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Arrian’s preface to the anabasis Alexandrou and Plutarch’s prologue to the life of Alexander

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Burliga B.

Classica Cracoviensia

2015

issue 18

51-81

It is usually maintained that the main object of Arrian’s criticism in his Anabasis are the historians of Alexander the Great. In the following I would like to argue that one of the writers Arrian criticized was also Plutarch of Chaeronea who wrote an influential biography of the Macedonian king. Although Arrian never referred directly to Plutarch’s Life of Alexander, he read not only many historical works on the king but used and criticized other accounts, called by him ta legomena (‘tales’). To this latter group Plutarch’s vita Alexandri should be included as well.

Do the Kings Lie? Royal Authority and Historians Objectivity in Arrian's Anabasis

100%

Burliga B.

Classica Cracoviensia

2012

issue 15: Leadership in Antiquity: Langauge - Institutions - Representations

5-58

Taking departure from Arrian’s famous statement (Anab. 1, Praef. 2) that he mainly relied on Ptolemy Soter’s account of Alexander the Great’s history since Ptolemy was the king and lies should be avoided by him, the roots of the idea of the royal truthfulness are discussed. It is claimed that the Greek political thought about monarchy and the institution of kingship had a strong ethical flavor but the argument of the kings’ veracity was not especially stressed out. Arrian, however, has found it both in Alexander the Great’s ideology and the ideology of the royal court in Ptolemaic Egypt. Essentially, however, the origins of the truthfulness idea are to be sought in the royal Oriental (Achaemenid especially), official ethics, under the influence of which Alexander certainly remained. The novelty of Arrian the historian’s decision should by thus appreciated. It does not mean that Arrian’s account of Alexander’s expedition is ideally objective but it certainly means that in his effort to give a possibly unbiased history of the Macedonian king’s achievements, he tried to do his best.

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2 Classica Cracoviensia

2 Burliga B.

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1 2012

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Arrian’s preface to the anabasis Alexandrou and Plutarch’s prologue to the life of Alexander

Do the Kings Lie? Royal Authority and Historians Objectivity in Arrian's Anabasis