Exile decree

In ancient historical research, the general ordinance of the Macedonian king Alexander the Great is referred to as the so-called exile decree , also known as the exile edict , which included the immediate pardon for all Greek exiles with the exception of those convicted of murder or sacrilege .

The sources hardly provide any indication of the exact origin of this ordinance or of the decisive events that prompted Alexander to decide on the exile decree. Accordingly, an exact dating of this decree proves to be extremely difficult. Research largely assumes that Alexander took the decision on this directive several months before its public announcement, possibly in the spring of 324. The purpose of the decree, with which Alexander broke the 338 agreements with the Greeks, is disputed interfered openly and massively in the domestic politics of the cities; It is considered that the king wanted to consciously weaken the poleis by creating strife through the forced return of the exiles and at the same time creating loyal followers in the form of the returnees.

Alexander sent the officer Nikanor von Stageira , Aristotle's son-in-law , to Olympia with the task of reading out Alexander's letter to the Greek exiles during the Olympic Games . Probably on the main festival day, August 4, 324, Nikanor handed the letter to the victorious herald , who then read Alexander's letter and with it the notification of the return permission of all Greek exiles except murderers, temple robbers and perhaps Thebans to their home states in front of around 20,000 exiles allegedly present . These were probably primarily people who had been expelled from their home communities in the course of civil wars ( Staseis ). Macedonia , led at that time by Antipater of Paliura as imperial administrator , was to act as a guarantee for the implementation of this general instruction to the Greek states .

swell

• Deinarch of Corinth : Orationes .
• Diodorus von Agyrion : Greek world history .
• Hypereides of Athens : Orationes .
• Marcus Iunianus Iustinus : The history of Philip of Macedonia in 44 books .
• Plutarch of Chaironeia : Alexander and Caesar .
• Plutarch of Chaironeia : Moralia .
• Quintus Curtius Rufus : The Story of Alexander the Great .

inscription

• Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum : SIG³ No. 306.

literature

• Sviatoslav Dmitriev: Alexander's Exiles Decree . In: Klio 86, 2004, pp. 348-381. (Dmitriev takes the position that Alexander did not interfere with the internal affairs of the cities with the decree.)
• Martin Jehne : Koine Eirene. Investigations into the pacification and stabilization efforts in the Greek polis world of the 4th century BC Chr. (= Hermes , individual writings, volume 63). Stuttgart 1994, ISBN 3-515-06199-1 .
• Jakob Seibert : The political refugees and exiles in Greek history. From the beginning to the submission by the Romans (= impulses of research , volume 30). 2 volumes, Darmstadt 1979, ISBN 3-534-06389-9 .
• Ian Worthington: From East to West: Alexander and the Exiles Decree . In: Pat Wheatley; Elizabeth Baynham (Ed.): East and West in the World Empire of Alexander . Oxford 2015, pp. 93-106.
• Michael Zahrnt : Reconciliation or Split? Reflections on Alexander's exile decree . In: Hermes 131, 2003, pp. 407-432. (Zahrnt argues for the position that the decree in Hellas was intended to cause unrest across the board in order to make the Greeks finally incapable of resisting the Macedonians.)