Alexander depicted during
the Battle of Issus, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Napoli
The
enthralling denouement of a six-part BBC Radio Drama series of Alexander the
Great, which was produced in 1993.
In Babylon,
Alexander is lying in the throes of death at the end of a short but spectacular
life-span predicted at the time of his birth by the Morai -alternatively known
as the Fates- who are a trio of white-robed female incarnations of destiny.
Half in the
physical world and half in the spirit world, he ruminates over his life, his
conquests and the succession with the ever guiding spirit of Achilles of Troy,
the father of his “yearning soul” in contrast to his earthly father and
competitor, King Phillip of Macedon.
In this
drama, Alexander is sympathetically portrayed as the quintessential
Philosopher-King and his fixation with Achilles is a component of the “mythic
consciousness” that has driven him to avenge an earlier defeat of the Greeks by
the Persians and to conquer almost all of the known world.
And it is
Achilles with whom he has communed since childhood, along with Patroculus who
tell the story of what happened after Alexander’s death: an orgy of suicides,
revenge murders and in-fighting among his generals.
“Who will
rule after you?” asks Achilles.
“The best?”
responds Alexander.
“There is
none”, the spirits of Achilles and Patroclus reply in unison.
Fittingly,
Alexander, the King of the Macedons, Leader of the Greeks, Pharaoh of All
Egypt, Lord of Persia, and King of Kings, expires smelling of “thyme and roses”
and “his flesh does not corrupt”.
No one was
able to rule the empire he had built.
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