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Alexander
in Egypt
And
so the myth of Alexander had begun, and gained momentum
as tales spread of his supernatural powers that could
summon divine guardians at will. It was also becoming
increasingly plausible to those around him that he might
even be what he claimed to be, the son of god himself.
His divinity would be confirmed once and for all by consulting
the Oracle, his need for self-validation explaining the
risks he had taken on the perilous desert march.
As the exhausted men entered Siwa, their eyes would have
been filled with the beauty of its lush, fertile oasis.
Shady groves of palms and fruit trees bordered waters
which gushed forth in abundance from subterranean springs
and here in the mystical surroundings of the Spring of
the Sun they refreshed themselves. With no prior knowledge
of their arrival, immense curiosity and excitement must
have greeted the Greek soldiers emerging weary from the
desert, at their head the first pharoah ever to complete
the dangerous journey. Anxious to visit the Oracle as
soon as possible, Alexander then went immediately to the
temple of Amun, its location on the high rock outcrop
of Aghurmi deeply impressing him. Plutarch says that according
to his sources, Alexander was met by the Siwan high priest
who greeted him with the words "O, paidion",
"Oh, my son", but mispronounced the Greek as
"O, pai dios" meaning "Oh, son of god",
much to Alexander's delight and amazement.The small number
of his party waited in the temple forecourt, and after
the high priest announced to all present that the god
was content, they could proceed with their questions.
One of the Macedonians asked the Oracle whether they might
give their king divine honours, to which the reply came
"This would please Ammon". Then in his capacity
as pharaoh and high priest of all the gods, Alexander
was led into to the heavily-scented darkness of the inner
sanctuary to put his questions to the god himself.
When he finally emerged into the daylight, he was met
by his friends anxious to know exactly what had transpired.
Alexander would only say he had been given 'the answer
his heart desired'.
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That
the main subject discussed had been the nature of his divine
paternity seems the most likely, since he was adamant that
the only other person he would tell these 'secret prophecies'
to would be his mother, and as he told Olympias in a letter,
this would only be face to face on his return to Macedonia.
Plutarch states that Alexander also asked if his father Philip
II's murder had been avenged, whereupon "the high priest
asked him to choose his words more carefully, for his father
was not a mortal". He may also have sought divine approval
for his new Egyptian city, whose viability as a trading centre
would also have been confirmed by his checking the age-old
caravan routes to the Mediterranean that passed through Siwa.
Whatever his questions had been, Alexander was sufficiently
satisfied with the answers to present magnificent offerings
to the Oracle, and over the remaining eight years of his life
would send frequent gifts to its priests, together with more
questions. Always eager to receive its answers, Alexander,
with his unshakable faith in oracles, would also act on their
advice, whether it suited his purpose or not.
According to his general and biographer Ptolemy, Alexander
then returned to Memphis along the direct route via the Qattara
Depression. On arrival he made sacrifices to Zeus-Amun, held
a great parade of troops and received 500 Greek mercenaries
and 400 Thessalian cavalry sent from his regent Antipater
back in Macedonia.
He then made final arrangements for the governing of the Egypt
in his absence. Arrian says that Alexander had been deeply
impressed by Egypt "and the general strength of the country,
but the fact that this had been greater than he expected,
induced him to divide the control of it between a number of
his officers, as too unsafe to put it all in the hands of
one man". Following Aristotle's advice that a king must
hold an even balance between all parties he therefore appointed
a combination of Egyptians, Macedonians and Persians to rule
Egypt along traditional lines.
Alexander left Egypt in the spring (mid-April) of 331 BC a
changed man. Although he would never return alive to see the
city he had founded, it would eventually be his final resting
place when his embalmed body was returned there for burial
only 10 years later.
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Alexander in Egypt
