Alexander the Great: The Death of a God

by Paul Doherty

Genres: Historical Fiction; Historical Mysteries; Traditional Mysteries

Synopsis

What - or who - really killed the young conqueror of the known world? Master historian Paul Doherty investigates an outstanding figure who achieved so much before his premature end in this remarkable non-fiction work, Alexander the Great: The Death of a God. Perfect for fans of Philip Freeman and Robin Lane Fox. 'Riveting... compelling... an important contribution to the literature on the period' - Sunday Times Alexander the Great was an enigma, a man who wanted to be a god, a Greek who wanted to be Persian, a defender of liberties who spent most of his life taking away the liberties of others, and a king who could be compassionate yet also had the capacity to ruthlessly wipe out an ancient city. The Death of Alexander scrutinizes the circumstances surrounding the young king's death in the summer palace of the Persian kings. Did Alexander die of alcohol poisoning? Or where there other, more sinister factors involved? The great general had surrounded himself with outstanding captains of war. Was it they who ultimately made a decision to bring this young god's life to a violent, untimely end? What readers are saying about Paul Doherty: ' Doherty proves that he is a scholar as well as a writer of novels' ' I could not stop reading this book by Paul Doherty as it is very well written, immensely readable and fascinating. For me an absolute MUST ' ' Pure brilliance '

Release date: June 6, 2013

Publisher: Headline

Print pages: 245

Sample

Mathilde of Westminster

THE CUP OF GHOSTS

THE POISON MAIDEN

THE DARKENING GLASS

Sir Roger Shallot

THE WHITE ROSE MURDERS

THE POISONED CHALICE

THE GRAIL MURDERS

A BROOD OF VIPERS

THE GALLOWS MURDERS

THE RELIC MURDERS

Templar

THE TEMPLAR

THE TEMPLAR MAGICIAN

Mahu (The Akhenaten trilogy)


AN EVIL SPIRIT OUT OF THE WEST

THE SEASON OF THE HYAENA

THE YEAR OF THE COBRA

Canterbury Tales by Night

AN ANCIENT EVIL

A TAPESTRY OF MURDERS

A TOURNAMENT OF MURDERS

GHOSTLY MURDERS

THE HANGMAN’S HYMN

A HAUNT OF MURDER

Egyptian Mysteries

THE MASK OF RA

THE HORUS KILLINGS

THE ANUBIS SLAYINGS

THE SLAYERS OF SETH

THE ASSASSINS OF ISIS

THE POISONER OF PTAH

THE SPIES OF SOBECK

Constantine the Great

DOMINA

MURDER IMPERIAL

THE SONG OF THE GLADIATOR

THE QUEEN OF THE NIGHT

MURDER’S IMMORTAL MASK

Hugh Corbett

SATAN IN ST MARY’S

THE CROWN IN DARKNESS

SPY IN CHANCERY

THE ANGEL OF DEATH

THE PRINCE OF DARKNESS

MURDER WEARS A COWL

THE ASSASSIN IN THE GREENWOOD

THE SONG OF A DARK ANGEL

SATAN’S FIRE

THE DEVIL’S HUNT

THE DEMON ARCHER

THE TREASON OF THE GHOSTS

CORPSE CANDLE

THE MAGICIAN’S DEATH

THE WAXMAN MURDERS

NIGHTSHADE

THE MYSTERIUM

Standalone Titles

THE ROSE DEMON

THE HAUNTING

THE SOUL SLAYER

THE PLAGUE LORD

THE DEATH OF A KING

PRINCE DRAKULYA

THE LORD COUNT DRAKULYA

THE FATE OF PRINCES

DOVE AMONGST THE HAWKS

THE MASKED MAN

As Vanessa Alexander

THE LOVE KNOT

OF LOVE AND WAR

THE LOVING CUP

Kathryn Swinbrooke (as C L Grace)


SHRINE OF MURDERS

EYE OF GOD

MERCHANT OF DEATH

BOOK OF SHADOWS

SAINTLY MURDERS

MAZE OF MURDERS

FEAST OF POISONS

Nicholas Segalla (as Ann Dukthas)


A TIME FOR THE DEATH OF A KING

THE PRINCE LOST TO TIME

THE TIME OF MURDER AT MAYERLING

IN THE TIME OF THE POISONED QUEEN

Mysteries of Alexander the Great (as Anna Apostolou)


