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Although Alexander the Great died more than two-thousand years ago, his name is synonymous with power, innumerable conquests and incredible leadership. Born in 356 BC, Alexander was tutored in his early years by Aristotle before succeeding his father Philip as King of Macedonia and the mainland of Greece. Early in his reign he set about releasing the Greeks from Persian domination, but continued his campaigns into a programme of imperialist aggrandizement that eventually created a massive, albeit short‐lived, empire from India to Egypt. After his death from fever in 323 BC his hastily constructed dominion fell apart. The most lasting tribute to his achievement being the town of Alexandria, which he founded in Egypt in 331 BC.
How much do you know about one of history’s greatest leaders?
This summer saw the release of Hercules (Radical Studios, dir. Brett Ratner). Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took his place in the long line of strongmen to portray Greece’s most enduring icon. It was a lot of fun, and you should go see it. But, as one might expect from a Hollywood piece, the film takes a revisionist approach to the world of Greek myth, especially to its titular hero. A man of enormous sexual appetite, sacker of cities, and murderer of his own family, Hercules is glossed over here as a seeker of justice, characterized by his humanity and humility. And it is once again Hercules, not Heracles: the Romanized version loses the irony of the Greek, “Glory of Hera.”
This is neither the Hercules of ancient myth, nor is it the Hercules of Steve Moore’s graphic novel, Hercules: The Thracian Wars (Radical Comics, 2008), on which the film is loosely based. It is perhaps not surprising then that Moore fought to have his name removed from the project, at least according to long-time friend Alan Moore. Steve Moore died earlier this year and buried deep in the closing credits of the film is a dedication in his memory.
When he wrote his comic, Moore strove to fit his story into the world of Greek myth in a “realistic” way. Though the story (and that of its sequel, The Knives of Kush) is original, the characters and setting are consistent with the pseudo-historic Bronze Age of Greek legend. The film jettisons much of this careful integration for little narrative gain. I am never opposed to revisions to the myth (myth, after all, can be defined by its malleability), but why, for instance, set the opening of the film in Macedonia in 358 BCE instead of 1200? It adds nothing to the story, but confuses anyone with even a passing knowledge of Greek history — our heroes should be rubbing elbows with Philip II of Macedon, Alexander the Great’s father. The answer to this question, I suspect, is a sort of Wikipedial historicity: Hercules and his companions are hired by a fictional King Cotys, a name chosen by Moore as suitably Thracian — and there was a historical Cotys in 358.
A cover of Dell’s comic adaptation of the Hercules myth. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The Thracian Wars is set well after Hercules has completed his twelve labors: in the loose chronology of Greek myth, we are somewhere between the Calydonian Boar Hunt and the battle of the Seven Against Thebes. Hercules arrives in Thrace as a mercenary, along with his companions Iolaus, Tydeus, Autolycus, Amphiarus, Atalanta, Meleager, and Meneus, the only character made up by Moore. (The Hollywood film production jettisons those characters who might have LGBT overtones: Meneus is Hercules’s male lover, and Meleager is constantly frustrated by and therefore exposes Atalanta’s lesbianism.) Though no story of Greek myth involves all these characters, they all belong to roughly the same generation — the generation before the Trojan War. These characters could have interacted in untold stories.
But they don’t interact well. As Moore notes in the afterword to the trade paperback, “Hercules was a murderer, a rapist, a womanizer, subject to catastrophic rages and plainly bisexual…I wouldn’t have wanted to spend much time in his company.” The rest of the band is not much better. Where the film presents a band of brothers, faithful to each other to the death, in the comic these characters loathe each other and are clearly bound not by love of each other but the need to earn a living. They are mercenaries, with little interest in the morality of their actions.
Legendary Greece, then, is without a moral center. Violence and bloodshed are never far away. Sexual activity is fueled only by deceit or lust. The Greek characters speak of their Thracian surroundings as barbaric, but we are never shown any better. The art of the comic articulates this grim reality. Eyes are frequently lost in shadow, for instance, dehumanizing the characters further. Throughout, artist Admira Wijaya deploys a somber color palette of greys, browns, and muted reds to convey a bleak world.
This, then, is the great disconnect of Greek myth with the modern world. In our times, our heroes of popular culture must be morally pure; only black and white values can be understood. So-called “anti-heroes” are occasionally tolerated in marginal media, but even here their transgressions are typically mitigated somehow (think of the recent television series Dexter, in which the serial killer is validated by his targeting of other serial killers — the real bad guys). The heroes of Greek legend — the word “hero” itself only denoted those who performed memorable or noteworthy deeds, without a moral element — often existed solely because they were transgressors. Tantalus, Oedipus, Orestes: their stories are of broken taboos, stories of cannibalism, incest, kin-slaying. Later authors may have complicated their stories, but violation is at the core of their being.
