The Complex Friendships of Alexander the Great

Joseph Roisman is a professor emeritus of Classics at Colby College. He is the author of Alexander's Veterans and the Early Wars of the Successors, The Classical Art of Command: Eight Greek Generals Who Changed the History of Warfare, and editor or coeditor of Brill's Companion to Alexander the Great and A Companion to Ancient Macedonia.

List of Illustrations Abbreviations Preface Introduction 0.1. Identifying Alexander's Friends 0.2. The Meaning of Royal Friendship: Aristotle and Alexander's Friends Chapter 1. Alexander's Macedonian Friends: Making, Breaking, and Restoring Friendships 1.1. Making Macedonian Friends 1.2. The Vicissitudes of Friendship Chapter 2. Categories of Friends 2.1. Alexander's Primary Friends 2.2. Alexander's Best Friend: Hephaestion 2.3. The Flatterers Chapter 3. Expectations of Friends 3.1. Loyalty and Protection 3.2. Friends in Crisis and Hardship 3.2a. The Conspiracy of Alexander of Lyncestis, Son of Aeropus 3.2b. The Philotas Conspiracy 3.2c. The Cleitus Affair 3.2d. The Army Mutinies and Hephaestion's Death 3.2d. The Army Mutinies and Hephaestion's Death 3.3. Sharing and Partnership 3.4. You've Got to Tell Him Chapter 4. Useful Friends 4.1. Appointments and Assignments 4.2. Friends in Council Chapter 5. Marks and Social Settings of Friendship 5.1. Proximity and Access to Alexander 5.2. Purple Dress 5.3. Gestures, Lifestyle, and Burial 5.3a. Gestures 5.3b. Lifestyle and Burial 5.4. Social Settings of Friendship 5.4a. Banquets 5.4b. Hunts Chapter 6. Friends and Gifts 6.1. Alexander's Gifts to Friends 6.2. Gifts to Alexander and Reciprocity 6.3. Refusing Alexander's Gifts 6.4. Friends' Gifts Chapter 7. Alexander's Foreign Friends, Part I 7.1. Greek and Non-Greek Companions 7.1a. Abdalonymus of Sidon 7.1b. Demaratus of Corinth 7.1c. Hagnon of Teos 7.1d. Medius of Larissa 7.1e. Oxyathres 7.1f. Stasanor of Soli 7.2. Guest-Friends (Xenoi) and State Representatives (Proxenoi) 7.2a. Aeschines of Athens 7.2b. Artabazus 7.2c. Demaratus of Corinth 7.2d. Phocion of Athens 7.2e. Theban Xenoi and Proxenoi 7.3. Foreign Individuals, Cities, and Tribes 7.3a. Anaxarchus of Abdera 7.3b. A Boeotian Soldier 7.3c. Calanus 7.3d. A Chian Friend 7.3e. Danubian Tribes 7.3f. Flatterers 7.3g. Gorgus of Iasus 7.3h. Philip of Arcarnania 7.3i. Selge 7.3j. Syrmus, King of the Triballians Chapter 8. Alexander's Foreign Friends, Part II 8.1. Friends and Allies 8.1a. Celts 8.1b. Cyrene 8.1c. Cyzicus 8.1d. Darius' Peace Proposals 8.1e. European Scythians and Other Embassies to Alexander in Maracanda and Babylon 8.1f. Pharasmanes 8.1g. Taxiles 8.1h. Tyre 8.2. Friendship and Surrender 8.2a. Musicanus 8.2b. Nysa and Acuphis 8.2c. Oxyartes 8.2d. Phaselis 8.2e. Porus 8.2f. "Bad" or Cousin Porus 8.2g. Sisimithres 8.2h. Taxiles 8.3. Questionable Foreign Friends 8.3a. Hamilcar Rhodanus of Carthage 8.3b. Iphicrates, Son of Iphicrates, of Athens 8.3c. Langarus 8.3d. Mazarus 8.3e. Pnytagoras 8.3f. Polydamas 8.3g. Sisines 8.3h. Xenocrates of Chalcedon 8.4. Conclusion Conclusion Appendix. Alexander's Friends Bibliography Index

The Complex Friendships of Alexander the Great is a much-needed study accomplished by one of the best Alexander scholars today. Joseph Roisman writes in a clear, not pedantic, readable style, and this book can be read and enjoyed by a very wide audience. --Edward M. Anson, author of Alexander the Great: Themes and Issues Joseph Roisman offers the first comprehensive examination of the friendships of Alexander the Great. Soundly based on the ancient evidence and aligning with the so-called affective turn of humanities scholarship, Roisman's analysis highlights the crucial role of Alexander's friendships in his astonishing military success. --Frances Pownall, coeditor of The Courts of Philip II and Alexander the Great: Monarchy and Power in Ancient Macedonia