Interesting website

[jan]

A website on Alexander can be found at http://www.interesting.com/stories/Alexander. This site has a map and some images that you may find interesting. It is a history website where you can subscribe to a newsletter. Nathalie Jacquet recommended Zimmerman's Hephaestion website. I have not been able to find it through the searchengines. However, I know at one time I had visited it. Where has it gone?Also, I read on this website that the earliest known historic record of Alexander is written some 400 years after his lifetime. Are we really expected to believe anything in it? Seems a lot like the Bible. I really am laughing out loud right now at this, and hope I am offending, but doesn't it seem a bit humorous to believe that scholars rest their entire case upon documents that came into existence long after the deceased has been put to rest. NO wonder all the stories from Persia and India seem so much more reliable than those from Italy.

[jorgios]

http://home.earthlink.net/~mathetria/he ... .htmlThats the Hephaeston website, happy reading.Jorge

[jan]

Hello Jorge,I have found the website on Hephaestion and really enjoy it. Thank you so much. It is funny how we seem to be crossing wires as I read your commentary on the four historians, and apologize for omitting the not in my paragraph on giving offense. I liked your comments about the historians. It is a great link, and you have a very interesting way of explaining the details. I will spend a lot of time digesting all of it, I promise.janI noticed that Yanni, the musician, will be on Larry King tonight.

[marcus]

Hi Jan,Does that *website* say that the earliest historical record of Alexander is over 400 years after his death? Perhaps someone ought to let them know that they're wrong... this is the sort of thing that irritates me about the Internet. There are probably thousands of people now who, because they believe everything they read on the Internet, are under a multitude of false impressions...All the bestMarcus

[nick]

Hi Marcus -And is it a problem? Wasn't the whole corpus of the Alexander Romance created by people who were misguided? And no other work has secured the memory of Alexander over so many ages!Marcus, please don't get irritated. This is the proces that creates legends out of history. It has been like that for centuries, from Medieval monks copying dubious sources to story tellers adding some personal flavor. We can witness that proces now on a daily basis, all over the internet.Regards -
Nick

[susan]

The Alexander Romance incorporates some parts that were probably written before Perdiccas' death -in 321BC; and Theophrastus (Aristotle's pupil), in his 'Characters', mentions people who have known Alexander. The primary sources that Arrian, Plutarch etc used were people who were contemporaries of Alexander, so there wasn't really a 400-year gap.You can read about the major sources herehttp://www.bbk.ac.uk/hca/classics/alexsources.htmSusan

[marcus]

Hi Nick,You are probably right that I shouldn't let it get to me. However, I do think there's a big difference between, say, something in a newspaper that says Alexander was epileptic (which The Times did report a few months ago), where, although it was news to me, can easily become part of the 'legend'; and a factually incorrect statement that there is no historical record of Alexander for more than 400 years after his death.Anyway, I've calmed down now... :-)All the bestMarcus

[jan]

Hi Susan,Thanks so much for the edification. I really appreciate this site. It is very worthwhile.And Marc and Nick,That was a bit amusing. I just wonder how long it took the Romans to translate the Greek. ! Glad you are no longer irritated as Alexander had such a strong control on what would be considered historic and what would not, according to sources that I have read, that nothing surprises me...expecially the number of wounded or killed on each side. I notice that Alexander always emerges relatively unscathed, losing very few men in comparison to taking out so many. He had some p.r. man, didn't he?Credibility of a time period at such a distance is mindboggling to say the least. The stories only get richer and better in each and every generation. Doesn't it irritate you to think that the only thing today's generation will know is whichever movie is the biggest box office hit? I have finally seen a picture of Colin in Paris Match issue with Kate Hepburn on the cover. He is mentioned in the article for Alexander as well as other important roles. He is quite cute, but not an Alexander either. So what can you do? Stick to just educational and documentary films?Have a good day!

[jan]

Dear Jorge,
Thanks for sending the website made by Zimmerman to me as I have just left the Agora. It is interesting to read the messages there as well as here. A lot of great discussions on this subject.Jan