A MURDER IN MACEDON

A MURDER IN THEBES

Alexander the Great

THE HOUSE OF DEATH

THE GODLESS MAN

THE GATES OF HELL

Matthew Jankyn (as P C Doherty)


THE WHYTE HARTE

THE SERPENT AMONGST THE LILIES

Non-fiction

THE MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF TUTANKHAMUN

ISABELLA AND THE STRANGE DEATH OF EDWARD II

ALEXANDER THE GREAT: THE DEATH OF A GOD

THE GREAT CROWN JEWELS ROBBERY OF 1303

THE SECRET LIFE OF ELIZABETH I

THE DEATH OF THE RED KING

It seems that I have been studying Alexander the Great all my life. It began at the Palladium in Middlesbrough when, owl-eyed,
I watched Richard Burton in the role of the Great Conqueror. Sitting in a dark cinema, and being taken back to Hollywood’s
version of history I was fascinated, as we all are. It has been a long journey from such an idealized view. My study of Classical
Greek and the Greek koine only whetted my appetite for more knowledge about Alexander, as did the writings of Plutarch, Arrian
and the rest.


Alexander the Great has meant different things to different people at different times. In the nineteenth century he was the
European Ideal and the stories of his generosity were always emphasized. I was weaned on these until I came across the history
of Alexander’s life by Quintus Curtius and my doubts began. I remembered a certain passage in his history (Ch. 8, Bk 7), when
twenty Scythian ambassadors met Alexander. True, their speeches may be embellished but I distinctly remember one section when
the leading envoy accuses Alexander of making war on the human race and then goes on to argue how they had not harmed Alexander,
so why should he harm them? Why should he come to punish plunderers in their country when he had plundered every nation on
earth?


I began to look at Alexander’s conquest and his character from a different perspective. No one can doubt Alexander’s incredible courage, his genius for battle, his restless energy and the
charismatic nature of his leadership. However, through the sources, I decided to concentrate on Alexander’s death and his
final days – after all, he did die young, suddenly and most mysteriously. Was his death the outcome of choosing glory and
a short life? Or did that glory, and the darkness behind it, deliberately shorten his brilliant career? After sifting the
evidence regarding Alexander’s death, I here propose a new solution based on that evidence.


I would like to thank all who helped me, particularly those outstanding colleagues at the London Library. I am also very grateful
to Mrs Angela Francescotti for her hours of typing to finish this manuscript.


Dr Paul Doherty

April 2004

356 BC

ALEXANDER born in Pella, Macedonia, probably either 20 or 26 July, son of Philip and his third wife Olympias


354

Demosthenes attacks idea of a ‘campaign against Persia’Midsummer: Philip captures Methone; loses an eye in battle


348

August:Philip captures and destroys Olynthus


343/2

Aristotle invited to Macedonia as ALEXANDER’S tutor; takes up residence in the Groves of Mieza


342/1

Olympias’ half-brother Alexander (with Philip’s backing) accedes to the throne of Epirus

340

ALEXANDER, now 16, left as regent in Macedonia, raids the Maedi in ThraceFounds Alexandropolis in Parthia


338

2 August Battle of Chaeronea in BœtiaMajor defeat of Athens/Thebes by PhilipALEXANDER and Antipater lead a Macedonian embassy to AthensPhilip marries Attalus’ niece CleopatraOlympias and ALEXANDER go into exile


337

Spring: Hellenic League convened at CorinthALEXANDER recalled to PellaAutumn: League at Corinth ratifies Greek campaign against Persia


336

Spring: Parmenio and Attalus sent to Asia Minor for preliminary military operationsJune: Darius III Codomanus accedes to the Persian throneCleopatra bears Philip a son, CaranusAlexander of Epirus marries Olympias’
daughter CleopatraPhilip murderedALEXANDER succeeds to throne of MacedoniaLate summer: ALEXANDER calls a meeting of the League of Corinth;confirmed as Captain General


335

Early spring: ALEXANDER goes north to deal with Thrace and IllyriaRevolt of Thebes, destruction of that city


334

March—April: ALEXANDER and his army cross into Asia MinorMay: Battle of the GranicusGeneral reorganization of Greek cities in Asia MinorMiletus besieged and capturedAutumn: Reduction of Halicarnassus


