A Most Profound Passage!

[smittysmitty]

Hi all,
This passage from Arrian has for years kept me asking the question 'why'?, More so, is it a true reflection of what was? the passage reads as follows:
'No prose history, no epic poem was written about him; he was not celebrated even in such choral odes as preserve the name of Hiero or Gelo or Thero, or many other men not in the same class as Alexander, with the result that the wonderful story of his life is less familiar today than the merest non entities of the ancient world.'Interested to hear peoples thoughts re. this passage.

[marcus]

What I find a bit weird about this statement is that it appears to deny the existence of all of Arrian's own sources... not to say the others that we know to have existed. After all, what were Ptolemy's and Aristobulos' works if not prose histories of Alexander? Not to mention Callisthenes' history, too!All the bestMarcus

[Nicator]

'No prose history, no epic poem was written about him; he was not celebrated even in such choral odes as preserve the name of Hiero or Gelo or Thero, or many other men not in the same class as Alexander, with the result that the wonderful story of his life is less familiar today than the merest non entities of the ancient world.'Interested to hear peoples thoughts re. this passage. I was already in the process of writing my "Epic Poem" on ATG when I came across this interesting bit, and was a bit surprised by the coincidence after reading it. As a side note, at least after Arrian's time, there have been many poems and songs written about him...but none to my knowledge have captured the great adventure, or the greatness that Alexander actually conveyed to those who knew him, and to those of us who wish we had. I think Arrian's comment is a comment to be taken in the context of the time it was written. The Iliad, and the much less known Aenid?(Rome's Iliad) were still the yardsticks by which epic literary works were judged. Has time really moved the yardstick...?later Nicator

[alejandro]

Hi allI read somewhere that Arrian's goal was to "write the best histoy of Alexander ever", and maybe that's why he says something like that.
It's not so much that there were no poems/proses about him, but they were not good ones.
Of course, he accepts that Callisthenes, Ptolemy, Aristobulos and Nearchos (sometimes Chares the chamberlain and Onesicritos), as contemporary sources (plus Hieronimos of Kardia, for the last years) were useful and informative. But then other were just fables. He just wanted to set the record straight (As Ptolemy before: already by then several paralell lives of Alexander were available!).
Just my thoughts in any case.
RegardsAlejandro

[dean]

Hello,I have to admit that I have often asked myself pretty much the same question.It is strange when you contemplate for a moment the immensity of his life and accomplishments.For me, Shakespeare's biggest mistake was not to pen something about Alexander.Best regards,
Dean.

[Nicator]

Hello Dean,In general I agree with you here, but it would more than likely be an unflattering account. Particularly, judging by the political climate of England at the time. I believe Drysen wrote something on him, but it was not quite of epic length. We were fortunate to get Alexander Pope's Iliad, and later Odyssey (though this may not have been penned by Pope, but rather his students). Too bad he didn't finish up with something on Alexander, but rather got sidetracked into underhanded political slams on government officials, and court sycophants. Though, I will admit, he wrote some really cutting, witty stuff...which must have been overpoweringly funny for those in on the joke, but for the rest...just good fun rhyming. Nick