EGY HÉRODOTOSI TÖRTÉNET ÉS ALEXANDROS PERZSA TRÓNIGÉNYE
The story of Herodotus and Alexander the Great demand on the Persian throne

Summary/Abstract: The paper is a new interpretation of the story about the seven Persians in Herodotus 5. 18—21. The Persian legates describe with a strange expression: αλγηδÓνας σφισι oφθαλμωv the Macedonian women in the dinner-party. After killing all the drunken and violent Persians Alexander I. manages to avoid the revenge of the empire by a dynastic marriage. The Greek expression became a well-known oddity in antiquity. Beside the explicit criticism in Ps. Longinus and Eustathius, perhaps also Aristophanes refers to it in his famous scene in the Acharnians about Ps. Artabas. The story has a strong oriental colouring. There are certain elements, which refer to the question of legitimacy of an oriental king. The seven legates representing the great-king by alienating themselves from Persian customs suffer justly, like the mythical king Yima. Callisthenes, the intimate historian of Alexander the Great in order to legitimate his king’s succession in the Persian throne distorts this story from Herodotus. The expression in Alexander’s mouth — quite in opposite of the behaviour of the seven Persians — proves the self-control and the — by Darius justified — succession of the Macedonian king.

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