333

ALEXANDER’S column moves north to Celaenae in Phrygia and GordiumEarly spring: Memnon of Rhodes diesMustering of Persian forces in BabylonEpisode of the Gordian KnotDarius moves westward from BabylonSeptember: ALEXANDER reaches Tarsus; becomes illDarius crosses EuphratesSeptember–October: Battle of IssusALEXANDER advances southward through Phoenicia


332


January: Byblos and Sidon submit29 July: Fall of TyreSeptember—October: Gaza capturedALEXANDER crowned as Pharaoh at Memphis


331

Early spring: Alexander visits Oracle of Ammon at SiwahApril: Alexandria foundedALEXANDER returns to TyreDarius moves his main army from Babylon18 September–October:. Battle of GaugamelaMacedonians advance on Babylon which falls in mid-OctoberRevolt of Aegis who is defeated at Megalopolis by AntipaterEarly December:. ALEXANDER occupies Susa unopposed


330

January: ALEXANDER reaches and sacks PersepolisMay: burning of temples etc. in PersepolisEarly June: ALEXANDER sets out for EcbatanaDarius retreats towards BactriaParmenio left behind at Ecbatana with Harpalus as treasurerPursuit
of Darius renewedDarius found murdered near HecatompylusBessus establishes himself as ‘King of Kings’ in BactriaLate August: march to Lake SeistanThe ‘conspiracy of Philotas’


329

March—April: ALEXANDER crosses the Hindu KushApril—May: ALEXANDER advances into Bactria; Bessus retreats across the OxusJune: ALEXANDER reaches and crosses the OxusBessus surrendersALEXANDER advances to SamarkandRevolt of Spitamenes


329/8

ALEXANDER takes up winter quarters at ZariaspaBessus executed


328


Campaign against SpitamenesAutumn: Black Cleitus murdered


328/7

Spitamenes defeated and killed

327

Spring: Soghdian Rock capturedALEXANDER marries Roxane30,000 Persian ‘Successors’ recruitedThe ‘Pages’ Conspiracy’ and Callisthenes’ deathEarly summer. ALEXANDER re-crosses Hindu Kush; begins invasion of India


327/6

ALEXANDER reaches Nysa; the ‘Dionysius episode’


326

Advance to TaxilaBattle of Hydaspes (Jhelum) against Rajah PorusDeath of BucephalusJuly: mutiny at the Hyphasis (Beas) RiverReturn to the JhelumEarly November: ALEXANDER’S fleet and army move downriver


326/5

Campaign against the Brahmin cities; ALEXANDER seriously wounded


325

September. ALEXANDER’S march through the Gedrosian (Makran) DesertHarpalus defects from Asia Minor to GreeceThe Great Purge begins


324

January: Nearchus and the fleet sent on to SusaThe episode of Cyrus’ tombALEXANDER returns to PersepolisSpring arrival of 30,000 trained Persian ‘Successors’The Susa mass-marriagesMarch: The Exiles’ Decree and the Deification DecreeCraterus appointed to succeed Antipater as regent, and escort veterans homeALEXANDER moves from Susa to EcbatanaDeath of Hephaestion


323

Harpalus assassinated in CreteALEXANDER campaigns against Cosseans; returns to BabylonALEXANDER explores the Euphrates canals; boat-trip through the marshesAntipater’s son, Cassander, arrives to negotiate with ALEXANDER29/30 May: ALEXANDER falls ill after a party; dies 10/11 June

323–322

Uneasy peace between the SuccessorsPtolemy takes over Egypt

322–321 

Breakdown of peace between ALEXANDER’S commanders: Wars of Succession begin


The House of Macedon

PHILIP

King and Alexander’s father

OLYMPIAS

Queen, Alexander’s mother and Philip’s third wife

ALEXANDER

Son of Philip and Olympias

ARRIDHAEUS

Also known as Philip, Philip’s son and Alexander’s half-brother

CLEOPATRA

Alexander’s sister

CLEOPATRA

Niece of Attalus and Philip’s fourth wife

NICESIPOLIS

Thessalian concubine of Philip

Leading Macedonian Commanders

PTOLEMY

Under Alexander, possibly Alexander’s half-brother

PERDICCAS

Under Alexander

ATTALUS

Under Philip

ATTALUS [II]

Under Alexander

NEARCHUS

Cretan, Alexander’s admiral

LEONNATUS

Under Alexander

LYSIMACHUS

Under Alexander

EUMENES

Under Philip and Alexander

HEPHAESTION

Alexander’s close friend

HARPALUS

Alexander’s treasurer

CLEITUS

‘The Black’ or ‘Black Cleitus’, Alexander’s personal bodyguard and senior commander. Cleitus had also served under Philip

