Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire

Waldemar Heckel's services to Alexander studies have been a catalyst to all who are drawn to study this magnetic but illusive person. In addition to nearly fifty articles and chapters contributed to collective studies, Heckel, in collaboration with J.C. Yardley, has provided his colleagues with two studies of historical sources. Other books appear with regularity; one of them, Crossroads of History: The Age of Alexander (2003), testifies to Heckel's organization of symposia of scholars concerned with Alexander.

These bare details indicate the weight and variety of Heckel's contribution but two works are especially significant in demonstrating its meticulous quality. The first is his revision of Helmut Berve's two volume Das Alexanderreich auf prosopographischer Grundlage (1926). Since its publication Berve's study has been crucial to knowledge of individuals associated with Alexander's career. Over time, however, it required updating and revision. Heckel did just that in The Marshals of Alexander (1992), a work that has the advantage of greater accessibility to more students of Alexander.

Heckel has now provided another essential tool in his Who's Who in the Age of Alexander the Great: Prosopography of Alexander's Empire, which contains more than eight hundred concise entries on Macedonians, Greeks, Persians and, indeed, all who came within the shadow of Alexander of Macedon. Its range is from Abdalonymus, "an impoverished scion of the Sidonian royal house" to Zopyrion, a Macedonian who "succeeded Memnon as strategos of Thrace." At roughly midpoint stand four Heracleides, one Macedonian, one Greek, one Thracian, one uncertain. In addition to named individuals, five pages are devoted to anonymous women and six to anonymous men: for example female 59: "daughter of Acuphis, ruler of Nysa"; and male 2: "young son of Memnon and Barsine." Any independent attempt to catalogue the players in the Alexander saga from the surviving sources will quickly reveal the value of Heckel's most recent contribution.

The information in the entries is enhanced by sixty pages of notes that include references to sources and more recent studies; fuller information on the particular individual; analysis of textual reading; discussion of varying views; and justification of the version given in the bibliography. Abbreviations of the sources are given in three sections preceding the entries: ancient sources, multi-volume reference works, and modern works. A chronological table extending from 383/2 to 281 and a map of Alexander's campaigns from 334–323 provide the essential temporal and spatial framework within which all these people lived. Stemma of thirteen important lines and an appendix giving three groups of men (e.g. cavalrymen from Orchomenus listed on IG 7.3206) impart another sort of order to many of the individuals. A succinct glossary defines Greek terms and names while a concordance equates Greek and variant forms with the form used in this volume. While most would realize that Alketas is Alcestas few would identify Taxiles' name in its Indian form of Ambhi.

In sum, the task was monumental; the production of the book praiseworthy for its quality and concern for usefulness. The statement of its value printed on the inside cover is surely true: "it will open up new perspectives for all interested in Alexander's reign." We know how many have that interest. Thank you, Waldemar and Blackwell.