WHOM DEATH HAD DEPRIVED OF THE SATISFACTION OF SEEING ALEXANDER SEATED ON THE THRONE OF DARIUS.”

“What spectator… would not exclaim… that through Fortune the foreign host was prevailing beyond its deserts, but through Virtue the Hellenes were holding out beyond their ability? And if the ones [i.e., the enemy] gains the upper hand, this will be the work of Fortune or of some jealous deity or of divine retribution; but if the others [i.e. the Hellenes] prevail, it will be Virtue and daring, friendship and fidelity, that will win the guerdon of victory? these were, in fact, the only support that Alexander had with him at this time, since Forune had put a barrier between him and the rest of his forces and equipment, fleets, horse, and camp. Finally, the Macedonians routed the barbarians, and, when they had fallen, pulled down their city on their heads. “

Plutarch, On the Fortune of Alexander, 344 e-f

she lit the fire before the king himself <Alexander> and wished the world would learn that the women in
  Alexander’s train took revenge upon the Persians ON BEHALF OF HELLAS, surpassing both sailors and infantry. Noise and   commotion ensued and ENCOURAGED by FRIENDS and COMPANIONS the king was moved and he jumped up wearing his crown and holding a torch. THE REST followed him, singing and shouting they surrounded the palace, and all the OTHER MACEDONIANS who heard that RUN WILLINGLY holding torches.”

                                         <Plutarch, Alexander 38>

Again, however, Fortune stirred up Thebes against him, and thrust in his pathway a war with Greeks, and the dread necessity of punishing, by means of slaughter and fire and sword, men that were his kith and kin, a necessity which had a most unpleasant ending.
[Plutarch, Virtue, 11]

For Alexander did not follow Aristotles advice to treat the Greeks as if he were their leader, and other peoples as if he were their master; to have regard for the Greeks as for friends and kindred, but to conduct himself toward other peoples as though they were plants or animals; for to do so would have been to cumber his leadership with numerous battles and banishments and festering seditions. But, as he believed that he came as a heaven sent governor to all, and as a mediator for the whole world, those whom he could not persuade to unite with him, he conquered by force of arms, and he brought together into one body all men everywhere, uniting and mixing in one great loving‐cup, as it were, mens lives, their characters, their marriages, their very habits of life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Παράθεση:

But then again spiteful Fortune stirred up the Thebans against him, and entangled him in the Grecian war, and in the dire necessity of defending himself against his fellow-countrymen and relations with fire and sword and hideous slaughter.

A comparison of Alexander with Pericles:

Quote:

Pericles collected tribute from the Greeks and with the money adorned the Acropolis with temples; but Alexander captured the riches of barbarians and sent them to Greece with orders that ten thousand talents be used to construct temples for the gods.On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, II, 13

Alexander’s assault on the citadel of the Mallians:

Quote:

…that through Fortune the foreign host was prevailing beyond its deserts, but through Virtue the Greeks were holding out beyond their ability? And if the enemy gains the upper hand, this will be the work of Fortune or of some jealous deity or of divine retribution; but if the Greeks prevail, it will be Virtue and daring, friendship and fidelity, that will win the guerdon of victory? These were, in fact, the only support that Alexander had with him at this time, since Fortune had put a barrier between him and the rest of his forces and equipment, fleets, horse, and camp.Finally, the Macedonians routed the barbarians, and, when they had fallen, pulled down their city on their heads.On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, II, 13

In conquering and civilising the barbarians, both the cities established and the form of government, law and culture is Greek:

Quote:

Yet no such busy wars as these employed their time in civilizing wild and barbarous kings, in building Grecian cities among rude and unpolished nations, nor in settling government and peace among people that lived without humanity or control of law.On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 4

Quote:

But Alexander, building above seventy cities among the barbarous nations, and as it were showing the Grecian customs and constitutions all over Asia, quite weaned them from their former wild and savage manner of living.On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 5

Quote:

It may, however, be more justly averred of those whom Alexander subdued, had they not been vanquished, they had never been civilized. Egypt had not vaunted her Alexandria, nor Mesopotamia her Seleucia; Sogdiana had not gloried in her Propthasia, nor the Indians boasted their Bucephalia, nor Caucasus its neighboring Grecian city; by the founding of all which barbarism was extinguished and custom changed the worse into better.On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 5

Quote:

But it behooves us also, as it were, to make a new coin, and to stamp a new face of Grecian civility upon the barbarian metal.On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 5

In the treatment and distinguishment of Greeks and barbarians:

Quote:

But Alexander made good his words by his deeds; for he did not, as Aristotle advised him, rule the Grecians like a moderate prince and insult over the barbarians like an absolute tyrant; nor did he take particular care of the first as his friends and domestics, and scorn the latter as mere brutes and vegetables…On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 6

Quote:

Nor would he that Greeks and barbarians should be distinguished by long garments, targets, scimitars, or turbans; but that the Grecians should be known by their virtue and courage, and the barbarians by their vices and their cowardice…On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 6

Quote:

