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Son of Alexander the Great?

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  Quote Vorian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Son of Alexander the Great?
    Posted: 28-May-2008 at 16:50
Ok, I was reading about Memnon, the leader of the Greek mercenaries of Darius during his war with Alexander and found out that his wife, Barsineactually became Alexander's mistress and bore him an illegitimate son, Hercules.

Now that came to me as a real surprise since I have read many times about Alexander and never heard that. Did any of you guys know about that son?

Edit: Just found my mistakeConfused


Edited by Vorian - 29-May-2008 at 22:01
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  Quote Vorian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 18:05
Nobody is interested I guess....Unhappy
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  Quote Byzantine Emperor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 18:12
Originally posted by Vorian

Ok, I was reading about memnon, the leader of the Greek mercenairs of Darius during his war with Alexander and found out that she actually became Alexander's mistress and bore him an illegitimate son, Hercules.

Now that came to me as a real surprise since I have read many times about Alexander and never heard that. Did any of you guys know about that son?
 
Which source mentions this son, is it Arrian or Plutarch?
 
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  Quote Vorian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 18:18
Give me a moment
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  Quote Efraz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 18:24
I couldn't find it in both maybe I am missing it I am curious too...
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  Quote Vorian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 18:24
It's Plutarch....

Alexander, esteeming it more kingly to govern himself than to conquer his enemies, sought no intimacy with any one of them, nor indeed with any other women before marriage, except Barsine, Memnon's widow, who was taken prisoner at Damascus. She had been instructed in the Greek learning, was of a gentle temper, and by her father, Artabazus, royally descended, with good qualities, added to the solicitations and encouragement of [Alexander's general] Parmenion, as Aristobulus tells us, made him the more willing to attach himself to so agreeable and illustrious a woman.


It should be in the parts after Issus battle, she was with Darius' wife and mother when they got captured.



And Polyperchon tried to put Heracles in the Macedonian throne but was persuaded by Cassander not to and both Heracles and Barsine were executed, though I read somewhere that they could have died earlier and it was a fake Heracles.


For some reason I always hated that  Cassander, ever since I read a book (not history but literature) about Alexander when I was 10-12 years old.


Edited by Vorian - 29-May-2008 at 18:26
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  Quote Efraz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 19:07
Am I misunderstanding? You are talking about a son of Alexander named Herakles, right?

Where is it?

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  Quote Vorian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 20:17
Originally posted by Efraz

Am I misunderstanding? You are talking about a son of Alexander named Herakles, right?

Where is it?



Right sorry. That part was when Alexander met Barsine. The child was born a little before Alexander married Roxane.

As I said, I just learned that recently too. I don't have Plutarch to quote from just search on the internet "Barsine" and you 'll find all you need.
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  Quote Efraz Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 20:41
If I am not awfully mistaken there is no such thing in Plutarkhos my friend.

But I found it in wikipedia...I'll check sources...

I did not know such a thing thank you.
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  Quote Vorian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 22:00
Neither did I, that's why I wanted to share it.
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  Quote Vorian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 22:03
Just found out that in my first post, I forgot to mention Barsine and wrote that Memnon was Alexander's mistress and gave him a child LOLLOL

I edited it. Don't know what exactly I was thinking when I typed it and forgot to mention her name.
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  Quote Byzantine Emperor Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 22:09
Originally posted by Vorian

Just found out that in my first post, I forgot to mention Barsine and wrote that Memnon was Alexander's mistress and gave him a child LOLLOL

I edited it. Don't know what exactly I was thinking when I typed it and forgot to mention her name.
 
I noticed this too.  Thanks for clarifying!  Did anyone find out which author specifically mentions the son?  Also, Memnon sure seems like a male's name.
 
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  Quote Vorian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 22:41
Memnon is obviously a male name!!


You can read more about Barsine and Heracles here (http://www.livius.org/ba-bd/barsine/barsine.htm). It also has a passage from Plutarch on how they met.


Browsing that site I found out that Alexander must have been quite the womanizer, he most likely got Darius' wife pregnant (http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t07.html)

I find it wierd this is not well-known. The Greek nationalists that roam around trying to prove Alexander wasn't gay would consider this treasure.


Edited by Vorian - 29-May-2008 at 22:42
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  Quote Aster Thrax Eupator Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 29-May-2008 at 23:58

Well, there was Alexander the Great's successor and supposed son (he was an infant in any case), Alexander IV, who was sent back to Macedonia when he died under the Regency of Perdiccias, the commander of the companion cavalry. However, Alexander's supposed last words were "ως Κρατερόι" (to Crateros – the commander of initially the largest part of Alexander’s force – the phalangites) or “ως Κρατερoι”, because the difference between “to the stronger” and “to Craterus” is only one stressed Omricon. Regardless of this, the other generals appear to have decided to hear “to the strongest” (Κρατερoι), forming the groups that would form the three Diadochi successor wars. Some believe that Alexander left specific secret instructions to Crateros as his regent, and this theory would discount the idea that his “son” Alexander IV was actually his regent, but this theory is indeed tenuous. Moreover, I do not believe that the child was Alexander’s son, as many of the major sources do not mention him, and it’s too much to Perdiccias’ favour – he used the fact that he was the regent of Alexander’s “son” to launch a pre-emptive and disastrous strike against Ptolemy Kauranos (Lightning bolt) in Egypt. I’ve not heard about this illegitimate son; the only “son” that I had heard of was Alexander IV, who was born to a concubine supposedly after Alexander the Great’s death. It would not surprising if he did have so many children – the elite of any empire almost always produce hundreds of children by the amount of women that they and their leftentants  take as concubines.

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  Quote Vorian Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30-May-2008 at 00:15
I think Alexander IV was Roxane's child with him, she wasn't a concubine but his legal wife.
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  Quote qorci Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Feb-2009 at 02:47
Sorry to bring up an older thread, but I'm just catching up on my reading.

Here's more info on Alexander's son Heracles:  Children of Alexander the Great.
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  Quote Count Belisarius Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Feb-2009 at 03:11
So what happened to the kid?


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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Feb-2009 at 03:11
No problem, we welcome old threads being revived. Thanks for the link interesting stuff. Too bad that is hard to say for sure which his children were, etc... Would be interesting if we could reconstruct a genealogy of the following two or three generations. 
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  Quote Guests Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Feb-2009 at 03:12
Originally posted by Count Belisarius

So what happened to the kid?

Apparently both were murdered. So no grandchildren.
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  Quote Jallaludin Akbar Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08-Feb-2009 at 05:55
Yep, it says he was strangled to death while his mother was killed too.
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