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Alexander\'s death: missing piece of a puzzle
#1
OK. Let's start with an apology for an utterly immodest posting. But hey, I am the most happy man on the eastern hemisphere! Here it is.

In 2004, I published a book on Alexander the Great. It appeared at the wrong moment: one month before the Oliver Stone movie. Many reviews were about the movie; others were about the US invasion of Iraq. The book by Lane Fox received a Dutch translation and there were several reprints. I never earned as much money as I had spent on traveling all the way to Pakistan; but what really felt unpleasant was that no review really focused on what was new about my book, the extensive use of cuneiform sources.

It is now possible to write a completely different account of the battle of Gaugamela and Alexander's final days.

Perhaps, the silence of the reviewers was better, because in my chapter on the death of Alexander, I jumped to a conclusion that was, as far as I knew, correct - but I could not prove it.

What I have discovered is the exact omen of Alexander's death. The Babylonian astronomers knew that Alexander was about to die, something recorded in several sources, but we don't know what made them predict it. The Greek/Latin sources are silent but I discovered the text of an old Mesopotamian prophecy. (To be honest, I did the research with my friend Bert van der Spek, who knows a lot more than I will ever do; I was lucky to see the significance of one tablet earlier than he did, but it is fair that he has received all academic credits.)

When the omen had been identified, everything became clear and we understood what had happened. Alexander could avoid the evil omen by avoiding Babylon (as is said by all Greek sources); when he did enter the city, he announced the rebuilding of the Temple of Marduk to acquiesce the angry god; and then, the Babylonian astronomers staged a ritual that is called "substitute king". (This had already been proposed by an American scholar.) In this ritual, a man dressed like Alexander and sat on his throne; the evil predicted by an omen would strike him. To help evil a bit, the man was executed. This is all described in well-known studies, although Arrian and Plutarch are unaware what they are describing.

We are now beginning to see the bigger picture - from the point of view of the Babylonian astronomers and magicians.

Now I can admit that I made a little jump from the evidence to the conclusion. The evidence for the ritual of the substitute king is not Persian, Macedonian, or even Babylonian. It is Assyrian. We only have direct evidence from Nineveh. I thought that it would be permitted to extrapolate, because there are many stories about Persia and Babylonia that look so much like substitute kings, that we may assume that the ritual was widely known. (One example is how Xerxes is replaced by Artabanus, Herodotus, Histories, beginning book seven.)

I am not the only one who thought it was allowed to extrapolate this far, so I never really worried. However, last Friday, among the 100,000 unstudied cuneiform tablets of the British Museum, one tablet was identified that mentions a man who is supposed "to go and sit on the throne of Alexander" (i.e., be substitute king) and has a dream about the god Marduk.

This is the missing piece - almost. We now have evidence that the substitute king ritual was actually known in Babylonia, and even performed in the days of Alexander. What is missing is the date in the spring of 323, but we're very close now.

I am one of the most happy people on the eastern hemisphere. Bert van der Spek, of course, is also very happy, because this is also his game. And someone in the United States, who has first proposed that the substitute king ritual existed in Babylonia, will be very happy when he sees the official publication.

Please forgive me the immodesty of this posting, but I needed to shout "I told you!" I can sing of joy, but will not do it because it's 3 o'clock in the night and my neighbors are asleep.
Jona Lendering
Relevance is the enemy of history
My website
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#2
My most sincerly Congratulation Jona!

That News is choking!, I knew a little about that ritual, but it never occurred to me that this would happened on Alex days. But most of it, is that this is completely a new story & we owe you!, thanks for shared it with us! I hope you can complete the puzzle.

I'm to happy like you, you know how much I love the stories of Al Smile

If I could I would gived to you one of two Bactrian Cammels at 2 minutes from my home! :wink:

Gioi
  
Remarks by Philip on the Athenian Leaders:
Philip said that the Athenians were like the bust of Hermes: all mouth and dick. 
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#3
Good work Jona!!!!
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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#4
Excellent! Congratulations Jona!
Greets!

