that knot

[pascal]

some say he cut it and still others say it's poppycock. where did this come from?

[marcus]

I assume you are talking about the Gordian Knot?It is true that there are two versions of the story - one that Alexander cut the knot, and the other that he pulled out the central pin, thus negating the need to fiddle about with the rope itself.Unfortunately, without my copies of the sources I can't remember exactly which story appears where, but if I recall correctly it is made quite clear when you read them which version came from which primary source. I don't think we are any closer to knowing which is the actual version of events.All the bestMarcus

[dean]

Dear Marcus,
in your reply you mention "primary sources", could you be a bit more precise and fill me in as to what exactly are the main "primary sources"
Thanks and all the best,
Dean.

[marcus]

Hi Dean,The difficulty is that there are no extant primary sources apart from the odd inscription. The ancient histories of Alexander that we have were written at least 2-300 years after Alexander's death, but we do have a fairly good idea where these writers (eg. Diodorus, Curtius, Plutarch, Arrian and Justin/Trogus) got their various stories from.So, for example, we know that the main primary sources that were used by the extant writers were:Ptolemy (a member of Alexander's circle of friends, had some independent commands in the later campaigns and, of course, was king of Egypt from about 304-379 - or similar dates)
Aristoboulos (an engineer in the army, whose only real claim to fame was the task of rebuilding the tomb of Cyrus the Great after it was ransacked)
Callisthenes (relation of Aristotle who was the official historian of the campaign. Was executed in 327BC)
Cleitarchus (a citizen of Alexandria writing in the decades after Alexander's death. Didn't know Alexander, didn't go on the expedition, and probable creator of some of the more fanciful stories. Technically, I suppose, he isn't actually a primary source, 'cos he wasn't there)
Nearchus (another boyhood friend of Alexander who was appointed 'admiral' of the fleet that sailed up the Indus and around the coast to Persia in 326/5)
Onesicretus (Nearchus' 'vice-admiral' on the Indus/Ocean trip)and there may be a couple of others that I've forgotten.If you want to read more about these writers and, in particularly, their reliability, most of the major modern biographies of Alexander include information on the sources; and there are a few books that focus specifically on them (such as Pearson's "The Lost Histories of Alexander the Great" and books by Hammond and Bosworth whose titles I can't remember off the top of my head).I hope this goes some way to answering your question.All the bestMarcus

[John]

Alexander's technician Aristoboulos (and no doubt the most trustworthy primary source) says Alexander undid the knot by taking out the pole-pin. - Not dramatic enough, I guess, for the other writers to endure.John

[marcus]

Thanks John. I thought that was Aristoboulos's version but couldn't be sure.Maybe, because he was an engineer, he could see the way to do it and advised Alexander what to do. As you say, CAllisthenes probably found this rather dull when he was trying to portray Alexander as some elemental, (semi-)divine force, and put in the version about him cutting it. Ptolemy probably followed suit or, because there were so many people around, he couldn't see a darned thing, so just copied Callisthenes' version in his book.All the bestMarcus