Alexander the Great 9781136191329, 9780710308344

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Alexander the Great An account of his life and exploits from Ethiopic sources and other writing

Written by one of the most remarkable and erudite scholars of the early twentieth century, a man who has not an equal today, this book gives a unique and authoritive picture of one of the greatest men in history. The object of this work, which it admirally achieves, is to present to lovers of legend and history about Alexander translations of all Ethiopic accounts of that man in English and to add to this all necessary commentary.

E. A. Wallis Budge was once keeper of Egyptian and Assyrian Antiques at the British Museum.

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ALEXANDER THE GREAT

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Alexander the Great An Account of His Life and Exploits from Ethiopic Sources and Other Writing W.Y. Evans-Wentz

First published in 2003 by Kegan Paul International This edition first published in 2010 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third, Avenue, New York, NY 100 17

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business First issued in paperback 2012 © Kegan Paul, 2003

Transferred to Digital Printing 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN13: 978-0-7103-0834-4 (hbk) ISBN13: 978-0-415-54086-5 (pbk) Publisher's Note The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. The publisher has made every effort to contact original copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

THIS BOOK IS

BY PERMISSION DEDICATED TO

LADY MEUX, OF THEOBALD'S PARK TO WHOSE MUNIFICENCE THE ADMIRERS OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT OWE THE PUBLICATION OF THE ETHIOPIC HISTORIES AND ACCOUNTS OF HIS LIFE, TRAVELS, AND EXPLOITS.

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"(!low pdi&- 6ofbit6 dnb fdd6 t6t&-tt ".Rnb l?t &-6oft 6m d no6ft jt&-ft, "~f .Rfi&-dunbrt, t6to ri~t llP,ng, "~6df bubt 6)? 6i&- mdiGfrt&- ttt6)?ng; ".Rnb ot~treom, df6o '!) fl?nbe, ".ou~ TWV IT Ep(JWV, w~ €rr' apoupa~ (JTaxua~ urpwTa~ KEipovTE~. Meusel, p. 751. • The Strangas, which was frozen, and which Darius succeeded in crossing safely; under the weight of his followers, however, the ice broke, and they were all drowned except such as were slain by the Macedonians.

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DEFEAT OF THE PERSIANS.

a number of streams together with the remainder of his army; and Alexander pursued them with Alexander . horsemen an d overtoo k t hem, b ut h e d'd pursues the hIS I not Persians. kill them, for he cried out to them and promised them by the Faith that he would deal graciously with them and would not make an end of them utterly. And Darius the king had departed from them, being conquered, and had gone into the heathen temple wherein he worshipped, through fear of Alexander. Meanwhile Alexander had himself come into the city of Darius, and he captured the Capture or . .!" an d h'IS daughter, the family mot her of I) anus, an d h'IS Wite, or Darius. and all his men servants, and maid servants, and all his possessions, and vessels of gold and of silver, and goodly raiment, the like of which had never before been found among kings. And when Darius had come into the house of his gods he wept before them, and he sat down sorrowfully, (p. 46] and meditated what he should do, and he thought of the destruction of his army, and of his generals, and of his mighty men of valour, Darius takes • country, an d of h'IS h ouse, temple. refuge In a an d of t he peopIe of h IS 2

Literally, "house of idols"; the Gr. has iiA9Ev eic;; TO UIJTOU. 2 According to Plutarch (Alexander, xx), this victory was a splendid one, and Alexander slew more than a hundred and ten thousand Persians. Alexander took Darius' bow and chariot, and his soldiers reserved for him the Persian king's tent, wherein were found rich furniture and quantities of gold and silver. That the mother and wife of Darius and two unmarried daughters were among the prisoners was told him while he sat at meat. 1

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84

THE HISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

and of his kinsfolk, and of how the men of Persia had perished, and he said to himself, "There is "nothing at all left for me, and it will be better "for me to die than to become a vassal." And while he was thus meditating in his heart he wrote a letter to Alexander, which was as follows:He writes to "From Darius the king to 3 the lord and prince Alexander. "of kings, the conqueror of all the peoples of the "earth, who is over all kings, and to whom victory "hath been given. Put not your confidence in the "world, and let not that which hath been given "unto thee thereof lead thee astray. [My ancestors] "loved the things of Greece and the goods of this "world which profited them not in any way, and "their days have passed and gone: some of them "turned aside [from the battle, some of them] fled, "and were conquered and their soldiers were slain, "and their empire perished as soon as they 4 had I

