proskynesis
334 BC
Proskynesis
[Greek name for the ritual
greeting 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 involvement
Callisthenes 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