After Alexander the Great established himself as emperor of Asia, replacing the Persian Empire with his own, he urged his generals to marry Persian women in the famous Susa weddings.
The Greek general’s conquests stretched his dominance from Greece to North Africa and across Eurasia all the way to modern-day Pakistan and India. That was the biggest part of the known world at the time.
Alexander’s kingship of Asia, as he proclaimed in 331 BC, did not mean, as is often thought, the Persian kingship, but was a unique creation of Alexander himself, according to academic Ernst Fredricksmeyer.
The Greek king’s Persian innovations after the death of Darius in 330 were not primarily designed to establish Alexander as Great King, but rather were meant to reform Alexander’s kingship by addition of the Persian component, and to establish Alexander, ultimately, as an absolute monarch in Asia.
According to Plutarch, by Alexander’s conquest of Darius at Gaugamela in October 331, the empire of Persia was thought to be completely destroyed, and a few days later, at the nearby village of Arbela, Alexander the Great was proclaimed “King of Asia.”
It was Alexander’s vision to Hellenize the barbarian (non-Greek) lands he had conquered and leave his stamp for the ages to come. However, this was not to be done by the sword but by example. The king wanted his men to feel and act the same.
The Greek “king of Asia”, avoided enforcing the ideals of Hellenism directly onto his new subjects. Instead, he embraced the superficial things of their culture such as their fine clothing, some of their rituals and the caprices of their royalty. By accepting their culture, he consolidated his power.
His first wife was Roxana, daughter of the Bactrian chief Oxyartes. Alexander aimed to solidify his control over the newly acquired territories by marriage, a common practice in antiquity. Marrying Roxana helped strengthen ties with the Bactrian nobility and facilitate the integration of these regions into his empire.
Furthermore, he incorporated Persian men into units of his army, particularly the elite Companion cavalry. That alone generated great resentment among his generals. Seeing foreigners trained to wield the sarissa in the phalanx formation, in the Macedonian style of warfare, made them angry with their king.
Alexander complimented his men with the Susa weddings
The Macedonian king had defeated the Persian King Darius III Codomannus and conquered the Achaemenid Empire. During his campaigns, Alexander subjugated Egypt, Babylonia, Persis, Media, Bactria, the Punjab and the valley of the Indus. In the second half of his reign, he had to find a way to rule the vast territories of his newly conquered countries. He made Babylon his capital and introduced oriental court ceremonials, which caused tensions with his officers.
Yet it was his officers who fought on his side and won the battles with him, shedding their blood and losing their brothers in arms. Alexander wanted to reward them for that.
At the same time, the arranged marriages of about eighty generals and officials with local princesses was part of his gentle domination plan.
There is no historical record of how his top men viewed the king’s idea, but not one of them refused. After all, the marriages would be accompanied by generous dowries to his men that would pay off the sizeable debts they had accumulated.
Arrian of Nicomedia, Alexander the Great’s biographer, claims that the Susa weddings show the affection Alexander had for his companions and that they were popular among his men. They felt honored by being on the same level as Alexander the Great, marrying women of local aristocratic families.
Intermarriage between Macedonians and Persians was not something new. It went back to at least the 5th century BC, when Macedon had become a Persian tributary kingdom. Greeks in Asia Minor and elsewhere had married native women for centuries.
Arrian on Alexander the Great’s Men marrying Persian women
In February 324, Alexander urged his officers to join the wedding ceremony at Susa. The Greek author Arrian of Nicomedia describes this event in Anabasis.
At the Susa ceremony, over ten thousand relationships were formally recognized between common soldiers and the Asian women they had met along the expedition. Granting individual exceptions, Macedonians were evidently not averse to marrying foreign women. Lysimachus would later marry Amastris, in addition to Nicaea, Arsinoe and the Persian noble woman he received at Susa.
Alexander celebrated the weddings at Susa, both his own and those of his Companions. He himself married Barsine, the eldest of Darius’ daughters, and, according to Aristobulus, another girl as well, Parysatis, the youngest of the daughters of Ochus. As noted, he had already wed Roxana, the daughter of Oxyartes of Bactria.
The now Asian king gave Drypetis to Hephaestion, she too a daughter of Darius and a sister of his own wife; his intention was that the children of Hephaestion should be cousins to his own children. To Craterus he gave Amastris, daughter of Oxyartes, brother of Darius, and to Perdiccas the daughter of Atropates, the satrap of Media.
To Ptolemy the bodyguard and to Eumenes the royal secretary he gave the daughters of Artabazus, Artacama to one and Artonis to the other. To Nearchus he gave the daughter of Barsine and Mentor, and to Seleucus the daughter of Spitamenes of Bactria. Similarly he gave to the other Companions the noblest daughters of the Persians and Medes, some eighty in all.
