Philip II and Alexander the Great: Father and Son ... - Historia Antigua

“WORLDWIDE EMPIRE” VERSUS “GLORIOUS ENTERPRISE” 171
his necrology of Philip into a long comparison between Philip and his
famous son. In Alexander literature as a whole it is unique, and it
extends far beyond the famous speech in 324 that Alexander allegedly
delivered to his mutinous men at Opis (as Arrian gives it to us),
in which he started off by lauding his father but then went on to
praise his own achievements more. 25
Justin does not appear to be giving us merely rhetorical fl ourish, as
it has been argued that Arrian does in the Opis speech, nor was he
expounding on some literary father-son topos. There is more to his
necrology than a literary undertone. Like Diodorus, Trogus/Justin’s
view of Philip and Alexander is based not so much on what each king
did, but how each king acted in the best interests of his kingdom and
especially each king’s legacy. These points now need expansion, beginning
with the legacies.
There is a chasm of a difference between the legacy of Alexander
and that of Philip. 26 Thus, at the end of Alexander’s reign in 323,
when the Macedonian empire was at its greatest geographical extent,
national pride back home was probably at its lowest and dissatisfaction
with its king at its highest. Alexander left no undisputed heir to
succeed him, and when news of his death reached the mainland, the
Greeks revolted from Macedonia in the Lamian War. 27 He also depleted
Macedonian manpower with his frequent demands for reinforcements
to the extent that Antipater, left behind as guardian of
Greece and deputy hēgemōn of the League of Corinth, could have
been severely compromised if the Greeks had attempted a widespread
insurrection. 28 Diodorus 17.16 tells us that Parmenion and Antipater
had been urging Alexander from the time of his accession not to
become actively involved in Asia until he had produced a son and
heir, but he ignored them (admittedly, choosing a bride in his fi rst
year as king, given the problems he faced, was problematic, not least
because of the relative dearth of suitable candidates). That was perhaps
his biggest failing as king. Unlike his father, Alexander failed to
grasp the advantages of political marriages to consolidate and maintain
power—of Philip’s seven marriages, the fi rst six were kata
polemon. 29 Alexander’s marriage to Roxane of Bactria in 327 was
probably political—an attempt to secure the loyalty of Bactria, as well
as to have an heir. 30 By then it was a case of too little too late. Roxane
did give birth to a child, who died at the Hyphasis river in 326 ( Metz
Epit. 70). She was pregnant again when Alexander died, and
Alexander’s answer of “to the best” when he was asked to whom he
was leaving his empire only exacerbated the tensions between his
generals. 31 Alexander may well have ushered in the cultural greatness
of the Hellenistic era, 32 but after his death the Macedonian throne