Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Goal of this Book
- Map 1: European Greece, Macedonia, and Northern Lands
- Map 2: Alexander's Expedition
- 1 The World of Alexander's Birth and His Education in Literature and Warfare (350s and 340s BC)
- 2 Opportunities and Risks asa Teenager (340s to 338 BC)
- 3 The Danger in Replacing a Murdered Father as King (337 to 335 BC)
- 4 The Opening Battles Against the Persian Army (334 to 332 BC)
- 5 Finding God in Egypt and Capturing the Riches of Persia (332 to 330 BC)
- 6 Winning the World as King of Asia (330 to 329 BC)
- 7 Murder, Marriage, and Mixing Customs in Afghanistan (329 to 327 BC)
- 8 Victory and Frustration in India (327 to 326 BC)
- 9 Returning to Babylon and Becoming Divine (326 to 323 BC)
- 10 Remembering and Judging Alexander (323 BC to Now)
- Suggested Readings
- Index
3 - The Danger in Replacing a Murdered Father as King (337 to 335 BC)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction: The Goal of this Book
- Map 1: European Greece, Macedonia, and Northern Lands
- Map 2: Alexander's Expedition
- 1 The World of Alexander's Birth and His Education in Literature and Warfare (350s and 340s BC)
- 2 Opportunities and Risks asa Teenager (340s to 338 BC)
- 3 The Danger in Replacing a Murdered Father as King (337 to 335 BC)
- 4 The Opening Battles Against the Persian Army (334 to 332 BC)
- 5 Finding God in Egypt and Capturing the Riches of Persia (332 to 330 BC)
- 6 Winning the World as King of Asia (330 to 329 BC)
- 7 Murder, Marriage, and Mixing Customs in Afghanistan (329 to 327 BC)
- 8 Victory and Frustration in India (327 to 326 BC)
- 9 Returning to Babylon and Becoming Divine (326 to 323 BC)
- 10 Remembering and Judging Alexander (323 BC to Now)
- Suggested Readings
- Index
Summary
A truce resolving the potential war between father and son came unexpectedly through the intervention of Demaratus, a Greek from Corinth who enjoyed a relationship of “guest-friendship” with the Macedonian royal family. That status allowed Demaratus to speak frankly to the king. Since much of the venom in the quarrel between Alexander and his father centered on their relative status in the eyes of the Macedonian elite, it took an outsider to make the peace. Demeratus reproached Philip for the disunity he had created in his own house at this critical time, when he was trying to maintain an alliance among Greeks for a high-risk invasion of Persia. Philip followed the advice and reached out to his son.
No source records the message that Philip sent to Alexander. Whatever words Philip used with his son, they tipped the balance of a difficult dilemma for Alexander: were his chances of survival, success, and honor better if he rebelled against his father with the Illyrians as allies, or if he returned to Pella and to the life-and-death competition for preeminence in the violent arena of the Macedonian court? Alexander returned home in late 337. It cannot have been a light-hearted reunion, and there is no sign that Alexander and his father ever again enjoyed a relationship of mutual esteem and confident, shared purpose.
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- Alexander the GreatThe Story of an Ancient Life, pp. 35 - 52Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012