Geotio Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Not a contemporary and why should we take the
> word of historian but the source of the date is
> Plutarch .
>
> "Alexander was born the sixth of Hecatombaeon,
> which month the Macedonians call Lous,"
>
>

Ancient sources are all over the map on this one, but I think Plutarch is one of the earliest.
So the 6th day after the new moon in July-August:
[en.wikipedia.org]

Aelian confirms the 6th date, but seems to suggest that the month is Thargelion (May-June), and this link says, many modern historians agree with a date of 10th-13th of June.
[astro-n.page.tl]

The above link, though very astrolo-gy, actually makes a good for a different date using a number of ancient sources:

Quote

Most modern chronologists and historians (8) suggest that the date of Alexander's death should correspond either to the 10th or the 13th of June. So if by that day of 323 B.C.E. Alexander had lived 32 years and 8 months completed then he should have been born sometime between the 7th of September and the 9th of October 356 B.C.E., in a period that absolutely fits the time span we predetermined

In addition, he says

Quote

The New Moon of August 356 B.C.E. fell on the 13th. So, under ideal conditions, the 6th of the Macedonian month Lóos of 356 BC should correspond to the 18th of August of that year (6 days ahead of the 13th of August, the first one being the 13th)

He comes up with 24th of August 356 B.C.E, the 6th day after the new moon.

July 12 doesn't look very plausible (wrong moon phase.) If you wanted to count the June new moon, I think this puts Alexander's birth about the first of July. (I may have miscounted. Feel free to correct it.)



-- Byrd
Moderator, Hall of Ma'at



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/16/2015 05:55PM by Byrd.