Green on Alexander in Athens

[Tre]

Hi Nick - For some reason I think an ancient source says Parmenion, but alas, I am at the office and my books are elsewhere. if you have Green, he probably has a footnote about where he got it from. Normally though, Antipater would be used for negotiation, although as I recall Parmenion was briefly left in charge of Macedon at one point, perhaps this is it. Sometimes, you can read too much and it gets confusing In the overall picture, it wouldn't have mattered who went with Alexander, the point was that Alexander was sent to Athens, no doubt this was presented by Philip as a reward, and certainly Alexander would have loved to have gone what with all that history, architecture, philosophy and culture to immerse himself in, not to mention a bit of politiking.Regards,Tre

[karen]

Hi Tre et al:It's funny, I could have sworn I read it in Robin Lane Fox, but no. He mentions three envoys but doesn't say who the other two were, and gives as a reference Justin 9.5.5 -- alas I have only Books 11 & 12. Fuller gives Parmenion as the other envoy.Anyway, Philip had all manner of men he could send as envoys, it didn't have to be himself (which would have been very foolish, yes) or Alexander. I think he felt his VIP envoys were safe in a way they would not have been before Chaironea. I also was reminded by Robin Lane Fox that they were carrying the ashes of the Athenian dead... and thus Philip was honouring said dead, by having them carried by no less than his son. That fits with his relatively kindly treatment of Athens post-Chaironea.As for how much the Athenians honoured Alexander relative to Philip, I was going on Nicator, who was apparently going on Green... not a writer whose every word I accept, that's for sure. The idea Nicator proposed is just so delightfully devious that I would like to think it true... something I'm prepared to abandon in the face of fact, of course.Love & peace,
Karen