2

I The preceding paragraph describes what took place after'the battle which Plutarch (Alexander, xx) says was fought between the Greeks and Persians upon a piece of ground which had the sea on one side, and the mountains on the other, and was intersected by the river Pinarus. But that the defeat after the battle of the Strangas is referred to is clear from this sentence which is a free equivalent of the Greek 1 anem, and Hur, and Marik. 3 And passing through the mountain which is called Musas, he came down through them to a place which is called Nalhemya, and he passed on from there and travelling on came down to a very great mountain gate (or pass), wherein were many large roads by which merchants travel into the countries which are beyond those mountains. Then the Two-horned commanded that a herald should go round about among his soldiers, and and their influences on human life were carefully studied and instruments for their observation, etc., were devised ;r:f.!) 4.J ...:.:....~_, .!J)l.9~1 uJ_,S', 4,.-ols:.:..l_, ~~~l~ J_,.i)l d.l> ._,.,WI y_,.l-9 .)\ ..!U) ~ y_,Ji_, -::,.,\1\1\ SeeMas'udt, tom.I.p.83. 1 The Syriac has (p. 149), "Let us go forth by the way of the north; and they came to the confines of the north, and entered Armenia, and Adh6rbaijan and Inner Armenia"; }w.Cf"Y: we should probably correct into }w.Cf"11: • In the Syriac, Turnagi6s. 3 In the Syriac, Beth-Pardia, Beth-Te~il, Beth-Drubtl, Beth~a!armen, Beth-Gebul, Beth-Zamra~.

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ALEXANDER IN ARMENTA.

throughout the whole of that country, proclaming, He pro. her fiear, nor mur der, nor terror, nor peace. claims " 0 men, nett "captivity,' nor burning, nor imprisonment has "come upon you, and no man shall come forth "against you to do you any harm." Now when the people of that country heard that the [reason for] fear and trembling had been taken away from them, they chose three hundred of their sages-now their teeth were very long and projected from their mouths like [the tusks] of elephants-and they came to the Two-horned and brought gifts unto him, and they begged from him life and freedom. Then the Two-horned said He comes Persian unto t hem, H'T' .l 0 what k'mgdom d0 t hese peop}e tosubjects. "who live here belong, and to whom do ye your"selves give tribute?" They said unto him, "This "country is under the kingdom of Persia, and it "belongeth unto Akseyus (Xerxes?) the Persian, 2 "and to him do we pay tribute." And the Twohorned said unto them, "Have ye seen how far this "mighty mountain which goeth down to the pass "reacheth?" They said unto him, "This mountain "retreateth, as thou seest, until it endeth at the sea "which surroundeth the world, that is to say, the "sea B6nt6s (Pontus), and there are therein neither Read mJt..?..'P'l! : In the Syriac "Tubar!a~, the king of the Persians", who is also called in the metrical version, "Great King of the territory of the Persians and of the Am6raye"; see p. 149. He is also said to be of the race of the house of Ai)sh6ra~, i. e., Xerxes. 1

2

230

THE IIISTORY OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT.

"paths nor roads. And it cometh to an end some way "off near the land of Persia, and at its [p. IJI] ex"tremities are roads which bring a man out to Ad"horbaijan, and to the land of Persia, and to the "land of India. And this mountain retreateth, as ''thou seest, towards a mighty river which is by the "side of the sea, and which goeth up round about "the road. Snakes, and scorpions, and all kinds of "reptiles are found on this road, and no man can "travel thereon without great fear [of death] by "reason of the multitudes of wild beasts and "reptiles which dwell here. Neither we, nor our "fathers and grandfathers who were before us, "were able to go up therein, even as thou thyself "shalt see, if God the Most High pleaseth, and "this mountain [serveth] as a fortress between us "and the nations who live beyond it, for they are The w:cked "evil nations." The Two-horned said unto them, nations. "What are these nations which live beyond that "mountain? And they spake unto him, saying, "Magug (Magog), and Yagug (Gog), and Nuli, and "Agma, and Amraha.n, and Namu, and Bargisa, "and Sameri~, and Hosae, and 'Asefa, and Salgu, "and Katlubi, and Amra];., and I}:.awabir, and J:Iano; "these are their twelve kingdoms" -Now we have 2

' In the Syriac the mountain passes by the sea of Beth£. e., the Persian Gulf, and ends in outer Persia near India. 2 In the Greek (MUller, p. I 43, col. I) twenty-two kingdoms are mentioned, but only the names of twelve are given:~a~raye,

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