Alexander's Late Marriages
Posted: Fri Jan 24, 2020 6:15 pm
After Alexander had liquidated his immediate rivals, it was not clear who would become king if he died. His brother Philip had some kind of disability that the sources don't want to talk about, and being 18 he had no sons. According to Diodorus 17.16.2, Antipater and Parmenion urged him to marry before he left for Asia. As it happened he married late in his wars, and when he died his living children were helpless infants, leading to 30 more years of war. He could expect to die young: he was a hard drinker and a bold warrior and Macedonian kings seldom died in bed. As a king and an Argead his fundamental responsibility was to preserve the line of Hercules and save his people from civil strife.
Was Alexander irresponsible and short-sighted, or a wise king who knew that marrying into one Macedonian family would set all the others against him? (Elizabeth Baynham, "Why Didn't Alexander Marry Before Leaving Macedonia?" Observations on Factional Politics at Alexander's Court in 336-334 B.C." Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, Neue Folge, 141. Bd., H. 2 (1998), pp. 141-152 https://www.jstor.org/stable/41234312 ) Was there a way that another of the Macedonians could have taken over with only a few dozen killings if he had died unexpectedly? Discuss.
Was Alexander irresponsible and short-sighted, or a wise king who knew that marrying into one Macedonian family would set all the others against him? (Elizabeth Baynham, "Why Didn't Alexander Marry Before Leaving Macedonia?" Observations on Factional Politics at Alexander's Court in 336-334 B.C." Rheinisches Museum für Philologie, Neue Folge, 141. Bd., H. 2 (1998), pp. 141-152 https://www.jstor.org/stable/41234312 ) Was there a way that another of the Macedonians could have taken over with only a few dozen killings if he had died unexpectedly? Discuss.