proskynesis334 BC

Proskynesis

[Greek name for the ritualgreeting in Oriental courts]

What does Proskynesis look like?

What is proskynesis?• It is a traditional Persian custom – it was that

Persians would crouch right to the ground with their head on the floor when people saw or were in the presence of the Great King (the Persian King).

• For the Persians: this did not imply that they were worshipping. It just acknowledged the King as superior to them.

• For the Greeks: they only did this action for when they were honouring and worshipping the gods. So it implied Alexander was a god.

• Alexander wanted to incorporate proskynesis into the standard court procedures. Alexander did not want the Persians to stop doing the act, as it was what they did for their king. So he decided, under the policy of fusion, to introduce the custom to the greesks and macedonians

• The question is: Was Alexander wanting to be worshipped like a god and showing his arrogance. Or was he just innocently carrying on with the Policy of Fusion?

• Write down ‘The Story’ p. 95 of Paul Artus and ‘Who was callisthenes

The conspiracy of the pages

327 BC

• The pages were a group of young Macedonian servants to Alexander. They went with Alexander on a hunt. One of the pages called Hermolaus killed a boar, in front of Alexander. This was seen as a great insult to Alexander.So, as a traditional punishment for such an act, Alexander whipped him and took his horse away.

• So, Hermolaus was angry at Alexander. He planned to kill Alexander, and got the other pages in on his plan.They also did not like the policy of fusion.

• This plot was discovered by Alexander. He had all of them killed.

Draw a cartoon of the story above, in your notes.

Write down the notes under ‘Hermolaus Motives’, on p.98 of Paul Artus

Callisthenes involvementCallisthenes was also seen to be involved in

this conspiracy to kill Alexander. Callisthenes was:• The nephew of Aristotle (Aristotle had tutored

Alexander when he was young)• Greek, not Macedonian• Tutored all of the Pages, including

Hermolaus. They thought Callisthenes would have encouraged the pages to resent Alexander – the pages looked up to him and were inspired by the fact that he stood up to Alexander. It is also suggested he openly encouraged Hermolaus to kill Alexander by saying “how would one become the most famous man? By kiling the most famous man.”

• Write down ‘Was Callisthenes involved’ on p.98 of Paul Artus

After…• According to Ptolemy, Callisthenes was tortured and

hanged • The Greek people, back in Greece got angry with

Alexander• Alexander’s Army was not too concerned• Many of them didn’t like how Callisthenes was so

arrogant• This event shows the opposition to the Policy of

fusion• It also shows how Alexander was determined to

proceed with his policy and destroy any opposition to it

In your yellow workbook, complete p.92 - 96