Alexander the Great and the Mystery of the Elephant Medallions

6. A Closer Look

s i x A Closer Look 117 The elephant medallions must be more than another Rorschach test in which to see, with equal claims of propriety, Alexander the Beatified or Alexander the Beast. How, then, should we handle these mysterious artifacts in order to reach reliable conclusions about Alexander’s reign? The key is to avoid, as far as possible, any forms of special pleading based upon preconceived notions about Alexander. Our views of the king must conform to the evidence of the medallions and not vice versa. So let us begin with the physical objects, allowing them first to speak for themselves rather than for one modern camp or another. The procedure should be logical and rigorous: (a) determine what are the precise images on each of the denominations, drawing upon corroborative evidence whenever possible; (b) establish as reasonably as we can where the medallions were made, how many were produced, and under whose authority; and (c) interpret the function of this entire mintage as a group in terms of its intended audience and message, learning from this what we can about the king and his contemporaries. There can be no question, of course, that the elephant/Alexander and elephant/bowman types must be treated as a group, since they are united by style, subject matter, and markings (AB and ). The placement of the elephant/chariot type in this same group seems assured in terms of style and subject, although present ex- 118 / A Closer Look 1. The helmet is illustrated in René Ginouvès, ed., Macedonia from Philip II to the Roman Conquest (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1994), p. 78. 2. For examples, on the so-called Alexander Sarcophagus and a fresco from the “Kinch” tomb in Macedonia: Andrew Stewart, Faces of Power: Alexander’s Image and Hellenistic Politics (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), items 100 and 101–2. 3. See, e.g., the account of King Pyrrhus’s distinctive helmet in Plutarch Pyrrhus 11. The extent to which a ruler might go to sport a uniquely identifiable helmet may be seen on various Hellenistic coins, particularly those of King amples lack the Greek markings. Even the exclusion of the chariot variety , because it has no markings, would still leave us the fundamental problem of mixed messages on the other two types. Ideally, a solution must be found that makes sense of the indisputable elements in this group and accommodates the likely inclusion of the elephant/chariot type as a reassuring bonus. We shall proceed, therefore, with a closer look at the actual images on these medallic coins, beginning with the least controversial: the reverse of the large so-called decadrachms. By creating a composite picture based upon all of the genuine specimens, no one of which preserves every detail because of the irregular strikings and wear, we discern a warrior standing in regal splendor from head to toe (see fig. 5). He is literally dressed to kill. He wears a gorget (neck guard) and helmet with forward-sweeping peak adorned with a bristled (horsehair ?) crest and tall, feathered plumes. Much discussed as possibly Homeric or a hybrid Graeco-Persian design, this helmet can now be positively identified as the Phrygian type (sometimes also called Thracian ) used in Alexander’s army. A bronze example in the Ioannina Museum (no. 6419), found at Vitsa in Epirus, even preserves the sockets for the attachment of crest and plumes.1 Less elaborate versions, lacking the plumes and crest, appear in contemporary fourth-century b.c.e. paintings and sculpture.2 We know that the accoutrements, by size/shape/color, were designed to distinguish various personages in battle.3 According to Plutarch (Alex. 16.7), Alexander was easily rec- A Closer Look / 119 Tryphon (“the Magnificent”): Norman Davis and Colin Kraay, The Hellenistic Kingdoms: Portrait Coins and History (London: Thames & Hudson, 1973), no. 102. 4. J. R. Hamilton, Plutarch, “Alexander”: A Commentary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969), p. 40. 5. Plutarch Alex. 16.10; Arrian 1.15.8; Diodorus 17.20.6. 6. Plutarch Alex. 32.9. ognizable (even to his enemies) by the conspicuous crest of his helmet, which had a dramatically tall white plume on each side.4 At the battle of the Granicus River, where the Persians were drawn to the singular headgear of the enemy king, Alexander came under concentrated attack : a Persian nobleman managed to get close enough to strike Alexander...