pothos.org

I have a question I'd like to hear from other people who write about Alexander, if they are willing to share. How do you explain Ptolemy in relation to Alexander to your prospective readers? We all know the "supposed" speculation regarding Ptolemy's familial relationship to Alexander, some historians put forth he may have been a bastard of Philip's. Although there is no historical proof of that, at least to date. In Renault's Fire from Heaven she presents him in a sort of "foster or step-brother" role to the younger Alexander and explains to Alexander that the rumor is he's Phillip's bastard.

In a lot of books I've seen him presented as a sort of half-brother, cousin, etc., along with the comments regarding his supposed connection as Phillip's bastard.

This is a subject that's sort of touchy and I've grappled with it for a while. I just wondered how other people present him in this regard in their writing.

Thanks,

Lysis

Hello Lysis,

I saw no connection. In more modern royal families, you get illegitimate lines because the king beds women other than the queen, but Philip “took another wife with every campaign”, so he would have simply married the mother and had another heir. Unless Ptolemy’s mother was already married at the time of conception, I’d have thought Philip would have readily acknowledged another son.

Plus, had Ptolemy been any sort of blood rival, Alexander would have had him “dealt with” at the succession, like Amyntas and Caranus. Plus, for a supposed relative, Ptolemy didn’t seem overly favoured during Alexander’s lifetime.

But, Ptolemy later became pharaoh and needed to establish his right to be Alexander’s successor, which is when he’d promote the story that he was, in fact, a blood relation, whether true or not. So I think Ptolemy made it up.

Good luck with the writing, by the way.

Derek

Thanks Derek,

Your comments made excellent sense. It's a difficult subject because it seems that since Renault everyone seems to sort have taken whatever or however she has presented Alexander and his Companions, etc., as gospel - at least as historical literature, and the same theme seems to follow in other writer's works. Thus, the "legend" is born which Ptolemy would really be happy with, i.e. that he is aligned with Alexander. Your points were excellence, however, and are more along the lines that I have thought myself.

Thanks so much,

Lysis