But I would gladly have been a spectator of those majestic and sacred nuptials, when, after he had betrothed together a hundred Persian brides and a hundred Macedonian and Greek bridegrooms, he placed them all at one common table within the compass of one pavilion embroidered with gold, as being all of the same family…On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 7

Next Plutarch tells us of the imposition of Greek religion:

Quote:

Most admirable philosophy! which induced the Indians to worship the Grecian Deities…On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 5

Quote:

But Alexander engaged both Bactria and Caucasus to worship the Grecian Gods, which they had never known before.On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 5

Of Alexander’s descent, which would not be seen as “noble” in Plutarch’s eyes if it was not Greek:

Quote:

…the nobility of his Macedonian extraction…On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 9

And the ultimate revenge, to see a Greek king on the throne of Persia:

Quote:

Therefore it was that Demaratus the Corinthian, an acquaintance and friend of Philip, when he beheld Alexander in Susa, bursting into tears of more than ordinary joy, bewailed the deceased Greeks, who, as he said, had been bereaved of the greatest blessing on earth, for that they had not seen Alexander sitting upon the throne of Darius.On the Fortune or the Virtue of Alexander, I, 7

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Tags: alexander, ancient, barbarians, greek, macedonians, persians, philip, plutarch, sources

 

ANCIENT GREEKS REFERING TO THE MACEDONIANS AS GREEK:1.

Quote:

How highly should we honour the Macedonians, who for the greater part of their lives never cease from fighting with the barbarians for the sake of the security of Greece? For who is not aware that Greece would have constantly stood in the greater danger, had we not been fenced by the Macedonians and the honourable ambition of their kings?

[The Histories of Polybius, IX, 35, 2 (Loeb, W.R. Paton). ]

Speech of Lykiskos, the representative of Akarnania to the Lakedaimonians (Spartans):

2.

Quote:

Let what I have said on this head suffice, and let those who are disposed to be cautious pronounce my words to have no bearing on the present situation. I will now revert to what my adversaries themselves speak of as the main question. And this is that if matters are now in the same state as when you made an alliance with them, you should decide to maintain your original attitude, for that is a matter of principle, but if the situation has radically changed, you are justified now in discussing the requests made to you afresh. I ask you, therefore, Cleonicus and Chlaeneas, what allies had you when you first invited the Spartans to act with you? Had you not the whole of Greece? But who make common cause with you at present or what kind of alliance do you invite them to enter? Far from being similar, the circumstances are now the reverse of what they formerly were. Then your rivals in the struggle for supremacy and renown were the Achaeans and Macedonians, peoples of your OWN RACE, and Philip was their commander. But now Greece is threatened with a war against men of a foreign race who intend to enslave her, men whom you fancy you are calling in against Philip, but are calling in really against yourselves and the whole of Greece.

[Polybius, Histories, IX, 37]

ISOCRATES TO PHILIP OF MACEDON

3.

Quote:

“Now I am not unaware that many of the Hellenes look upon the King’s power as invincible. Yet one may well marvel at them if they really believe that the power which was subdued to the will of a mere barbarian–an ill-bred barbarian at that–and collected in the cause of slavery, could not be scattered by A MAN OF THE BLOOD OF HELLAS, of ripe experience in warfare, in the cause of freedom–and that too although they know that while it is in all cases difficult to construct a thing, to destroy it is, comparatively, an easy task.Bear in mind that the men whom the world most admires and honors are those who unite in themselves the abilities of the statesman and the general. When, therefore, you see the renown which even in a single city is bestowed on men who possess these gifts, what manner of eulogies must you expect to hear spoken of you, when AMONG ALL THE HELLENES you shall stand forth as a statesman who has worked for the good of Hellas, and AS A GENERAL WHO HAS OVERTHROWN THE BARBARIANS?”

[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”, 5.139, 5.140]

4.

Quote:

“As I continued to say many things of this tenor, those who heard me were inspired with the hope that when my discourse should be published you and the Athenians would bring the war to an end, and, having conquered your pride, would adopt some policy for your mutual good. Whether indeed they were foolish or sensible in taking this view is a question for which they, and not I, may fairly be held to account; but in any case, while I was still occupied with this endeavour, you and Athens anticipated me by making peace before I had completed my discourse; and you were wise in doing so, for to conclude the peace, no matter how, was better than to continue to be oppressed by the evils engendered by the war. [8] But although I was in joyful accord with the resolutions which were adopted regarding the peace, and was convinced that they would be beneficial, not only to us, BUT ALSO TO YOU AND ALL THE OTHER HELLENES, I could not divorce my thought from the possibilities connected with this step, but found myself in a state of mind where I began at once to consider how the results which had been achieved might be made permanent for us, and how our city could be prevented from setting her heart upon further wars, after a short interval of peace.”

[Isocrates, Speeches and Letters, “To Philip”, 5.8]

5.

Quote:

“And, now, is justly the barbarian <Xerxes> praised by the Athenians for capturing Hellenes? As for Alexander who is a Hellene and captured Hellenes, not only did he not imprison his opponents, but enlisted them and made them his allies instead of enemies… “

<`Pseudo-Kallisthenes’ 2.4.5; Oration of Demosthenes>

6.

