SIWA ORACLE

[HEPHAISTION]

WHEN ALEXANDER WENT TO THE ORACLE A PRIEST CALLED HIM "PAIDIOS"(I USE LATIN LETTERS FOR GREEK WORDS) BECAUSE HE WASN'T SPEAKING GREEK VERY WELL. HE SHOULD CALL HIM "PAIDION" WHICH MEANS CHILD, YOUNG MAN. BUT PAI-DIOS (2 WORDS) IN GREEK MEANS JUPITER'S SON.(PAI IN GREEK IS THE VOCATIVE OF THE WORD PAIS AND DIOS THE GENETIVE OF THE WORD ZEUS, GREEK NAME FOR JUPITER.)SO,ALEXANDER TURNT TO ADVANTAGE THIS FACT ALLEGING THAT HE IS JUPITER'S SON. DON'T FORGET THAT IN EGYPT PHARRAOH WAS THE SON OF GOD. ALL THESE HAD POLITICAL CONVENIENCES.

[ruthaki]

Anyway, his mother had convinced him of that from his birth. And of course in Egypt and in Persia, the King was next to a God. It may seem strange to us in this century but that was quite acceptable back then.

[Maciek]

Hi
I think that in this particular case he wanted to be named god only for political reasons. It would be much more easy to rule the whole country beeing a God's son - especially ruling the Athens and other greek cities whitch didn't happy having the king above them. But God... it's a diferent story. Maciek

[Nick Christakes]

Hello Hep,
...just a preference, could you please use lower case letters, it's easier on the eyes when read.
thanks for your comments...later Nicator