dominance has an interesting analogy in the spread of European culture to our colonies. The needs of the competing kingdoms led to important administrative and military developments, which underpinned royal power. The
kings ruled over numerous Greek cities, but what sort of impact did they make on them? What was it like to be subordinate to a superpower? Finally, within the cities themselves, civic life changed as a result of the growth of
monarchy.
The Hellenistic Kingdoms
Alexander the Great is one of the archetypally romantic figures, as is shown by the vitality of the Alexander legend from antiquity to Mary Renault. Emulating the Homeric Achilles, he won a reputation for military genius and
personal prowess. To him were attributed extraordinary tales: for example, Callisthenes, one of his court historians, recounted how once the sea had retreated from Alexander's path and bowed in homage before him. Though
many of the stories, like this one, are at best dubious, their circulation as early as the lifetime of Alexander reflects his almost unthinkable achievements.
Bust Of Alexander The Great, the so-called 'Azara herm': a Roman copy thought to be based on a bronze statue, possibly showing the king in heroic nudity holding a lance, by the court-sculptor Lysippus (c.330-320bc). The tilt of
the head and the mane-like hair were standard features of Alexander's portraits.
When Alexander succeeded to the throne of Macedon after the murder of his father Philip, he inherited a kingdom which had just come to dominate the affairs of mainland Greece. With enormous energy Alexander launched a
crusade, long called for by Greek propagandists and indeed begun under Philip, to punish the Persians for Xerxes' invasion of Greece, almost 150 years earlier. Within a year Alexander had won control of the Greek cities of
western Turkey, and he pressed east to Gordium. Here story told of an oracle that the person who loosed the knot that tied the yoke to the chariot of the ancient king of Gordium would become master of Asia: Alexander cut the
knot. A romantic tale and possibly true. Only a month or two later he defeated Darius the Persian King at Issus (333 B.C.). Darius escaped, but Alexander was able to turn south and take control of Phoenicia and Egypt. From
there he made an extraordinary expedition out west through the desert to the oracle of Zeus Ammon. No strategic purpose was served by this long march, but Alexander had a question to put to the god. We know neither the
question nor the answer, but he was greeted at the oracle as 'son of Ammon', one of many intimations of his divine status. Thus encouraged, he marched north and east into Mesopotamia, where at Gaugamela (331 B.C.) he
defeated Darius again, this time decisively. The Persian Empire, which had been a threat to the Greeks for more than 200 years, was now in the hands of Alexander.
Alexander did more than simply take over the Persian Empire. He continued his campaigns into the eastern part of it, putting down revolts and founding cities. In the far north-east, in Sogdiana, resistance was fierce, but
Alexander captured the final stronghold, and an unbelievably beautiful woman, Roxane. He fell in love and married her. There was also other business in hand. He crossed from Afghanistan into the Punjab where he defeated the
Indian king. Only a revolt of his troops prevented him from going further east, and he returned west via Baluchistan, a disastrous journey reminiscent of Napoleon's retreat from Moscow. Two years later, in 323, he died at
Babylon, aged only thirty-two.
Alexander left behind not only conquests, but also monarchy. Monarchy, a traditional part of the Macedonian state, had been peripheral to the Greek world until the reign of Philip. Alexander succeeded in making it central. He
provided a model for the series of Hellenistic kings that followed. The diadem, the plain headband worn by Alexander, became the standard symbol of monarchy; the title 'king', which Alexander had probably begun to use when
addressing the Greeks, was employed by all the Hellenistic rulers and, as we shall see, there were generally accepted conditions for the assumption of the title. Stories about Alexander no doubt established the expectation that
kings should have a striking personal appearance and a dignified bearing, or, less favourably, that they had arrogant pretensions and an offensive and haughty manner of dealing with visitors. Like it or not, the model of kingship
was established.