Ancient Historians · Part 12 · Alexander · B2
Cleitarchus and the Alexander Historians
Part 12 of Ancient Historians: Alexander the Great, who founded our city, was the most famous man of his age, and several people who knew him wrote about him: his court historian, his admiral, his engineer, his helmsman, and his general Ptolemy, who became king of Egypt. Then Cleitarchus, who lived in Alexandria, wrote the most exciting and least reliable version of all. Centuries later, Arrian had to choose between them. Comparing sources (whereas, while, according to, X claims that… but Y says…), and the language of reliability and motive, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
Tonight’s historian is our neighbour. Alexander the Great founded this city, and his body lies in a golden coffin a few streets from the Library. Everyone who knew him wanted to tell his story. Five or six of them wrote books.
Not at all, Marcos. Each one had his own memories, his own interests and his own reasons. Then a writer here in Alexandria, Cleitarchus, who never met Alexander, wrote the most dramatic version of all, and it became the most popular. Tonight we compare sources, and ask who to believe, and why.
The question every reader should ask, about every book.
The campaigns of Alexander, 334–323 BCE, and Alexandria afterwards
Alexander (356–323 BCE) conquered the Persian Empire and reached India before dying in Babylon at the age of thirty-two. Several men who were with him wrote accounts: Callisthenes, Aristotle’s nephew and the official court historian, who praised Alexander until he refused to bow to him Persian-style and was arrested and died; Ptolemy, one of his generals, who became king of Egypt; Aristobulus, an engineer; Nearchus, his admiral; and Onesicritus, his helmsman, famous for exaggeration. All these books are lost.
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