Alexander Book

So, my adventures with the great king of Macedonia are over. I will miss him but at the same time I am happy to resume a more stationary life for a while. If you want to know what happened, here are some of my notes:

We have left Asia minor behind us. Darius is defeated. Barsine, Alexander's great love, is dead. The army is on the way to Babylon where it is to rest for a month after which every soldier will be given a choice if he wants to follow his leader to the furthest shores, where the river Oceanos encompasses the earth, or if he wants to return home.

Asia, where a mysterious substance called "naphta" emerges from the ground in springs - allowing barbarians to conjure a fire of incredible heat, where unfamiliar peoples, among unfamiliar landscapes, worship unfamiliar gods, and where even plants and animals are a source of wonder, is a paradise for explorers. But the further into the unknown continent, the more controversial is the expedition.
Alexander begins slowly to dissolve the original composition of his troops. He adopts some of the Persian ways, accepts the prostration ('proshynesis'), that is a Persian custom to greet their king, marries the daughter of Darius becoming the rightful heir to the Persian empire. Survives an assacination attempt and comes close to mutiny in his own army. Great leader and a strategist that he is, he understands that with his faithful Greek troops he can only conquer Asia, but not keep it. So he slowly introduces changes. The veterans and earlier companions are being let go, one after another the old allies travel back to Greece while new contingents composed of Persians trained in Macedonian way, are taking their place. A strategically brilliant move, but at the same time a step towards alienating his own people, who with time will not be able to recognise the empire as their own. But Alexander must move on, whatever the price. To stop, or return, is not in his nature.

Seven years have passed since he left Pella. His friends are still with him, building of the empire continues, but conflicts between him and his friends occasionally flame up. After a particularly ominous dream involving Cleitus the 'Black' (a friend and a warrior who fought alongside Alexander, and before him by his father Filip) Alexander decides to arrange a feast to clear the air after the nasty dream. Both he and Black become drunk. A recently arrived poet recites a text insulting one of the Macedomian generals who just died. Black gets angry, and challenges Alexander to punish the insulter, but Alexander does not hear the insult, only sees that his companion is hostile towards a guest. Situation accelerates, insults continue and intoxicated Alexander throws a spear at Black, hitting and killing him instantly.... A scene as if from the beginning of the end. But it is not the end - not yet anyway.

The adventures of the travelling king continue and the army pushes on into the depth of the continent, attacking and being attacked by native tribes, experiencing the fertile and hostile nature of the subtropical regions. Rain season makes the man feel not like man any more, but like beasts. Tension rises, and finally there comes the time to turn back. Alexander under pressure from his friends and his generals realises that his troops can not go on. His own curiosity for what lies beyond the next hill and next river, can not be satisfied. But the army is now somewhere at the foot of Hindukush, and even with the decision to turn back, the adventure is long from over. The army will fall victim to oceanic tides that they didn't know anything about, they will travel through mountains and deserts, they will lose the way and almost perish of thirst and starvation, on the way to explore the unknown coast. And the troops are by now tired, so very tired, that it is unbelievable that they find the strength to go on. And although I enjoyed their company so much, I am tired too. It is time to end the adventure, and go home. Some of us, among them Alexander himself will never return home, and perhaps that's just as well. Perhaps he will finally find solace when his spirit free of the confinement of his royal body will be able to go on to discover the ends of the earth.

It was an amazing and almost unbelievable adventure. Fascinating and frustrating at times but always a pleasure to read. Thank you professor Manfredi, for making it possible for me to join in.