Biog of Coenus

[marcus]

I've put a biog of Coenus in the Main Characters section.CheersMarcus

[beausefaless]

Greetings Marcus,
Again, nicely done! Have you every thought of giving a overhaul on the ever so slight article of Nearchos?I also noticed no info on the coinage of Philip and Alexander. There's a rich history beginning with the Amphipolis mint up to Philip's time and how he re-structured the coinage from the front portrait coins, to the *Alexanders* being the first world wide acceptance of silver coinage. Any thought?All the best,Andrew

[marcus]

Hi Andrew,I did wonder about doing Nearchus, but wanted to concentrate first on adding new characters - there are, after all, lots of them, and as a section "Main Characters" is a bit flimsy if it doesn't have many of them there. Once I've covered a few more of the non-existent ones, I might well move on to others.I also think there could be more on the, admittedly less prominent, women characters - Barsine, Stateira, Ada of Caria, etc. Something on coins would be good - although you'll be far more qualified than I to do that. Do *you* fancy doing it?Of course, writing these biogs isn't solely my job - if anyone else wants to contribute they should feel most welcome!All the bestMarcus

[kate]

Hi Marcus,Thanks for the new bio.Have you any plans to do one on Cassander? Although I think of him as a "baddie" he does seem a rather interesting character.Cheers,Kate

[nick]

Great work, dear Marcus. Not tonight, but I will edit the pothos.org homepage as soon as possible. Thanks a myriad.Best regards --Nick

[marcus]

Hi Kate,Alas, Cassander is quite far down my list, for two reasons:1. I haven't done *any* reading about him.
2. I want to concentrate first on those who had more impact during Alexander's lifetime, and Cassander doesn't really come into his own until after his death.Unless someone else writes about him, I will get round to him eventually.Next up will probably be Laomedon, Peucestas, and Aristander, and Seleuces (most definitely!).All the bestMarcus

[marcus]

And certainly, being a "baddie" is no reason to omit someone, don't worry about that.I should do a Clitus one as well, now I come to think of it.But not until next week - I have a charity netball (yes, netball) match on Sunday, and we're busy 'training' (and going to the pub afterwards, of course )Marcus

[abm]

Hi Marcus,very nice work once again!!What you said about his attitude towards the Persians is very interesting: "In Sogdia he was appointed to lead an independent division, most notably alongside Artabazus; which suggests that Coenus, though one of the GÇÿold guardGÇÖ Macedonians, was not so die-hard that he objected to the acceptance of Persians at court"I think most of the high officers did not oppose as much to the fact that Alexander gave the Persians a role in the administration as to the extent to which he accepted the Persians. Having an half-Asian heir clearly was a bridge too far for most of them, but i think they did understand the need to let the persian nobility cooperate to a certain extent if they wanted to control the vast Asian empire.regards,abm

[marcus]

Hi Alexander,That's possibly true. On the other hand, when you consider, for example, how annoyed Cleitus supposedly was by the officiousness of some of the Persian courtiers, it's an arguable point.I'm not sure how far the two can be separated; although on the whole I'd agree that they might have accepted the necessity of integrating the Persian nobility. The question is perhaps more *when* they came round to this way of thinking. Personally, I reckon that while they were in Sogdia, Alexander's medising was still new enough for the old guard still to be very suspicious.All the bestMarcus

[abm]

Hi Marcus,good point: you are probably right. Or maybe there were indeed different attitudes among the leading Macedonians and then Coenus was not so die-hard as Cleitus, as you suggested in your biography. I guess I should do some re-thinking here.regards,
abm

[marcus]

Hi Alexander,That's generous of you!I want to do a biog of Cleitus soon - that will give me a good opportunity to evaluate it more closely, perhaps. We'll see what happens (after all, that was only my opinion!). But I'm sure that there were grades of 'die-hardness', as it were. Coenus, after all, had 'chosen' Alexander during the Philotas affair; and perhaps he felt that he had no option now but to embrace the orientalising policy.CheersMArcus