Harpalus - again

[lucian]

Sorry, I keep bringing him up.
But there is a young men in Alexander's list of commanders called Calas, Curtius or Arrian says that he was Harpalus' son, how the hell old is Harpalus then????? I always thought he was one of Alexander's childhood buddies.

[agesilaos]

There is no reason why Harpalos should not belong to Philip's generation; he was exiled for remaining loyal to Alexander this does not mean they were co-eval indeed Ptolemy, also exiled with him was about fourteen years older than Alexander.

[marcus]

Also, there might well have been other Harpaluses, just as there were other Ptolemaioses, Alexanders and Philips (and many others).I'm always intrigued when I read fantasy novels, which invariably 'insist' that no two people can share the same name. Either they doubt their readers' abilities to distinguish between people, or they are so far into their own fantasies that they've lost their grip on reality.Sorry, that's deviation ... but you get my drift! :-)All the bestMarcus

[ruthaki]

In writing my historical fiction novel about the fall of A's dynasty I've run across this problem: identical names. And you can't change these names as they are historical. So if possible without it sounding too 'modern' or 'made up', once I've established the character, I sometimes have used a short-form of the name (Eurydike=Dika;
Nikanor=Nikos) This is mainly for minor characters who have similar names to the major players. Even in modern Greece the names are constantly repeated so there is no reason why there were not a lot of others named "Harpalus"

[Kit]

Does anyone know if the ancient Greeks made much use of nicknames to distinguish individuals of the same name? We know that some famous individuals had titles such as Monophalamus, Gonatas, Doson, Poliocretes attached to them. I wonder whether the rank and file also earned more unique appellations?Just a thought.Kit

[Adrian Kovacs]

Harpalos was not the biological father of Kalas.

[alejandro]

Hi KitIf I am not wrong, the examples you gave correspond to people with the same name, yes, but that lived in different periods. Also, I think that in these cases, we can assume a sort of GÇ£fashionGÇ¥ among Hellenistic kings to be awarded a nickname (except probably for Monophthalmos). Notice in particular that these nicknames were usually GÇ£niceGÇ¥ or GÇ£praisingGÇ¥ ones: GÇ£seizer of citiesGÇ¥ (Poliorketes), GÇ£saviourGÇ¥ (Soter), GÇ£victoriousGÇ¥ (Nikator) (donGÇÖt know what Doson and Gonatas mean, but I would expect them to be flattering as well: weGÇÖre talking about kings here! Again, the exception is GÇ£the one-eyedGÇ¥, who got his nickname well before becoming king).However, when we consider GÇ£plainGÇ¥ people, nicknames seem to be scarcer. The only ones I can remember are Melas and Leukos (?), GÇ£the blackGÇ¥ and GÇ£the whiteGÇ¥, used to distinguish the two noblemen named Kleitos.Kind regards,Alejandro

[Kit]

Hi Alejandro,I must admit that I could not think of any 'plain' greeks with nicknames, other than the Cleitus', either. Although I'm not even sure we could classify them as 'plain'?Interestingly, no-one knows what 'Doson' actually stood for? But as you say, it was probably something flattering, or at least non-derogatory.regards,Kit.

[marcus]

The other thing to remember is, of course, that the use of epithets such as these was a very Homeric thing - Diomedes the Tamer of Horses, for example; and Odysseus himself was also known as 'Sacker of Cities'.But there is a difference between someone having this sort of sobriquet, and being called "the one-eyed", or "the black/white". The reasons for each are surely different.All the bestMarcus