Son of Alexander the Great?

Originally posted by eaglecap I took a class about Hellenism at Eastern Washington U. and I recall there are numerous myths written about him but many of them centuries after his death so who knows what is real and what is myth. Officially, I do not think he had a son but I will pull out my notes. Who knows how many offspring he left behind unofficially- LOL

Officially, he did have a son, Alexander IV, born by Rhoxane after his death. The original question was whether Herakles, the son of Alexander's mistress Barsine, was also a true son of the Conqueror. Which he may have been... 

There is also a mention of this subject in Diodorus Siculus' Bibliotheke Historike:

"Meanwhile Polyperchon, who was biding his time in the Peloponnesus, and who was nursing grievances against Cassander and had long craved the leadership of the Macedonians, summoned from Pergamon Barsinê's son Heracles, who was the son of Alexander but was being reared in Pergamon, being about seventeen years of age. 2 Moreover, Polyperchon, sending to his own friends in many places and to those who were at odds with Cassander, kept urging them to restore the youth to his ancestral throne. 3 He also wrote to the Federal League of the Aetolians, begging them to grant a safe conduct and to join forces with him and promising to repay the favour many times over if they would aid in placing the youth on his ancestral throne. Since the affair proceeded as he wished, the Aetolians being in hearty agreement and many others hurrying to aid in the restoration of the king, in all there were assembled more than twenty thousand infantry and at least one thousand horsemen. 4 Meanwhile Polyperchon, intent on the preparations for the war, was gathering money; and sending to those to Macedonians who were friendly, he kept urging them to join in the undertaking" (Book XX, chapter 20)

"Meanwhile Polyperchon, who had collected a strong army, brought back to his father's kingdom Heracles, the son of Alexander and Barsinê; but when he was in camp at the place called Stymphaeum, Cassander arrived with his army. As the camps were not far distant from each other and the Macedonians regarded the restoration of the king without disfavour, Cassander, since he feared lest the Macedonians, being by nature prone to change sides easily, should sometime desert to Heracles, sent an embassy to Polyperchon. 2 As for the king, Cassander tried to show Polyperchon that if the restoration should take place he would do what was ordered by others; but, he said, if Polyperchon joined with him and slew the stripling, he would at once recover what had formerly been granted him throughout Macedonia, and then, after receiving an army, he would be appointed general in the Peloponnesus and would be partner in everything in Cassander's realm, being honoured above all. Finally he won Polyperchon over by many great promises, made a secret compact with him, and induced him to murder the king. 3 When Polyperchon had slain the youth and was openly co-operating with Cassander, he recovered the grants in Macedonia and also, according to the agreement, received four thousand Macedonian foot-soldiers and five hundred Thessalian horse. 4 Enrolling also those of the others who wished, he attempted to lead them through Boeotia into the Peloponnesus; but, when he was prevented by Boeotians and Peloponnesians, he turned aside, advanced into Locris, and there passed the winter." (Book 20, chapter 28)

(both fragments taken from Lacus Curtius - an excellent web site!)


Edited by khshayathiya - 21-Feb-2009 at 22:49

Yep, it says he was strangled to death while his mother was killed too.

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. 

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.

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.

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  I edited it. Don't know what exactly I was thinking when I typed it and forgot to mention her name.

Neither did I, that's why I wanted to share it.

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.

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