Alexander's ring

[susan]

Does anyone know what happened to Alexander's ring after Perdiccas died ?Susan

[nick]

"One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them."After Perdiccas died the ring passed on to Sauron. When Sauron was defeated Isildur got the ring, then Gollem, then Bilbo. It is now in the hands of a guy known as Frodo, whoever he may be.Sorry, I couldn't resist this."One ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them."Regards -
Nick

[Kit]

Nick,You may just have started another internet 'myth'!!?

[Polyxena]

Hi Susan,I don't know either what happened to ATG's ring after Perdiccas died. And I'm curious about this, too. But, since you've mentioned ATG's ring, actually ... the Argead's family ring, I would like to know more about it's appearance .... is there any reference about the look of this ring?Regards, Poliksena
Susan

[H]

Now, Nick, you know that THAT ring was very bad. Alexander's ring had no such dark magic attached to it, though it frightened Augustus once if I remember rightly.
Halil

[ruthaki]

I wonder if it might have gone to Ptolemy who was there after the assassination of Perdikkas. I seem to remember that I've read a description of it. Must check my notes. Maybe it was just something I read in Renault???

[romaneyes]

Didn't Augustus actually have something like Alexander's ring in his possession? Or was that just a passage in I Claudius?My thought is, that if Augustus got it, than it's quite possible that Ptolemy had it after Perdiccas died, and that got passed down to the Ptolemies. But I'm not sure if that story of Augustus is true or not. Then again, I also heard he got it from Alexander's tomb. I find that a little odd though.

[marcus]

Nick,Thank you for cheering up an otherwise frustrating and irritating day! :-)All the bestMarcus

[H]

Hello Ruth
I believe Renault mentions a lionhead ring, that may be the one you're thinking of.
Cheers
Halil

[maciek]

That was very good Nick!! But I never found anything about this ring. regards
Maciek

[Sandra]

IMHO- could it be some kind of seal-ring with the Argead star?

[amyntoros]

Augustus so admired Alexander that he wore a signet ring with the image of Alexander's head upon it. The story about his visit to Alexander's tomb is that he bent over to kiss the face and broke off Alexander's nose!!There is a website on biblical matters where the writer claims: "And, in the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan, this writer has seen the gold ring of Alexander the Great, with which he sealed royal documents." Now, this surely would be the ring that Alexander gave to Perdiccas, but can you imagine that it is sitting in a museum today? Wouldn't we all have known about it? Sounds like the beginning of another myth to me. I live in New York City, so I suppose I could go there and check. However, the last time I went to see one of the "Alexander presenting Campaspe to Apelles" paintings that is shown on the Met's website, I couldn't find it anywhere and it turned out to be in a storage room. I could also make a phone call, but I'm imagining an embarrassing conversation. "Do you have Alexander the Great's ring with his seal?" "No, but we have the Shield of Achilles and a bridge we would like to sell you!"Linda Ann

[susan]

Thanks, everyone, for your replies. It seems as if there's rather a mystery about it; I suppose that it was so powerful a sign of Alexander's kingship that the successors might have felt uncomfortable wearing it; certainly they wouldn't have liked to see one of their rivals wearing it.I've also wondered if it was passed on from Philip, or whether Alexander had it made for himself. If it came from Philip, I somehow imagine it with an engraving of horses like the early coins of Philip . If Alexander had it made, I can imagine it as having his image on it, thinly disguised as Heracles maybe.RegardsSusan

[Jay]

I thought I read somewhere that the ring depicted Zeus sitting on his throne, but I don't remember where I read this. Does anyone else remember reading this, or was is just fictional speculation?Jay

[alejandro]

Of course, we should also consider the possibility that no ring was actually given to Perdikkas.
Arrian doesnGÇÖt mention it, and though many scholars argue that PtolemyGÇÖs biased interest may be behind its GÇ£omissionGÇ¥ (you donGÇÖt want your fiercest enemy to be considered the legitimate recipient of AlexanderGÇÖs authority represented by the ring), the case for its truth is not so GÇ£pristineGÇ¥ either: it is said that the ultimate source of the story is Hieronymos of Kardia, who was an associate of Eumenes, who was an associate of Perdikkas in the years after AlexanderGÇÖs death, and hence there is room for a bias in this case too.
I think that there are arguments both in favour and against both positions, and probably the mystery will never be solved.
The fact that the ring (whether it was passed to Perdikkas or not, we still expect a ring to have existed) is not mentioned after the deathbed episode could be rationalized if one thinks that none of the successive GÇ£guardiansGÇ¥ of the kings (or the other successors) could use it while they were alive (then the other diadochi would have had a GÇ£goodGÇ¥ reason to attack the intended usurper, i.e., they could have used it as a propagandistic weapon: GÇ£I have no imperialistic ambitions, just want to depose the usurper and reinstate the rightful heirsGÇ¥, yeah right!), and after that they became kings themselves, so they didnGÇÖt need GÇ£AlexanderGÇÖs tutelageGÇ¥ (his authority embodied symbolically in the ring) anymore.
Another question would rather be, then, have Philip-Arridaios or Alexander IV ever got it?
Kind regardsAlejandro