Exchange of letters between Alexander the Great and Porus

in Alexander the Great / by / on March 11, 2007 at 5:40 pm /

porus_alexander

“The glorious battle between Alexander the Great and King Porus” - 18th century tinted woodcut

Book 3

When Alexander arrived with all his forces at the border of India, letter bear-
ers sent by Poros, king of India, met him and gave him the letter of Poros.

Alexander took it and read it out before his army. Its contents were these.

King Poros of India, to Alexander, who plunders cities:I instruct you to withdraw. What can you, a mere man, achieve against a god? Is it because you have destroyed the good fortune of others by meeting weaker men in battle that you think yourself more mighty than me? But I am invincible: not only am I the king of men, but even of gods—when Dionysus (who they say is a god) came here, the Indians used their own power to drive him away. So not only do I advise you. but also I instruct you, to set off for Greece with all speed. I am not going to be frightened by your battle with Darius or by all the good fortune you had in the face of the weakness uf the other nations. But vou think von are more mighty. So set off for Greece. Because if we had needed Greece, we Indians would have subjected it long before Xerxes; but as it is, we have paid no attention to it- because it is a useless nation, and there is nothing among them worth the regard of a king—everyone desires what is better.

So Alexander, having read out Poros’s letter in public before his soldiers, said to them:


“Comrades-in-arms, do not be upset again at the letter of Poros’s that 1 have read out. Remember what Darius wrote too- It is a fact that the only state of mind barbarians have is obtuseness. Like the animals under them—tigers, lions, elephants, which exult in their courage but are easily hunted thanks to man’s nature—the kings of the barbarians too exult in the numbers ol their armies but are easily defeated by the intelligence of the Greeks.”

 

 

Having given this declaration to encourage his armv, Alexander wrote King

 

Alexander, to King Poros, greetings: You have made us even more eager to be spurred on to battle against you by saying that Greece has nothing worth the regard of a king but that you Indians have everything—lands and cities. And i know that every man desires to seize what is better rather than to keep what is worse. Since, then, WE Greeks do not have thesethings and you barbarians possess them, we desire what is better and wish to have them from you. You write to me that you are king of gods and of all men even to the extent of having more power than the god. But i am engaging in war with a loudmouthed man and an absolute barbarian, not with a god. The whole world could not stand up to a god in full armor—the rumble of thunder, the flash of lightning, or the anger of the bolt. So the nations I have defeated in war cause you no astonishment and neither do boastful words on your part make me a coward.

 

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Language of correspondence says:
February 26, 2012 at 9:59 am

Just read the story about exchange of letters between Alexander and Porus before the battle.
Can anybody throw light on what was the language used in the letters?

ΑΡΧΑΙΟΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΟΣ says:
October 11, 2011 at 7:30 am

Όσο απέχει το Λάτιο από τον αυτοκράτορα της Νέας Ρώμης,Ιουστινιανό,το Μέγα,άλλο τόσο συσχετίζονται και συνδέονται οι σημερινοί αυτοαποκαλούμενοι Σκιπετάροι με τους Ιλλυριούς(βλ.ιλλυρικά φύλα/ιλλυρικές φυλές).
Ώστε δεν έχετε απάντηση.Γι’αυτό και μόνο σπεύδω να σας προτείνω μία εγώ,την κατωτέρω,για να στερήσω το βαθύ και ανίατο ύπνο σας:

http://ethnologic.blogspot.com/2009/11/blog-post_07.html

ΕΝΑΝΤΙΑ ‘ΣΤΗΝ (ΑΠΕΓΝΩΣΜΕΝΗ ΚΑΙ ΦΟΒΙΚΗ ΤΩΝ;) ΕΝΟΡΧΗΣΤΡΩΜΕΝΗ ΠΡΟΣΠΑΘΕΙΑ ΝΑ ΕΜΦΑΝΙΣΘΟΥΝ ΣΚΙΠΕΤΑΡ Ε Λ Λ Η Ν Ε Σ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΙ,Γ Η Γ Ε Ν Ε Ι Σ ΚΑΤΟΙΚΟΙ ΤΟΥ Ε Ν Ι Α Ι Ο Η Π Ε Ι Ρ Ω Τ Ι Κ Ο Υ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΟΥ ΧΩΡΟΥ/ΚΟΡΜΟΥ ΚΑΙ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΗΣ ΕΥΡΕΩΣ ΔΙΑΔΕΔΟΜΕΝΗΣ ΠΡΟΣΦΙΛΟΥΣ ΤΑΚΤΙΚΗΣ-Π Ρ Ο Π Α Γ Α Ν Δ Α Σ ΤΩΝ ΚΑΙ Φ Α Σ Ι Σ Τ Ι Κ Η Σ ΤΑΣΗΣ ΤΩΝ ΠΟΥ ΤΟΥΣ ‘ΘΕΛΕΙ ΝΑ ΑΥΤΟΠΑΡΟΥΣΙΑΖΟΝΤΑΙ ΚΑΙ ΝΑ ΑΥΤΟΠΡΟΒΑΛΛΟΝΤΑΙ,ΑΓΝΩΣΤΩΙ ΤΙΝΙ ΤΡΟΠΩΙ ΚΑΙ ΜΕ ΠΑΝΤΕΛΗ ΕΛΛΕΙΨΗ Π Ρ Ω Τ Ο Γ Ε Ν Ω Ν ΠΗΓΩΝ/ΣΤΟΙΧΕΙΩΝ,ΦΥΣΙΚΟΙ ΑΠΟΓΟΝΟΙ ΚΑΠΟΙΩΝ ΟΜΙΧΛΩΔΩΝ…”ΑΡΧΑΙΩΝ”(ΜΕ ΕΚΕΙΝΟΥΣ ΝΑ ΑΠΟΤΕΛΟΥΝ ΤΟΥΣ ”ΝΕΟΥΣ”!)ΙΛΛΥΡΙΩΝ(ΜΕ ΤΟ ”ΘΑΥΜΑΣΙΟ” ΕΝ ΓΕΝΕΙ ”ΠΟΛΙΤΙΣΜΟ” ΤΩΝ!).

