25   Rauxsnaka:The spelling used by Holt in “Alexander the Great’s Little Star,” p. 32. “Roshanak” is often given as the Persian version of her name.

26   Rhoxane had become pregnant:The first child born to Alexander by Rhoxane is known to us only from an obscure source, the Metz Epitome, chap. 70.

27   no doubt fictionalized:Already in the second century A.D., Arrian mocked the story as an invention ( Anabasis7.27.3).

28   learning high classical Greek:Diodorus 17.67.1.

29   Craterus was not happy:As related on this page, Craterus later detached himself from Amastris and married instead a daughter of Antipater’s. It seems that in Macedonian society only the king was allowed the privilege of polygamy (see Ogden, Polygamy, Prostitutes and Death).

30   Craterus revered his king:At some point during the Asian campaign Craterus evidently aided Alexander during a lion hunt, and Plutarch says ( Alexander40) that he dedicated a sculpture at Delphi commemorating this moment of shared peril. The dedicatory inscription of the monument shows that it was in fact set up by Craterus’ son after Craterus’ death. The mosaic seen at Pella today of two men hunting a lion is often thought to represent Alexander and Craterus but probably does not.

31   The stalwart Craterus:Craterus’ exclusion from the award ceremony is an extrapolation from Arrian Anabasis7.5.4–6, where the recipients of crowns are carefully listed, but Craterus’ name does not appear.

32   who carried lighter gear:The weapons and armor of the Hypaspists cannot be deduced from either literary or archaeological evidence. Most scholars infer from their movements in battle that these soldiers were more lightly armed than the phalanx troops.

33   the Silver Shields:It is not certain whether this name, Argyraspidesin Greek, arose in Alexander’s lifetime or only afterward, but Arrian suggests it was in use before 324 ( Anabasis7.11.3). It is fairly certain that it applies to what was once the corps called Shield Bearers; see Anson, “Alexander’s Hypaspists and the Argyraspids,” and Heckel, “Career of Antigenes.”

34   Among them were the Silver Shields:The departure from Opis of this elite unit can be inferred from their later presence in Perdiccas’ army in Egypt; see Heckel, “Career of Antigenes,” and Hammond, “Alexander’s Veterans After His Death.”

35   many years’ pay:Information about what Macedonian recruits were paid is scarce. It appears that Shield Bearers received thirty drachmas per month and “double-pay men” sixty. At that rate a “double-pay man” would earn a talent in about eight and a half years.

36   had their salary increased:At 7.23.3 of the Anabasis, Arrian speaks of “ten- statermen” in the new Macedonian phalanx, and some historians think he refers to gold staters rather than silver, putting the pay rate of such troops at two hundred drachmas per month—more than a fivefold increase over their probable starting rates. Arrian also appears to report at 7.8.1 that Alexander explicitly promised to reward the troops who stayed with him in Babylon, though most editors delete a word from the Greek text here so that the reward instead goes to those leaving.

37   probably few of them did:It is often asserted that Alexander’s men longed to return to Europe, but there is little evidence that this was so. In the mutiny at the Hyphasis, in Arrian’s account, the mutineer Coenus described the troops as yearning for families and homelands ( Anabasis5.26.6), but this speech is generally acknowledged to be a fabrication playing on popular rhetorical themes. At Opis, the troops rejected the plan to send many of them home, and after Alexander’s death, as will be seen throughout this book, few Macedonians returned to Europe; those who did often set off again for Asia.

38   Alternatively, he might have realized:There seems no good grounds on which to choose between these nearly opposite interpretations (Schachermeyr, Alexander in Babylon, p. 70).

39   Argaeus was warned:The story is related by Justin (7.2), who adds that the Macedonians later believed that Alexander’s burial outside Aegae had violated this injunction.

40   Argaeus’ father had been an exile:The flight from Argos of Perdiccas I and his brothers, and their seizure of the Macedonian throne, are related by Herodotus 8.137–39.

41   regard it as propaganda:Gene Borza summarizes the consensus of recent opinion in “Greek and Macedonian Ethnicity,”pp. 333–6 of The Landmark Arrian(ed. J. Romm, NY, 2010): “Like other ancient peoples, the Macedonians (or their ruling house) created a foundation mythology designed to suit contemporary needs—in this case, to forge closer political and cultural links with the Greeks.”

42   In some of his last instructions:The burial request is reported by Quintus Curtius (10.5.4) and Diodorus (18.3.5). Their version of Alexander’s death is obviously out of harmony with that of Arrian and Plutarch, who say the king had by this time lost the power of speech. There is no clear way to resolve such divergences, but Curtius’ report gains in credibility when one considers that no one in the post-Alexander world had a motive to invent it. A full discussion can be found in the first section of Badian’s “King’s Notebooks.”

Chapter 2: The Testing of Perdiccas

  1   he passed to his senior Bodyguard:The story is related by the three so-called vulgate sources, Diodorus (17.117.3), Quintus Curtius (10.5.4), and Justin (12.15.12), but not by Arrian or Plutarch, and hence some suspect its authenticity; see Badian’s discussion in “The Ring and the Book,” for example.

  2   the post of chiliarch:I refer here to the office sometimes called the equestrian chiliarchy and not to the court chiliarchy, the Macedonian equivalent of the Persian post of vizier, a separate office (see Andrew Collins, “The Office of Chiliarch Under Alexander and the Successors,” Phoenix55 [2001], pp. 259–83). The overlap of the names, and the fact that Hephaestion apparently held both offices at once, has created much confusion, and I have tried to reduce this by not using the term “chiliarch” to refer to the vizier or court chiliarch, the administrative head of the empire. It is possible that by handing his ring to Perdiccas, Alexander meant to appoint his equestrian chiliarch to the court chiliarchy, again making one man the holder of both offices as Hephaestion had been.

  3   One ancient source:The unnamed authors cited by Arrian at Anabasis6.11.1, the only report we have of this version of events. Plutarch, in the second of his two essays titled “On the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander,” gives a detailed account of the efforts to aid the wounded Alexander, but the essay ends abruptly, seemingly broken off, before naming the man who extracted the arrowhead.

  4   flipping it back:Attested by Suidas’ Greek lexicon, in the entry on Leonnatus (information thought to be derived from Arrian’s Events After Alexanderand therefore included in Roos’ edition of that work).

  5   had kept them in a careful equipoise:The point is made forcefully by Heckel in “Politics of Distrust.” Alexander was wary throughout his campaign of challenges from within his ranks, but especially after 330, when a high-ranking officer named Philotas appeared to have conspired against his life.

  6   “They were so equal”:The passage is at 13.1.10. It is unclear whether the sentiment comes from Justin or from the author whose text he is summarizing, Pompeius Trogus.

  7   Alexander had been dragged:The description that follows is taken principally from Plutarch’s second essay titled “On the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander” ( Moralia345). It does not entirely cohere with other accounts, including that of Plutarch himself in the Life of Alexander.