Funeral Wisdom of the World

If you watched a move about 300 brave Spartans, you know that king Leonidas was one of the most important figures in Greco-Persian wars. But there was also another equally or even more important statesman whose name is is rarely mentioned due to certain reasons that need to be explained.

I am talking about famous Themistocles from Athens. It was him who persuaded Athenians to build a powerful fleet and it is thanks to him that Greek ships defeated the much larger Persian navy and forced king Xerxes I of Persia to retreat. The naval battle of Salamis took place in 480 BC and was the turning point of the campaign, leading to eventual Persian defeat.

After the war Themistocles showed himself as a brilliant statesman again and again by making his native Athens the finest trade place in Greece. But then his life took a really tragic turn. He was accused by his fellowmen of arrogance and taking bribes. That led to the exile of Themistocles from Athens to Argos. Yet, his troubles did not end there. Soon Spartans accused Themistocles of treasonable intrigues with Persia. Subsequently he was proclaimed a traitor in Athens and all his property was confiscated.

As a bitter irony, Themistocles could only find shelter at his enemy whom he fought for so many years. Artaxerxes I, successor of Xerxes I, offered him asylum and took Themistocles under his protection. Artaxerxes even made Themistocles a governor of the province of Magnesia in Asia Minor. He probably was well received in Magnesia and showed his talents there too, because Magnesians worshiped Themistocles as a god.

From what we know, Themistocles died of illness n Magnesia , when he was sixty five. He was probably a broken-hearted man, because there were persistent rumors that his death was not of natural causes but that he committed suicide by taking poison.

When Alexander the Great took over Persian empire, he officialy married Darius’s daughter Stateira II  in 324 BC at Susa. It was a great wedding ceremony, where many officers of Alexander were married to noble Persians.  Alexander’s favorite Hephestion had as his bride Drypetis, sister of Stateira II.

Later, in 327 BC  Alexander also married a Bactrian noble Roxana from Balkh province.  Alexander professed his love for Roxana and took his new wife to accompany him during his military campaign in India.

After the end of campaign Hephestion died leaving Drypetis a widow. Within eight months after his death Alexander died too.  Roxana was pregnant when king died and soon gave birth to posthumous son Alexander IV Aegus.  The empire that Alexander built started collapsing, his generals were successfully tearing it apart. Thus Roxana and her son became the pawn in the intrigues of the generals.

In her own turn Roxana mercilessly murdered Stateira II and her sister Drypteis and ordered to throw their bodies into a well.  For a while Alexander’s mother Olympias managed to protect both Roxana and her son in Macedon. Yet soon Olympias were assassinated by the orders of Cassander in 316 who were seeking kingship over Macedon.
In the end the surviving Alexander’s generals signed the peace treaty recognized Alexander IV’s rights and explicitly stated that when he came of age he would succeed Cassander as ruler.

As the son of Alexander was growing up, his supporters started to declare that he  should now exercise full power and that a regent Cassander was no longer needed. Well, the response of Cassander’s response was extremely swift and definitive because he was not going to say goodbye to his kingdom.  So in 309 BC he commanded to secretly assassinate the 13-year old Alexander IV and his mother Roxana. The orders were carried out, and they were both poisoned. This was the end of the great Argead dynasty, the founders of the Macendon kingdom, to which Alexander the Great belonged.

The only fragile thread of the dynasty was Heracles, an illegitimate son of Alexander the Great, who was born from Persian concubine Barsine.  Heracles was never acknowledged by Alexander the Great, but still he was a threat to Cassander. So Cassander gave a minor bribe to Heracles protector Polyperchon  in exchange for his murder. When Heracles was finished the ancient Argead dynasty terminated completely.

It seems that Alexander the Great not only defeated Darius III and captured his family. He also became the new head of household, replacing the former Persian king. At the time of the Battle of Isis in 333 BC, Darius was married to Stateira I, who was known as the most beautiful woman on Earth. After Darius fled from the battle, Alexander captured his family and treated it with great respect.

Unfortunately, very soon Stateira I died giving birth. It looks like the child that she was pregnant with, was not from Darius but from Alexander. Maybe, that partially explains why , Sisygambus, who was Darius’s mother, refered to Alexander as her only son. It is possible that he took over all household and have assumed the role of a king and husband to Stateira I.

When Alexander the Great died one year later after Stateira’s death, all Darius’s family mourned him as a very close relative. Sources say that they were very much in grief because of this loss. This also indicates personal relationships.

At the decisive Battle of Issus that took place in 333 BC, Darius III and his army were completely defeated by a young Macedonian king Alexander the Great. It was not just any defeat, it was an event that changed the course of history. By losing the battle Darius lost everything, including his family.

It was the habit of Persian kings of those times to carry their harem and all family during the war campaigns. So after Darius’s army was routed, he fled leaving his mother Sisygambis, his wife Stateira I, his children, and many others to the mercy of Alexander

Sisygambis was a very proud woman, so never forgave Darius for his desertion. After all, she was the daughter of king Artaxerxes II Memnon. Alexander captured her but threated mother of Darius extremely well. Sisygambis was so ashamed of Darius that she even refused to mourn his death. When Persian noblemen called upon her with the news, she said that she had just one son Alexander and he was the king of all Persia.

It seems like a true statement, because Sisygambis really experienced maternal instincts towards Alexander the Great. Contemporary sources say that when she learned about Alexander’s death, Sisygambis was so devastated that she did not want to live anymore. She had herself sealed into her rooms and died of grief, starvation and sorrow.

Mother of Alexander the Great, Olimpias was quite a blood thirsty woman. In the movie, Angelina Jolie plays Olympias as all dreamy, dabbling in magic, sensitive lady. Well, in real life she was a real witch, to say the least! Contemporaries claim, that she was the one who provoked Pausanias to kill her husband and Alexander’s father king Philip II. She was angered by Philip’s marriage to Cleopatra Eurydice. Although Philip already had multiple wives, he fell in love with Cleopatra so much that he even divorced Olympias and disowned their son, Alexander.

As you probably know, Alexander the Great crucified Pausanias and left his body on public display for many days. But later, the head of the body of Pausanias was found to have on it a golden crown, supposedly put there by Olympias. She even dedicated a memorial to Pausanias. The sword used by Pausanias to kill Philip was hung in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, per Olympia’s special orders.

Eventually, Olympias got to Cleopatra Eurydice too. In fact, she murdered Caranus, son of Philip and his sister Europa. Obviously, this was not enough for her, because she also forced Cleopatra Eurydice to hang herself. Olympias also killed many others but in the end she was brought to trial for the numerous and cruel executions. She was condemned without hearing and put to death by the friends of those that she killed in 316 BC.

This time I would like to tell you about one of the strangest barbaric rituals of ancient Rome that started after 390 B.C. and took place for centuries. Once a year dozens of Roman guard dogs were crucified on the Capitoline hill. At the same time Capitoline geese were present at the ceremony. They were watching the ceremony of poor dogs crucification, from the most prestigious place, sitting on gilded purple cushions.

This way Roman citizens were commemorating a tragic event that occurred in 390 B.C. which is known to historians as sack of Rome by Gauls. It was a collective initial shock for people of Rome that was hard to forget. The memory of the catastrophic defeat stayed with Rome for generations. The dogs were crucified because they did not alert Romans when the Gallic troops attacked. And the geese were rewarded because honking provided the only warning of approaching Gauls.