Marriages according to Persian custom
The marriages organized by Alexander in Susa were celebrated according to Persian custom. Chairs were placed for the bridegrooms in order, and after the drinks the brides came in and sat down, each by the side of her groom. They took them by the hand and kissed them; the king began the ceremony, for all the weddings took place together. More than any action of Alexander this seemed to show a comradely spirit.
The bridegrooms after receiving their brides led them away, each to his own home, and to all Alexander gave a dowry. And as for all the Macedonians who had already married Asian women, Alexander ordered a list of their names to be drawn up; they numbered over 10,000, and Alexander offered them all gifts for their wedding.
The king also thought this was a suitable opportunity to settle the debts of the army, and ordered a list of individual debts to be drawn up, with a promise to pay them. At first few put down their names; they feared Alexander was testing them to find out who thought the soldier’s pay insufficient and who was living above his means.
When it was reported that the majority would not put their names down, but concealed any bonds they had, he condemned the soldiers’ lack of trust. A king should not say anything but the truth to his subjects, and they must not imagine their king to be saying anything but the truth to them.
So he had tables set up in the camp with gold on them, and men charged with the distribution of money to anyone who could show a bond, and he ordered the debts to be settled but without now drawing up a list of names. In this way they were convinced that Alexander was saying the truth, and their pleasure at not being individually identified was even greater than their satisfaction at seeing their debts paid off. It is said that up to 20,000 talents were distributed to the army on that occasion.
He also made numerous presents to various men, according to the reputation each enjoyed or the courage which they had displayed in danger. He crowned with golden wreaths those conspicuous for bravery, starting with Peucestas who had covered him with his shield and saved his life in the battle of Malavas.
He next honored Leonnatus for the same service and for the dangers he faced among the Indians and the victory he won against the Orians. With the forces left to him he opposed them in battle. Alexander offered them all gifts for repelling Oreitans and their neighbors.
In addition Alexander crowned Nearchus for his navigation from India by the great sea; for he had now arrived at Susa. He also crowned Onesicritus the pilot of the royal ship, and Hephaestion and the other bodyguards.
Did the generals keep their brides after Alexander died?
Most historians argue that after Alexander died, all the Macedonians divorced the wives they married at Susa. This implies that they did not marry willingly but only to pay off their debts.
There is one historian who begs to differ, though. Branko F. van Oppen de Rutter (PhD), exhibition curator at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam and independent scholar specializes in Ptolemaic queenship as well as Hellenistic art and ideology.
The Dutch scholar argues first that many of Alexander’s generals were to die within a few years of the Susa weddings. First Hephaestion (324) and then Alexander himself passed away (323); their wives Drypetis and Statira were killed by Roxana; the fate of Parysatis is not known.
Then many more of Alexander’s companions died, mostly in battle against each other. Firstly Meleager still at Babylon (323), next Leonnatus (322), then Craterus, Neoptolemus and Perdiccas (320), and his brother Alcetas soon after (319). Amastris married Dionysius with Craterus’ approval; what became of Perdiccas’ unnamed wife is not known, but maybe she returned to her brother Atropates in Media.
In the following years Cleitus the White (318), Eumenes (317/6), Antigenes and Peithon (316) all died. Artonis received Eumenes’ remains; if any of the other commanders had wives and what happened to them the sources do not tell. The precise date of Peucestas’ death remains unclear (post 316/5). Then Polyperchon, Antigonus and Nearchus died (ca. 300). Two decades later, Ptolemy (282), Lysimachus (281) and Seleucus (280) were the last of Alexander’s successors to meet their deaths. If their Persian wives were still alive, they would have been at least in their sixties by this time.
The historian argues that like Apame and Artonis, Ptolemy remained married to Artacama. Similarly he suggests that most of the other Macedonian generals retained their Susan brides. In the case of the alleged repudiation of the Susan brides the evidentiary axiom would well seem to apply that “absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
According to de Rutter, modern scholars tend to assume that the surviving sources would have recorded the presence of the Persian wives if they or their children played any historically important role. Furthermore, like Alexander, his Diadochi (successors) practiced polygamy and thus had no reason to repudiate any of their wives when they subsequently married other women. There is, in other words, no need to offer farfetched explanations for the silence in the sources about the subsequent careers of the Susan brides.
What happened to the Susa wives?
Only eight of the bridegrooms Alexander the Great picked for Susa and just seven of the hundred brides are known by name. Of these eight grooms, Alexander, Hephaestion, Craterus, Perdiccas and Eumenes all died soon after the weddings. Nearchus, Ptolemy and Seleucus lived significantly longer.
Of the brides, Statira and Drypetis were killed; Amastris divorced Craterus (or vice versa); Artonis survived Eumenes; and Apame became the mother of the Seleucid dynasty. Artacama, like Thais, joined Ptolemy’s court in Egypt. The historian assumes that most other Susan brides likewise remained with their husbands.
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