Sure, the common people of ancient Greece benefited from Hercules’s actions as a slayer of monsters, but none of his actions were motivated by altruism. Rather, it was shame at best that moved him: in most tellings, his famous twelve labors were penance for the death of his family at his own hands. Many of his other deeds were motivated by hunger, lust, or just boredom. In the film, Johnson’s Hercules finds a sort of absolution for his past crimes. In the comic, redemption is not an objective; in fact, Hercules doesn’t even seem to recognize the concept.
Hercules is a figure of strength and power, a conqueror of the unknown, a slayer of dragons (and giant boars and lions). The Hercules of Hollywood shows us strength. The Hercules of myth — and of Moore’s comic — shows us the consequences of that strength when it’s not carefully contained. There is a primal energy there, a reflection of that part of our souls that is fascinated with, even desires, transgression. As healthy, moral humans, most of us conquer that fascination. But myth is our reminder that it always, always bears watching. Hollywood isn’t going to help you do that.
Featured image: An engraving from The Labours of Hercules by Hans Sebald Beham, c. 1545. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
This sequence of photos roughly outlines the progress of the Roman takeover of Greece, from the first beginnings in Illyris (modern Albania) in 230 BCE to the infamous “destruction” of Corinth in 146 BCE. The critical figures of this swift takeover were two Macedonian kings, Philip V and Perseus, who were determined to resist Roman aggression. Many famous generals of the middle Roman Republic were involved with the Greek states as generals and diplomats, but the most critical of them was Titus Quinctius Flamininus. And then off in the wings, especially when he was fighting the Romans in Italy itself and monopolizing their resources, was Hannibal, the Carthaginian general. But Carthage too was destroyed in 146 by the Romans. Their grip on the Mediterranean was secure.
This wealthy Greek town was the first to fall to Illyrian expansion, in 230 BCE. The Romans became concerned and sent an army across the Adriatic to quell the Illyrians. Thus began the Roman takeover of Greece.
The chief power on the Greek mainland was the kingdom of Macedon, ruled by Philip V. A vigorous young king, he was determined to drive the Romans from Greek soil. The clash of the superpowers became inevitable.
At the same time as fighting Philip in Greece, the Romans were engaged in Italy itself with the Carthaginian general, Hannibal. When Philip and Hannibal entered into a treaty, the purpose of which was the defeat of Rome, the Romans became truly alarmed.
The Second Macedonian War was managed for Rome by the young consul Titus Quinctius Flamininus. A competent general and a ruthless diplomat, he soon brought Philip V to his knees.
After the defeat of Philip V in the First and Second Macedonian wars (214-205, 200-197), Macedon was a shadow of its former self. The Greek states began to turn instead to the Roman Senate for advice and help. In this way Rome retained power in Greece even when it had no army there.
Philip V died in 179 and was succeeded by his son Perseus, the last king of Macedon. The Romans bullied him into war, and after his defeat he was imprisoned in Italy and what remained of Macedon was divided into four republics.
Twenty-two years after the final defeat of Macedon in 168, it was the turn of Greece itself. The Roman takeover was completed by the destruction of Corinth, symbol of Greek resistance.
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Image credits: 1. Phoenice, courtesy of Robin Waterfield. 2. Philip V. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. 3. Hannibal by Sébastien Slodtz (French, 1655–1726). Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. 4. Quinctius Flamininus by PHGCOM. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. 5. Cicero Denounces Catiline by Cesare Maccari. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. 6. König Perseus vor Aemilius Paulus by Jean-François-Pierre Peyron. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. 7. Le Dernier Jour de Corinthe by Tony Robert-Fleury. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE), King of Macedonia, ruled an empire that stretched from Greece in the west to India in the east and as far south as Egypt. The Macedonian Empire he forged was the largest in antiquity until the Roman, but unlike the Romans, Alexander established his vast empire in a mere decade. As well as fighting epic battles against enemies that far outnumbered him in Persia and India, and unrelenting guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan, this charismatic king, who was worshiped as a god by some subjects and only 32 when he died, brought Greek civilization to the East, opening up East to West as never before and making the Greeks realize they belonged to a far larger world than just the Mediterranean.
Yet Alexander could not have succeeded if it hadn’t been for his often overlooked father, Philip II (r. 359-336), who transformed Macedonia from a disunited and backward kingdom on the periphery of the Greek world into a stable military and economic powerhouse and conquered Greece. Alexander was the master builder of the Macedonian empire, but Philip was certainly its architect. The reigns of these charismatic kings were remarkable ones, not only for their time but also for what — two millennia later — they can tell us today. For example, Alexander had to deal with a large, multi-cultural subject population, which sheds light on contemporary events in culturally similar regions of the world and can inform makers of modern strategy.
West met East violently when Alexander crossed from Europe to Asia in 334 BCE. In bitter fighting with massive casualties Alexander overcame enemy armies to establish the largest ancient empire before the Roman.
