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

THE SYMPOSIA OF PHILIP II AND ALEXANDER III OF MACEDON 63
house in lieu of their former regional loyalties (as one can see, perhaps,
by reading between the lines of Theopompus and Demosthenes).
But because the Macedonians did not model their symposia upon
those of their contemporary Greek neighbors to the south, the Greeks,
as always when faced with societies different from their own, dismissed
them as barbarian, although many of these very customs originated
from practices of the Greeks of earlier times, befi tting the
archaic and semi-Homeric nature of fourth-century Macedonian
society. It is surely no coincidence that both the Macedonian elite cavalry
and Achilles’ Myrmidons ( Il. 1.179) are called Companions,
Hetairoi, bound by strong ties of personal allegiance to their respective
monarchs. 43
Unlike contemporary Greek symposia, the Macedonian symposium
did retain much of its original function of an initiatory rite of
passage. The symposia of Philip and Alexander employed the services
of young boys as wine-pourers, and it appears that the Royal
Pages also served this function. The Pages were an innovation of
Philip designed to secure the loyalty of the Macedonian elite more
fi rmly by training their sons to be future offi cers in his army, while at
the same time retaining these youths as hostages for their families’
continued loyalty. 44 At the same time, the institution served an educative
function, 45 to which the Pages’ participation in the symposia
presumably contributed.
Another peculiarly Macedonian rite of passage was the custom,
probably derived from earlier Greek practice, 46 that youths were not
permitted to recline at symposia until they had slain a boar without
the use of a net. 47 As for the question of reclining itself, Duris states
that the Homeric heroes banqueted sitting up, and so sometimes
(ἐ ν ί ο τ ε) did Alexander, and cites as an example a banquet at which he
seated six thousand of his commanders upon silver seats and couches
(FGrH 76 F 49). This fragment is problematic as evidence for usual
Macedonian practice because the large number of participants in the
occasion in question, which is usually identifi ed with the mass marriages
at Susa following Alexander’s return from the east, 48 would
likely have determined the posture of the guests, as Duris hints with
his qualifi cation of “sometimes.” 49 In any case, his point in the passage
is to highlight the “otherness” of the Macedonian court by emphasizing
the archaic nature as well as the luxury of its symposia. Nevertheless,
although it is uncertain at what date the Macedonians began
to recline at symposia, it is certain that they did so at a later date than
the Greeks, and the custom of sitting remained more pervasive at
Macedonian symposia, probably because this was the practice of the
heroes in Homer. 50