Quote:

“No king of the Hellenes had ever conquered Egypt with the exception only of Alexander, and that he did without war…”

<`Pseudo-Kallisthenes’ 2.4.7-8; Oration of Demosthenes>

7.

Quote:

They recalled that at the start of his reign Darius had issued orders for the shape of the scabbard of the Persian scimitar to be altered to the shape used by the Greeks, and that the Chaldeans had immediately interpreted this as meaning that rule over the Persians would pass to those people whose arms Darius had copied.

(Quintus Curtius Rufus 3.3)

8.

Quote:

Alexander… then reached the country of the Ariaspas [an ancient Iranian people]… and found out that these people did not handle their public affairs as the Barbarians of the region, but delivered justice in a fashion close to that of the best Greeks, so he left them free and gave them as much of the neighboring lands they asked”

[Anabasis of Alexander, 3.27.4-5]

9.

Quote:

“They say that these were the clans collected by Amphictyon himself in the Greek assembly… The Macedonians managed to join and the entire Phocian race… In my day there were thirty members: six each from Nikopolis, Macedonia, and Thessaly - and from the Boeotoi that were the first that departed from Thessalia and that’s when they were called Aioloi - two from each of the Phokeis and Delphi, one from the ancient Dorida, the Lokroi send one from the Ozoloi and one from the ones living beyond Evoia, one from the Evoeis. From the Peloponnesians, one from Argos, one from Sikion, one from Korinthos and Megara, one from Athens…”

[Pausanias, Description of Greece, Phocis Book VIII, 4]

10.

Quote:

Even though Xerxes had a huge host with him, he was a barbarian and was defeated by the prudence of the Hellenes; whereas Alexander the Hellene has already engaged in 13 battles and has not been defeated once.”

<`Pseudo-Kallisthenes’ 2.3.4.-5; Oration of Demosthenes>

11.

Quote:

The 38th book contains the completion of the disaster of the Hellenes. For though both the whole of Hellas and her several parts had often met with mischance, yet to none of her former defeats can we more fittingly apply, the name of disaster with all it signifies than to the events of my own time. In the time I am speaking of a comon misfortune befell the Peloponnesians, the Boiotians, the Phokians, the Euboians, the Lokrians, some of the cities on the Ionians Gulf, and finally the Macedonians.”

[Polyvius 38.8]

12

“And Macedonia, of course, is a part of Greece.”

(Strab. VII, Frg. 9 [Loeb, H.L. Jones])

13.

“Belistiche, a woman from the coast of Macedonia, won with the pair of foals … at the hundred
and twenty-ninth Olympics.”

(Paus. Eleia VIII, 11 [Loeb])

14.

“Your ancestors invaded Macedonia and the rest of Greece and did us great harm, though we had done
them no prior injury; … (and) I have been appointed leader of the Greeks …”
 

(Arr., Anab. Alex. II, 14, 4)

15.

“Three brothers of the lineage of Temenos came as banished men from Argos to Illyria,
Gauanes and Aeropos and Perdiccas.” 

(Herod. VIII, 137, 1 [Loeb])

16.

“For in the days of king Deucalion it (i.e. a Makednian tribe) inhabited the land of Phthiotis, then in the time
of Dorus, son of Hellen, the country called Histiaean, under Ossa and Olympus; driven by the Cadmeians
from this Histiaean country it settled about Pindus in the parts called Macedonian; thence again it migrated
to Dryopia, and at last came from Dryopia into Peloponnesus, where it took the name of Dorian.”
(Herod. I, 56, 3 [Loeb, A.D. Godley])

17.

And she conceived and bore to Zeus, who delights in the thunderbolt, two sons, Magnes and Macedon,
rejoicing in horses, who dwell round about Pieria and Olympus.”

(Hesiod, Catalogues of Women and Eoiae 3 [Loeb, H.G. Evelyn-White])

18.

• “And even to the present day the Thracians, Illyrians, and Epeirotes live on the flanks of the Greeks (though this was still more the case formerly than now); indeed most of the country that at the present time is indisputably Greece is held by the barbarians — Macedonia and certain parts of Thessaly by the Thracians, and the parts above Acarnania and Aetolia by the Thesproti, the Cassopaei, the Amphilochi, the Molossi, and the Athamanes — Epeirotic tribes.” 

[Strabo, Geography,book 7,VII,1] 

19.

 

• “The Acarnanians, and the Ætolians, like many other nations, are at present worn out, and exhausted by continual wars. The Ætolians however, in conjunction with the Acarnanians, during a long period withstood the Macedonians and the other Greeks “ 

20.

Callisthenes then turned to the other side of the picture and delivered a long list of home truths about the Macedonians, pointing out that the rise of Philip’s power had been brought about by the divisions among the rest of the Greeks,

(Plut. 7.53, page 311)

 

 

 

Tags: alexander, ancient, callisthenes, curtius rufus, greek, greeks, macedonia, macedonians, philip, plutarch, polybius, sources