ANTIGONUS

The ‘One-eyed’. Senior commander under both Philip and Alexander

CRATERUS

Alexander’s lieutenant and leading commander

COENUS

Leading commander

POLYPERCHON

Leading commander

Other Members of the Macedonian Court

PAUSANIAS

Philip’s assassin

MEDIUS OF LARISSA

Macedonian naval officer

CHARES OF MYTILENE

Royal Chamberlain

ARISTOTLE

Alexander’s tutor

CALLISTHENES

Alexander’s official historian

ARISTANDER OF TELEMESUS

Seer, necromancer

LEONIDAS

Alexander’s tutor

LYSIMACHUS

Alexander’s tutor

CALANUS

Indian holy man

ANAXARCHUS

Resident sophist at Alexander’s court

CLEOMENES

Alexander’s governor of Egypt

APOLLODORUS

Alexander’s co-governor of Babylon

PEITHAGORAS

Seer

MELEAGER

Macedonian officer

PROTEAS

Nephew of Cleitus: a notorious toper

THAIS

Athenian courtesan at Alexander’s court

HERMOLAUS

Royal page

The House of Parmenio

PARMENIO

Leading general under Philip and Alexander



Sons of Parmenio and officers in Alexander’s army

The House of Antipater

ANTIPATER

Veteran general under Philip: left as Regent of Macedon by Alexander

CASSANDER

Son of Antipater, a leading protagonist in the Wars of Succession.

IOLAUS

Son of Antipater, Alexander’s cupbearer

NICANOR

Son of Antipater

Persians



Persian rulers of the fifth century BC

ARTAXERXES OCHUS III

Contemporary of Philip

DARIUS CODOMANUS III

Alexander’s rival

MEMNON OF RHODES

Greek mercenary general in the pay of Darius III

MAZAEUS

Persian satrap of Babylon

SISYGAMBIS

Persian queen mother

BATIS THE EUNUCH

Commander of Gaza

ROXANE

Persian princess, wife of Alexander

BARSINE

Alexander’s alleged mistress

BAGOAS

Eunuch, friend of Darius III and later of Alexander



Persian satraps who resisted Alexander

Athenians

DEMOSTHENES

Orator, fervent opponent of Macedon

ISOCRATES

Orator, ardent supporter of a Greek campaign against Persia

Other Rulers

ADA OF CARIA

Queen of Halicarnassus and the surrounding territories

PIXADORUS

Ruler of Halicarnassus in Caria, Queen Ada’s rival

HERMEIAS

Petty Greek despot

ALEXANDER OF EPIRUS

Olympias’ half-brother, ruler of a small but strategically placed kingdom on Macedon’s border; married Alexander’s sister,
Cleopatra


Babylon May 323 BC



‘A God caused this fate,

A God created this disaster’

Euripides, Andromache

(line 1203)

Had the thirty-three-year-old Alexander of Macedon believed in ghosts, they would have surrounded him in the bathhouse of
Nebuchadnezzar’s palace, set amidst the lush fields, gardens and orchards, a veritable paradise, despite the boiling heat
of the Babylon summer. According to Plutarch, the signs of an impending tragedy, the portent of some gathering unknown terror,
of unreasoning dread, had filled Alexander’s mind since he had moved into Babylon earlier that summer. The soothsayers and
fortune-tellers who thronged his court may have told him the story about how a Babylonian king, Belshazzar, had been forced to confront his own nightmares, face his own death and ponder the dissolution of his own empire
in that very same city. Whilst Belshazzar had been feasting, the Finger of God had appeared to inscribe in burning marks on
the walls of his palace the ominous warning: Mene, mene, tekel u-phärsin, which meant God had measured Belshazzar’s sovereignty, weighed it in the balance, and found it wanting, and so his kingdom
was to be divided.1*

