the persian yoke had become so intolerable to the egyptians that they were prepared to accept any other conqueror with positive enthusiasm, and the macedonian alexander and his followers were welcomed rather as friends than as enemies and hated masters.
the colossal empire created by the splendid military audacity combined with the judicious tolerance of alexander the great may be said to have dropped to pieces by its own weight, and a comparatively few years after his short career was ended, for he died at thirty-two, it had been partitioned among his generals.
roxane or roxana, first or chief wife of alexander, for he married others later, could only in a theoretic sense be called queen of egypt, as of other countries of which her husband was master. the mad rush of battle and conquest left little time for the ostentatious display of royalty. alexander was rather a great general than a reigning king intent upon the government and internal improvement of the various countries under his sway. he seemed to have hardly time to place one crown upon his head before he was fighting for another, and the outward trappings[336] of his office must have been military rather than royal. there could have been little opportunity for his wife to realize the grandeur of her position. hence it was, in all probability, not till after his death that roxane, the queen, entered egypt, and then it was rather as a captive than as a reigning princess.
by a previous connection, not a legal marriage, with barsine, widow of darius’ best greek general, memnon, alexander had a son named herakles, who afterwards laid some claim to the kingdom, but it was roxane, a bactrian princess, famed for her beauty, that he first made his lawful wife. she was the daughter of oxyartes, “who commanded the sagdian rock for darius,” and on the reduction of this fortress, married the conqueror.
we can picture to ourselves a beautiful mountain region, the mad onrush of troops, the clang of arms, the brief delirium of a battle and then a cessation of hostilities and the natural man seeking once more excitement in amusement. it is said that it was at a feast or drinking bout, where dancing was also going on, that alexander first saw and at once fell in love with the handsome roxane, spoken of by one writer as “of surpassing beauty and a grace rarely seen among barbarians.”
alexander himself was a handsome man in the perfection of manhood. born 356 b. c. he was twenty-nine years of age at the time of this marriage, which is said to have united two strains of indo-european blood. the bride was probably much younger. of him many likenesses,[337] usually busts or profiles on coins, exist. there is a bust of him in the british museum, a terra-cotta in munich, and he appears as the sun-god in the capitoline museum in rome, as the vernal-sun in a marble relief in the louvre, in paris, beside other places and his head on the coins. he was fair and ruddy, with finely cut features, an alert agreeable expression, a look of power and intellect and a full eye which could blaze with anger or melt into tenderness.
as opposites attract, and judging by the race from which she sprang (bactria was approximately the present bokhara and “has no small claim to be called the cradle of our present civilization”), we may believe roxane to have been dark as alexander was fair. a soft yet brilliant black or brown eye, raven tresses, ideal in feature and in form, and endowed with every grace. alexander had proved himself invulnerable to many of the sex. the wife and daughter of darius—women famed for their good looks—were treated by him with a respect and indifference to their charms unusual in such times and in such cases. he worshipped the god of war rather than the god of love. but the fair roxane proved irresistible. he left her for a brief time and then returned and married her. to be the bride of the conqueror, especially when he was young and handsome, what more could any maiden desire? “none but the brave deserve the fair,” physical courage was the most admired of all the virtues, holding its place even in these latter days, and of that alexander had a large share, as well as of other lovable qualities, impulsive,[338] generous and large-minded, as he often showed himself. he wore a great plume of white feathers on either side of his helmet which made his ever a conspicuous object of the field of battle, yet he bore a charmed life and escaped injury.
cruel at times, he was still warm-hearted. between his mother and himself existed a strong affection, and in a quarrel between her and his father, philip, he took her side and fled with her. she was the imperious, passionate and fanatical olympias, daughter of neoptolemus, king of epirus, to which country she returned with the son who inherited some of her traits, and to whom she was passionately attached. plutarch gives many pleasant anecdotes of alexander and refers to the numerous letters he wrote to his mother and other relatives and friends. he deprecated his mother’s interference with matters of war and state, but bore her reproaches with patience, and when antipater wrote to him complaining of her he nobly replied, “one tear of a mother effaces a thousand such letters as these.”
with alexander the name of cleopatra is introduced into egypt, where it was borne by a bewildering number of the subsequent royal family. his father put away his mother and married a second wife of that name, and to his sister cleopatra, who married her uncle alexander, her mother’s brother, king of epirus, he was, as well as to olympias, warmly attached.
the marriage of the conqueror with the native[339] princess placated the bactrians and peace was restored. but the restless spirit of alexander know no pause—he could not stay to dally in the arms of his love, no matter how beautiful, ambition was even a more powerful mistress and he rushed onward to new conquests.
