Cleophis

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Cleophis was in the 4th century BC A queen of the Indian people of the Assakener and the mother of the tribal prince Assakenus.

Following the conquest of the Persian Empire, Alexander the Great undertook an Indian campaign. In the course of this he fought at the end of 327 BC. BC also the Assakener, who settled in the mountains of Swat , but their strong city Massaga only surrendered after heavy fighting. After the city surrendered, the Macedonian king ruthlessly slaughtered the Indian mercenary troops of the Assakeans.

The classical philologist Wilhelm Kroll believes only the brief tradition of the Alexander historian Arrian is credible, according to which the mother and daughter of King Assakenus were captured by Alexander the Great after the conquest of Massaga. The Sicilian historian Diodorus reports that after comparing them with the Macedonians to hand over Massaga, the Queen of Assakens admired Alexander's generosity, sent him precious gifts and promised to obey all his orders.

In Wilhelm Kroll's view, there is a novel-like embellishment of the Kleophis episode in particular with the Metz Epitome , Quintus Curtius Rufus and Iustinus . According to the Metz epitome, Cleophis was the mother of King Mesagenus and ruled for her grandson. Because she could not get her city enclosed by the Macedonians to surrender, she secretly sent an embassy to Alexander the great. After conquering the city, she paid homage to the Macedonian king and was apparently allowed to remain queen because of her dazzling appearance. Curtius Rufus relates similarly that Cleophis led the government in place of her late son Assakenus and his son. When Alexander the Great had taken Massaga, he left her in her royal position, supposedly because he was fascinated by her beauty. She later gave birth to a son, whom she named Alexander, but Curtius Rufus leaves it uncertain who the boy's father was. For Justin it is finally clear that Cleophis saved her throne by sleeping with Alexander after her surrender and giving birth to a son of the same name, which is why the Indians called her a royal whore ( scortum regium ). In the Metz epitome, however, no child of Cleophis born after the Macedonian subjugation of the Assakener is mentioned.

Perhaps the Cleophis history served as a model for the Alexander Romance occurring Candace .

literature

Web link

Remarks

  1. ^ S. Lauffer, 1993, pp. 143f.
  2. ↑ Arrian , Anabasis 4, 27, 4.
  3. ↑ Diodorus 17, 84, 1 (beginning of the reinstatement of the Diodorus text after a large gap in the 17th book).
  4. ↑ Metz epitome 39-41 and 45.
  5. ↑ Curtius Rufus 8, 10, 22 and 8, 10, 34-36.
  6. ↑ Justin 12: 7, 9-11.
  7. ^ W. Kroll, RE XI, 1, col. 792.
personal data
SURNAME Cleophis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Queen of the Assakers
DATE OF BIRTH 5th century BC BC or 4th century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 4th century BC BC or 3rd century BC Chr.