Alexander’s fever, which had appeared the night before, whilst he had feasted and revelled, had not abated. He had offered
oblation to the gods and shared the rich produce from that sacrifice with others of his council whilst honouring his admiral
Nearchus the Cretan. Nearchus had recently survived the perils of an exploratory voyage along the northern rim of the Indian
Ocean and was set to lead Alexander’s fleet along the shoreline of the Arabian Peninsula. Alexander had left this feast only
to be persuaded by an old drinking friend, Medius of Larissa, a Thessalian with an eye for a good time and a tongue used to
flattery, to join a private drinking party with some of the king’s old cronies. Alexander had then fallen ill, so common report
later put it, but this had not stopped him attending a second party with Medius. However, the fever became so raging, Alexander
decided to adjourn to the imperial bathhouse and lie by its great pool in the hope that it would cool him.2 It is not known whether Alexander had his favourite book brought down, the Iliad, which, ever since he was a boy, he had kept beneath his pillow next to a dagger.3 Alexander knew Homer’s heroic descriptions almost by heart. The book was such a treasured possession that he kept it in a
beautiful casket looted from the treasure of Darius Codomanus, the Persian King of Kings, whom Alexander had overthrown at
the Battle of Gaugamela some eight years earlier (331 BC).4

Alexander saw himself as a Homeric warrior, a second Achilles – from whom he could claim descent through his witch-queen mother,
Olympias of Epirus, a fiery Molossian. She could trace her ancestry through Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, and his wife Andromache,
the widow of Hector, taken as Neoptolemus’ prize after the fall of Troy.5 Alexander, like all his contemporaries, regarded such genealogy as a self-evident truth. The Iliad was Alexander’s inspiration, the struggle Homer recounted was Alexander’s vision of war, and Achilles, described by Homer
as ‘that most terrifying of men’, was his role model. Achilles had chosen a brief, glorious life over a long, boring one.
(Only in the underworld, after his death at the hands of Paris, and faced with an eternity of boredom does Achilles question
the decision he had made. Achilles realizes what it is like to be a ‘king of all the dead’ not in the Iliad but in its sequel, the Odyssey when Ulysses visits the underworld.)6

Shaking with fever, beside the pool, Alexander of Macedon must have reflected upon his own ‘immortal longings’ and recalled
that warning from the Iliad: ‘The day of your death draws close’ and, perhaps, ‘he must die in his own palace of a painful illness.’7 Alexander, the new Achilles of the West, was, in fact, seriously ill, following the same feverish pattern of sickness as
his friend Hephaestion, who had played Patroclus to Alexander’s Achilles. Hephaestion had died a year earlier (324 BC) at Ecbatana in northern Persia despite all of Alexander’s prayers and sacrifices (see Part Seven, pp. 147-86). Did Hephaestion,
like Patroclus in the Iliad, come back to haunt the king? To remind him of those early days together in the Grove of Nymphs at Mieza, just to the south
of Pella, the new capital of Macedon? That had been the time of preparation, when perhaps Alexander first felt those immortal
longings, that pothos, that deep, unquenching desire to achieve one’s end – to be like his hero Achilles – aniketos – that is, invincible?




‘From petty reasons, the tongue provokes great quarrels for men. Men who are prudent, take care not to argue with their kin.’
Euripides, Andromache (lines 642–4)


From the very start, the signs of the coming of a God had been clear to see, at least to some. Philip of Macedon, the conqueror
of those sprawling lands wedged between Greece in the south and the Balkans to the north, had taken a new wife. Philip had
fought off rivals to the throne of Macedon, organized his army and, looking south, planned to extend his hegemony over all
Greece which, by 357 BC, was a collection of powerful city-states. Philip’s main challenge was from Athens and Thebes, ‘the
twin eyes of Hellas’. A century of war had not diminished the intense rivalry between these two city-states, yet neither of
them was strong enough to win supremacy either over its rival or the other states such as Sparta.1 The Greeks dreamed glorious dreams, articulated by the orator Isocrates of Athens, of a unity, a brotherhood of states which
would launch a great campaign across the Hellespont. The purpose of such a campaign was to liberate the Greek colonies, the cities
of Asia Minor, such as Ephesus and Miletus, from Persian domination as well as to punish the self-proclaimed King of Kings,
ruler of the Persian Empire which, under despotic princes such as Xerxes, had dared to invade Greece, despoil its cities and
tried to impose tyrannical rule on freedom-loving Greeks.2 Like most dreams, such aspirations were fanciful. The Greek city-states were riven by political infighting between democrats
and oligarchs. If compromise and harmony were maintained within the cities, then the intense rivalries between the different
states created an impasse which could not be broken. Sparta had defeated Athens and torn down the long walls of the Piraeus,
Athens’ harbour, to the sound of pipes. Then Sparta in turn had declined and Athens had recovered from the dark days of 404
BC. The Athenians had rebuilt their walls, and refurbished their fleet, harbours and arsenals whilst Spartan supremacy had
been shattered by the Sacred Band, the crack corps of the Theban army, at Leuctra in 371 BC.3

