The Best of the Macedonians: Alexander as Achilles in Arrian, Curtius, and Plutarch

217 Pages·2017·1.28 MB·English

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Title
The Best of the Macedonians: Alexander as Achilles in Arrian, Curtius, and Plutarch
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Author
Vorhis, Justin Grant
Publication Date
2017

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The Best of the Macedonians:
Alexander as Achilles in Arrian, Curtius, and Plutarch

A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy
in Classics

by

Justin Grant Vorhis

2017
© Copyright by
Justin Grant Vorhis
2017
ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION

The Best of the Macedonians:
Alexander as Achilles in Arrian, Curtius, and Plutarch

by

Justin Grant Vorhis
Doctor of Philosophy in Classics
University of California, Los Angeles, 2017
Professor Kathryn Anne Morgan, Chair

This dissertation concerns the connection between Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.),
the famous Macedonian king, and Achilles, the preeminent Greek hero of the Trojan War. As
scholars have long recognized, Alexander’s connection to Achilles represents both a historical
and a literary phenomenon: Alexander not only portrayed himself as a second Achilles, but was
also portrayed as such by those who wrote about him. While scholars have traditionally
concentrated on the connection’s historical dimension, I concentrate in this study on its literary
dimension (the Achilles motif), taking Arrian, Curtius, and Plutarch, the three extant Alexander
historians with the most developed literary agendas, as the focus of my study. With each
historian, I ask two fundamental questions: First, what is the thematic significance of the
Achilles motif in the specific passages of each historian’s work in which it appears? Second,
what is the thematic significance of the Achilles motif in each historian’s work overall?
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This dissertation consists of three chapters, the first on Curtius’ Historiae Alexandri
Magni (Histories of Alexander the Great), the second on Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, and the
third on Arrian’s Anabasis of Alexander. In Chapter 1, I argue that Curtius uses the Achilles
motif to highlight Alexander’s moral decline over the course of the work, his transformation, in
effect, from the good rex (“king”) of the first pentad to the corrupt tyrannus (“tyrant”) of the
second. In Chapter 2, I contend that Plutarch employs the Achilles motif, by and large, to
characterize Alexander as a “spirited” man (θυμοειδής), as a man of heroism and ambition, but
also passion and emotion. In Chapter 3, I argue that Arrian deploys the Achilles motif as a means
of reinforcing his complex portrait of Alexander, a portrait simultaneously encomiastic and
Stoic. Based on these three chapters, I draw two main conclusions: first, that the Achilles motif
represents a remarkably flexibile literary device; and second, that the extant Alexander historians
should, in accordance with recent scholarship, be viewed not as mere compilers of the lost
Alexander historians, but as sophisticated artists in their own right.

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The dissertation of Justin Grant Vorhis is approved.
Robert A. Gurval
Alex C. Purves
M. Rahim Shayegan
Kathryn Anne Morgan, Committee Chair

University of California, Los Angeles

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DEDICATION

For my dad,
who sparked my passion for Alexander all those years ago
For my mom,
who provided me the love and support with which to pursue this passion
and
For Celsiana,
who has been my best friend and truest partner through the ordeal of graduate school,
the Achilles to my Patroclus, the Alexander to my Hephaestion

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................... viii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................ xii
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ....................................................................................................... xiii
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1
The Alexander-Achilles Connection: The Historical Dimension................................. 2
The Alexander-Achilles Connection: The Literary Dimension ................................. 12
Aims and Methodology .............................................................................................. 18
CHAPTER 1 Curtius’ Historiae Alexandri Magni ....................................................................... 25
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 25
The Punishment of Betis (4.6.26-29).......................................................................... 29
The Marriage of Alexander and Roxane (8.4.22-26) ................................................. 37
The Battle between Alexander and the Indian Rivers (9.4.8-14) ............................... 43
Alexander’s Apologia to the Macedonian Generals (9.6.16-26) ................................ 51
The Diplomatic Exchanges between Alexander and Darius ...................................... 60
i. The First Diplomatic Exchange (4.1.7-14) ..................................................... 63
ii. The Second Diplomatic Exchange (4.5.1-8) ................................................... 69
iii. The Third Diplomatic Exchange (4.11.1-10, 16-21) ...................................... 72
The Death of Statira (4.10.18-24) ............................................................................... 78
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 84
CHAPTER 2 Plutarch’s Life of Alexander ................................................................................... 86
Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 86
The Tutelage of Lysimachus (Alex. 5.7-8) ................................................................. 89
The Pilgrimage to Troy (Alex. 15.7-9) ....................................................................... 97
Alexander’s Arming Scene at the Battle of Gaugamela (Alex. 32.8-11) .................. 108
Alexander’s Aristeia at the Mallian Town (Alex. 63.2-10) ...................................... 115
The Death of Hephaestion (Alex. 72.1-5) ................................................................. 128
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 137
CHAPTER 3 Arrian’s Anabasis of Alexander ............................................................................ 138
Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 138
The Pilgrimage to Troy (Anab. 1.12.1) .................................................................... 141
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The Death of Hephaestion (Anab. 7.14.2-8, 16.8) .................................................... 147
The Murder of Cleitus (Anab. 4.9.1-6) ..................................................................... 155
The Mutiny at the Hyphasis (Anab. 5.28) ................................................................ 162
Alexander’s Aristeia at the Mallian Town (Anab. 6.9.2-6) ...................................... 170
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 177
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................... 179
BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................................................................................... 183

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
Primary Sources1

Ael. Aelian
V.H. Historical Miscellany
Aeschin. Aeschines
In Ctes. Against Ctesiphon
In Tim. Against Timarchus
App. Appian
B.Civ. Civil Wars
Arr. Arrian
Anab. Anabasis of Alexander
Ind. Indica
Ath. Athenaeus
Cic. Cicero
Pro Arch. Pro Archia
Curt. Curtius
Dio Cass. Dio Cassius
Dio Chrys. Dio Chrysostom
Or. Orations
Diod. Diodorus Siculus
Dion. Hal. Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Ant. Rom. Roman Antiquities
Comp. On the Arrangement of Words
Eur. Euripides
Andr. Andromache
Tro. Trojan Women
Fg. Sabb. Fragmentum Sabbaiticum
Harp. Harpocration
Hdt. Herodotus
Hom. Homer
Il. Iliad
Hor. Horace
Ars P. Ars poetica
Carm. Carmina
Ep. Epistulae
Isoc. Isocrates
Phil. To Philip
It. Alex. Itinerarium Alexandri
Joseph. Josephus
A.J. Jewish Antiquities

1 With Greek works, I give abbreviations in Latin, but titles in English, unless the work is known primarily by its
Latin title (e.g., Indica). With Latin works, I give both abbreviations and titles in Latin, except in the case of the
Metz Epitome.
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