Now, as new biographies go, I generally prefer the hostile accounts, not because I lean towards this direction myself - I think I'm firmly in the middle, neither idealizing or demonizing Alexander - but because I often find the authors' attempts to justify their opinions rather amusing. After all, how many "straight" biographies of Alexander can we read before (horrors!) our eyes begin to glaze over?
So far, Adams' book has proved to be a mostly impartial rendering, and I might have become bored by it if it were not for the fact that every few pages there is a statement which is intriguing enough to keep me reading. Here's one, shortly after describing Alexander's visit to Delphi: 'He was beginning to acquire, by one means or another, the trappings of a reputation and an image carefully crafted to overawe. He already had adopted a motto for his reign from the Iliad. This was Helen's description of the king of Mycenae, and a Greek hegemon like himself, Agamemnon; "Both a good king and a strong spear fighter." Again, the identification obviously reinforced Alexander's position and image.' Does anyone know anything about this so-called motto? It doesn't register with me as being from the sources, so could it be archaeological? Or have I missed it in my readings? Seems to me that any reference that reinforces Alexander's fondness for the Iliad would have been brought up in one of this forum's discussions as to whether Alexander truly saw himself as the new Achilles, or whether this was an invention of the historians. Just do not recall this motto at all. . . Continued . . .
