Alexander the Great Intro: Museum & “Fire from Heaven”

So, I’ve started my final book for Capstone entitled “Fire from Heaven” by Mary Renault about Alexander the Great. It discusses his childhood up until his ascension to the throne as king. Renault discusses the influences that molded Alexander into a ruler and conqueror.

This is an appropriate book to end my experiences in a Greece. The Hellenistic era of Greece and the empire of Alexander the Great have played such a large part in the formation of the Greek culture and country. Three days ago, on Wednesday, we had the unique opportunity to visit Pella, the birthplace of Alexander the Great. Unfortunately, the site itself was closed, but we did explore the museum. We saw large pebble mosaics from the ancient city as well as coins from the period, ceramics and statues. One of the most interesting parts of the museum for me were the funeral and tomb “decorations”. It reminded me of information I learned in my Death and Dying course. While, we covered topics in that class like types of tombs and where people believe the soul goes, we only covered traditions like the Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Islamic and some remote, but interesting native practices. We didn’t however discuss the Hellenistic Greek traditions, such as the rock-cut chamber tombs, funeral beds, valuable objects inside the tomb which we saw at the museum. Sometimes the tombs would even have paintings inside and the outside would be decorated with columns to look like the front of a small temple. Furthermore, a coin would be placed in the mouth of the deceased as ferry passage to the underworld. It is apparent that religion was very important to this culture. Not only was this evident in their dealings with their dead, but also in the subjects of their sculptures, mosaics and vases.

Having visited the museum, it allows me to imagine the stage and scenery of the book. To me, the buildings, the objects, the spaces become real and alive to me. Now, I’m relying on Renault to bring Alexander and his family into focus for me and to help me understand the people. Renault writes this work of historical fiction as the 3rd person narrator which is a contrast for me after reading “Cassandra” where there was 1st person narration from Cassandra during the novel and then from the author, Wolf, in the subsequent essays, and “My Name is Red” in which every chapter was a different character narrating from the 1st person. Her chapters are almost like acts in a play, 8 in total. And those chapters are broken into scenes which illustrate a different facet of Alex’s character development and childhood experiences. So far, we see Alex with somewhat distant parents, who rule the kingdom. King Philip and Queen Olympia fight constantly and even abuse Alex sometimes. This forces Alex to grow up quickly. He must fend for himself a lot and he even stands up to his parents verbally, if not physically yet at the age of 4 years. As a young boy he starts building relationships with people he admires and trusts and he even welcomes and hosts an envoy from Persia while his father is busy. Finally, there is a tension between the way in which his father and mother want to raise him. His mother is very protective and loving, whereas his father is quite harsh, disciplining and preferred “rough company” for him (18). Furthermore, his father wanted him to have “Greek schooling, reason and civility” (12). Finally, as I read this book, I see connections to the museum: Alex walks across a floor with a pebble mosaic, Alex and his mother refer to a lot of Greek myths, such as the sack of Troy and Odysseus’ encounter with Polyphemos, and they refer to the Greek gods and goddesses often, such as a bronze Apollo statue in the royal palace.