he had adopted a conciliatory policy towards the jews, he showed the same in egypt. he sacrificed to the gods of the land, to apis in particular, in marked and acceptable contrast to the conduct of cambyses and ochus, showed great favor to the priests and placed native egyptians in posts of honor and command. he made a journey into the desert, a most difficult, hazardous and dangerous expedition, to visit the oracle of amon, and caused himself to be proclaimed son of the god, with a curious mingling of faith in the oracle and deliberate adoption of a policy which conduced to his own interest as well as to those of the people whom he had conquered. he founded the city of alexandria, which alone might have made famous any single or ordinary man, in addition to all else that he accomplished in his comparatively short life. the old naucrates yielded its trade to the new city and the port of canopus was closed, while alexandria grew in splendor, importance and intellectual prestige and became one of the renowned cities of the world.
separation and the life of constant excitement which he led may have lessened the hold of roxane upon alexander’s affection and a sudden passion for other women have overtaken him,[340] but it is more probable that motives of policy dictated his subsequent course.
at suza occurred what was called “the great marriage of europe and asia.” planned by alexander to celebrate his victories and perhaps to hasten the return of peace and good-will. he took to wife statira, daughter of darius, and some authorities say, also parysatis, daughter of ochus, brother of darius and one of the last persian kings of egypt. he coerced or persuaded his officers to follow his example, and not one but many marriages were then performed.
so intent was alexander on his purpose that he put a premium on such connections and promised to pay the debts of those who would take persian wives. at this time ptolemy, later king of egypt, was united to a certain princess aatakama, daughter of artabanes, of whom we find no further mention, suggesting that these enforced unions were not lasting, and were perhaps regarded by their principals as a mere spectacular performance, or even a comedy. these nuptials were celebrated with great magnificence the banqueting hall was laid with tables for numberless guests and was gorgeously decorated. pillars of gold and silver, set with jewels, upheld the awning above, and nothing that eastern luxury could suggest was spared to embellish the feast. according to the persian custom a row of armchairs was placed for the bridegrooms and one beside each for the brides, who came in procession, fair to look upon, in beautiful and shining garments, enhanced by all the appliances of the[341] toilette, and took each her place beside her lord.
it was a marriage of fatal import to all concerned. we can imagine the jealous passion aroused in the breast of roxane at the sight or report of all this, doubtless in striking contrast with her own simple nuptials, jeopardizing as it did the right of succession which might be claimed by her own children, yet unborn. perchance the new queen added fuel to the flame by a haughty demeanor, a half-concealed or openly expressed contempt for the barbarian chief’s daughter who had preceded her. be this as it may, roxane rested not till, with the aid of perdiccas, one of alexander’s generals, she had her put to death. the story goes that after alexander was dead she sent a forged letter to statira, either as coming from him or with purport that he was still alive and got queen statira into her power and caused both her and her sister, perhaps the before-mentioned parysatis, to be murdered and their bodies thrown into a well and covered with earth. having thus disposed of a hated rival, she rested in fancied security, but her own destruction eventually avenged this cruel deed.
the life of alexander, lived too fast, and with little regard perhaps either to the laws of health or morality, came to a speedy close. he died 323 b. c. either ignorant of or indifferent to the approaching birth of a child of his own, he is said to have left his kingdom to “the worthiest,” or some say “the strongest”—the first a person far to seek in the midst of such a grasping blood-thirsty throng. some months after[342] alexander’s death roxane bore a son, who was named alexander aegus, and the infant, in conjunction with alexander’s natural brother philip arridaeus, apparently a man of weak intellect, were nominally kings, under the regency of perdicas, or perdikkas, one of alexander’s most prominent generals. no such giant succeeded the heroic figure, almost that of a demi-god, whose life had just closed, and the conglomerate kingdom which he had created fell into numerous fragments or divisions.
roxane evidently could play the part of a margaret of anjou and her subsequent history is but a pitiful tale. she and her son fell into the power of the generals, who, like vultures, settled upon their prey. no noble emotion of protecting the helpless stirred in their breasts. it was a period of the world’s history in which weakness courted its own destruction. “might was right,” a theory not altogether known in modern times, was the general rule of existence and some years after alexander’s death roxane and the young alexander were put out of the way to make room for the grasp of stronger hands than those of a woman and child.
at first the spoilers called themselves satraps, but eventually claimed or accepted the title of king. ptolemy took egypt; seleucus, babylon and syria; antigonus, asia minor, and antipater, macedon, later conquered by descendants of antigonus; lysimachus took thrace; leonatus, phrygia; and eumenes, cappadocia.
alexander aegus, like caesarion, son of cleopatra vi of egypt, was never allowed to succeed[343] his father, but his life was cut short in youth. mother and child were simply used as pawns on the great chess board of kings and when their existence interfered with the designs of those in power they were disposed of. the then known world was in a tumult, war was the order of the times, peace almost unknown. the uprising and overthrow of one power and of one individual after another was continuous, the pages of history were stained with the blood, alike of the guilty and the innocent.
