uncivilized peoples pressing on Macedon’s northern borders, was something laughable. Macedonian excesses in drinking, eating and lovemaking during their feasts, which regularly deteriorated into orgies, were similarly scorned. A state still based on blood ties rather than rights of citizenship, ruled over by a king who governed absolutely and was above all laws, was considered barbaric.
Philip attained his objective when he finally defeated the Phocaeans in the sacred war and had them expelled from the council of the sanctuary, the noblest and most prestigious assembly of all Greece. The two votes held by their representatives were assigned to the King of Macedon, who was also granted the great honour of being appointed president of the Pythian Games, the most important after the Olympics.
This was the crowning glory of ten years of concerted effort and it coincided with the tenth birthday of his son, Alexander.
In that same period a great Athenian orator by the name of Isocrates delivered a speech in which he praised Philip as protector of the Greeks and as the only man who could ever hope to quash the barbarians of the Orient, the Persians who for over a century had threatened Hellenic civilization and freedom.
Alexander was kept fully informed of these events by his teachers and the news worried him greatly. He felt grown up enough now to take on his role in the country’s history, but he well knew that he was still too young to be able to act.
As the Prince grew, his father dedicated more and more time to him, almost as though he considered him a man, while still keeping him out of his most daring projects. Philip’s objective was not in fact domination of peninsular Greece: that was only a means. His ambitions lay much further, beyond the sea, towards the limitless territories of all Asia.
Sometimes, during his periods of rest in the palace at Pella, he would take Alexander up to the highest tower after dinner and would point towards the eastern horizon, where the moon was rising over the wave-furrowed sea.
‘Do you know what’s over there, Alexander?’
‘Asia, Father,’ came the reply. ‘The land where the sun rises.’
‘And do you know how big Asia is?’
‘My geography teacher, Cratippus, says it’s bigger than ten thousand stadia.’
‘He’s wrong, my son. Asia is a hundred times bigger than that. When I was fighting on the River Ister, I met a Scythian warrior who spoke Macedonian. He told me that beyond the river there extends a plain, vast as a sea, and then mountains so big they pierce the sky with their peaks. He explained that there are deserts so wide it takes months to cross them and that on the other side there are mountains rich in precious gemstones -lapis lazuli, rubies, cornelian.
‘He told me that on those plains run herds of thousands of fiery-tempered horses, indefatigable, capable of running for days over the infinite expanses. “There are regions,” he said, “gripped in the ice, locked in the dark bitterness of night for half the year, and then others burned up by the blazing sun throughout the seasons, places where not even a blade of grass grows, where the snakes are poisonous and the sting of a scorpion kills in an instant.” That is Asia, my son.”
Alexander looked at his father, saw his eyes smouldering with dreams and understood what was burning in his soul.
More than a year had passed since that night in the tower when one morning Philip suddenly entered Alexander’s room ‘Put on your Thracian trousers and get yourself a rough woollen cloak. No insignias and no ornament. We leave immediately.’
‘Where are we going?’
“I have already had them prepare the horses and the food; we’ll be away for some days. I want to show you something.’
Alexander asked no more questions. He dressed as he had been told to, looked in for a moment at the door of his mother’s apartments to say goodbye, and quickly went down into the courtyard where a small escort from the
Philip attained his objective when he finally defeated the Phocaeans in the sacred war and had them expelled from the council of the sanctuary, the noblest and most prestigious assembly of all Greece. The two votes held by their representatives were assigned to the King of Macedon, who was also granted the great honour of being appointed president of the Pythian Games, the most important after the Olympics.
This was the crowning glory of ten years of concerted effort and it coincided with the tenth birthday of his son, Alexander.
In that same period a great Athenian orator by the name of Isocrates delivered a speech in which he praised Philip as protector of the Greeks and as the only man who could ever hope to quash the barbarians of the Orient, the Persians who for over a century had threatened Hellenic civilization and freedom.
Alexander was kept fully informed of these events by his teachers and the news worried him greatly. He felt grown up enough now to take on his role in the country’s history, but he well knew that he was still too young to be able to act.
As the Prince grew, his father dedicated more and more time to him, almost as though he considered him a man, while still keeping him out of his most daring projects. Philip’s objective was not in fact domination of peninsular Greece: that was only a means. His ambitions lay much further, beyond the sea, towards the limitless territories of all Asia.
Sometimes, during his periods of rest in the palace at Pella, he would take Alexander up to the highest tower after dinner and would point towards the eastern horizon, where the moon was rising over the wave-furrowed sea.
‘Do you know what’s over there, Alexander?’
‘Asia, Father,’ came the reply. ‘The land where the sun rises.’
‘And do you know how big Asia is?’
‘My geography teacher, Cratippus, says it’s bigger than ten thousand stadia.’
‘He’s wrong, my son. Asia is a hundred times bigger than that. When I was fighting on the River Ister, I met a Scythian warrior who spoke Macedonian. He told me that beyond the river there extends a plain, vast as a sea, and then mountains so big they pierce the sky with their peaks. He explained that there are deserts so wide it takes months to cross them and that on the other side there are mountains rich in precious gemstones -lapis lazuli, rubies, cornelian.
‘He told me that on those plains run herds of thousands of fiery-tempered horses, indefatigable, capable of running for days over the infinite expanses. “There are regions,” he said, “gripped in the ice, locked in the dark bitterness of night for half the year, and then others burned up by the blazing sun throughout the seasons, places where not even a blade of grass grows, where the snakes are poisonous and the sting of a scorpion kills in an instant.” That is Asia, my son.”
Alexander looked at his father, saw his eyes smouldering with dreams and understood what was burning in his soul.
More than a year had passed since that night in the tower when one morning Philip suddenly entered Alexander’s room ‘Put on your Thracian trousers and get yourself a rough woollen cloak. No insignias and no ornament. We leave immediately.’
‘Where are we going?’
“I have already had them prepare the horses and the food; we’ll be away for some days. I want to show you something.’
Alexander asked no more questions. He dressed as he had been told to, looked in for a moment at the door of his mother’s apartments to say goodbye, and quickly went down into the courtyard where a small escort from the
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