Tristan Hughes

How do they react to, and it'll lead on to the whole proskynesis, the idea of prostrating yourself before the great king as you would do, which if you don't do it, it's a mark of disrespect and shameful from the point of view of the cultures, the Persians in particular.

But if you do it, it's absolutely disgusting from a Macedonian Greek point of view.

So how can you please everybody?

And how can Alexander's trying to steer a path through the middle and is often too tired, too drunk, too vain, perhaps to do it well.

So it's all of this is getting more at a time when the war is arduous, unpleasant, and apparently unending.

Whenever there's a lull, these tensions break to the surface because nobody knows what this is anymore.

And nobody knows what they're doing and what's going to happen.

It's straight out of Philip's playbook.

I mean, it's what he'd been doing throughout his campaigns.

Obviously, this is someone more alien than marrying even an Illyrian, a Thracian.

These are unusual brides, even for a Macedonian.

But it's the same idea.

It's odd in a way that it's taken Alexander so long.

to do this.

And all then that he chooses someone who is, you know, the daughter of a local nobleman, a local prince, not somebody with really widespread influence.

So it's a strange choice and the whole story of it that will later become part of, you know, all the embellishment, the Alexander romance and all this sort of thing

It makes political sense up to a point, but it's odd in terms of until he adds a few more other wives, when it starts to look more like Philip just doing this thing, it's a very odd first choice.

He's had a mistress for a long time who's Greek and has had a child with her.

So he hasn't been on his own all these long winter nights.

But it's still odd in many respects.