Helios and Selene in Alexandria on the Oxus
In my introduction to Alexandria on the Oxus, I teased a little with my questioning the common assumption - the tradition - that this Hellenistic trading city in the East was founded by Alexander the Great. The name of the founder is inscribed on a funerary monument there:
Païs ôn kosmios ginou (As children, learn good manners)
hèbôn enkratès, (as young men, learn to control the passions)
mesos dikaios (in middle age, be just)
presbutès euboulos (in old age, give good advice)
teleutôn alupos. (then die, without regret.)
On a Herôon (funerary monument), identified in Greek as the tomb of Kineas (also described as the oikistes (founder) of the Greek settlement) and dated to 300-250 BCE, an inscription has been found describing Delphic precepts:
Cineas (probably in the second half of the 4th century BC, after 278 BCE) came from Thessaly and was a diplomat of King Pyrrhus . He wrote a summary of the works of Aeneas Taktikos , the earliest surviving European military writer.
CINEAS, a Thessalian, the chief adviser of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus. He studied oratory in Athens, and was regarded as the most eloquent man of his age. He tried to dissuade Pyrrhus from invading Italy, and after the defeat of the Romans at Heraclea (280 B.C.) was sent to Rome to discuss terms of peace. These terms, which are said by Appian (De Rebus Samniticis, 10, II) to have included the freedom of the Greeks in Italy and the restoration to the Bruttians, Apulians and Samnites of all that had been taken from them, were rejected chiefly through the vehement and patriotic speech of the aged Appius Claudius Caecus the censor. The withdrawal of Pyrrhus from Italy was demanded, and Cineas returned to his master with the report that Rome was a temple and its senate an assembly of kings. Two years later Cineas was sent to renew negotiations with Rome on easier terms. The result was a cessation of hostilities, and Cineas crossed over to Sicily, to prepare the ground for Pyrrhus's campaign. Nothing more is heard of him. He is said to have made an epitome of the Tactica of Aeneas, probably referred to by Cicero, who speaks of a Cineas as the author of a treatise De Re Militari. 1 I.e. the "curly-haired." See Plutarch, Pyrrhus, I 1-21; Justin xviii. 2; Eutropius ii. 12; Cicero, Ad Fam. ix. 25.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica (1911)
The precepts (above) were placed by a Greek named Clearchos, almost certainly Clearchus of Soli the disciple of Aristotle. They were copied from Delphi:
Whence Klearchos, having copied them carefully, set them up, shining from afar, in the sanctuary of Kineas
Clearchus wrote extensively around 320 BCE on eastern cultures, from Persia to India, and several fragments from him are known. His book "Of Education" (Greek: Περὶ παιδείας, Peri paideiās) was preserved by Diogenes Laertius.
Clearchus in particular expressed several theories on the connection between western and eastern religions. In "Of Education", he wrote that "the gymnosophists are descendants of the Magi".
In another text, quoted by Josephus, Clearchus reported a dialogue with Aristotle, where the philosopher states that the Hebrews were descendants of the Indian philosophers:
Jews are derived from the Indian philosophers; they are named by the Indians Calami, and by the Syrians Judaei, and took their name from the country they inhabit, which is called Judea; but for the name of their city, it is a very awkward one, for they call it Jerusalem.
- Josephus, Contra Apionem, I, 22
Seeing through the tradition of Alexander as founder of this Alexandria, we instead find known historical characters and in the case of Clearchus, a record of his travel to Greco-India. As we see with his statement on the Indian origin of the Jews, or at least and with more possible truth, Judaism, the historical record raises more questions than provides answers.
We must travel with Clearchus to India, though later.
Another find in this city of Greco-India brings us back to Alexander the Great, or, at least, the idea of Alexander.
Helios and Selene
Worship of the sun and moon is near-universal and why not? Even the most stolid mind can see that the sun is life and it is a fact that without the sun, we - and our planet - would not exist. The moon is more mysterious but almost as prominent, especially at night, and so came to represent death. The sun and the moon, life and death, Helios and Selene - there are no icons with greater import in Antiquity.
Here they are in Alexandria on the Oxus.
Plate depicting Cybele, a votive sacrifice and the sun God. Ai Khanoum, 2nd century BCE Musée Guimet
To the right stands the Zoroastrian priest at his fire altar. We discussed how, in The archaeology of Alexander the Great: 2. Altars, Alexander took these artefacts with him, eastwards, and placed them, perhaps as boundary markers of his conquest of Achaemenid Persia. The king known to us as Ashoka then ordered them to be inscribed with his Edicts, which I describe in The archaeology of good governance.
In Alexander the Great, I also describe how his image is used in the veneration of Helios.
The appearance of Helios in the scene on this plate and the tradition of Alexander as founder of all the cities named after him - exposed a s a myth by the archaeology, as we see here - are, of course, related and closely.
We will move forward in time, but carefully, and at some point reach Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, the twin children of Mark Anthony and the famous queen Cleopatra. With them we will meet the great hostage holder of Rome, Antonia Minor (daughter of Mark Anthony and his wife, Octavia Minor), who will confirm the role of episkopos.