pothos.org

I have finally the time to ask you, the wise historians of the site an honest question that came from wondering about this:

What literal source did Peter Green (the writer of "Alexander of Macedon") consult with, in order to write the scene where Alexander tell his father in the wedding of the latter "When my mother remarries i will invite you to her wedding" ? Dont tell me the reference is Oliver Stone...

And if these words are true, i assume our boy had to be reallly mad with anger because
who on the entire world would accept a marriage to Olympias since she would be left by Philip? An Epirote noble? An Illyrian king? A Persian satrap? Who f..cking poor fella would accept Olympias as his bride since been wedded to her would mean the never- ceasing hostility from Philip's part? ( Be sure that he would deal with the marriage as a hostile action.)

So, what Alexander said must have been a rhetorical point. Or was he really sure that his mother would get married once more and have another child perhaps?

Let me add that as far as divorces go, only the asian brides of Alexander's successor met such fates. Do you know anything about divorces prior to these? (I mean in Macedonia)

Thank you all in advance.

As far as I know Olympias was never divorced, nor were the Asian brides; the one was set aside the others just ignored (with certain exceptions like Seleukos). I cannot recall any Greek divorces, (Roman ones aplenty) remarried women tended to be widows, though this may be a gaping hole in my social history! Philip's divorces are a fudge invented by Victorian interpretation, neither Philip nor the Diadochoi found polygamy troubling and forgetting that can lead to gross distortion in our interpretation. Dimitriev has shown that Lysimachos remained married to Amastris whilst wed to Arsinoe, and that the latter's ascendency dates much later than used to be thought, making her much less of a Lady MacBeth and Lysimachos more his own man.

So fantasy!

It is far too modern a statement for Alexander to have made - "My mother is still sexually attractive to other men even if you don't think so any more." I think it would have been far too disrespectful to his mother to tout her sexuality.

Alexias wrote:It is far too modern a statement for Alexander to have made - "My mother is still sexually attractive to other men even if you don't think so any more." I think it would have been far too disrespectful to his mother to tout her sexuality.

I have to say that, so far, I have failed to find the story anywhere, although I haven't exhausted looking through all the sources.

However, as Agesilaos says, Olympias wasn't divorced, although the supposed statement from Alexander doesn't preclude her still being married to Philip, anyway.

Still, as far as I am aware, it isn't a historically attested quote.

Alexander's words are taken from Alexander Romance (1, 20, 2): this quote is by no means an invention of Oliver Stone, neither reflects Macedonian or Greek customs of IV century B.C.

hiphys wrote:Alexander's words are taken from Alexander Romance (1, 20, 2): this quote is by no means an invention of Oliver Stone, neither reflects Macedonian or Greek customs of IV century B.C.

One of the places I hadn't checked! I don't tend to check the Romance ...