In far northern Greece, Macedonia was a political, military and economic backwater before the reign of Philip II (359-336); when he was assassinated in 336 he had conquered Thrace and Greece and doubled Macedonia's population.
Philip's military reforms created the formidable professional Macedonian army with new shock and awe tactics, training, and weaponry, including the deadly sarissa, a 14-16' spear with a sharp pointed iron head that impaled enemy infantrymen.
When his son Alexander was 14, Philip hired Aristotle, foremost intellectual of the day, as his tutor. Aristotle taught Alexander for 3 years, turning him into an intellectual who spread Greek culture in the East.
Alexander the intellectual was nowhere near Alexander the warrior. In 333 BCE he battled Darius III, Great King of Persia, at Issus, forcing him to flee the battlefield. This was the beginning of the end for the ruling Achaemenid dynasty. This famous mosaic was discovered buried under Vesuvius' ash at Pompeii and is modelled on a contemporary painting showing Alexander bearing down on Darius, who is surrounded by the Macedonians' sarissas.
Alexander died in Babylon in June 323 BCE. he had not left an undisputed heir, so his generals carved up his empire among themselves, bringing to an end what Philip and Alexander had fought so hard to achieve. Alexander's legacy and his failing as a king and a man question whether he deserves to be called great.
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Images: 1. From By the Spear: Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire. Used with permission. 2. Bust of Alexander the Great at Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek by Yair Haklai. CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. 3. Map of Greece from By the Spear: Philip II, Alexander the Great, and the Rise and Fall of the Macedonian Empire. Used with permission. 4. Macedonian phalanx by F. Mitchell, Department of History, United States Military Academy. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. 5. Aristotle Altemps Inv8575 by Jastrow. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons. 6. Alexander Mosaic by Magrippa. CC-BY-SA-3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. 7. The Death of Alexander the Great after the painting by Karl von Piloty (1886). Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Today Peter Mayer, MD of Gerald Duckworth & Company Ltd, and Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing, announced the sale of the Duckworth Academic list to Bloomsbury. Integral to the sale, the Duckworth Trade list will be sold by Bloomsbury in the UK and all overseas markets from March 1, 2011. Duckworth remains independent.
Duckworth Academic will operate henceforth as Bristol Classical Press, taking effect immediately. Duckworth’s Academic list has long been known for its strong publishing centered on books about the ancient world. This new arrangement will allow Bloomsbury Academic to build on its inherent strength alongside the company’s worldwide strategy in other academic disciplines.
Mayer comments, ‘After seven years of growth at Duckworth, our Trade list now matches in size the traditionally strong Academic list. Bloomsbury is the perfect home for the Duckworth Academic list. This sale gives Bloomsbury Academic the ability to build that side of Bloomsbury’s business but the important thing for us is that it gives Duckworth a much broader infrastructural sales context within which to continue to build the Trade list, working closely as well with our US sister company, The Overlook Press.
‘To that end, we have recently appointed Jon Jackson, previously of Osprey and before that Weidenfeld, as Editorial Director of the Duckworth Trade list and Ben Slight, coming from a position as a Waterstone’s regional manager, as Duckworth Sales Coordinator, both working with Publicity Manager Suzannah Rich.’
Nigel Newton, Chief Executive of Bloomsbury Publishing said ‘Bringing such a distinguished academic list into Bloomsbury Academic is an important stepping stone in the development of our publishing in this area. We are also delighted to be representing the Duckworth Trade list, one which I have long admired, in the UK and overseas markets.’
Mayer adds ‘The Duckworth name is one of the oldest and most famous in British publishing. It has grown from what had become a small base in 2003 by nearly five times since then. Working together with Overlook in the US, with a strong staff and the support and facilities of Bloomsbury in the UK and abroad, this growth looks set to continue.
‘We have sought to develop a structure for our two parts and we found it with Bloomsbury. The new structure looks to a future in which both parts of the present Duckworth can prosper in different ways. On the General side we aim to fulfil the promise of the historic Duckworth Trade list, a trade publisher since its founding by Gerald Duckworth in 1898. It continues as independent as ever.
‘Two Duckworth stalwarts, Deborah Blake and Ray Davies, will be joining Bloomsbury Academic and, based on long years of service, I can truly say that they have both been the soul of our publishing. Even in the time of Colin Haycraft, when Duckworth embarked on Academic publishing, Deborah, as Editorial Director of the Academic list, helped form it. She finally came to be virtually the Academic list’s embodiment. Also that in the first very difficult years after Overlook and Duckworth became associated, she and Ray, our Production Director, were the sturdiest of linchpins connecting the past with the present.
‘I believe Academic publishing, like many editorial areas, needs a larger environment today in which to prosper. I really have no doubts that both the creative and economic sides of the Duckwo
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