Jasper Oorthuys
Webmaster & Editor, Ancient Warfare magazine
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#5
That is fantastic news Jona, I would have been leaping around at 3am too... :lol:
Many Congratulations......
It will be wonderful if some of those other Cuneiform tablets tell us about even more about Alexander....
Cristina
The Hoplite Association
[url:n2diviuq]http://www.hoplites.org[/url]
The enemy is less likely to get wind of an advance of cavalry, if the orders for march were passed from mouth to mouth rather than announced by voice of herald, or public notice. Xenophon
-
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#6
Stunning! Confusedhock:

Nice work, Jona!
[size=75:wtt9v943]Susanne Arvidsson

I have not spent months gathering Hoplites from the four corners of the earth just to let
some Swedish pancake in a purloined panoply lop their lower limbs off!
- Paul Allen, Thespian
[/size]

[Image: partofE448.jpg]
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#7
Well done Jona.
Though I feel that "scheming clergymen" from both East and West did a lot to inflynce the results. It remidnds me Balkans on the 14th century.
Yes it could have been like that. And at Arbela it was problaby Persians defending their very homes who did the most fighting and took the most casualties while "allies" promptly fled.
Kind regards
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#8
Very nice work there :wink:

There is something which attracks my attention:

Quote:What I have discovered is the exact omen of Alexander's death. The Babylonian astronomers knew that Alexander was about to die, something recorded in several sources, but we don't know what made them predict it. The Greek/Latin sources are silent but I discovered the text of an old Mesopotamian prophecy. (To be honest, I did the research with my friend Bert van der Spek, who knows a lot more than I will ever do; I was lucky to see the significance of one tablet earlier than he did, but it is fair that he has received all academic credits.)

The sentence in bold. The Babylonian astronomers knew it. It is wildy spread, yet you scientists do not believe Wink , you can predict through astrology/astronomy, which in those days was practically called the same. Don't want to start a discussion about this, really (not again after the discussion in the "offtopic topic), but Babylonians are known for their astronomical/astrological skills.

Regardless of this, very good work :wink:
a.k.a. Daan Vanhamme
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#9
Yes, that is true Ramesses :wink:
I thought I read that an eclipse of the sun, being the symbol of Macedonia, was predicted... :? ?:
regards
Arthes
Cristina
The Hoplite Association
[url:n2diviuq]http://www.hoplites.org[/url]
The enemy is less likely to get wind of an advance of cavalry, if the orders for march were passed from mouth to mouth rather than announced by voice of herald, or public notice. Xenophon
-
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#10
The prediction is that a lunar eclipse of special type indicated a successful invasion from the west, the overthrow of the lawful king, and continued success for the invader for eight years. A lunar eclipse of that type took place on 20 September 331, and functioned as a self-fulfilling prophecy; discouraged soldiers in Darius' army fled. The eight years were over in 323, for which solar eclipse (indeed, symbol of Macedonia) was predicted. For the details, see the online accounts of the battle of Gaugamela and Alexander's final days.
Jona Lendering
Relevance is the enemy of history
My website
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#11
Greetings Jona,
I've just had a fit of giggles.....on reading down this list
[url:3rid13wq]http://www.livius.org/cg-cm/chronicles/chron00.html[/url]
and seeing the title .....'Arses and Alexander Fragment'
I know it's Artaxerxes's real name, but in English :lol: :lol: :lol:
regards
Arthes
Cristina
The Hoplite Association
[url:n2diviuq]http://www.hoplites.org[/url]
The enemy is less likely to get wind of an advance of cavalry, if the orders for march were passed from mouth to mouth rather than announced by voice of herald, or public notice. Xenophon
-
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#12
We have once considered calling it "Artaxerxes IV and Alexander fragment", but the problem is that only the Xanthus trilingue calls the successor of Artaxerxes III Ochus "Artaxerxes". So, there is only one source, and a source from the periphery besides, that tells us that Arses accepted Artaxerxes as throne name. So, it is too soon to rename the tablet.

Jona
(who once, in Cordoba, asked for a coño of icecream) :oops:
Jona Lendering
Relevance is the enemy of history
My website
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#13
Hmm I think there is a "Z" not an "S" in the name.
I read of an officer of Belissarius with the name Arzies somewhere.
I am not a pach-lavi expert so I cannot be sure.
Kind regards
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