the years succeeding the death of alexander must have been ones of anxiety, if not of absolute terror to roxane, and the possibility of a violent death for herself and her child could not but have suggested itself to her. nominally wife and mother of a king, she enjoyed little of the pleasures of state, but was hurried here and there and from camp to camp with scant ceremony. a possession too valuable to those who held her to let her go and in the end too valuable to keep.
the disposal of alexander’s body was a matter of dispute. a counsel of officers decreed that it should be buried in the oasis of amon, where alexander had been adopted by the god; perdikhas wished that it should be laid with the ancient macedonian kings, while ptolemy was determined that it should rest in alexandria, the new city. ptolemy triumphed and the sarcophagus of gold remained there for some time; we do not know how long. diodorus says “a coffin of beaten gold was provided, so wrought by the hammer as to answer the proportion of the body.[344] it was half filled with aromatic spices, which served as well to delight the senses as to preserve the body from putrefaction. over the coffin was a cover of gold, so exactly fitted as to answer the higher part every way. over this was thrown a curious purple coat, near to which were placed the arms of the deceased, that the whole might represent the acts of his life.” this was placed on a magnificent chariot adorned with figures, symbolic designs, arches, floral designs in gold and funerary urns, an absorbing spectacle to the people. it seems almost strange that so much honor was paid to the body of alexander, so little to his very flesh and blood.
this settlement of the place of burial brought on a conflict with the regent who came to egypt, bringing king philip and his wife euridike and alexander iv and his mother roxane, perhaps her first visit to a land where she had been nominally queen. perdikhas acted in his treatment of soldiers and enemies with great cruelty, ptolemy with a marked clemency, and the cavalry of the former rose up and murdered him. ptolemy was then offered the regency and the charge of the royal princes. but he was a cautious and far-seeing man and content with what he had already secured—the mastership of egypt—firmly declined so dangerous a responsibility. the regency was then conferred upon or seized by antipator, and new distributions and divisions of ownership ensued.
a mother and sister of alexander, olympias and cleopatra, had raised a faction against antipator and divided the government between them.[345] a firm believer in “women’s rights” were these ancient and warlike dames; rights in which there should be no distinction of sex, yet as ever the weaker went to the wall. cleopatra, it is said, lived a royal widow at sardis, wooed by all the world—a woman doubtless of beauty, as she showed herself of vigor and capacity. she would have married perdikhas or leonatus, who had died, but spurned the rest. like england’s queen elizabeth, she had many suitors. at last to escape antigonas she agreed to marry ptolemy, and thereby secured her own destruction, for antigonas could not contemplate a union which might prove so injurious to himself and had her secretly murdered. some one seems always to have stood ready for the commission of such deadly crimes. but to throw dust in the eyes of the people antigonas gave her a magnificent funeral and proceeded against the woman who had been instrumental in her murder.
time passed on and antipater was succeeded by his son cassander, more ruthless, cruel and self-seeking, if possible, than his predecessor, and he determined to rid himself of a charge become useless to him and assume full regal power. olympias had meanwhile secured the death of philip arridaeus and his wife and carried off the young king and his mother to pydna. cassander besieged and took them, and olympias was cited to appear before a public assembly of the macedonians and answer for the murders she had committed. trusting in her own power and influence she haughtily complied, but was condemned[346] to death and secretly executed by the relatives of those she had injured.
the young king and his mother were shut up in the castle of amphipolis, where they were treated rather as captives than as royal personages, and finally put to death. it seems almost strange that roxane, still young and probably beautiful, was not forcibly married by one of the contestants, and the question settled in this way rather than by such tragic means, but it was not to be, and the son of alexander must needs die or others could not grasp the power which should have descended to him.
ptolemy, if not directly accessory, at least connived at this murder, and thus secured himself in his new kingdom. it is said that the restoration of the outward shrine of the great temple at luxor, built by thothmes iii and ruined by the persians, took place during the nominal sovereignty of philip arridaeus and alexander iv, and therefore quite early in ptolemy’s satrapy. this restoration of the inner cella was in the name of the boy king alexander. a statue of the young king is in the gizeh museum. it is of granite and about nine feet in height. the gentle and melancholy expression seems well suited to the youth’s tragic fate, but he is represented as much older than when he died, and it is probably a conventional likeness, with a mingling of the egyptian and greek in type and attributes. a certain inscription in egypt mentions ptolemy in the seventh year of the absent alexander. his destroyer kept up the fiction of his authority, thus[347] ptolemy granted lands in the name of alexander and philip after their decease.
we can almost imagine the unfortunate queen roxane ready to lay down her harassed and weary life, but such is the natural clinging to the known and visible that doubtless she had occasional periods of pleasure and even of reviving hope for her child and herself. she had committed or been accessory to the blackest crime to secure his succession. surely it could not be in vain?
alexander the great was born in 355 b. c. and died in 323. his son alexander iv was born 323 b. c. and died 310, but his name appears as king till 305. thus all the family of alexander the great perished by violent deaths. first his mother, then his wife and child, and lastly in 309 b. c. his sister and his natural son herakles or hercules.