Amyntas son of Alcetas; Hellas; Medize; Sources for Herodotus; Speeches; Temenus, Temenids
FURTHER READING
1 Badian, Ernst. 1994. “Herodotus on Alexander I of Macedon: A Study in Some Subtle Silences.” In Greek Historiography, edited by Simon Hornblower, 107–30. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2 Borza, Eugene N. 1990. In the Shadow of Olympus: The Emergence of Macedon, 98–131. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
3 Errington, R. Malcolm. 1981. “Alexander the Philhellene and Persia.” In Ancient Macedonian Studies in Honor of Charles F. Edson, edited by H. J. Dell, 139–43. Thessaloniki: Institute for Balkan Studies.
4 Fearn, David. 2007. “Narrating Ambiguity: Murder and Macedonian Allegiance (5.17–22).” In Reading Herodotus: A Study of the logoi of Book 5 of Herodotus’ Histories, edited by Elizabeth Irwin and Emily Greenwood, 98–127. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5 Gschnitzer, Fritz. 2001. “Herodots makedonische Quellen.” In Humanitas: Beiträge zur antiken Kulturgeschichte. Festschrift für Gunther Gottlieb zum 65. Geburtstag, edited by Pedro Barcelò and Veit Rosenberger, 89–96. Munich: Ernst Vögel.
6 Scaife, Ross. 1989. “Alexander I in the Histories of Herodotos.” Hermes 117.2: 129–37.
7 Tripodi, Bruno. 1986. “L’ambasceria di Alessandro I di Macedonia ad Atene nella tradizione Erodotea (Hdt. 8.136–144).” ASNP ser. 3 vol. 16: 621–35.
8 Xydopoulos, I. K. 2006. Koinonikes kai politistikes scheseis ton Makedonon kai ton allon Ellinon. 2nd edition. Thessaloniki: Society for Macedonian Studies.
ALEXANDER (’Αλέξανδρος, ὁ) son of Priam (Paris)
MICHAEL LLOYD
University College Dublin
Mythical Trojan prince, also known as Paris, whose abduction of HELEN from SPARTA was the cause of the TROJAN WAR (1.3; 2.112–20). Alexander’s exploit is the fourth and last in the sequence of mythical abductions of women which began hostilities between East and West. Herodotus attributes these stories to “learned Persians” (1.1.1), but it has been argued that they are Greek in origin and that the alleged source is fictitious (Fehling 1989, 50–57).
In Herodotus’ other version of the story (2.112–20), attributed to “Egyptian priests,” Alexander is diverted to EGYPT by adverse WINDS, and the king PROTEUS keeps Helen there until she is reclaimed by MENELAUS. Herodotus cites HOMER in support (Il. 6.289–92), contrasting the version in the EPIC Cypria (PEG F14) in which Alexander has an untroubled voyage back to TROY (2.116.3). Proteus criticizes him for his breach of hospitality, seduction of Helen, and THEFT of Menelaus’ property (for the stolen property, see Hom. Il. 3.70, 285, etc.). Helen in this version may never have reached Troy, but as Herodotus concludes, Alexander and the Trojans are nevertheless destroyed: “for great crimes there are great punishments from the gods” (2.120.5).
SEE ALSO: Guest‐friendship; “Liar School”; Myth; Poetry; Prologue; Proof; Rape; Reciprocity; Source Citations
REFERENCE
1 Fehling, Detlev. 1989. Herodotus and His “Sources”: Citation, Invention and Narrative Art, translated by J. G. Howie. Leeds: Francis Cairns.
FURTHER READING
1 Austin, Norman. 1994. Helen of Troy and Her Shameless Phantom. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
2 Lloyd, Michael. 1989. “Paris/Alexandros in Homer and Euripides.” Mnemosyne 42: 76–79.
3 Neville, James W. 1977. “Herodotus on the Trojan War.” G&R 24.1: 3–12.
ALILAT (Ἀλιλάτ, ἡ; Arab. ‘al‐Lāt)
BRUCE LINCOLN
University of Chicago
An Arabian goddess Herodotus identified with Uranian APHRODITE. According to him, she formed a couple with the god OROTALT (= DIONYSUS), these being the only deities worshipped by the ARABIANS. He further details their patronage of OATH rituals (3.8). Elsewhere, he identifies Alilat with the Assyrian MYLITTA and Persian MITRA (1.131.3). The name ‘al‐Lāt, a contracted form of Arabic ‘al‐’ilāt (“the goddess”) is attested in pre‐Islamic inscriptions in North Arabia, Palmyra, Edessa, Dura Europus, and among the Nabataeans, as well as in the Quran (Sura 53:19). While textual evidence is sparse, Krone (1992) argues that iconographic representations emphasize the goddess’ erotic and aggressive character, while also showing associations to the planet Venus. Corrente (2013) concurs, but thinks Herodotus described a specifically Nabataean divine couple.
SEE ALSO: Ethnography; Religion, Herodotus’ Views on
REFERENCES
1 Corrente, Paola. 2013. “Dushara and Allāt alias Dionysos and Aphrodite in Herodotus 3.8.” In Redefining Dionysos, edited by Alberto Bernabé, Miguel Herrero de Jáuregui, Ana Isabel Jiménez San Cristóbal, and Raquel Martín Hernández, 261–71. Berlin: De Gruyter.
2 Krone, Susanne. 1992. Die altarabische Gottheit al‐Lāt. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
FURTHER READING
1 Dirven, Lucinda. 1999. The Palmyrenes of Dura‐Europos: A Study of Religious Interaction in Roman Syria, 78–86. Leiden: Brill.
2 Teixidor, Javier. 1979. The Pantheon of Palmyra, 53–62. Leiden: Brill.
ALIZONES (Ἀλιζῶνες, οἱ)
CHRISTOPHER BARON
University of Notre Dame
A tribe inhabiting SCYTHIA along the HYPANIS RIVER north of the Greek colony of OLBIA, at a point where the TYRAS RIVER flows close by (4.52.4: difficult to reconcile with the modern topography, cf. BA 23 F1). The Alizones, like the CALLIPIDAE to the south, share Scythian customs except that they are farmers rather than NOMADS (4.17.1).
The two major MANUSCRIPTS of the Histories read “Alazones” (Ἀλαζῶνες), but recent editors have printed the variant “Alizones” based on a reference in STRABO (12.3.21/C550; Wilson 2015, 74). But the Strabo passage appears to be corrupt, and Aldo Corcella has argued in detail for “Alazones” (Corcella 1994; see also Corcella in ALC, 588). Pausanias (who writes “Alazones”) notes that they produce the best honey in the world by allowing their bees to range freely (1.32.1; cf. Ael. NA 2.53).
SEE ALSO: Agriculture; Ethnography
REFERENCES
1 Corcella, Aldo. 1994. “Il nome degli Alazoni.” BollClass 15: 91–99.
2 Wilson, N. G. 2015. Herodotea. Studies on the Text of Herodotus. Oxford:
