Sunday, February 23, 2020

M/M: Achilles & Patroclus Reborn: Alexander & Hephaestion, Arrian, Anabasis Alexandri 1.12.1-2

Name: Arrian [Flavius Arrianus Nicomediansis]

Date: 86 - 160 CE

Region: Bithynia [modern Turkey]

Citation: Anabasis of Alexander 1.12.1-2


As Alexander arrived at Troy, the Governor Menoetius honored him with a golden crown in front a crowd of Greeks and locals; then Chares the Athenian did the same, who came all the way from Sigeum to do so. They say that thereafter Hephaestion honored the tomb of Patroclus with a golden crown; there are also those who say that Alexander then crowned Achilles' tomb, too, and said that Achilles was blessed to have obtained Homer as the reporter of his deeds.



ἀνιόντα δ᾽ αὐτὸν ἐς Ἴλιον Μενοίτιός τε ὁ κυβερνήτης χρυσῷ στεφάνῳ ἐστεφάνωσε καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ Χάρης ὁ Ἀθηναῖος ἐκ Σιγείου ἐλθὼν καί τινες καὶ ἄλλοι, οἱ μὲν Ἕλληνες, οἱ δὲ ἐπιχώριοι:...οἱ δὲ, ὅτι καὶ τὸν Ἀχιλλέως ἄρα τάφον ἐστεφάνωσεν: Ἡφαιστίωνα δὲ λέγουσιν ὅτι τοῦ Πατρόκλου τὸν τάφον ἐστεφάνωσε: καὶ εὐδαιμόνισεν ἄρα, ὡς λόγος, Ἀλέξανδρος Ἀχιλλέα, ὅτι Ὁμήρου κήρυκος ἐς τὴν ἔπειτα μνήμην ἔτυχε. 

Porro Alexandro Ilium versus adscendenti Menoetius gubernator auream coronam imposuit: post hunc Chares Atheniensis, qui ex Sigeo venerat, atque alii nonnulli, partim Graeci, partim indigenae. Ab Hephaestione vero Patrocli tumulum coronatum esse narrant. Sunt qui Alexandrum etiam Achillis tumulum coronasse dicant: et felicem quidem, ut fama est, nominavit Achillem quod Homerum praeconem ad perpetuandam suam memoriam nactus esset. 
Translated from the Greek by Fr. Duebner