Alexander Been unable to swim

[jasonxx]

Upon watching my son swim his first length. I wondered if he had achieved something Alexander didnt.

it may have been an off the cuff remark by a programe narrator or i may have seen it In a book. But is there any trueth that Alexander couldnt swim?

Kenny

[amyntoros]

Upon watching my son swim his first length. I wondered if he had achieved something Alexander didnt.

it may have been an off the cuff remark by a programe narrator or i may have seen it In a book. But is there any trueth that Alexander couldnt swim?

Kenny

There’s conflicting evidence: Plutarch quotes Alexander as saying he couldn’t swim whilst Arrian states that “he had a swim” in the river Cyndus.

Plutarch Alexander 58.6 And at another time, when his Macedonians hesitated to advance upon the citadel called Nysa because there was a deep river in front of it, Alexander, halting on the bank, cried: "Most miserable man that I am, why, pray, have I not learned to swim?" and at once, carrying his shield, he would have tried to cross.

Arrian 2.4.7-8 Here Alexander fell ill, from fatigue according to Aristobulus, but others tell the following story. Alexander dived into the river Cydnus and had a swim; he wanted the bathe as he was in a sweat and overcome by heat. The Cydnus runs right through the city, and as its springs are in Mount Taurus and it runs through open country, it is cold and its water is clear. Alexander therefore caught a cramp, and suffered from violent fever and continuous sleeplessness.

I used to think that it was six of one and half a dozen of the other and we’d never know which to believe, and then I read the following in a BMCR review of The Birth of the European Identity: The Europe-Asia Contrast in Greek Thought 490-322 B.C. which contains an article by Edith Hall; Drowning by Nomes: The Greeks, Swimming, and Timotheus' Persians.

Since early times, H. states, swimming and diving were "implicated in the construction of ethnic and national identities"; "the ability to swim well" was usually -- except for knightly heroes of the Middle Ages -- a "reason for ethnic pride and the image of drowning enemies recurs in ... celebrations of victory ..." (p. 44). Heroic swimming feats can be found in Roman history and myth, and powerful swimmers like Julius Caesar are felt to be particularly manly (Suet. 1, 64; Vit. Caes. 49, 3-4), while weak and effeminate men like Antony (Plut. Vit. Ant. 29) or Caligula (Suet. Cal. 54) are either bad or absolute non-swimmers (p. 47). In an interesting excursus (p. 47-49) H. shows how in the nineteenth and twentieth century swimming became connected with racist and nationalist discourses.

After this introduction H. convincingly shows that "such an implication of swimming in ethnic identity and ethnic pride was already clearly discernible in the archaic and classical periods of Ancient Greece" (p. 47). Plato, Nomoi 3. 689d3 and the explanation of the proverb MH/TE NEI=N (Suda s. v.) attest that saying of someone he "doesn't know swimming" means "he is totally ignorant". Maritime warfare made the knowledge of swimming necessary for Athenians. In spite of that, Greek literature says very little about swimming as such, surely because -- as H. suggests -- it was in Ancient Greece no formal competitive sport performed at public games (p. 52). However, the literary evidence carefully put together by H. (p. 49-54) shows that from Homeric times onwards abilities of swimming are "regarded as necessary and admirable accoutrements of Greek manhood" (p. 53); they belong "to the panhellenic self-definitions constituted by the corpus of heroic literature and art". It is not surprising, then, that barbarian males lack this ability, as far as we can judge from Hdt. 8, 89, Thuk. 7, 29.

If Hall’s research is accurate – and I’ve no reason to believe it isn’t – then I would suggest that in this instance Plutarch’s source is inaccurate and that Alexander could swim. If the Greeks felt that swimming was necessary and admirable and that barbarian men lack this ability then why would Alexander ever have confessed to being unable to swim, especially when Arrian’s evidence shows otherwise?

But this is, as always, just my opinion and it remains debatable.

Best regards,

[Efstathios]

A prince, and later a King that couldnt swim??? Bah! Macedonia had direct access to the sea and it wasnt that far, so surely Alexander must have known how to swim.

[smittysmitty]

Had he made it to Australia - he would have ended up an Olympic swimmer!

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Still got me chuckkling.

[athenas owl]

Didn't Alexander have to swim for it when his Indian fleet experienced "difficulties" at the confluence of a couple of rivers? And maybe at the mouth of the Indus...

Yes, I'm too lazy to look it up.

[derek]

They found a swimming pool when excavating the palace at Pella, so I'd say it's quite probable that Alexander learned to swim while growing up there. And the descriptions of his various incidents in water point to him having had some sort of swimming ability, even if it was no more than enough of a doggy paddle to stay afloat.

Derek

[Paralus]

Had he made it to Australia - he would have ended up an Olympic swimmer!

He, he, he, he!

And, as with everything Alexander, had he been a swimmer the sources will surely have described him as an ancient Mark Spitz, Ian Thorpe and Kieren Perkins all in one!

[Efstathios]

And, as with everything Alexander, had he been a swimmer the sources will surely have described him as an ancient Mark Spitz, Ian Thorpe and Kieren Perkins all in one!

Would they be wrong? We are talking about the man that fought almost 50 people by himself before his friends reached him and was only stopped by an arrow from afar. Maybe not Ian Thorpe, but surely if he wanted to swim fast he would be close.

[Alita]

On the other hand, Alexander was pretty busy with earth-bound activities (riding, hunting etc) for most of his life, so it may be possible that he couldn't swim. And what of it if he couldn't? To swim is to give oneself up to something one can't control and let it control you and take you where it wishes... this wasn't Alexander's personality at all; he liked to be in control and move fast, not drift but bolt, to the site of the action. Then again, maybe Plutarch got his men mixed up and there was another soldier in Alexander's army who made that woeful comment. Or perhaps Alexander lied so he could display an impressive show of bravery by jumping into the water with everyone thinking he couldn't swim.

Interesting about Australians and swimming though; most people here can swim almost without thinking about it, seemingly from birth. It's a bit daunting when the 5-year-olds at the pool keep thrashing you and your limbs are twice as long as theirs. Interesting though: I've lived in Australia all my life and I only learned to swim when I went to Greece.

[alexkhan2000]

Alexander and his army crossed a lot of rivers during the campaign. I can't imagine Alexander having risked drowning crossing these rivers. Remember they crossed a swelling Hydaspes during the night and a thunderstorm before the battle against Porus.

[Semiramis]

Alexander didn't need to swim. The sea bowed to him. Just sorta moved over to let the son of Zeus pass. Beat that Kieren Perkins.

[aleksandros]

I think if he was not able to swim he wouldnt have put himself on a ship during the siege of Tyre.