apocryphal 10 men over the cliff

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apocryphal 10 men over the cliff

Post by [email protected] »

hi there
i'd appreciate some one's help, i'm stuck. Part of the Alexander legend is a story, where he marched 10 of his men over a cliff to make a point, to evince his soldier's unwavering loyalty. Could any one tell me in which text this story is recorded ? thanks vic matthews :D
Alexias
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Re: apocryphal 10 men over the cliff

Post by Alexias »

Good grief, I've not heard that one. Sounds highly unlikely to me and it is not mentioned in any of the major sources, or everyone would be all over it as proof of Alexander's megalomania and insanity. Yes his men were highly disciplined but he wasn't an idiot. Sounds purely apocryphal to me but where from I don't know.
Alexias
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Re: apocryphal 10 men over the cliff

Post by Alexias »

I found this here https://www.family-times.net/illustrati ... er/202700/
The King Surrendered to Alexander The Great
The story is told of Alexander the Great, King of Macedonia (336-323) and conqueror of Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Babylonia, and Persia, almost all of the known world. One day Alexander and a small company of soldiers approached a strongly fortified walled city and Alexander raised his voice and demanded to see the king. When the king arrived, Alexander ordered him to surrender the city and everyone inside. The king laughed, “Why should I surrender to you? You can’t do us any harm!” But Alexander offered to give the king a demonstration. He ordered his men to line up single file and start marching. He marched them straight toward a cliff. The townspeople gathered on the wall and watched in shocked silence as, one by one, his soldiers marched without hesitation right off the cliff to their deaths! After 10 soldiers died, Alexander ordered the rest of the men to return to his side. The townspeople and the king immediately surrendered to Alexander the Great. They realized that if a few men were actually willing to die at the command of this leader, then nothing could stop his eventual victory. (Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “When Christ calls a man, From a sermon by Christian Cheong, True Seekers – 6/28/2010)]
This is a corruption of the seige of the Sogdian Rock. The defenders thought the rock was imregnable and told Alexander to find soldiers that could fly. Alexander asked for men with climbing experinec to volunteer and sent them to climb up an adjoing rock under cover of darkness. Several of them fell to their death but the following day he told the Sogdians to see his soldiers with wings and they promptly surrendered. This is described in Arrian.https://sites.google.com/site/alexander ... n/arrian4b
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Re: apocryphal 10 men over the cliff

Post by [email protected] »

Alexias wrote: Tue Jun 23, 2020 10:40 pm Good grief, I've not heard that one. Sounds highly unlikely to me and it is not mentioned in any of the major sources, or everyone would be all over it as proof of Alexander's megalomania and insanity. Yes his men were highly disciplined but he wasn't an idiot. Sounds purely apocryphal to me but where from I don't know.
Thanks - it appears the legend grows with time. A C20th accretion by Bonhoeffer, the Lutheran Pastor who opposed Hitler, his opposition cost him his life.
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Re: apocryphal 10 men over the cliff

Post by [email protected] »

Thanks ! that makes sense. I have read Arrian's account as well as the Alexander Romance - neither contain the story. The Legend grows bigger by the centuries, What feats will be attributed to Alexander in this century? One can only be amazed. thanks again vic matthews
sean_m
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Re: apocryphal 10 men over the cliff

Post by sean_m »

Everyone knows about the Nietschean influence on John Milius's Conan the Barbarian (1982) but I did not know about Dietrich Bonhoefer's influence! I remember a similar story about the Old Man of the Mountain.

Closed social media and the political economy of publishing are encouraging all of these anecdotes to be reassigned and spread. Nobody but universities is willing to pay authors or fact checkers to put in the time to confirm things.
My blog (Warning: may contain up to 95% non-Alexandrian content, rated shamelessly philobarbarian by 1 out of 1 Plutarchs)
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