So the city-states continued to dream their dreams, whilst to the north barbaric Macedon, with its rich natural resources
of woods, meadows, cattle herds, fish-filled rivers, silver and gold mines, flexed its muscles. The Macedonian royal house
had long kept itself occupied with its own savage tribal wars. These ended abruptly with the emergence of Philip in 360 BC, a warrior king par excellence in a warrior society. Philip’s title of king was never actually used, his status was rather ‘first amongst equals’, a generalissimo,
a successful war commander, who secured the allegiance of other Macedonian warlords. A thickset, barrel-chested, heavy-bearded
man with an eye for the ladies and a taste for undiluted wine, Philip had early established himself as an ambitious war leader.
His jovial manner, ready wit and wicked sense of humour masked a cruel, ruthless and wily strategic brain. Outwardly the bluff
Macedonian aristocrat in his broad-brimmed hat and purple cloak, in truth, he was a born intriguer. He had developed a fighting
force, cavalry and foot, which was second to none, drilled and trained like professional mercenaries. Philip had studied the
use of siege artillery, strengthened his fleet, and sought out harbours. But Macedon’s real military strength rested on the well-organized, superbly drilled phalanx of spearmen with their 15-foot-long sarissas or pikes, fighting en masse and delivering the hammer blow of battle alongside auxiliaries, light-armed javelin men, archers
and slingers. These in turn were supported by fast-moving, well-organized cavalry units eager to exploit any break in the
enemy wall.4

Philip, for all his warmongering, understood the importance of diplomacy over force, to get his own way. He often repeated
the maxim ‘With children you cheat with knuckle bones, but, with adults, oaths.’5 He was always eager to sign a treaty to reach a compromise, agree to a pact, or form an alliance – which could later be kept
or broken according to circumstances. Philip would prefer to spend money on bribes than spill the blood of his precious troops.
The historian Diodorus Siculus records how Philip used to boast that ‘it was far more through the use of gold than of weapons
that he enlarged his kingdom’.6 If peace treaties were a means to achieve his aims, marriage alliances confirmed them. It became a common joke in Greece
that ‘Philip of Macedon always married a new wife with each campaign he undertook’.7

In 357 BC, Philip took, as his third wife, Myrtale, a princess of the Molossian royal house which ruled Epirus, a small but strategic
state to the south-west of Macedon with ports and harbours giving access to the Ionian Sea.


Myrtale, not yet eighteen, had been initiated into the Maenadic rites which originated in the worship of Dionysius, the God
of Wine.8 Myrtale was ambitious and hot-tempered, with a nasty attitude to any opposition. She later changed her name to Olympias after
Macedon’s outstanding triumphs at the Olympic games which took place between the date of her marriage to Philip and the birth
of her beloved son Alexander in 356 BC.9 Olympias moved into a society where intrigue and violence were regarded as an occupational hazard, into a culture despised
by its sophisticated southern neighbours who scoffed at the rustic culture of Macedon, ridiculed its coarse language and laughed
at a kingdom whose army purified itself by marching between the corpse of a dog, disembowelled and cut in half by a priest.10

On the other hand, Olympias became queen of a kingdom whose ruler was proving to be a brilliant general and military genius,
a ruthless politician who, if he could not bribe or lie his way to success, would deploy his well-organized army to achieve
his will.


In this tumultuous and upwardly mobile society Olympias emerges as an individual obsessed with her own status and that of
her son. She also shared one common trait with her new husband – a devotion to Dionysius, the God of Wine. Yet Philip, despite
his apparent boorishness, was something of a cultural snob. He had moved the capital of his kingdom from Aegae to the more
accessible Pella built amidst the foothills of the mountains of Macedon.11 He had created and developed a new city, a magnet for artists as well as for drinkers. Philip was a true Macedonian, a hard-drinking
man. Ephippus of Olynthus, a gossip, describes the Macedonians as a people ‘who never understood how to drink in moderation’.
He pointed out how they drank so much, so fast, that they were often drunk before the first course was even served.12 According to the snobbish Athenians, who regarded the Macdeonians as poor second cousins, temperance and moderation were
. . .