Exam question

[maciek]

Hello companions!!
It's again a long time since I hadn't been here but well I was prepairing for exams... so it was hard work for me. But in those exams (yesterday) I had interesting question which I'd like to shere with You.
In the first part of exam they asked me about my master degree work and the question was:
why (what for) Alexander crossed Danube?
Well I said that first he wanted to pacify tribes there. It was kind of continuation of his fathers work - prepairing the east conquest. To do so he had first to sattle things in his neighbourhood. Second reason was that none of Greeks ever did such thing so he wanted to make it as first and cross that river conquering theese tribes.
What do you think was I right?Maciek

[ruthaki]

Sounds good to me, Pal! Good luck.

[yiannis]

Hi Maciek,That's pretty much it. To secure his Northern borders by giving a good scare to the barbarian tribes. It took them quite a while after Alexander's campaign to regroup and attempt another raid. Well after Alexander's death that is.Plus the fact that none had gone beyond the Danube before. One can see it as Alexander wanting to surpass everyone else for selfish motives (to go where no Greek had gone before or to surpass everyone else and thus give a lesson to his enemies by exhibiting resilience and determination. To show them that there's nothing that he deems to be impossible...

[smittysmitty]

Hi Maciej'It's actually quite a good question, and probably has a two fold answer.Firstly, from my understanding, it is whilst at the Danube, Arrian first introduces the usage of the word 'pothos', i.e. 'Yearning or longing' - which kind of sits well with the suggestion, he crossed the river, because he thought it was a good idea!!However, realistically, it probably reflects more so with the fact the Getae, once friends of Macedon, now had rebelled. Philip, Al's father, had in the early days clashed with the Getae, and the then king Cothelas, made peace with Philip which resulted in Philip marrying Cothelas' daughter Meda. The suggestion, he crossed the river, due to 'pothos is highly debatable. Bare in mind, Alexander had ships from Byzantium meet him near the Getae, which indicates forward planning to cross the river must have occurred prior to setting off from Macedon.Also, the fact that such a large army of Getae awaited him on the opposite bank of the Danube suggests both parties were well aware of each others intent, long before they met at the Danube. Interestingly enough, one of the tombs at Vergina, contained the bones of a female aged approximately 25 and a bow and quiver, as used by the Getae was found in the tomb. It has been suggested these bones are that of Meda - wife of Philip and daughter of Cothelas - and that it may have been customary amongst Getic wives of kings, that they commit suicide once their husbands died. This may be all enough reason the make any treaty null and void between the two. Philip was dead, and Meda followed suit. As a result, Alexander had to reestablish Macedons position over the Getae, as is obvious to all, and protect against he's Northern neighbours. Unfortunately, information is scant on affairs in this region whilst Alexander was on his Asian campaign, but whatever may have occurred, would seem to have been of little interest to him. Cheers!

[jan]

Hi, Interesting question as two things always occur to me when I read a book called Glorious Cause, as to how similar this trip is to Washinton's crossing the Delaware, and the siege of Tyre always reminds me of Yorktown when the French navy assisted George Washington there too. It is a good thing that Alexander did cross the Danube as he did, thus, enabling George Washinton to cross the Delaware, the turning point early in the Revolution. And just as Alexander had needed the added fleet which assisted him at Tyre, George Washington needed the French fleet at Yorkstown.Thanks for reminding me today because when I was reading Jeff Shaara's book on the American Revolution, I was just reading about Alexander's crossing the Danube for the first time too. I have put the American Revolution on a shelf while pursuing Alexander now. But the two are related in my mind.

[maciek]

Hello!
hanks for Your answers. Well the first question was even better... I made for myself a trap because of my master degree work title, which is: "Motives of Alexander the Great conquests" - well when they read this the first question was: well so what were those motives.
on such simple question my answer starts always the same: "It is very complicated matter..."
It's strange that they ask such question if I needed more then hundred peages to try answer it... ;-)Maciek M

[marcus]

It is, after all, the first time that Arrian introduces the concept of 'pothos'.All the bestMArcus