ΟΤΑΝ ΟΙ Ε Λ Λ Η Ν Ε Σ ΣΟΒΑΡΕΥΘΟΥΝ,”ΑΛΒΑΝΙΑ”/ΣΚΥΠΕΡΙΑ Δ Ε ΘΑ ΥΠΑΡΧΗ ‘ΣΤΟ ΧΑΡΤΗ ΤΟΥ ΑΙΜΟΥ.Δ Ε ΘΑ ΕΧΗ ΑΠΛΟΥΣΤΑΤΑ Λ Ο Γ Ο Υ Π Α Ρ Ξ Η Σ.

ΑΡΧΑΙΟΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΟΣ says:
October 3, 2011 at 10:37 am

Συνθέτοντας από τις υπάρχουσες πρωτογενείς πηγές μας,διαλύεται με ακρίβεια πάραυτα η αχλύς των παιδικών σας ψευδαισθήσεων,φαντασιώσεων και ονειρώξεων,με τις απαντήσεις σας κατ’ουδένα τρόπον και κατ’ελάχιστον επαρκείς και πειστικές(μελετήσατε τον κατωτέρω ευρεθέντα σχετικό σύνδεσμο για την εξάλειψη των όποιων αμφιβολιών σας):
http://www.alexanderofmacedon.info/greek/D2gr.htm
http://www.alexanderofmacedon.info/greek/homepagegr.htm

ΑΡΧΑΙΟΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΟΣ says:
October 2, 2011 at 9:57 am

Is there any serious answer here from someone well-wisher about the scientific supposition-case study of ”Illyro-albanians”?Can somebody from those who passionate about making and considering all our country,Hellas,”s(h)qip(etar)”(term internationally established and predominated as ”albanian”)adduce his elements to see their connection,their coincidence or,on the contrary,their dissimilarity,their differentiation?Is there or all your mechanisms of propaganda,decorated with flags and well-cooked so much time,can’t stand,can’t hold for only a minute or can’t resist to any scientific criticism?

ΑΡΧΑΙΟΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΟΣ says:
September 29, 2011 at 8:44 am

Ποίος ‘μπορεί να είναι αχανέστερος και χαωδέστερος ως προς την προπαγανδιστική τάση της εθνομυθοπλασίας του ‘στον Αίμο,’σε τελική ανάλυση:οι Σκιππεττάρ ή οι Φ.υ.ρ.ο.μ.ίτες,οι Μπαλγκάρ ή οι Ρουμάνοι;Μήπως οι Τιουρκ των γενοκτονικών σφαγών και της λυσσώδους καταστροφής και λεηλασίας των πατρογονικών εστιών των Ελλήνων και του Ελληνισμού,των Ρωμηών και της Ρωμανίας;

ΑΡΧΑΙΟΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΙΑΝΟΣ says:
September 29, 2011 at 8:27 am

There is not any essential reason or any need to note here furthermore if we observe your run-around to answer.Your ethnogenesis has become a rust which composes all your present life on earth.Are you blind or something?Or you inflate from pride thinking and believing deeply inside you that you have achieved something rare and quite difficult drawing up of your failed past unreliable theories?Are you still living with the illusion and the phantom of dictator Hozha and his creation about ”Illyrio-albanians” and ”their” territories till today?Really?What a warlike wandering!What a well-worn wellspring of ethnomythology!
ΤΙ ΤΟΥ ΛΕΙΠΕΙ ΤΟΥ ΨΩΡΙΑΡΗ; ΦΟΥΝΤΑ ΜΕ ΜΑΡΓΑΡΙΤΑΡΙ!

Seeds of a sensational historical ignorance serve only for comedies and for those who want to be amused facing,simultaneously,the continuity,the entirety and the duration of the historical reality face-to-face and being educated.

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