30   Antipater tried a ruse:Described by Polyaenus, the Greek military writer, in his collection of tricks and subterfuges, Stratagems of War4.4.3. The other movements in the opening phase of the war are found in Diodorus 18.12–13.

31   with weary irony:The tone of the comment is hard to discern from Plutarch’s account of it ( Phocion23.4). Read differently, the remark could be a straightforward expression of doubt as to the long-term prospects of Leosthenes’ efforts.

32   a total restoration:The details of Demosthenes’ return to Athens are found in Plutarch, Demosthenes27.6–8.

Chapter 4: Resistance, Rebellion, Reconquest

  1   communications lines:Hilltop criers are described by Diodorus 19.17.7; astandaiby Herodotus 7.98 and Xenophon Education of Cyrus8.6.17–18; fire signals by Aeschylus Persians249–56, Herodotus 9.3, and Aristotle De mundo398b30–35. Evidence also survives in Persian sources; see Briant’s From Cyrus to Alexander, 369–71. The use of moving poles for coded fire-beacon messages is known from Judaic sources.

  2   particularly kind:The details that follow are from Quintus Curtius 5.2.16–22, 10.5.19–25.

  3   purges within her own family:Quintus Curtius (10.5.23) reports that eighty of Sisygambis’ brothers were murdered in a single day by the notoriously cruel Artaxerxes III, head of a different line of the royal family, and that she had lost six of her seven sons.

  4   at some point:There is no evidence to indicate how or when this change of destination was decided. The sources agree that Alexander wished to be buried at the temple of Ammon (Diodorus 18.3.5; Curtius 10.5.4; Justin 12.15.7), but Pausanias says that when the cortege left Babylon, it was headed for Aegae (1.6.3). Discussion by Badian in the first segment of “King’s Notebooks.”

  5   no one yet imagined:Among the greatest mysteries to historians of the post-Alexander era is the scale of Antigonus’ ambitions. He was to be the first of the generals to crown himself king, in 306, but at what point he set his sights on royalty, or on domination of the whole of Alexander’s empire, is very difficult to determine. Almost certainly, though, these did not become his goals until several years after Alexander’s death.

  6   Antigonus had always liked Eumenes:Their friendship is attested by Plutarch, Eumenes10.6.

  7   giving satrapies to Greeks:The only previous satrapal assignments given to Greeks were in the farthest regions of the empire, Aria, Bactria, and Sogdiana. These undesirable locations were meager spoils compared with the Cappadocian post given to Eumenes.

  8   while helping Philip:The anecdote, related by Plutarch in Alexander70.4, actually refers to a man named Antigenes, but this is often regarded as an error for Antigonus.

  9   only surviving son:Antigonus had once had a second son, Philip, who died in youth.

10   staggeringly handsome:Demetrius’ good looks are attested by Plutarch ( Demetrius2) and by the (admittedly idealized) portraits on coins. In later life Demetrius was to build political power on his looks and his reputation for sexual charisma, something in the manner of a modern-day Kennedy.

11   two years earlier:Accounts of the first Greek exodus from Bactria are given by Quintus Curtius (9.7.1–11) and Diodorus (17.99.5–6). Diodorus says the three thousand escapees were slaughtered by the Macedonians, but he seems to have confused this group with the second wave of Greek deserters; Curtius reports the three thousand made it home safe.

12   largely as hostages:The ancient world had fewer qualms about hostage taking than the modern one. It was common practice for subject peoples to give hostages to their conquerors as a guarantee of compliance. The troop contributions required of the Greeks by their settlement with the Macedonians, following the battle of Chaeronea in 338, were understood to be pledges of good behavior.

13   a rapturous pair of speeches:Their title is usually translated “On the Fortune or Virtue of Alexander,” parts 1 and 2. The two orations ostensibly argue different sides of the question of whether Alexander’s success was due to good luck or to innate talents, though in both admiration for Alexander’s achievements is the dominant idea. They are presumed to have been written by Plutarch in youth, since the view of Alexander is more naively positive than in the Life of Alexander.

14   several times told him so:As attested by Plutarch, at Eumenes6.2, who unfortunately does not give examples. Few traces of these episodes can be found in the ancient Alexander histories, but the tendency to idealize Alexander must have largely effaced such a high-level challenge to his goals.

15   out of dislike:The promotion of officers in Alexander’s army in the king’s last years largely depended on their attitudes toward his fusion plans. It has already been seen that Meleager, an opponent of those plans, was kept in the infantry ranks long after his fellow platoon leaders had been elevated to the cavalry (this page).

16   the renowned Phila:The sketch of her character that follows is based on a tribute found in Diodorus 19.59.3–5. Phila would later show unflagging devotion in her long marriage to the scoundrel Demetrius.

17   Phila was in Cilicia:Her presence there is not directly attested, but has been inferred as likely by Heckel on the basis of ingenious prosopographical arguments (see “A Grandson” and “Nicanor Son of Balacrus”). Even Badian, who disputes Heckel’s findings, concedes that Phila may well have been in Cilicia for part of Balacrus’ tenure as satrap there, presumably the last part (“Two Postscripts,” p. 117).

18   second Perdiccas’ proposals:Quintus Curtius gives him a crucial role at the council session of June 12, backing Perdiccas at a moment when he was under challenge from Meleager (10.7.8). Justin, however, does not confirm the report.

19   the man he had just appointed:There is much left unclear by Diodorus’ account of Perdiccas’ maneuvers at 18.7.3–5, not least the fact that he depicts Perdiccas appointing the very man whose power he then tried to circumscribe. However, just the same paradox can be observed in some of his other appointments: Meleager as negotiator to the rebellious infantrymen in Babylon, and Antigonus as backup to Eumenes in Cappadocia. Perdiccas seems to have had either a shortage of trustworthy subordinates or an unfortunate tendency to test those he deemed dubious by giving them crucial assignments.

20   None of over twenty thousand:The staggering scale of the ordered slaughter, coupled with the potential for loss of control of the upper satrapies, has caused some scholars to doubt the reliability of Diodorus’ report; see Holt, Alexander the Great and Bactria, p. 89, and Sidky, Greek Kingdom of Bactria, p. 99. However, since it is the only report we have, it seems unwise to call it into question based on judgments about the strategy involved (a point made by Bosworth in his review of Holt’s book, JHS110 [1990], p. 257).

21   once a Persian king:The story of Cambyses’ rash attack on the Apis is told by Herodotus 3.27–29.

22   the epithet Soter:The name was not bestowed on Ptolemy until 304, after he defended the island of Rhodes against an assault by Antigonus, but it no doubt arose from aspects of his character that had been talked of long before then.

23   A record survives:The pseudo-Aristotelian treatise titled Economics1352a–b.

24   the king bought a favor:The story and the quotation are from Arrian Anabasis7.23. Arrian makes clear that Alexander had deliberately divided rule over Egypt among several men, so as to prevent it from breaking away from the empire (3.5.7). Cleomenes had been given jurisdiction only over finance, but had quickly made himself satrap, or the closest thing to it.